[69RamFan]

NO. I'm blaming it on 0 preseason game snaps AND not playing together in a live game AND facing a very talented team with a chip on their shoulder in week 1. You want to tell me, scrimmages and fast paced practices are the same as live game play? Okay.

Yeah, I'm saying its better than preseason, cause in practice/scrimmages they don't use vanilla plays,
In preseason, most good teams only play for a qtr if they play,
and play with vanilla plays.


Really? He played 7 games at LT in 2020 when Whitworth was out. We faced Tampa, SF, Arizona twice, N.England, the Jets and Seattle. No "powerhouse" DE or OLB? Armstead, Reddick, Dunlap, KJ Wright, Kerry Hyder, Hassan Reddick, Quinnen Williams, etc. And you're "not couting" JPP despite the fact it was 2020, he had 9.5 sacks, 2 int, 2 FR and on a Superbowl winning defense? Okay.

Dunlap played mostly as LDE, Armstead played mostly LDE, KJ Wright is an ILB,
Kerry Hyder is a DT, Quinnen Williams played mostly as DT,
but if you want to put him as a DE against the RAMs,
QW got a sack, and a hurry based of the game book.

I'll give you Hassan Reddick/OLB, but as I stated, Noteboom could handle speed rusher and push them outside,
he could never handle power ends.
So what did JPP do in 2021? he was on the back end of his carreer.

And btw, he started the first two games at G and went on IR....came off of IR to replace Whitworth......as opposed to being benched as you put it. No need to invent stuff.

My bad, I forgot he was sent to the IR, I was just taking a look at the gamebook and didn't see him in the lineup.


This interview......much like the Cowherd interview......may be taken a couple of ways. So this interview you cite was prior to SF trading for Williams? So what was the question? "What happens if the Rams trade for Trent Williams". The answer might be, "I'd move to guard" as opposed to "I'll be on the bench".

The interview I saw wasn't with Cowherd it was another show,
I can't remember with who,
but: Whit suggested to the FO that if they wanted to try and trade for TW,
He would be willing to move inside. He confronted the team, they didn't confront him.

We'll see what happens next season. I'd like to see them get another OL or two. I think Allen's knee is so unpredictable, it's hard to rely on him. But I ain't holding my breath. For 4 years now the local OL aficionados have been saying "we're going OL early and often" and it finally happened this year....at least the early part.

Just to add:

In his first five games:
Against good ends: Von Miller, Bosa

[PARAM]

KJ Wright is an ILB,

My bad. I thought Bobby Wagner was the MLB in Seattle's 4-3.

[PARAM]

I get your point but my point is simple: Those teams never won a SB.

The 1999 Rams did and the 2021 Rams did.

I think that's extremely relevant to any comparison.

You long for the days the Rams had first rate Olines with all time Rams greats like Rich Saul and Jackie Slater. Those Knox teams were just before my time but i cut my teeth on the Malavasi and John Robinson Rams.

But ultimately i long for the teams that won a Lombardi and i look at how they did it. I see that as the model, or at least one very effective model. I never think, "yeah they won but they didn't do it right" or any version of that.

Both teams absolutely did it right.

And i was referring to 70sramsfan's critique of Snead (which you seemed to like so much)...

Here's an interesting viewpoint. 70RF wrote:

How did these men come into the NFL?

1st Round Draft Pick- Mack, Williams, Brown, Schuh, Harrah, France, Hill;
2nd Round Draft Pick- Pankey, Newberry, Bain
3rd Round Draft Pick- Slater
4th Round Draft Pick- Cowan
8th Round Draft Pick- Saul
10th Round Draft Pick- Scibelli, Love
FA (undrafted)- Smith
UNK- Iman (could not find any information on his draft position)

All those high draft picks. All those probowls. And 0 Lombardi's. Why? 70RF says "because we never had a good QB". Quite right. That was always the problem back then. Not the OL. Not the defense (hell IIRC they allowed something like 9.5 ppg one year). Not the RBs. Not the WRs.

