SI's M. Silver on Rams Front office--W-O-W

[HUbison]

Martz was given control of player personnel decisions, though Shaw held veto power.

Though Martz had nominal power, Zygmunt became more assertive in his personnel recommendations, and Shaw would sometimes side with him over Martz.

Well that does answer a lot of the questions about who was making personnel decisions.

[STLRAMSFAN]

Well that does answer a lot of the questions about who was making personnel decisions.

I agree Hub it does.

If so, says one staffer familiar with Martz's personnel decisions, "He'll have no one but himself to blame because he had [most of] the personnel power." Critics point to Martz's penchant for "reaching" on draft day, resulting in busts such as halfback Trung Canidate (first round, 2000); linebacker Robert Thomas (first round, '02); wide receiver Eric Crouch (third round, '02); and guard Travis Scott (fourth round, '02). The trio of young defensive tackles cited by the veteran player after Sunday's game may turn out similarly.

[general counsel]

another possibility is timmerman. he is a big effort guy who has played hurt year after year. he has been a champion both here and in green bay. he was very outspoken in the past regarding defending the play of the o line.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[STLRAMSFAN]

"We missed a whole lot of tackles," Little said. "That was the big thing with
(Alexander). Most of those runs he had, we had him hemmed up, and he broke a
tackle and made a lot of yards on it. So the tackling was pretty poor."

This was posted in another thread by RamWraith this makes it sound like it could have been Little. I just don’t think he would have done it with all the off the field issues he has had. If its not Little I think its either Tyoka or an offensive player. I don’t think there are any other defensive veterans that can talk smack about their fellow players based on their play.

[ramsbruce]

*cough* Faulk *cough*

[AvengerRam]

Unnamed sources, rehash of stories we've heard before, and Kyle Turley quotes...

Yawn.

[jkramsfan]

thats a great point, i would also lean toward an offensive guy saying it.

[Nick]

Unnamed sources

I understand that we shouldn't be believing everything we read, but I know you've been skeptical about unnamed sources before and seem to be again now, so I wanted to ask.

With everything that's surrounding TO right now, would you honestly expect any source to agree to having their name used in a story where they badmouth their teammates? Even without the TO thing, it just seems like common sense; if you're saying something that you'd be taking heat for or that would have some kind of negative consequence with your team, why would you want your name attached to it?

This isn't ProFootballTalk that's writing this article, either. It would seem to me that just because a source is unnamed doesn't minimize what's being said, but maybe that's not the implication you're making.

[AvengerRam]

I understand that we shouldn't be believing everything we read, but I know you've been skeptical about unnamed sources before and seem to be again now, so I wanted to ask.

With everything that's surrounding TO right now, would you honestly expect any source to agree to having their name used in a story where they badmouth their teammates? Even without the TO thing, it just seems like common sense; if you're saying something that you'd be taking heat for or that would have some kind of negative consequence with your team, why would you want your name attached to it?

This isn't ProFootballTalk that's writing this article, either. It would seem to me that just because a source is unnamed doesn't minimize what's being said, but maybe that's not the implication you're making.

I'm not saying that Silver is lying. I just see little value in stories based upon "unnamed sources." All they do is spawn speculation as to who the speaker was, with no method of verifying anything.

On a more important note... how much value is there in an analysis of the Rams that includes a Kyle Turley quote?

That's like calling someone's ex-spouse for an unbiased character reference.

[Tony Soprano]

We can disregard the Turley quote.. Take it out..

I don't think anyone needs to make up stories about the Rams.

People here said the Samir the throatslasher thing was made up and he ended up admitting to it.

.

[AvengerRam]

I don't remember anyone saying that the throat-slasher thing was made up, just that its importance was overstated.

[Tony Soprano]

I was thinking Holt may have said it... He was quoted in a ProFootball Weekly pre-season preview as saying the Rams will go as their Defensive Line goes.

The ESPN Football Analysis show (with Jaworski and the Former Steelers RB) ran the tape and rewound it and showed how the RAMS DeF Line was blown out. That is exactly what Atlanta did last year to our DL last year in our final game.

We've only stuck with those guys on the DL because of their Draft postion.

.

[Tony Soprano]

Avenger, We can look it up... It was said (don't ask me by whom) that Bernie was LYING.. MAKING IT ALL UP. Making himself the center of attention.

.

[AvengerRam]

Bernie was definitely making himself the center of attention. I'm also certain that I, and others, stated that it would not shock us if Bernie was exaggerating what was said.

That's not the point.

The point is, the media LOVES the soap opera, so they will paint a picture that is likely worse than reality.

Reality is that all teams have internal struggles, but certain things (a Head Coach taking ill, a malcontent WR, a long losing streak, etc.) bring it to the surface at times.

If the Rams win their next 4 or 5 games, I guarantee you that there will be articles about how everything has turned around at Rams Park.

[Nick]

All they do is spawn speculation as to who the speaker was, with no method of verifying anything.

I disagree. It would seem to me they provide potentially inside information that we'd not have any knowledge of should all sources be required to have their names attached to comments. Take them with a grain of salt, but take them nonetheless, IMO.

On a more important note... how much value is there in an analysis of the Rams that includes a Kyle Turley quote?

That's like calling someone's ex-spouse for an unbiased character reference.

When you look beyond the name, some of what he says sounds pretty reasonable, wouldn't you say? I'll quote it again:

"A lot of things broke down, communicationwise, because John Shaw wasn't there to see what was going on firsthand. I just don't understand how you can try to run what is almost a billion-dollar business from afar, and then have all that junk going on and not do anything to fix it."

Is this so outlandish? Maybe I'm the only one willing to listen to what Turley is saying and judge it after examining it instead of dismissing it because his name actually is attached.