Well, What About Rick Venturi?

[btimsah]

Rick Venturi, the assistant head coach and linebackers coach, will become the defensive coordinator.

I think this is what has me most pumped. We needed changes at defensive coordinator and coach.. and well we got that. I also think getting rid of Linehans influence should help our offense, but only if Haslett can get our pass protection worked out. Fix the pass protection issue and I think we can run a more Martz-like offense with more wr's to throw too because we won't be bringing in stupid fullbacks and tight ends to block all day.

At least Linehan is gone. Thank God it's finally over!!

[Mooselini]

I am excited to see Haslett as head coach. I'm sure he makes a much better HC than DC.

Maybe Haslett can fix the OL. Bench Leckey and insert Greco somewhere on the line. This line should be tested constantly.

[Azul e Oro]

Glad as I am to see the back of Linehan, this is a bit unsettling.

The Rams are not nearly safe from the wolves yet, Farmer Chip.

Good that Haslett seems to be taking command & has been given the authority that, I suspect, Linehan never had.

Hell, that Martz never had.

Billy Devaney may be the key. Just as I believe Armey was the key for Vermeil.

That gives him a fighting chance. And that they made a move like this at all shows that the concept of accountability is not totally beyond the braintrust's grasp. If Haz doesn't show he has things moving forward,he'll be moving on, one would hope.

But...Venturi was a bad college HC &, if I remember, not too hot at NO as DC ,either. Hard to judge- that team was gutted by bad drafts, including the granddaddy of all draft screw-ups when Ditka sold the farm to get Ricky Williams, a pretty dysfunctional FO/ownership deal to rival our own,then throw in a tragedy like Katrina. Certainly not a situation that breeds success. Sound familiar?

Haz wasn't much better at keeping his QB upright,either. Aaron Brooks got beaten out of the NFL during his years in NO-over 40 sacks in '04. Quite a bit more mobile than Bulger,too.

It's a little obscene how kiss-ass the local media are being about the whole thing now. Hard to say if we should believe them when they report that Zygmunt & Shaw are really slipping quietly into the sunset & that Chip won't sell to a buyer who'll move the team.

So if there's evidence that Haz & Venturi are not the long term answers we won't be hearing it from the hard-digging intrepid crew at The PD....

Apart from some noisy posterior osculation, nothing much of substance yet except for this somewhat hazy (pun intended) theory that 2nd time headcoaches do well.

I'm not nearly ready to talk about Haz in the same sentence as Levy, Bilichick,Dungy, or Shanahan.

How many 2nd timers didn't ?

I'd start with Robinson...uh, Knox...uh,Mariucci...Green...uh...I'm sure there's more...

It's The Rams ; nothing's ever that easy but it's going to be interesting.

Haslett does know how to beat Mad Mike's butt like a gong,though.Wouldn't that be a nice irony now that Martz is a Whiner.

Add the fumble-o-rama that Warner put on last weekend- classic Kurt; brilliant and awful all in the same game & it's like someone chopped up all my memories of a few years ago & put them back together like a bizarre collage.

Maybe I had a stroke & this is all in my head.

Time for bed

[laram0]

Rick Venturi, Defensive Coordinator.

I don't know why but it kind of has a ring to it.

GO RAMS!!!!

[Chris58]

At this point (and it is early, I admit) I am not too excited about any of this except that the locker room atmosphere might lighten up a bit.

Venturi has never generated much of a job record worth optimism. I don't anticipate much in the way of improvement on the defensive side because I believe that Haslett had it more his way with the defense than many think. Linehan and Haslett may have fought at times, but Haslett was the DC and had the major influence on its function, not Linehan.

The idea that Haslett, a defense minded coach will straighten out the OL is delusional at best. The Offensive side of the ball belonged to Al Saunders and his OL coach. Blocking schemes had to work into Saunders' playbook. It wasn't Linehan's design and it won't be Haslett's either. We have what we have with this roster and the playbook Saunders brought with him.

I'd be ecstatic if the Rams can flip a switch and become a contender the last 12 games of the year, but I don't see that as very likely.