So Snead and McVay trade away those high picks for proven stars. Watkins, Cooks, Fowler, Peters, Ramsey, etc and then when they came to the conclusion they needed a different QB, Stafford. Vermeil even went out and got Trent Green, then "fell into" somebody even better. And the draft slots you posted of those 2 Lombardi winning teams vs the draft slots of those 70's and 80's teams, sans the proper QB show something. Those great OL's of the 70's and 80's got to one SB and lost while the lesser O lines got to 4 SBs and won 2. 70RF said, "most of the time it was bad luck". No most of the time it was no QB.

One other note. That era was pre-cap, when you owned the players for as long as you wanted. That partial free agency (I forget what it was called) came in later. Then finally the cap and total free agency. I wonder how easy it would have been to keep those old OL's together with a cap and total free agency? It was easy to keep stellar OLs together. It just wasn't easy to get an established QB.

[Elvis]

If you compare the '99 Oline with '21, last year's actually has a higher pedigree as far as draft capital goes...

[PARAM]

If you compare the '99 Oline with '21, last year's actually has a higher pedigree as far as draft capital goes...

Yeah.

Another thing 70RF wrote:

Think about that- on average, the Rams were on the doorstep of a Super Bowl berth once every three years during this two decade run.

To preface my response, I want to say as a young Ram fan....I was 10 when I started "following the Rams" (as much as you can "follow" a team pre-internet, pre-Lindy's, Athlon and a host of other pubs) and new to football. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We were always close and always in the postseason. As 70RF put it, we missed the playoffs 4 times in 2 decades and 2 of those 4 were strike years. But if you look at McVay's short tenure, he's not on the doorstep of a SB berth every 3 years. He's in the SB every 3 years (and that's taking into account 2022 being a 'lost year'). Of course he only has to continue that for 14 more years!!
I'd say, he's doing pretty good so far.

NOTE: In 1981 the Rams missed the playoffs when Jackie Slater missed 5 games, Doug France missed 7 games and Irv Pankey missed 3 games. So there's that.

[Elvis]

Plus there were less teams when Chuck Knox was at the helm so you'd expect to be in contention more often just based on percentages...

[PARAM]

Plus there were less teams when Chuck Knox was at the helm so you'd expect to be in contention more often just based on percentages...

Yeah, but less playoff spots too.

Here's something interesting (to me).

Martz went 53-32 (3-4 in the PS). He went to 1 Superbowl. During his tenure he drafted 8 offensive lineman in 6 drafts. 1 in the 1st (Barron), 2 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, 1 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th.
McVay is 58-31 (7-3 in the PS). He's gone to 2 SBs and won 1. During his tenure he's drafted 8 offensive lineman in 6 drafts. 3 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th, 5th and 6th, 2 in the 7th. So those 2 guys, #3 and #4 in wins drafted 1 OL higher than the 3rd round.

Those 2 are responsible for every winning season except for 1 since 1990 (and we could argue.......every winning season). They must know something.

[Hacksaw]

Just to add:

In his first five games:
Against good ends: Von Miller, Bosa

Uh,,, duh. Not a good sign moving forward. Yes he had the acid test but apparently failed. (Ref: see team record)

[Hacksaw]

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2022/11/1 ... -liam-coen

[PARAM]

So Coen is the scapegoat? I don't buy it. McVay has the sheet in his hand. He holds it up to his face. And he calls the plays.

Meetings? Game planning? If somebody thinks McVay isn't heavily involved in all that, they haven't been listening to him the last 6 years. What's he doing all week, having lunch with Veronica?

People need to stop giving him a pass. He's in charge. Of EVERYTHING.

If we have too many toys and not enough grunts, that's his fault.
If we're unprepared to face an opponent, that's his fault.
If we can't gain 10 yards and a first down with a minute left in the game, that's his fault.

Go win some goddam games so media types don't have to invent 100 reasons why it's not McVays fault.