2011 St Louis Rams thread

[mojorizen7]

Ronins' got his Niner thread so i want one too.

Last season was a success in terms of a revival,but basically lying down for Pete Carroll's Seahawks on National TV in a win-and-your-in game definately leaves a bitter taste.

Anyway,moving forward....the news is:

According to NFL.com Rams OC Pat Shurmur is nearly a sure thing to become the new HC in Cleveland today. I guess Shurmur was GM Mike Holmgren's guy all the way.
I admit that i'm a tad perplexed by this. Shumur did i nice job of keeping Bradford upright and limiting the offensive mistakes this past season but OMFG was it mind numbingly conservative.Many feel that it was HC Spagnuolo who "handcuffed" Bradford and the offense all year.....IMO this has some merit but the bottom line is that Shurmurs offense(in his 2nd year as the OC) ranked:
26th in ppg(18.1)
26th in yards per gm(302.9)
21st in passing yrds(204.2)
25th in rushing yrds(98.6)

The flip side is that their weren't enough offensive weapons to expect anything better than those meager numbers. Yeah maybe....but IMO having watched the majority of Rams games last season(and many the season before) i just dont think there's enough imagination going on. I understand the reasons for running a conservative offense w/a rookie QB and no WR's.....but just because an offense is conservative doesn't mean it has be ineffective.

Apparently Holmgren has seen something in Shurmur over the last two seasons in St Lou that impressed him. Call me puzzled. BTW,if any member of the Rams coaching staff deserves praise for Bradford's season it's veteran QB's coach Dick Curl(insert joke here Mulli).
This old guy......

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Shurmur may turn out to be an outstanding HC....but im gonna have to see it to believe it.

Interesting too that the word is that former Denver Broncos HC Josh McDaniels is already being considered a serious canidate to replace Shurmur in St Louis as the Rams OC. Now thats left field....

When Shurmur departs, former Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels is among the candidates to replace him in St. Louis.

I've also heard former Vikings HC Brad Childress mentioned as a possible replacement,due to his background with Spagnuolo(they both got their starts as Asst coaches the same year working for Andy Reid in 1999).
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...e-browns-headcoaching-job?module=HP_headlines

Feel free to beatdown my team in here,give your 2 cents or just ignore it.
We are after all division rivals.......
Most of ya'll are pretty cool considering you're AZ Cardinals fans....most of ya.

 

[Mulli]

I hope for Brad Childress.

 

[desertdawg]

Sophomore slump coming up, order ready!

 

[Mulli]

Sophomore slump coming up, order ready!

+Stephen Jackson due for boo boo.

 

[Mulli]

Mike Sando seems to think Jim Zorn is a candidate in StL as well.

 

[Renz]

LaCanfora mentioned Josh McDaniels too, but it sounded like it was just a guess. I think that guy just reads Pro Football Talk and then reports it on NFL Network.

 

[Mulli]

LaCanfora mentioned Josh McDaniels too, but it sounded like it was just a guess. I think that guy just reads Pro Football Talk and then reports it on NFL Network.

Uh oh, this all smells of problems for StL just like when Norv Turner left Alex Smith.

 

[D-Dogg]

Probably win the division, if the Cards don't.

 

[mojorizen7]

I think Spags promotes from within.This way he can guarantee to keep running the WCO and retain the offensive staff for the most part.

Rams WR 's coach Nolan Cromwell is my early guess as the new OC.
Some of you may remember Cromwell from way back in his playing days with the LA Rams.4 time pro bowl DB and a member of the '79 Super Bowl squad.

Cromwell has been a defensive assistant and ST's coach for Mike Holmgren in Green Bay,and WR's coach for the Packers,Seahawks and came to the Rams last season and his resume' is impressive.

I will say that Cromwell did a nice job getting something out of nothing with our WR's last season. Donnie Avery & Mark Clayton going down early etc...but i'm not sure i'd like this guy moving to OC. On the other hand there's the continuity issue......

 

[Mulli]

I think Spags promotes from within.This way he can guarantee to keep running the WCO and retain the offensive staff for the most part.

Rams WR 's coach Nolan Cromwell is my early guess as the new OC.
Some of you may remember Cromwell from way back in his playing days with the LA Rams.4 time pro bowl DB and a member of the '79 Super Bowl squad.

