St. Louis Rams 2011 Offseason Thread

[Freed Roger]

I am glad they did way better than expected this season, won a few games and competed in most games.

But am still a bit skeptical about next year. The expectations bar was set low this season, and the one for next year will be too high. They still have a lot of needs in the talent dept. Probably need to look for 2 years from now. Maybe Rams can be lucky -vie again next year if NFC West remains spectacularly lousy.

Spagnuolo as a head coach? Any thoughts? His decision to put Bradford in there all season, was good. The defense progress looks encouraging. But he seems a bit too nice at times. Game management not so swell-but he's young. During the games the Rams get trampled by officials. Definitely give him next year to see what happens. I'd be shocked to see Shurmer return.

Kroenke taking ownership may be an unheralded positive out of this season. Hard to tell, but he seems committed to winning, and hopefully staying here.

A glass half empty look at 2010 Rams 7 wins:
records of opponents they defeated
Redskins 6-10
Seahawks 7-9
Chargers 9-7
Panthers 2-14
Broncos 4-12
Cardinals 5-11
49ers 6-10
total 39 -73 .348 winning% of oppenents

[vinsanity]

No disagreement here. It just shocks me how many people are OK with the Rams drafting inferior playmaker talent because of character. Character guys are your lines, linebackers and QB's. Guys who get the ball are almost always primadonnas. Suck it up and coach some players.

Not that I totally disagree, but in Indy this comes to mind - Reggie Wayne? Austin Collie? Pierre Garcon? Or are the last two almost totally due to Manning?

80/20 Manning

Run your route well and if he's throwing to you, 9/10 the ball is exactly where it should be.

I think that's fair, but then isn't it hard to dock Rams' Receivers for 'dropped' passes? Or are you saying the passes are so exactly where they need to be you'd have to be me to drop them?

I'm agreeing, for what it's worth, Garcon/Collie wouldn't make the WR core drastically better. But would probably step in and easily be the second best receiver on the team.

[Lesson]

I am glad they did way better than expected this season, won a few games and competed in most games.

But am still a bit skeptical about next year. The expectations bar was set low this season, and the one for next year will be too high. They still have a lot of needs in the talent dept. Probably need to look for 2 years from now. Maybe Rams can be lucky -vie again next year if NFC West remains spectacularly lousy.

Spagnuolo as a head coach? Any thoughts? His decision to put Bradford in there all season, was good. The defense progress looks encouraging. But he seems a bit too nice at times. Game management not so swell-but he's young. During the games the Rams get trampled by officials. Definitely give him next year to see what happens. I'd be shocked to see Shurmer return.

Kroenke taking ownership may be an unheralded positive out of this season. Hard to tell, but he seems committed to winning, and hopefully staying here.

A glass half empty look at 2010 Rams 7 wins:
records of opponents they defeated
Redskins 6-10
Seahawks 7-9
Chargers 9-7
Panthers 2-14
Broncos 4-12
Cardinals 5-11
49ers 6-10
total 39 -73 .348 winning% of oppenents

If Shurmur doesn't return, it won't be a good thing for Bradford. Spags wants Shurmur to go into conservative mode.

And a look at the Rams schedule for next season(how fun):

Opponent and 2010 record listed:

Cardinals 5-11 (x2)
49er 6-10(x2)
Seahawks 7-9(x2)
Giants 10-6
Eagles 10-6
Cowboys 6-10
Redskins 6-10
Packers 10-6
Saints 11-5
Ravens 12-4
Steelers 12-4
Browns 5-11
Bengals 4-12

[Blitzer]

Okay, now that Ive let the dust settle, I will say that I am happy about the season the Rams had. I never expected them to compete for a playoff spot this year, but they did. The Defense looks good and the offense has potential if they can get a WR. They are a couple pieces away from being a contender. I wanted to see improvement this year and I definitely saw that. No complaints here.

[Lesson]

Rams will be picking 15th in the draft, BTW. Not to bad. Not too high or too low. Perfect spot to get a DE or WR.

[InvincibleCakeEater]

If Shurmur doesn't return, it won't be a good thing for Bradford. Spags wants Shurmur to go into conservative mode.

And a look at the Rams schedule for next season(how fun):

Opponent and 2010 record listed:

Cardinals 5-11 (x2)
49er 6-10(x2)
Seahawks 7-9(x2)
Giants 10-6
Eagles 10-6
Cowboys 6-10
Redskins 6-10
Packers 10-6
Saints 11-5
Ravens 12-4
Steelers 12-4
Browns 5-11
Bengals 4-12

Yikes. There's a good chance they win less than 5 with that schedule. That's rough.

[Blitzer]

There is absolutely no way to tell how next season is going to shape up just based on this season. A lot can happen to all those teams between now and next fall.

[Lesson]

If Shurmur doesn't return, it won't be a good thing for Bradford. Spags wants Shurmur to go into conservative mode.

And a look at the Rams schedule for next season(how fun):

Opponent and 2010 record listed:

Cardinals 5-11 (x2)
49er 6-10(x2)
Seahawks 7-9(x2)
Giants 10-6
Eagles 10-6
Cowboys 6-10
Redskins 6-10
Packers 10-6
Saints 11-5
Ravens 12-4
Steelers 12-4
Browns 5-11
Bengals 4-12

Yikes. There's a good chance they win less than 5 with that schedule. That's rough.

I think they can beat all of the teams in the NFC West in STL, with a win or two against one of the teams in the division on the road, wins against both Cincy and Cleveland, Redskins, maybe Cowboys depending on where the game is, same with the Giants if it's in St. Louis. I'm going with an early prediction of 9-7.

[vinsanity]

Rams will be picking 15th in the draft, BTW. Not to bad. Not too high or too low. Perfect spot to get a DE or WR.

I may be in the minority here, but I really wanted them to get Suh last year and Locker this year - but Bradford has far surpassed my expectations. Sooo....

Given the money they've spent on DE's so far, I'm not sure I want them to go DE. However, after looking at the current scout rankings...I'm a Purdue guy and Purdue DE's have done pretty well in the NFL lately (Anthony Spencer, Ray Edwards hasn't been awful either) so Ryan Kerrigan would be awesome from me since I doubt AJ Green is gonna fall that far. But I'm not sure a quality DE is gonna offer the same improvement at cost as a quality WR.

[Lesson]

Rams will be picking 15th in the draft, BTW. Not to bad. Not too high or too low. Perfect spot to get a DE or WR.

I may be in the minority here, but I really wanted them to get Suh last year and Locker this year - but Bradford has far surpassed my expectations. Sooo....

Given the money they've spent on DE's so far, I'm not sure I want them to go DE. However, after looking at the current scout rankings...I'm a Purdue guy and Purdue DE's have done pretty well in the NFL lately (Anthony Spencer, Ray Edwards hasn't been awful either) so Ryan Kerrigan would be awesome from me since I doubt AJ Green is gonna fall that far. But I'm not sure a quality DE is gonna offer the same improvement at cost as a quality WR.

There's 1 DE that I think can fall that far, Quinn out of UNC. If he's not there, the pick should be a WR or LB.