Here's Why WR Wasn't a Draft Priority

[bigtiger737]

wow.. this is getting very misunderstood. I agree WR just wasn't going to get adressed because we just had too much work to do. Yes we do need a WR and actually I for 1 kinda like the Jones idea... although with the class act look devaney is going for I don't see the pot head getting an invite. I'd love to see Harrison stop looking for the elite money and look for a team where he could make a good impact. But thats just shy of impossible from how it sounds. hehehehe while were at it maybe the evil golddiggers will drop rev zeek :P..

[BarronWade]

Playing in a WCO also means we should get the best of Bulger, too. This is his accuracy in short-to-medium routes and I'll bet dollars to donuts that we'll be seeing a lot of those passes headed toward Avery, utilising his own speed and illusiveness, when opposing teams stack the box.

Am i the only Rams fan thats doubting Bulger to play in the WCO? At times during the season Bulger had no protection so he started to not trust his OL. So he forced the ball out early and had little accuracy. So then the playbook had to adapt to that and ran short quick slants. Yet we still struggled. Quick slants are very important in the WCO.

Realistically your talking about a guy who has been hit countless times the last 3 year. Bulger was only good when we had the talent around him. Now we have talent in front of him and behind him. However we dont have the talent we had before to his right and left. What mean is we dont have holt and Bruce anymore.

That strategy didn't work when we had Dickerson & a dominant o-line but relatively weak pass attack. Made Henry Ellard's career, imo, and we were playoff contenders most years.

Moreover, I think we have better potential at the pass game skill positions now than in the ED era to push past the achievements of that team.

We dont have a dominant OL yet. However we have the potential to get to that level.

But your talking about time where there was little film study. With our receiver who are still progressing i expect teams to line 9 men in the box with man-man on the outside with our receivers and the D zoning flats for those short yarders and screens.

[Azul e Oro]

Am i the only Rams fan thats doubting Bulger to play in the WCO? At times during the season Bulger had no protection so he started to not trust his OL. So he forced the ball out early and had little accuracy. So then the playbook had to adapt to that and ran short quick slants. Yet we still struggled. Quick slants are very important in the WCO.

Realistically your talking about a guy who has been hit countless times the last 3 year. Bulger was only good when we had the talent around him. Now we have talent in front of him and behind him. However we dont have the talent we had before to his right and left. What mean is we dont have holt and Bruce anymore.



We dont have a dominant OL yet. However we have the potential to get to that level.

But your talking about time where there was little film study. With our receiver who are still progressing i expect teams to line 9 men in the box with man-man on the outside with our receivers and the D zoning flats for those short yarders and screens.

Sure, the question of whether MB can recover his best traits; accuracy & a quick release, is yet to be answered but it makes more sense than trying to make him play a Limpehan deep vertical game.

Ditto for whether all this investment in the o-line will pay off but creating a dominant o-line is clearly the plan & can be successful without a spectacular stable of WRs.Some mention Philly. I think the ED Rams are an even better example because we didn't have McNabb.

In fact, one very good definition of a power running team is being able to beat a stacked box,isn't it?

Knowing it's coming & being able to stop it are two different things , sets up the play action pass..blah...blah blah..

No film study between 1983-93 when ED played?!

The 80s were an era I'd rather forget for a lot of reasons-I have pictures and you'll never see them-but it wasn't the Dark Ages.

There's nothing new in the NFL.Fused and recycled,yes,but not new. Didn't you see that piece on the oh-so-innovative Wildcat? Started back at the dawn of time with Pop Warner or Fred Flintstone. I forget which.

I would think we'd be better off worrying about the basics like blocking before we worry about some high-tech strategy thwarting our chances.

And isn't Spags supposed to be state-of-the-art himself?
Don't know a lot about the young Shurmur but his dad certainly was an innovator.

With all the brouhaha about character,I think it may be overlooked that smarts are a common trait among a lot of our latest acquisitions.True of MB as well,imo. Who's to say that we won't be running a new kind of high-tech power O,fusing some old wrinkles and new strategic wizardry ourselves.

it's still April. It could happen. LOL.

[Bar-bq]

Am i the only Rams fan thats doubting Bulger to play in the WCO? At times during the season Bulger had no protection so he started to not trust his OL. So he forced the ball out early and had little accuracy. So then the playbook had to adapt to that and ran short quick slants. Yet we still struggled. Quick slants are very important in the WCO.

I agree that the extent to which he can prove he's ready and able to play remains to be seen. I think the problem with playcalling last season wasn't that it changed to include more short passes, it was that the number of passes thrown was still proportionate before and after the change. Perphaps what's more important is that during that time, the blocking didn't change. To put it simply, the blocking sucked when we went long and the blocking sucked when we threw it short. Changing the plays doesn't do much to your ability to throw the ball if there is no protection.

Realistically your talking about a guy who has been hit countless times the last 3 year. Bulger was only good when we had the talent around him. Now we have talent in front of him and behind him. However we dont have the talent we had before to his right and left. What mean is we dont have holt and Bruce anymore.

It's true that Bulger was at his best when Holt, Bruce and Faulk (to a lesser extent) were in their respective primes, but it occurs to me that there are rarely ever successful QBs without a successful supporting cast. Legitimately there could be a long road ahead of us in terms of developing that talent, but I don't see how bringing in a receiver to enjoy the twilight of his career in St. Louis is going to help all that much. We could very well have the talent to Bulger's flanks, but, like Holt was at the start of his career, and like Bruce was at the start of his, it is of yet unproven.

But your talking about time where there was little film study. With our receiver who are still progressing i expect teams to line 9 men in the box with man-man on the outside with our receivers and the D zoning flats for those short yarders and screens.

The WCO, however, isn't exclusively a "short yards and screen passes" offense. A lot of teams have success with a WCO where receivers are allowed to run deep. Avery has the speed and illusiveness to be a target both in the short game and as a deep threat and I expect him to be used in both areas of the offense. Burton appears like an ideal possession receiver and we don't really know what we have with Robinson quite yet. I think you'll see us lean heavily on the run early on despite the eight man fronts, in order to mix it up as the season progresses

[Spyederman]

With Spags as coach now, I wonder how he feels about Plax. He may not even be able to play this year and he's probably not the real high character guy we'd want but there's no denying the talent. That's something the free agent WR class lacks this year is talent. I doubt it would happen and I'm not really certain I'd want it to but a 6'5" WR with speed and talent would look really nice lined up on the outside. Just a thought...