[69RamFan]

Funny Vid,,,

Had to post....

[HellRam]

Funny Vid,,,

Had to post....

Yeah it's pretty nuts. I was thinking after the way Jared played during the playoffs (no turnovers) maybe he gained some favorability with McVay again. Nope! I think Goff was shocked by that too.

[HopHead Ram]

If the direction supersedes the prior season,,, then by all means, the joy will be there...
But if Stafford doesn't win his first playoff game or by chance doesnt make the playoffs... then by all means,,, thats a bust in my eyes... Cause the RAMs gave up two first round draft choice,,, because McVay/Snead felt that the QB is the only piece missing...

In my eyes, I felt it was more than that.... with Goff, he needs a strong middle of the OL...
In my eyes,,, that could of been fixed... and kept those draft choices for the future...

Now is Stafford better than Goff? I would say yes,,, but is he overwhelming better.. I dont see it... then you add Stafford's age vs Goff's age, and Stafford's history of injuries... especially his back....

Plus you have to take notice,,, Stafford had a pretty good OL in Detroit,,, especially up the middle... If the RAMs don't fix that, we are not going to the SB...

TB, GB and NO have a better OL and supporting cast around their QBs...
our OL is no where near as those teams in the NFC...

Please,,,, I hope you're not one of those that follow PFF and will state that the RAMs had the third best OL... if you fall for that, then I don't know what to tell you... I would be shocked if you did,,,,,

I will not argue that our Oline was an issue because it really was. Too inconsistent. I also agree with you that it all starts with the Center. That is our most glaring hole IMO.

Now all that being said. The fracture between McVay and Goff went way beyond just poor Oline play. Purely speculative but I still feel this came down to Goff not following the design of the plays and just consistently making poor reads. Sure there were times when the protection broke down and forced Goff to improvise but there were plenty of times I saw Goff just make the safer choice or just the wrong read. His confidence took a shot and McVay isn't the type of coach to coddle a supposed vet. There was no path to reconciliation because McVay had already made up his mind. The pressure of trying to be pixel perfect in this market under this coach got to him. There is no other way I can rationalize his regression.

And to bring it all home. If this team regresses the next 2-3 years then yes this will be considered a bust but a change needed to happen because keeping Goff here another year would not have worked. He would have been constantly looking over his shoulder and that never ever works out. Was is costly? Yes. Did it need to happen? I believe yes. Are we a better team for it? debatable but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

[69RamFan]

I will not argue that our Oline was an issue because it really was. Too inconsistent. I also agree with you that it all starts with the Center. That is our most glaring hole IMO.

Now all that being said. The fracture between McVay and Goff went way beyond just poor Oline play. Purely speculative but I still feel this came down to Goff not following the design of the plays and just consistently making poor reads. Sure there were times when the protection broke down and forced Goff to improvise but there were plenty of times I saw Goff just make the safer choice or just the wrong read. His confidence took a shot and McVay isn't the type of coach to coddle a supposed vet. There was no path to reconciliation because McVay had already made up his mind. The pressure of trying to be pixel perfect in this market under this coach got to him. There is no other way I can rationalize his regression.

And to bring it all home. If this team regresses the next 2-3 years then yes this will be considered a bust but a change needed to happen because keeping Goff here another year would not have worked. He would have been constantly looking over his shoulder and that never ever works out. Was is costly? Yes. Did it need to happen? I believe yes. Are we a better team for it? debatable but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

In 2019, Goff was going deep more often, but the OL didn't help with all the injuries and to included the weak middle of the OL... The problem during at that time,,, McVay kept telling him to look underneath if the deep shot is not completely open....

Now in 2020, McVay designed plays to get the ball out of Goff's hands as soon as possible, that was to protect the OL from showing their weakness... IMO

Goff couldn't play like he did in 2018 because the OL didn't give him time to read the field... especially the middle of the OL against defensive teams that had big DT and pushed back the pocket with Blythe & Corbett, so Goff didnt have time or couldn't step up in the pockets... then the pocket would break down from the middle and here comes a sack or turnover... So how can Goff follow the design of a play if the OL is not holding their end of the play?

Look at the teams that Goff plays great against... when our OL holds the pressure coming from the middle... and that usually comes from teams that don't have a strong DT, their defensive lines can be faster and good, and our OL was made for those type of DL,, but against DL with a strong DT... we cave...

We are going to have the same problem if we don't fix our Center and Guard... especially the Center position.
We need a center that can hold the line...

Stafford had a great OL in Detroit especially from the middle,,, he could always step up into his pocket... then slipped out from either Guards outside after the Tackles got their DE pushed wide and deep to extend the play if needed...

I'm pulling for Stafford now that he is a RAM, but its not going to get that much better if we don't fix the middle of our OL...

