post by Ted
It has caused great pain in my life to remain a St. Louis/L.A. Rams fan for the last many years. In the last 13 seasons, we've won precisely 68 times... yes, you read that correctly, 68! That is to say, a winning percentage around 33% or roughly 5 games per season. Yikes!
If that is not a statement in futility, I have no idea what is.
So it's a new year. Hope springs eternal this time of the year. We have an entirely new coaching staff. We are playing our second year in the City of Angels and have eliminated some of the logistical crap that Fisher had to deal with (that's NOT an excuse, btw!). We have some new pieces to the puzzle on what was one of the worst offenses in the league the last two years under head coach Jeff Fisher and offensive coordinator, Rob Boras.
So, with that, I am going to take a look at the three biggest reasons why I believe the Rams will be a dramatically improved team this year.
1.) Sean McVay
He came from the Washington Redskins where he spent 7 years, the last three of those as the offensive coordinator. Their offense ranked 13th, 17th and then 3rd last year. I would have liked to see a bit more consistency in those numbers, but they're better than the last 13 years rankings for the Rams.
Another thing about McVay is what the players are talking about, and that is the positive energy he brings. Most of the players have described it as "infectious" and opposite of the Jeff Fisher years.
He has hired Matt LaFleur as his offensive coordinator. The two worked together in the past at Washington, and have very similar philosophies when it comes to running an offense. LaFleur spent last season as the Atlanta Falcons QB coach for Matt Ryan, and Ryan had an MVP year. Note also that McVay and LaFleur were responsible for developing Kirk Cousins! So McVay will be calling the plays but LaFleur will help implement the offense that McVay wants to run.
On the downside, McVay is the youngest ever head coach in the NFL and obviously, entirely unproven in that role. However, he is smart enough to check the ego at the door and admit that he needs help in his new role, which brings me to point number two.
2.) Wade Phillips
Wade has around 40 years of coaching experience in the NFL, with 34 of those years as either defensive coordinator or head coach. There is a GREAT article written by Alden Gonzalez at ESPN (the whole article is worth a read or two!), but check out this little section of it:
"Below is a look at each defense before and after Phillips came in. They're listed with their rankings in defensive DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), then yards and points allowed, followed by the number of Pro Bowl players from that defense. Phillips, who has coached 30 Pro Bowl players and has been a part of 20 top-10 defenses, started as defensive coordinator at all those stops except Dallas, where he was head coach. His defenses before 1988 are not listed because DVOA was unavailable for them.
2014-15 Denver Broncos
Before Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, T-16th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.
After Phillips: 1st in DVOA, 1st in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 5 Pro Bowlers.
2010-11 Houston Texans
Before Phillips: 31st in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 29th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
After Phillips: 6th in DVOA, 2nd in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
2006-07 Dallas Cowboys
Before Phillips: 14th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
After Phillips: 9th in DVOA, 9th in yards allowed, 13th in points allowed; 4 Pro Bowlers.
2003-04 San Diego Chargers
Before Phillips: 30th in DVOA, 27th in yards allowed, 31st in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
After Phillips: 13th in DVOA, 18th in yards allowed, 11th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
2001-02 Atlanta Falcons
Before Phillips: 26th in DVOA, 30th in yards allowed, 24th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
After Phillips: 12th in DVOA, 19th in yards allowed, 8th in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
1994-95 Buffalo Bills
Before Phillips: 19th in DVOA, 17th in yards allowed, 22nd in points allowed; 1 Pro Bowler.
After Phillips: 10th in DVOA, 13th in yards allowed, T-12th in points allowed; 2 Pro Bowlers.
1988-89 Denver Broncos
Before Phillips: 27th in DVOA, 22nd in yards allowed, 20th in points allowed; 0 Pro Bowlers.
After Phillips: 4th in DVOA, 3rd in yards allowed, 1st in points allowed; 3 Pro Bowlers.
The Falcons, Chargers, Texans and Broncos (the second time around) each made the transition from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Phillips. The Rams will do the same."
That is stunning! The Rams defense under Fisher and DC Gregg Williams was always the Rams strong point, but the offense was so dreadful, that the D was a wreck for the last 1/3 of the season because they were simply out of gas.
Phillips, out of those 34 seasons, had a top 5 defense 10 times and a top 10 defense 20 years, by my count. He has the personnel to do it all again!
So if we truly have an offense that isn't truly offensive, the D should be on the field for less snaps and be able to sustain their high level of play for the entire season.
A win-win situation.
3.) The blind side
The Rams biggest improvement on a truly horrific offense, is the situation at left tackle. They traded away Greg "the human turnstile" Robinson last week after acquiring Andrew Whitworth as a free agent from the Cincinnati Bengals.
That is a huge step up in talent and adds a veteran to a line that desperately needed someone to show them how to succeed. He should be able to provide an extra second for the play to develop which should be a great help for our 2nd year QB, Goff.
That's it for now. Next, I'll take these things into consideration while examining the Rams 2017 schedule and how I think their year will turn out.
Thanks for reading!
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