ST. LOUIS RAMS 2009 PREVIEW
ST. LOUIS RAMS 2009 PREVIEW
By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com
A few years ago, the theme of the St. Louis Rams preview was Recapturing Glory: How can this still-gifted group rediscover its Super Bowl swagger? Soon, the theme slid into Fulfilling Expectations: What must this talented club do in order to live up to its potential? Not long after that, the theme turned into Bouncing Back: How does this once-proud organization recover from its latest disappointing season? The erosion of the Rams franchise has continued right on to today, where the theme for 2009 is simply Being Competitive: How does a bad NFL team become good?
That’s what the Rams, winners of five total games over the past two seasons, are asking. Or at least we think that’s what they’re asking. It’s hard to tell these days with new owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, who inherited the club after their mother, Georgia Frontiere, died in January 2008. Rosenbloom and Rodriguez––good people with minimal interest in football––recently put the organization up for sale.
But the disinterest of the owners, fortunately, hasn’t curtailed the Rams’ rebuilding efforts. To Rosenbloom and Rodriguez’s credit, at the end of last season, they hired Falcons former assistant GM Billy Devaney as essentially the new supreme consul, ending the turmoil that had for years riddled this front office. The responsibility of answering the multifaceted question about how a bad NFL team becomes good fell on the new GM’s shoulders.
Devaney’s first idea was a prudent one: find a quality head coach (something the Rams really haven’t had since Dick Vermeil). He did that by hiring renowned Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Devaney and Spagnuolo have a working relationship that dates back to the late 80s. So far, they’ve been on the same wavelength.
There were issues to address on both sides of the ball, as the Rams offense ranked 30th in point scored and the defense 31st in points allowed last season. With a decent veteran quarterback in Marc Bulger, superstar running back in Steven Jackson and handful of young receivers who are still too green to judge, the focus on offense was renovating the putrid front line. Future Hall of Fame left tackle Orlando Pace was released in a wise cost-cutting move. This allowed for the signing of Ravens center Jason Brown, who, with $20 million in guarantees, is now the highest paid player at his position. Also, Baylor tackle Jason Smith was selected with the second overall pick in the draft. Though one could argue that these moves were at least mild financial risks, no one will say the Rams aren’t all but guaranteed to improve up front. Serviceable blocking makes this offense––which is now a West Coast system under first-time coordinator Pat Shurmur––a whole different animal.
Defensively, the arrival of Spagnuolo alone will pay dividends. His attacking 46-oriented scheme, which derives largely from his former tutor, the late Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, has been known to generate overachievers. Overall, the World Champion ’07 Giants had a good but not great defense in terms of raw talent. Of course, aside from his former New York safety James Butler (who signed with the Rams as a free agent), Spagnuolo doesn’t begin to have the same quality of players here.
Even if last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Chris Long, evolves into one of the premiere all-around defensive ends in football (which is not unlikely), and highly-touted second-round rookie James Laurinaitis becomes as impactful a middle linebacker as Antonio Pierce, Spagnuolo will still have a defense in need of significant upgrades after this season. There are disconcerting soft spots along the starting front line and throughout the second string at linebacker and defensive back.
Fortunately for Spagnuolo and Devaney, anyone with half a brain can see that this rebuilding effort will take time. No one in the organization would ever admit this, but 2009 will be a successful season for the Rams if they can improve their win total to around six or seven (with preferably a strong record in November and December), sort out the space-wasting youngsters from the ones worth developing and shape the roster in a fashion that makes it easy to amend once the 2010 offseason rolls around.
Obviously, this doesn’t sound too inspiring in the short term. But this is how a bad team becomes good.
Click here to continue reading, or visit: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/st-louis-rams-2009-preview/
By Andy Benoit, www.NFLTouchdown.com
A few years ago, the theme of the St. Louis Rams preview was Recapturing Glory: How can this still-gifted group rediscover its Super Bowl swagger? Soon, the theme slid into Fulfilling Expectations: What must this talented club do in order to live up to its potential? Not long after that, the theme turned into Bouncing Back: How does this once-proud organization recover from its latest disappointing season? The erosion of the Rams franchise has continued right on to today, where the theme for 2009 is simply Being Competitive: How does a bad NFL team become good?
That’s what the Rams, winners of five total games over the past two seasons, are asking. Or at least we think that’s what they’re asking. It’s hard to tell these days with new owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, who inherited the club after their mother, Georgia Frontiere, died in January 2008. Rosenbloom and Rodriguez––good people with minimal interest in football––recently put the organization up for sale.
But the disinterest of the owners, fortunately, hasn’t curtailed the Rams’ rebuilding efforts. To Rosenbloom and Rodriguez’s credit, at the end of last season, they hired Falcons former assistant GM Billy Devaney as essentially the new supreme consul, ending the turmoil that had for years riddled this front office. The responsibility of answering the multifaceted question about how a bad NFL team becomes good fell on the new GM’s shoulders.
Devaney’s first idea was a prudent one: find a quality head coach (something the Rams really haven’t had since Dick Vermeil). He did that by hiring renowned Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Devaney and Spagnuolo have a working relationship that dates back to the late 80s. So far, they’ve been on the same wavelength.
There were issues to address on both sides of the ball, as the Rams offense ranked 30th in point scored and the defense 31st in points allowed last season. With a decent veteran quarterback in Marc Bulger, superstar running back in Steven Jackson and handful of young receivers who are still too green to judge, the focus on offense was renovating the putrid front line. Future Hall of Fame left tackle Orlando Pace was released in a wise cost-cutting move. This allowed for the signing of Ravens center Jason Brown, who, with $20 million in guarantees, is now the highest paid player at his position. Also, Baylor tackle Jason Smith was selected with the second overall pick in the draft. Though one could argue that these moves were at least mild financial risks, no one will say the Rams aren’t all but guaranteed to improve up front. Serviceable blocking makes this offense––which is now a West Coast system under first-time coordinator Pat Shurmur––a whole different animal.
Defensively, the arrival of Spagnuolo alone will pay dividends. His attacking 46-oriented scheme, which derives largely from his former tutor, the late Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, has been known to generate overachievers. Overall, the World Champion ’07 Giants had a good but not great defense in terms of raw talent. Of course, aside from his former New York safety James Butler (who signed with the Rams as a free agent), Spagnuolo doesn’t begin to have the same quality of players here.
Even if last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Chris Long, evolves into one of the premiere all-around defensive ends in football (which is not unlikely), and highly-touted second-round rookie James Laurinaitis becomes as impactful a middle linebacker as Antonio Pierce, Spagnuolo will still have a defense in need of significant upgrades after this season. There are disconcerting soft spots along the starting front line and throughout the second string at linebacker and defensive back.
Fortunately for Spagnuolo and Devaney, anyone with half a brain can see that this rebuilding effort will take time. No one in the organization would ever admit this, but 2009 will be a successful season for the Rams if they can improve their win total to around six or seven (with preferably a strong record in November and December), sort out the space-wasting youngsters from the ones worth developing and shape the roster in a fashion that makes it easy to amend once the 2010 offseason rolls around.
Obviously, this doesn’t sound too inspiring in the short term. But this is how a bad team becomes good.
Click here to continue reading, or visit: http://www.nfltouchdown.com/st-louis-rams-2009-preview/
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home