Cromwell has been a defensive assistant and ST's coach for Mike Holmgren in Green Bay,and WR's coach for the Packers,Seahawks and came to the Rams last season and his resume' is impressive.

I will say that Cromwell did a nice job getting something out of nothing with our WR's last season. Donnie Avery & Mark Clayton going down early etc...but i'm not sure i'd like this guy moving to OC. On the other hand there's the continuity issue......

SoftliSTL Tony Softli by espn_nfcwest



Bill Musgrave Asst Head/QB Coach for Atlanta Falcons, should be a strong canidate to replace Pat Shurmur. I worked with Bill in Carolina!

14 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

 

[mojorizen7]

Mike Sando seems to think Jim Zorn is a candidate in StL as well.

I hadn't heard that. Interesting.....

About Brad Childress......aside from the player/coach fiasco last season,i had heard rumblings about his questionable playcalling as HC.
I wasn't witness to that. Im not "up" on the Vikings because i stopped watching Brett Fing Favre/Vikings reports over a year ago.

Is Childress that bad?

 

[mojorizen7]

According to ESPN's John Clayton the Rams hiring Josh McDaniels as their next OC is a "no brainer" and he's surprised the deals not done yet.

Audio link:http://www.101espn.com/section/wxos_audio_archive

Also: http://www.twitter.com/StullySTL

I've considered JMac as our possible OC for 2 days now, and i'm fully on board with this. Its a risky hire i admit....but i'd like to see an offense that takes some risks next year.

I say get it done.

If our offense can score 24-27ppg along with Spags defense, we're going to win alot of football games IMO.

 

[mojorizen7]

Another source:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6023836

Former Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels traveled to St. Louis for a meeting Saturday with Steve Spagnuolo about the possibility of becoming the Rams' offensive coordinator, a league source confirmed to ESPN's Ed Werder.
While McDaniels has attracted interest from numerous teams in recent weeks, the Rams are his second interview. He previously met with the Minnesota Vikings, where offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is waiting for his future to be decided.
With Brett Favre retiring and Tarvaris Jackson Jackson scheduled for free agency, the Vikings will be seeking to find quarterbacks since only rookie Joe Webb remains at the position.

The Rams job would seem more enticing with quarterback Sam Bradford having completed a successful rookie season after being the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft.
The Rams' position became vacant when Pat Shurmur agreed to become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
If the Rams hire McDaniels, Bradford would likely be changing offensive systems to the one McDaniels learned in New England.
Tom Brady and Matt Cassel had success in the system in New England, as did Kyle Orton in Denver.

 

[mojorizen7]

Josh Mc Daniels as OC is a done deal earlier this afternoon. Posted it in the Cardinals board(sorry bout that....i was excited).
I just wanted to take this oppourtunity to officially be excited about what i will now call from this point forward:
SpagVaneyMac football in St Louis. I'm hungry....now lets go get some playmakers.

 

[Ronin]

OOOOO i like the Josh Mcdaniels as the OC of the Rams, Instant Upgrade IMHO.

 

[mojorizen7]

SJ39's 21 yrd TD in the Pro Bowl.
WARNING: mute the volume...it must be a fan or family member bootleg vid.


I hope we can finally land a legit 2back in the offseason. We need a change of pace back who can get to the edge quickly,catch passes,return punts and understands blitz pickups(still Steven Jackson's achilles heel).
Darren Sproles would be ideal. We'll lkely just draft a RB around the 4th or 5th rd though....

 

[Linderbee]

I wanna see Fitz's TD.

Here we go (and yes, I know what thread we're in, but it's the smack shack, so I don't care!)

 

[mojorizen7]

Most DraftMocks i've seen have St Lou taking WR Julio Jones from Alabama at #14.

Many expect J.Jones draft stock to shoot up between now and draft day(putting him out of reach for the Rams picking at #14),let me just say that i hope this isn't the case. I would love the Rams to draft this young beastly WR to give Bradford a huge target to throw red zone jump balls to for the next 10 years.

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Julio Jones(WR) Alabama Crimson Tide
6'4"
220 lbs

2008
58 rec for 924 yrds and 4 TD's with an 15.9 avg
2009
43 rec for 596 yrds and 4 TD's with an 13.9 avg
2010
78 rec for 1,133 yrds and 7 TD's with an 14.5 avg

Video from his sophmore season here.....(the music is awful)

 

[desertdawg]

Did they really have to give Bradford a box of kleenex after telling him about the new offense?

