by Howard Balzer
The Rams won't be changing their schemes during their bye week. They won't be making any drastic changes.
What they will be doing is examining closely what they are at this point. Many teams around the NFL are trying to figure that out right now, while establishing a personality.
Aside from playing bad football, this Rams team doesn't have an identity.
From an explosive beginning when running back Steven Jackson scored on a 47-yard run on the first offensive play of the season, the offense has quickly degenerated into a dysfunctional mess that has was fueled by the injury Jackson suffered on that run and the loss of wide receiver Danny Amendola, quarterback Sam Bradford's security blanket, also in that first game.
The coaching staff wasted no time Monday beginning the self-scouting process that could also include some soul-searching. Players will practice Tuesday and Wednesday, but most of the coach's time will be spent being realistic assessing the talent on hand and figuring out the best way of utilizing it when the season resumes with an Oct. 16 game in Green Bay.
As coach Steve Spagnuolo said Monday, "You never know when you get the schedule at the beginning of the year if the bye week comes at a good time. In this particular case I think it does."
It wasn't difficult for Spagnuolo to list what will be scrutinized closely.
"Certainly protections, certainly third down on both sides, certainly the run fronts on offense. These are the things that just stick out. You guys can probably list another five or six of them, but we'll look at them all. And the thing you do have to be careful with, with that, and I've learned this over the years, is you can't go searching for things that are not there.
"And you can't knee-jerk react to things that you find, because in a lot of instances it just comes back to fundamentals. I know that's not the glorious answer that you want, but a lot of times that's what it comes down to."
Ah, fundamentals. Like catching the ball. Like blocking somebody. Like lining up correctly or not starting too soon.
Games can change when a team is simply opportunistic and fundamentally sound.
"I think some of that is we're living through some growing pains there," he said. "We've got guys out there for the first time in NFL games. I know it's the fourth game and I'm not trying to make excuses, but if you don't catch the football ... both sides of the ball; if you don't catch the football, come up with it when it's on the ground it makes it hard to win. It changes everything when you get the turnovers on defense and when you catch those particular balls on offense. The whole thing changes."
When asked about changing schemes (something that would be unrealistic anyway during a season), Spagnuolo said, "Both schemes offensively and defensively,...
-10-04-2011, 10:19 PM
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