Troubleshooting the Rams

Where do I start? How about logically? Let’s whip out the Football trouble shooting machine and feed it with some of the problems that face the Rams. Actually it’s not a machine it’s more of a very complex formula designed to spit out the root of the problem. It was long ago, before most of you were born that troubleshooting to the component level of football teams relied upon trial and error, moreover investigation, compromise and bickering. In those days, many used common sense to troubleshoot their team’s woes. At one time there were those that stood by common sense; however it proved to be futile amongst the masses because regardless of how readily available information was and how openly it displayed it’s fruits, some of the people connected never noticed it that is, until it was too late. Many studies were done on common sense in football however not until the world renown internationally known Banks test was performed was it accepted by the entire planet as a whole. In that test the NFL gathered the core of what they considered to be a Superbowl winning team. A few plug-in players were withheld for the integrity of the test. The overwhelming majority of this record setting NFL franchise was neatly packaged and carefully hidden behind a less then average athlete that could not perform even at the high school level. With a chiseled physique and strong arm this player was called upon to QB this team while data was collected watching the masses that lacked the ability to apply common sense. This QB performed flawlessly screwing up any chances for this team to be considered competitive. Sadly for some but comical for the folks who were hired to perform this test, there were still many who were not able to make the connection that this Phony QB was behind the lack of success this team was having. Once the final cards were dealt and the final stages of the test completed, i.e. proving to the masses that it was this QB disguising a good team, common sense could no longer be used as a tool in the NFL although common sense shined brightly and proved to be the best tool teams had to work with, it had to be done away with because to many people lacked the ability to apply it. True many saw this as a left winged way to go about spreading parity in the NFL however the troubleshooting machine had to be built and used by all teams equally. So without anymore history lessons lets beging by adding some of the Rams woes into the machine. I'll begin with;
To many penalties.
Special teams
Lack of effort
Beyond beliefe play calling during crunch time

Go ahead and add more Rams woes. for those of you that can see where this is going, be patient while the masses slowly come to grips with it.

[Nick]

*scratches head*

Wait, what?

[RamsFanSam]

Originally Posted by NickSeiler

*scratches head*

Wait, what?

As Ricky would say to Lucy, "Let me 'splain it to you..." Of course, I will use a different example.

I am the lead engineer at a small hospital. I have a staff of 6 working under me. I have been known, on occasion, to "plant" something to see if the guys are really doing thier jobs, or if they are just signing off the work orders. Example: A fan coil unit in a patient room is malfunctioning. Obviously, it could be many things: A bad air compressor, a faulty pneumatic valve, a miscalibrated thermostat, a bad motor, a boiler not running, or the chiller not working, or many other things. If the technician just guesses at the problem, he will not be right. If he actually studies the problem, spends time eliminating things, and tries to find the problem, he will usually find something simple, such as a closed valve, or a capped hot wire, or even a thermostat that has had the air line removed....(I'm dirty that way....hehehe). Same thing with football: everyone sees a problem, most guess at the true nature of the problem, but unless they really look for the cause, they are usually wrong.

Now to the Rams. We have definitely got a problem here somewhere. We have looked at the QB; this is apparently not the problem. We have torn apart the players; while they do make mistakes or fail altogether, they have more talent than most of the rest of the NFL. We still have troubles.

The areas that need troubleshooting:
Team cohesion
Defense
Special Teams
Offensive line
Strange play calling

I do see a common denominator in this: The coaching staff. Let's examine this.

Team cohesion: A good coach can inspire a team to play well; a great coach instills the belief that together, the team WILL win them all. This makes the guys want to do better. They will do anything for a teammate. They will find a way to improve week after week.

Defense: I am not a football expert, but I did notice some huge gaps in our D in each game this year. Maybe it's because we have had so many new guys in there....read the comment about Team Cohesion. Maybe the coaches are getting too complicated with the defense. Maybe the timing is off. I don't know, but the coach should see the signs of trouble, and find a solution. The problems won't be fixed overnight, but within a couple of games we should start to see changes.

Special Teams: This seems to be our Achille's heel every year. Here, it seems to me that we HAVE to get back to the fundementals like they teach in high school. Look at the best NFL teams in history: They all used the basic fundementals most of the time. You can't have an 80-yard return if you don't have blocking, or a fast runner, or agility. All of these are correctable.

The O-line: Honestly, these guys have surprised me. Considering the "patchwork" of players we have, they still have been doing a fairly good job. (Hey...they could be playing like San Diego, right?) I see confidence in a lot of the guys, but some still haven't got it yet. But, on the flipside, there have been too many dumb mistakes. False starts. Wrong routes. Reading the other teams defense wrong. ****y attitudes. Bad decisions. My solution? Time. The offense is capable of winning games as they are, but the defense has to be there, too. These aren't the '99 Rams, but they sure ain't the Chargers, either.

