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18Marc Bulger11.11%2Mike Martz16.67%3Marshall Faulk5.56%1the Offensive Line16.67%3the run defense38.89%7the pass rush0.00%0the running game0.00%0the wide receivers0.00%0team chemistry11.11%2Joey Goodspeed0.00%0 -
Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
I think this has to go all the way to the top. Martz. I don't dislike him as much as some, but I don't like him as well as others. But I think this is his "prove it" year. If he leads this team (with its' problems and weaknesses) to the playoffs, then I will give him all due respect. But, if he takes this team (with all of it's strengths) and doesn't make the playoffs, I think some of you will finally have to realize that he was a great OC, but not quite ready for the HC job...This space for rent...
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
I just hope the D is a good as TX thinks it will be. All ulcers aside.
...That's the Run Defense...Last edited by Guest; -09-10-2004, 09:36 AM.Comment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
It's team chemistry, which is to say, no one component is going to dictate this season. I think we have weaknesses that can be overcome, but I don't think we have strengths that can be completely relied on either. If we win this year, it will be a true team effort. From Martz to Smoker, from Landetta to Jackson, it is going to take everyone's "A" game.The more things change, the more they stay the same.Comment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
Luck? Just kidding. I'm gonna go with the run defense. I have no question that the offense will be able to move the ball. I just hope the run D can prevent other teams from racking up as many points. We'll be fine.Comment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
Good response Terry, I agree with everything you said. Without a doubt, Martz fills in the blank.I think this has to go all the way to the top. Martz. I don't dislike him as much as some, but I don't like him as well as others. But I think this is his "prove it" year. If he leads this team (with its' problems and weaknesses) to the playoffs, then I will give him all due respect. But, if he takes this team (with all of it's strengths) and doesn't make the playoffs, I think some of you will finally have to realize that he was a great OC, but not quite ready for the HC job...Comment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
I have to say he did a pretty good job of keeping it together through all the injuries last year. Just something to ponder.JUST WIN ONE FOR THE FANS:ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram::ram:
"HIT HARD, HIT FAST, AND HIT OFTEN"Adm. William "Bull" HalseyComment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
The run D, has to be stout or teams will just run over us,eat up the clock and keep the ball away from our O..
steve :ramlogo:"The breakfast Club":helmet:Comment
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Re: The Rams will only go as far as ______ takes them.
IMHO its all about our defense especially the run defense. We can't win without a good defense; 2000 proved that. Our run defense has to be tough. If its not, Arch and Williams will have to move up to help in run support and then are corners will be taken advantage of. Not that we have terrible corners, but if a QB knows that he doesn't have to worry about Arch or Williams over the top; that QB is going to smile.Comment
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Please, this is not a flame. I actually like Mike Martz, and enjoy watching his teams, and I think he is a decent coach. But after thinking and looking at the data, and all the playoff games, I no longer think the Rams will be a CHAMPIONSHIP caliber team with him as the head coach. I think they can be a good team - around .500 in a weak division and make the playoffs most years, but not a championship team.
The arguments for keeping Martz:
1. He has a great winning %. Well so does Marty S. in San Diego. The goal is to win championships. And before we place too much stake in the percentage, the Rams play in the weakest division, and weaker last year than this one. The data: The 2004 Rams had a 6-1 record against
NFC West teams but were 3-8 outside the division. So much of that great record is having a decent team in a weak division. This year one of the wins came to a team that had already sewn up the playoffs.
2. He is an offensive genius I. Well he might be, but this does not mean he should be a head coach, and at times being a HC hurts his playcalling. As a OC he had someone superior to him to reign him in, to temper his crazy tendencies, to review his gameplan with the power to tell him no. As a HC he does not have that, and unlike most too conservative OC's he needs this. So as a HC it hurts his positives as an OC.
3. He is an offensive genius II. The second way being a OC/HC hurts him is that he gets so tied up in the offensive playcalling that his game management game decisions, personnel awareness (oh, you mean S. Jackson didn't play).
4. The players love him. Well the players love Mike Tice also, and I think Tice is the worse coach in the playoffs. Do the players love Bellichek - I doubt it, but they respect him and play for him, and yes fear him enough to always play hard and physical. For all that love, the Rams have too many games where they are flat (see Miami game for example), or just seem to give up against physical teams (see Atlanta and Buffalo).
