Why did the Rams hit rock bottom in 2009?

[ZiaRam]

Would you let a plumber and a kindergarten teacher do open heart surgery?

Would you let a banker and a carpenter conduct rocket science?

Then why would anyone think letting an accountant and a lawyer run an NFL draft is a good idea?

My FO history is a little hazy, who were they and how the hell did they get these positions?

[BEER]

Not so easy a caveman can do it, but very easy for a caveman to see the problem.

[mde8352gorams]

Point well made. Let us hope that in 11 days, 12 days and 13 days we add talented players who add value and get us closer to the Super Bowl! I must admit reading your list is like a recurring nightmare.

Go Rams!

[HUbison]

My FO history is a little hazy, who were they and how the hell did they get these positions?

John Shaw was a legal counsel to Frontiere 30 years ago, and worked his way into the team presidency in 1994. He was the Rams league representative (which he did well reportedly), and was the final voice in the team's personnel decisions until just a few years ago (which I think we might agree he didn't do so well).

But the real architect of the Rams demise is Jay Zygmunt. An attorney and accountant by trade, he was buddies with John Shaw and rode his coattails throughout the 80's. His job early on was to work on contract details (which he did well), and master the nuances of the new (at the time) salary cap (which he also did well). But his view of a successful contract was one where he got the terms he wanted regardless of whether the player was worth a darn. There was a period of time where he worked with Charley Armey and things went well. Armey found the talent, Zygmunt worked the contract. Add the offensive genius of Mike Martz to that equation and you get the GSOT. The problem being that Zygmunt's power evolved to higher and higher levels as he surrounded himself with like-minded individuals (Samir Suleiman anyone?) who were good for Zygmunt but not good for the Rams. Eventually, Armey and Martz are pushed out of the sphere of influence, Zygmunt has a much larger portion of the decision-making pie, and voila.........the lost decade.

And that's why you don't let accountants and lawyers run an NFL draft.

[sjacksonrules]

Guys this was a rhetorical question he wasn't asking a question

[Ram Dragoon]

Comes down to organization! Look at the picks, someone wasn't doing thier homework. But besides the draft, what where some of the free agancy acquistions during the same period too? How many Booms where there? How many busts---too many to list?

Problem is too many accountants and non-football personalities had their hand on the rubber of the Ram's ship. Soon after the Rams Super Bowl victory, there where a rash of defections and those that replaced them where not thier equal. So start with ownership and work your way to the janitor before starting with the players. None of these players wouldn't ahve even stepped on to the field in the first palce

[macrammer]

Wow. Dart throwing for picks would have been more effective. Rams should refund all gate receipts up to last year.

[LA Rammer]

what possessed you to post this? it's like revisiting a crime scene, reminding me that my dog is blind crippled and deaf, seeing my ex happier with someone of the same sex, cringing at the gas prices, having the same nightmare night after night and won't go away, getting fired from your job and being escorted off premises with a security, having the same bully tailing you throughout your entire general education, seeing your child on top of the roof with antenna strapped to their head wrapped in foil paper looking for extra terrestrials, biting into that rotten sun flower seed that comes in every packet, coming to the conclusion of your favorite novel only to realize someone tore off the last page, stepping in your dogs smelly stuff wondering how in the heck he made it so far since he is deaf, blind and crippled all the long he is laughing like Muttley...