Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

/zn/ wrote:So one bad OL out of many consecutive good ones and that means he's just sailing on his rep?

How about this. If you actually think he is not a good OL coach, openly predict that as long as he is the Rams OL coach they will never again have a good line. Put it down in black and white.

And of course you would also be saying McV is negligent for keeping him.

...

The 49ers just made it to the Superbowl with guys off the street. Mike freaking Person is starting for them for Christ sakes. I didn't even know he was still in the league! The point is why did the 49ers do fine with backups and the Rams imploded? Coaching

PARAM wrote:I would think IF Kromer said, "yes coach, these young guys can cover for Saffold and Sullivan with no problem, I'll bet my job on it", he'd be gone. I don't think McVay believes for one NY second that this was Kromer's fault, or he'd be gone. I think it may be a case of they wanted to pay Goff. They paid Higbee (which turned out to be a good move). They knew they would have to pay Kupp, Fowler, Littleton, etc in the very near future AND they had a stable of young guys who were due to move up on the O line. Unfortunately they got injured, which was not Kromer's fault.

In other words money drove the loss of Saffold and Sullivan, not Kromer. It was a calculated decision made by McVay, Snead, Demoff and Kromer. But what a short memory we have as Sullivan wasn't exactly a favorite of many Ram fans.....in fact many believed he was the weak link on the OL (along with Blythe) and wanted him replaced. I do agree with Whitworth that OL continuity caused a lot of problems for the offense in 2019. The performances of Whitworth and Havenstein didn't help either.

Man you would have to think they asked his input. That's why he's the oline coach. I'm sure they asked if they could roll with them and he agreed. Imo anyway.

/zn/ wrote:

Bravo.
That was seriously funny.
I deserved that.

In my best Sherlock Holmes:
The game is afoot!

So, zn's latest plank in the Endless Kromer Defense is that I am the only Kromer critic on the internet.
ME: Not true. Saw zn being hounded on Original Herd the other day....same topic.....Whit's comments regarding Boom & Allen on Colin Cowherd. So....no sale.

Other zn planks used earlier:
-It wasn't Boom & Allen.....IT WAS THE RAM OTs WHO REGRESSED!
ME: Maybe having the Adam Goldberg Dancers performing the 2019 Musical "HotKnifeThruButter" in between our highly regarded (until 2019 that is) BookEnd OTs maybe negatively affected Whit and Hav's 2019 performance, eh? Plus I do remember Rob Havenstein being injured NO?

-If you blame Kromer for the mess early in 2019, then you have to sing his praises for the great OLine improvement later in the season.
ME: What movie were you guys watching? In Pittsburgh....3 Offensive pts....vs Ravens, 6 pts...in a MUST WIN GAME in Dallas, Kromer's Road Graders yielded 1.6 Yds per carry!! If THAT's IMPROVEMENT ....I'll pass!!!

Bottomline: I do not consider Kromer as some uber NFL OLine guru. As I laid out his 21 year patchwork quilt resume, with 2 and 3 years stops in numerous times zones....Kromer is not Bellichecks OLine guy in NE.....nope, just another grizzled vet NFL Assistant Coach with a lot of miles on his chassis. If United Van Lines give out bonus points per move, Kromer's next household move with UVL will be free.....even if it's to McMurdo Station, Antarctica!!!

Seriously...
The notion that the guy who holds the title of Rams OLine Coach and Run Game Co-Ordinator, and presumably DRAWS A SALARY FOR SAID POSITION.....is NOT responsible when his charges suck???!!!
C'mon!!

So, as lonely as it might be for me to hold a minority viewpoint, I will try to soldier on....like that Winston Churchill guy in 1940, when JFK dad, Joseph Kennedy, US Ambassador to Great Britain back then called the contrarian Churchill an idiot, for not accepting Nazi Germany deal to let Britain keep its Empire and allow Germany to run mainland Europe.
Guess what happened? FDR fired Joseph Kennedy.

/zn/ wrote:I don't think the problems with the OL reduce to the newbies on the interior. You can play newbies on line if the 2 OTs hold up and they didn't.

My response was if it is a fact Kromer gave his blessing on the line as constructed which the brass acted on... I agree with the rest of you assessment.

R4L wrote:Whitworth needs to take some of that blame as well. He really fell off the cliff last season.

This is absolutely what I was gonna post. He played like he’s already On the south side of washed up and now he’s making excuses and talking about who wasn’t there. Well what did you do brother.

And I see rams fans on twitter asking for him to be re-signed. Did they not watch him play last season. I’d rather trust a youngster.

I don't think anyone can disagree the o-line was the biggest problem, although that defense was definitely bad at times. But the debate is, whose fault is it? A few are saying it falls solely on the offense line coach. I don't buy it. Unless it comes out that Kromer makes all the decisions and can pick who he wants, I will be skeptical on that. I believe the final decision is well above his pay grade. He coaches the players they give him. I will concede he wasn't the wonder coach many thought he was before the 2019 season. I remember quite a few comments "In Kromer we trust". Not so much now.

Were they ready for the inevitable injuries that come? No, they were not ready. Were they ready before the injuries came? It didn't look like it. Is it all on Kromer? I don't believe that. I believe McVay was partly the reason. It was more than just Kromer.

McVay didn't adapt his system to the shortcomings of the inexperienced players. Defenses know his tendencies now. He's going to have to evolve if he doesn't want to be known as a one trick pony now that defenses have figured out his 11 personnel. He's a really smart guy. I think he can.

R4L wrote:No it's me speculating but I'm sure they asked for his input. You don't think he signed off on it? If that's the case then it's on McVay.

I imagine they did. I have felt it was a cap issue with their fingers crossed the Oline would stay as healthy as they had been, especially with the youth infusion.

Team miscalculation is my guess. I can believe AK would feel as good about going to war w/o RS.
Sully on the fence, , but he could call the assignments/adjustments as well as anyone...

Perhaps the front office and Sean didn’t bring those 2 players back and asked Kromer to work with what he has. And maybe he said he has faith in them. Both are probably true. Assigning blame should be to the collective. They all horribly misjudged the situation.

And I might lean toward taking the opinion of a 16 yr vet directly involved with the topic of discussion over speculation.