[snackdaddy]

In 2019, Goff was going deep more often, but the OL didn't help with all the injuries and to included the weak middle of the OL... The problem during at that time,,, McVay kept telling him to look underneath if the deep shot is not completely open....

Now in 2020, McVay designed plays to get the ball out of Goff's hands as soon as possible, that was to protect the OL from showing their weakness... IMO

Goff couldn't play like he did in 2018 because the OL didn't give him time to read the field... especially the middle of the OL against defensive teams that had big DT and pushed back the pocket with Blythe & Corbett, so Goff didnt have time or couldn't step up in the pockets... then the pocket would break down from the middle and here comes a sack or turnover... So how can Goff follow the design of a play if the OL is not holding their end of the play?

Look at the teams that Goff plays great against... when our OL holds the pressure coming from the middle... and that usually comes from teams that don't have a strong DT, their defensive lines can be faster and good, and our OL was made for those type of DL,, but against DL with a strong DT... we cave...

We are going to have the same problem if we don't fix our Center and Guard... especially the Center position.
We need a center that can hold the line...

Stafford had a great OL in Detroit especially from the middle,,, he could always step up into his pocket... then slipped out from either Guards outside after the Tackles got their DE pushed wide and deep to extend the play if needed...

I'm pulling for Stafford now that he is a RAM, but its not going to get that much better if we don't fix the middle of our OL...

No one can disagree about the OL. But the perception around the NFL is that Goff cannot handle the pressure as well as Stafford can. Apparently McVay thinks so too. Defenses focused on pressuring Goff because of that perception. Is there something to it? I don't know for sure but I do believe Stafford gives us a much better shot at a championship than Goff did. Bring the line up to mediocre or better and I think we will see the kind of offense we got used to seeing in 2017 and 2018.

[69RamFan]

No one can disagree about the OL. But the perception around the NFL is that Goff cannot handle the pressure as well as Stafford can. Apparently McVay thinks so too. Defenses focused on pressuring Goff because of that perception. Is there something to it? I don't know for sure but I do believe Stafford gives us a much better shot at a championship than Goff did. Bring the line up to mediocre or better and I think we will see the kind of offense we got used to seeing in 2017 and 2018.

I feel if you replace Goff with Stafford with the exact same team in 2020,
Stafford would do no much better with the OL we had, especially with Blythe and Corbett against GB...

Look at the time Rodgers add to scanned the field with his OL vs Goff's OL.....
It wasn't even close...

I'm not saying Stafford is not better than Goff... but what I'm saying it was more about our OL not pass protecting giving up four sack and a total of eight QB pressures.

Plus our defense sucked without AD.... giving up less chances not getting the ball back for our offense... for a total time of the offense having the ball,,, GB/ 36mins vs RAMs/24mins, total of offensive plays, GB/72 vs RAMs/50

[HopHead Ram]

As long as we employ Zone as our primary blocking scheme, we are going to target lighter but quicker Lineman. I just don't see how you get that much bigger without sacrificing other benefits. Who knows, maybe the scheme changes a bit with the new OL coach and we do more Gap or Power. While Kromer was big into cross specialization, (jack of many master of none). Maybe we go more specialization, It may limit our flexibility to address injuries but produce a better starting 5.

[St. Loser Fan]

[Lancer]

Yes, we passed the "let's make it to .500" approach 4 years ago.

I guess I'll have to admit error about my "in the old days" everybody was trying to build a perennial contender and currently that's harder to achieve. Not everybody then, nor everybody now has that aim, though most do. And it isn't any more difficult with free agency.....sometimes it's easier, finding an experienced competent vet to fill a hole. And the Rams with McVay are certainly trying to maintain a quality product in contention annually regardless of the inevitable turnover every season.

If you look at the guys we've lost since 2017.....Quinn, TruJo, Ogletree, Austin, Watkins, Suh, Cooks, Barron, Joyner, Gurley, Saffold, Talib, Peters, Littleton, Matthews, Fowler and Goff....possibly/probably joined by Johnson, Floyd, Hill and Reynolds.

(Note: We seem to lose more defensive than offensive players .... I haven't checked but I wonder if we didn't lose more offensive than defensive players under Fisher)

I don't feel this sentiment warrants a mulligan! In the past, perennial contender conceptually = dynasty and in case of NFL, w/ one or multiple Superbowl [victories]. That's what it was seen as, and what sports teams adorn the walls of their home stadium with.

If you ask what what a perennial contender means in modern parlance, there's less outward mention of establishing a dynasty/legacy because it is more difficult to create than in the past because of how the culture has changed, esp. in terms player/coach/GM agency. It is true that free agency can allow a team to find a competent vet to fill a hole in a unit or on staff; however that's provided they happen to be well enough funded to take advantage of a timely opportunity.

I'd advocate there are more examples in the present era like Denver that one can point too, than say, New England's run. People will be more apt to say, "to continually be in the hunt," "to be in contention," if their org happens to be in striking distance.