 WHAT EXPLAINS THE RAMS TURNAROUND? BY JIM
FADLER (Nov 23) |
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HOORAY.
This is like my Christmas come true for the next 500 or so years. A pair of home
play off games in the making......too sweet to be true. AN ADAPTABLE OFFENSE. I think that the timing of the Rams offensive scheme [Air Martz] could not be better. So many teams have resorted to blitzing and zone blitzing to combat the West Coast slants scheme that an offense that demands that the defense play more honestly and match up cannot help but be successful. Football is often imitation and trend followed by innovation on defense and countering by the offense. I see the evolution of the Coryell/Gibbs/Zampese/Turner/Martz offense as the next big thing in pro football and it causing defenses to blitz less and look for more active and hence lighter defensive ends and placing a premium on pass coverage among linebackers again. If you zone blitz the Rams offense they can tear that up in a quarter because of the variety of the sets and the late shifting. It forces a defense to commit to coverage or leave someone open....remind anyone of the Jaguars defense?.....Hmmmmmmm??............ I know there is a couple of variants off the Bruce revese that they still have not run, one of which is a pass by Bruce to Roland Williams. Martz has always kept something back since training camp and I hear there is still more waiting for the playoffs. But I have said this a couple of times but it bears repeating...a long pass offense can be shut down the easiest of any offensive system if the defense is willing to commit the resources to do so. Conversely the way the Rams won in SF on Sunday is the way that truly strong teams have to win games in between games 10-16. Consider this part of the deal....coaches and defensive coordinators are not stupid and do watch film (unless of course you were part of Dave Wannstedt's staff last year against the Rams where you acted like you never saw any of the Rams film from the year, especially from the Miami game where the Dolphins taught the league how to shut the Rams down). I am totally convinced that given enough time and enough film a team can scheme to take something away. The longer the season goes on the more this becomes prevalent. That is why typically scoring will go downward as the season goes on. You have injuries and fatigue setting in...but sometimes it is just plain exposure. Teams that are going to win in the game 10-16 stretch of the schedule have to be able to grind some games out and play good defense....or they end up sitting at home. OTHER FACTORS IN THE TURNAROUND. One of the wisest things I have read by Jim Hanifan was to the effect that a contending team needed to have the bulk of its players between 4 and 6 years into their careers. If you look at this years Rams squad there are 20 players that fit that definition, and of those 20 there are 8 starting on both sides of the ball. What it amounts to is a natural growth and maturation process for some of the squad like Fred Miller and Kevin Carter. For some younger players like Orlando Pace, Dexter McCleon and Robert Holcombe it is a question of the coaching starting to take hold and their growing understanding of what it takes to play in the league. In the case of Pace in particular I think that he entered the season determined to make people remember him across the country. He has just been destroying people all year long. The Rams drafts in 1995 and 1996 were blown...1995 should have set the standard for the team in St Louis but instead gave us the comedy of Weeble Wobble Jesse James and Zach "take the pain..no no take the pain away please" Wiegert. The philosophy under John Becker and the previous regime was to draft to measurable numbers like height and weight and speed timing as opposed to pure football ability. Under Charlie Armey you saw an abrupt change in attitude toward measurables (particularly in free agency) and an emphasis on what can they do on the field. In particular John Becker would never have taken a chance on a player like London Fletcher. I am not going to check it but the Rams must lead or be near the top in the number of undrafted free agents on the squad. The Rams finally got the picture in free agency. For years the Rams entered the free agency period as if they could take their time and make late moves to sign players. In particular the offseason of 1998 was very frustrating for me as I watched guard after guard being snapped up just as the Rams were bringing the players into town for pasta....other teams were already making offers. This year they came out quick and strong and made Adam Timmerman (in my mind the single most attractive free agent this offseason) an offer that blew him away and most off all they did it quickly. The time frame to sign, court and bring in an impact free agent is around 2-2.5 weeks after it starts. Very rarely do you see a guy last that long like Jamir Miller did....if you don't get into the hunt quickly you are basically signing guys that are either practice squad fodder or you are getting guys that are injury cases that may retire at the start of training camp (sound familiar?). Vermeil changed his approach toward conditioning....since he has been here he has put a huge emphasis on the offseason weight lifting. This allows the players to basically stay in shape all year long. But the issue was that then he would work the players in training camp as if they were still fat and sassy...the problem that no one really came to grips with last year amidst all the controversy is that the squad and almost every squad out there these days does not need to get into shape in July and August anymore. They need to work on technique. Which is what they did this year...they eased up on the work, kept the legs fresher, and worked hard on the new offense. They also got rid of some for want of a better word bums in Wiegert and Gandy. Gandy had a profoundly negative effect on the line in attitue and he never would commit to strength conditioning. Contrast that with Orlando Pace who demanded that his mates "wake up and get you some" in practice and chiseled his body in the offseason. Wiegert was unpopular on the team and with the trainers and IMHO he will be run out of the league in two years unless he changes his tune. On the coaching front I think Vermeil has done a great job of keeping the players from losing focus and looking beyond the next game. I think he understands better what a good player is like in the 90s... by his own admission he was fooled at first by the speed and strength of the 90s player as opposed to the 70s. I think they have benefited from some luck....like Mike Ditka giving up a #2 for Kennison and Bill Polian deciding that he would give us Marshall Faulk. But the Rams were also aggresive enough to take advantage of both lucky situations. |
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