5. He won a Superbowl as an OC, and got to one as a HC. In thinking about it, this is the one that is most often listed but is one of the weakest. Yes he won one as a COORDINATOR which is much different than being a head coach. Anyone remember how many great coordinators who won Superbowls were not great head coaches (anyone remember Buddy Ryan being carried off after the Chicago Superbowl? How many Superbowls did he win?). He got to one as a HC. Yes he did, and I don't think anyone can argue that he had dominating talent, and lost to a less talented team (ditto for the Carolina lost last year).
The reasons for going in another direction:
1. Martz has proven he can win with dominating talent he has not proven he can win with less than dominating talent (see New England, even the Eagles for examples). This would be okay if he...-01-17-2005, 09:26 AM -
Let’s put this into more of a prospective instead of a blanket statement regarding talent. First of all the title of the thread "I don't buy this no talent thing" alludes to the Rams having no talent. When I first replied to that thread I was in the mind-set that “No talent” really meant less talent which is undeniably true.
Each year you go back, the Rams have been raped for players and we have been so inept in the draft that our talent level has suffered. This does not mean that the Rams defense is without talent, this simply means that our talent is not at the level it was in the past.
Do I really need to go over each position and compare what we had in talent to what is on the field now? I won’t because I trust that everyone is clear on this. As far as the talent this team has, sure they all have at one time or another shown they can play, however the "one time or another" part is the problem. To say the Rams have all this talent because someone picked up a fumble and scampered 40 yards for a td six weeks ago or because someone had a sack or two in one game out of 9 is reaching as far as declaring that player has as much talent as someone who played that position in the past.
One thing we all seem to agree on is what really ails the rams and that is motivation. Where I disagree is I think Martz is finally trying to address this problem albeit it may be too late but he is putting emphasis on being ready and fired up something he has shunned in the past. This has been my gripe since 2000 and while many pointed to the Rams W/L record as proof that I was full of it, I denounced the Rams achievements as underachievement.
Martz fell into a crop of talent like no other coach I can remember and because of the tremendous talent the Rams had, the Underachievement during his rein has gone unnoticed by many. This of course is why you cannot simply look at the W/L record as the end all be all as far as how good a coach is.
Now what you’re seeing is the inauguration of Martz into the parity level where coaches have to get at least the potential out of the players that he has and if he is worth his salt should be able to get more. What Martz is learning is he cannot get to these levels without motivation.
Some believe that the Rams were the model of motivation because they won in the past now suddenly Martz cannot motivate them anymore. Wrong. This team under Martz has ignored motivation and now you’re seeing the alarm go off because now that the Rams possess talent equal to other teams in the league and far less then in the recent past the inevitable has become reality.
To make matters worse he has hired a DC that has never shown that he can motivate a defense. Martz has now put the onus on himself to get the team motivated because he sees that there is nobody in the organization capable of doing it. Can he do it? Can he pull...-11-25-2004, 10:46 PM -
THE FIRE WITHIN
Congruence: The relationship between your words and your actions.
Or
Walk your talk.
Talent is necessary however motivation is the fire that begins from a smoldering ember. Without fanning the ember into a flame, that ember will continue to smolder. The Rams have shown a smoldering ember that is capable of roaring into a bonfire. This was apparent in the final minutes of the Seattle game, in San Diego two years ago and against San Francisco in the final Monday Night football game of that same season.
So what fanned those flames into bonfires within each of the players on those days? My guess is embarrassment. Embarrassed due to being apart of a grossly underachieving team.
What fanned the flames of the New England Patriots when they upset the heavily favored Rams in the Superbowl? My guess is urgency.
I also theorize that someone on that team (Probably Belichick) saw the urgency and implored that urgency throughout the entire squad.
It seems that Mike Martz has recently discovered that talent alone is not enough. It took the Rams to drop to the parity level as far as talent before he emphasized the importance of getting his team up for games.
Only after the loss in Miami did he come out and talk about intensity with intensity. I don’t know if anyone else has realized this but the recent articles from the Post Dispatch along with “Martz on the Mike“have shown a noticeable escalation in Martz talking about being up and ready for games.
It looks as if he has discovered a new tool in coaching and is now going through the adolescent stages of applying it.
What I am refering to when I say "adolescent stages" is hitting on Wednesday before the Seahawk game which to Mike Martz is what fanned the ember into a flame.
I think Martz believed that it was the hitting that motivated the team. I believe it was more then that. I think the team was responding to Martz’s intensity more then the hitting itself and that intensity is what carried over into the game against Seattle.