 

[mojorizen7]

Did they really have to give Bradford a box of kleenex after telling him about the new offense?

LOL i hadn't heard that one.....kleenex?....no,maybe it was kartwheels.

 

[mojorizen7]

I wanna see Fitz's TD.

Here we go (and yes, I know what thread we're in, but it's the smack shack, so I don't care!)

Its cool,i'm a Fitz fan too.
Just keep the rest of the Big Red outta here! ; )

 

[mojorizen7]

If Julio Jones is gone at #14........

I would have no problem with St Lou drafting RB Mark Ingram.
He could easily be the best value sitting at #14(in the event that both AJ Green & J.Jones are off the board).
Why take a RB in the 1st rd with SJ39 still running hard in the prime of his career? Because Ingram is an all-around back and a playmaker IMO,and SJ39 isn't getting any younger.
Dont forget that Marshall Faulk was still "the guy" back in '04 when the Rams took S.Jackson with the 24th overall pick.

The Rams may have returned to relevancy last season,but this team still needs some fresh,younger,core pieces to build around Bradford moving forward offensively. IMO SJ39 won't be a part of it once this team finally arrives back into the true elite contending teams.

If the WR's are gone....i want Ingram.

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Mark Ingram (RB) Alabama
5'10" 215lbs
2008
143 carries 728 yrds 12 TD's 5.1 avg
7 rec 54 yrds 7.7 avg

2009
271 carries 1,858 yrds 17 TD's 6.1 avg
32 rec 334 yrds 3TD's 10.4 avg

2010
158 carries 875 yrds 13 TD's 5.5 avg
21 rec 282 yrds 1 TD 13.4 avg

Reminds me of Emmitt Smith. Maybe its just the number(#22) or maybe its his relentless running style that blends power with being slippery....plus his strong character .

 

[mojorizen7]

Some other early round guys i like for St Lou:
Mike Pouncey(OG)

Bruce Carter(LB)

Ahmad Black(SS)

Titus Young(WR)

 

[mojorizen7]

Mojo's Mock 1.0

Rams offense needs better players NOW,Bradford needs weapons to throw to,the OLine needs to get better in the middle,and this teams a legit #2 RB.
Defensively we need more talent as well....but Spags has proven he can draw blood from a stone with his schemes. We need to get faster at OLB,and get deeper on our front seven.

Rd 1
Julio Jones WR Alabama
6'4" 220
Despite his rising stock i still think he'll be there at #14. If so this is a no brainer pick. A beast. I do think that we may have a chance to trade down with possibly New England,who has the ammunition to trade up and leapfrog Miami in order to draft Mark Ingram. If Jones is gone i'm all over that.

Rd 2
Danny Watkins OG Baylor
6'4" 310
Just what the doctor ordered.
If the Rams decide to move up in the draft i think this where they might make a move if they feel that Watkins will be gone at #47. The NE Patriots will be big players in this draft IMO.

Rd 3
Bruce Carter OLB N.C.
6'2" 241
Relentless,can cover,pursue and tackle. Probably needs some coaching up though.

Rd 4
Kendall Hunter RB Oklahoma St
5'8" 190
Not sure if he's still here in the 4th rd.....he shouldn't be IMO.
I love Mark Ingram,and i think their similiar. I'd like to see us get "The Hunter" somewhere in the early/mid rds.

Rd 5
Ahmad Black SS Florida
5'8' 185
He's slipping but will he slip this far? Of course he will,it's Mojo's fantasy mock!

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Dont care about his lack of size or combine numbers either,he's a football player.

Rd 6
Ricky Elmore DE Arizona
6'4" 255
Deep draft for Defensive lineman. Lets get a couple guys down here.
I've seen this kid actually play live. Elmore is a Spags type of kid. Could step right in and be a valuable rotation guy. He may go in the 5th rd though.

Rd 7
Cedric Thornton DT Southern Arkansas
6'3' 309

 

[mojorizen7]

Rams to open at home on 9/11 vs the Philadelphia Eagles


"When i left you i was but the learner,now I AM THE MASTER."

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"Only a master of defense Spags."