St. Louis Rams hire Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator

By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

01/21/2009

MOBILE, Ala. — It's official, Pat Shurmur of the Philadelphia Eagles is the Rams' new offensive coordinator. And a deal to make Ken Flajole of the Carolina Panthers the new defensive coordinator should be finalized soon as well.

Shurmur, 43, joined the Eagles staff in 1999, the same year newly named Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo was hired in Philly. Shurmur has been quarterbacks coach in Philadelphia for the last seven years of his stay there.

Flajole, 54, has been linebackers coach at Carolina. He has been with the Panthers since 2003 but also has had NFL stints as an assistant coach with Green Bay and Seattle. Flajole hasn't worked on the same staff as Spagnuolo but was an assistant coach at the University of Missouri from 1989-93. For three of those seasons at Mizzou, Flajole was part of a staff that included Andy Reid, the Eagles' head coach, who gave Spagnuolo his first NFL job.

Rams general manager Billy Devaney confirmed that the Rams have asked permission to interview Minnesota special teams coach Paul Ferraro. Ferraro, 49, was a teammate of Spagnuolo's at Springfield (Mass.) College. After 23 seasons coaching at the college level, Ferraro joined the NFL in 2005 with Carolina. He joined the Vikings in 2006.


On Tuesday evening, Spagnuolo was in the process of interviewing holdover coaches from the Rams' staff of 2008. One of those coaches, offensive coordinator Al Saunders, has been informed that he will not be retained and is scheduled to interview in Oakland.

well,spags gets who he was after... that gotta be good!

We went with tried and true and it sucked. Bring on the newbies.

Good to hear Spags getting the guys he wants. I feel sorry for Al Saunders, i was really excited when he was hired last off season. But hopefully Shurmur will have a playbook which features plays other than variations on WR reverse to Dane Looker

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Originally Posted by TheBritishRam

Good to hear Spags getting the guys he wants. I feel sorry for Al Saunders, i was really excited when he was hired last off season. But hopefully Shurmur will have a playbook which features plays other than variations on WR reverse to Dane Looker

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I hope he's got a playbook that includes touchdowns on every drive.

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Originally Posted by TheBritishRam

Good to hear Spags getting the guys he wants. I feel sorry for Al Saunders, i was really excited when he was hired last off season. But hopefully Shurmur will have a playbook which features plays other than variations on WR reverse to Dane Looker

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Did you even watch any of the games? There were also WR reverses to Dante Hall!!! That's called being dynamic.

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Originally Posted by moloch41

Did you even watch any of the games? There were also WR reverses to Dante Hall!!! That's called being dynamic.

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Of course!! I remember the early season games, i'm sorry i was selling Al short.

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Originally Posted by RamsFanSam

I hope he's got a playbook that includes touchdowns on every drive.

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Shoot with how we have played in recent years TD's on every other drive would be leaps and bounds in the right direction

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Originally Posted by moloch41

Did you even watch any of the games? There were also WR reverses to Dante Hall!!! That's called being dynamic.

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Well dante hall will no longer be around so /i guess the reverse will go thru avery:D

I hope if this guy tries any bubble screens, we at least get some people out to block.

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Originally Posted by Tony Banks

I hope if this guy tries any bubble screens, we at least get some people out to block.

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Spags and company willl have our boys ready for battle and you can take that to the bank.

A QB coach from Philly, huh.
At least his name doesn't rhyme with Brad Childress.

Is he bringing the WCO to St. Louis? That will make for a slow transition early in the season if that's the case.