My feeling is that Martz may have put to much emphasis on the hitting and never realized that it was his own intensity and urgency that fanned the ember into a roaring fire.
In sum Mike Martz may have had the illusion that all he had to do to get his team up was hit on Wednesday; not realizing the intensity he himself brought on the prior Week.
I know there are a lot of fans here on the board that measure everything by wins and losses. This was oh so very apparent during the Warner Bulger debates. At that time, I was not compelled to look at the W/L column to base my feelings on. I saw a very good QB that looked to be getting a bum rap and I saw another QB that had great potential who probably felt as bad for Warner as anyone did.
What...-11-23-2004, 05:24 AM -
I would think it impossible not long ago but thinking about '09, could Martz actually be a candidate for HC next year? I think there are some ideas that support it happening.
First, he's going to help Nolan keep his job this year so Martz won't be inheriting that situation.
Second, in the Martz-Bowl today, it was clear that the offense in Detroit is far worse without him and that it probably wasn't "his" fault that things fell apart.
Third, he's clearly showing that he's willing to use a RB if the RB is worth using.
Fourth, familiarity often plays a role in which coaches are hired. In this case, it's within the division as well as former coach.
Fifth, if they want Bulger to come back to life, who better to do it?
Sixth, even though the current staff isn't using any of them, the Rams have a bunch of fast WR's that Martz, I think, prefers.
Seventh, Martz and Saunders are still on good terms aren't they?
I'm sure there are more ways to spin the possibility of Martz coming back but I'm actually open to the idea of it. Especially if the front office is blown up like it should be. I thought it was the right move to get rid of him since they were keeping the FO in place back then but now, it makes sense on many levels to bring him back. I don't know if he'd be a better HC now but I do know that he would be in a much different situation as the HC. Last time, he was a first time HC and only had 1 year as an OC under his belt. He was simply too inexperienced to inherit a team much less one that had all the expectations of the GSOT Rams. This time around, he would be re-building and "saving" the team so that same pressure wouldn't be there.
The more I think about it, the more curious I become about this.-09-22-2008, 01:50 AM -
....was the air coming out of the St. Louis Rams - Ballon.
In the front office, people are reacting to the vacuum left by Martz' absence. Some will seek his power, some will seek to surplant him as head coach, some will still seek to undermine him and ascend to a higher level in the pecking order. Again, I loved Martz as an OC and have liked him less as the HC. I like him as a person and wish him a safe and speady recovery. Will he or will he not comeback (this year) or make a comeback (next year)? Only time will tell. But - what will happen to the Team in the interim??
I suppose all organiozations are like this to some exent, but the bottom line is that I would bet the whole organization is reelling.
On the field, I am sure that there are two or maybe three factions. The players that "Loved" Martz, the players that did not appreciate his style or management skills and those that are apathetic. I hope the latter group is fairly small (I am not sure I want a player like that around... e.g. one that does not care). As for the other groups, those that loved Martz will give all they have to his memory and press on to make the club a winner. Those that did not like Martz, may start to perform for a new regime (Vitt&Co.) - I hope.
Also on the field, the vacuum of leadership is adding to the sucking sound.
On the O...
Bulger ... to quiet and inconsistent
Faulk... no Playing Time... he needs to become the on the field leader and coach for the O imho. Something that has been lacking this season so far.
Jackson... talented but too young...needs to establish a pro-work ethic
Holt... could be... but I wonder if he is respected by other players besides the receoving corp.
Bruce.... injured...
Pace...a big maybe...
All others...I am not sure I see the desire! Any thoughts on this??
On the D......gulp...
No Aeneas.... a big big big loss... (I still hear that air rushing away...)
Claiborn or Coakley...(have not stepped up to the challenge - maybe that is why we got them cheap??)
Arch....not ready... too self centered as a player imho
Other DBs... I do not think so..
T. Jackon.... MAYBE he is our best hope...but he does not start.
Other DLmen... too young and lack the leadership skills.
Maybe Pisa can step up???
So, lack of leadership in the FO and lack of leadership on the field. I have a bad feeling about all of this and the Rams play a "real" team on Monday night. I wish I had better thoughts about all this, but I do not. The glass that was once half-full is now less than half full - indeed.
I have never seen myself as a "sky is falling" type of person, I do "worst case" things and then decide on how they could get better, and I think that is what I am doing now.
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