Strange play calling: Hoo-boy. How to explain this one....OK, I've got it. A car's engine is basically the same as it was 80 years ago; It operates on the same principles. As time passed, people had ideas on how to make the engine run better. Most of these ideas were good. (Overhead cam, hydraulic lifters, hemispherical combustion chambers...) Others looked good on paper, but generated other potential troubles. (Computer ignition timing, air injection pumps, exhaust gas recirculation valves...) When working properly, a car from ANY era will perform well, and have low emissions. A newer car, working properly, will perform well, and have even lower emissions. But when a part on an older car breaks, any shadetree mechanic can fix it easily. A new car requires a diagnostic machine, 3 college degrees, and government supervision to get an oil change. (OK, it's a small exaggeration...) Only a small handful of people can ever hope to work on thier own cars. Thus we have the Rams; They used to be like a '57 Chevy: basic, powerful, easily repaired. Now they are like my '87 Riviera: so dang many parts designed to make the car run better and more efficiently, but if even one is out of adjustment, it can shut down the whole engine.
Get back to the basics.

[rampete]

well, this is far beyond expository for me... :confused:

[RamsFanSam]

Originally Posted by RamsFamily

As Ricky would say to Lucy, "Let me 'splain it to you..." Of course, I will use a different example.

I am the lead engineer at a small hospital. I have a staff of 6 working under me. I have been known, on occasion, to "plant" something to see if the guys are really doing thier jobs, or if they are just signing off the work orders. Example: A fan coil unit in a patient room is malfunctioning. Obviously, it could be many things: A bad air compressor, a faulty pneumatic valve, a miscalibrated thermostat, a bad motor, a boiler not running, or the chiller not working, or many other things. If the technician just guesses at the problem, he will not be right. If he actually studies the problem, spends time eliminating things, and tries to find the problem, he will usually find something simple, such as a closed valve, or a capped hot wire, or even a thermostat that has had the air line removed....(I'm dirty that way....hehehe). Same thing with football: everyone sees a problem, most guess at the true nature of the problem, but unless they really look for the cause, they are usually wrong.

Now to the Rams. We have definitely got a problem here somewhere. We have looked at the QB; this is apparently not the problem. We have torn apart the players; while they do make mistakes or fail altogether, they have more talent than most of the rest of the NFL. We still have troubles.

The areas that need troubleshooting:
Team cohesion
Defense
Special Teams
Offensive line
Strange play calling

I do see a common denominator in this: The coaching staff. Let's examine this.

Team cohesion: A good coach can inspire a team to play well; a great coach instills the belief that together, the team WILL win them all. This makes the guys want to do better. They will do anything for a teammate. They will find a way to improve week after week.

Defense: I am not a football expert, but I did notice some huge gaps in our D in each game this year. Maybe it's because we have had so many new guys in there....read the comment about Team Cohesion. Maybe the coaches are getting too complicated with the defense. Maybe the timing is off. I don't know, but the coach should see the signs of trouble, and find a solution. The problems won't be fixed overnight, but within a couple of games we should start to see changes.

Special Teams: This seems to be our Achille's heel every year. Here, it seems to me that we HAVE to get back to the fundementals like they teach in high school. Look at the best NFL teams in history: They all used the basic fundementals most of the time. You can't have an 80-yard return if you don't have blocking, or a fast runner, or agility. All of these are correctable.

The O-line: Honestly, these guys have surprised me. Considering the "patchwork" of players we have, they still have been doing a fairly good job. (Hey...they could be playing like San Diego, right?) I see confidence in a lot of the guys, but some still haven't got it yet. But, on the flipside, there have been too many dumb mistakes. False starts. Wrong routes. Reading the other teams defense wrong. ****y attitudes. Bad decisions. My solution? Time. The offense is capable of winning games as they are, but the defense has to be there, too. These aren't the '99 Rams, but they sure ain't the Chargers, either.

Strange play calling: Hoo-boy. How to explain this one....OK, I've got it. A car's engine is basically the same as it was 80 years ago; It operates on the same principles. As time passed, people had ideas on how to make the engine run better. Most of these ideas were good. (Overhead cam, hydraulic lifters, hemispherical combustion chambers...) Others looked good on paper, but generated other potential troubles. (Computer ignition timing, air injection pumps, exhaust gas recirculation valves...) When working properly, a car from ANY era will perform well, and have low emissions. A newer car, working properly, will perform well, and have even lower emissions. But when a part on an older car breaks, any shadetree mechanic can fix it easily. A new car requires a diagnostic machine, 3 college degrees, and government supervision to get an oil change. (OK, it's a small exaggeration...) Only a small handful of people can ever hope to work on thier own cars. Thus we have the Rams; They used to be like a '57 Chevy: basic, powerful, easily repaired. Now they are like my '87 Riviera: so dang many parts designed to make the car run better and more efficiently, but if even one is out of adjustment, it can shut down the whole engine.
Get back to the basics.

Make a note of the time and date, y'all! He made total 100% sense for once!

Oh, this was Mama..... :redface:

[talkstoangels61]

Ramtime & Ramsfamily! BRAVO! BRAVO!........best i've read in sometime!

[thoey]

Hmmm...

RT's List:
To many penalties. - Coaching.
Special teams - Coaching.
Lack of effort - Coaching.
Beyond beliefe play calling during crunch time - Coaching.

RF's List:
Team cohesion - Coaching.
Defense - Coaching.
Special Teams - Coaching.
Offensive line - Coaching.
Strange play calling - Coaching.

Man, I just can't figure out what could be wrong here... We got a great win / loss record. [In my best Rainman voice] Ah, we can fix that. Then we need to watch Judge Wopner...