Rams start rebuilding
Fellow Rams fans, first of all, let me apologize for my absence this week. We've suffered a death in the family and will be attending to that this week, as naturally that comes first. I don't like to get into personal stuff too much here, so I say this only to let you know that I haven't been driven into football abstinence by the Rams this year and haven't abandoned our community. I won't be around much this week, but 3k has you covered. and you can count on quality.
Okay, that out of the way, I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the recent changes. Once again, we're in the midst of a stay alive season. More than that, however, with a big paradigm shift likely on the way for the Rams, we can think of the rest of this season as something like a really intense, long preseason.
Keeping the interim label away from Him Haslett's name is smart. As the PD's Jeff Gordon points out, rather harshly (not that they don't deserve some of it), the spirit in the locker room among the players in questionable. Making Haslett an interim essentially lets the players view him as nothing more than a warm body keeping the head coach's chair moist for a few games. Knowing that he's been tapped to lead the team beyond the string this season ought to force players to be working for the jobs next year.
Not convinced players aren't playing for their future? Let's take TE Joe Klopfenstein for example. The Rams second round pick from 2006 has big shoes to fill with McMichael out with a broken tibia. He'll be asked to take on some of the pass catching work for McMichael. If Klop fails to shine as a fill-in, it likely means the end for him with the Rams and a much smaller contract and no guarantees to make a team if he gets picked up as a free agent. As a further reminder of how much poor drafting has hurt the Rams, the team could have drafted TE Tony Scheffler instead, or even Brady-killer Bernie Pollard, Maurice Jones-Drew, Darryl Tapp or Devin Hester with that pick. Hmm, imagine the Rams with Devin Hester instead of the fossilized Dante Hall returning kicks.
With Billy Devaney and Haslett running the draft, we can expect upcoming Aprils to resemble this last one more than they'll remind us of previous springs filled with missed opportunity. Think about how Alex Barron must feel knowing the Rams will have their choice of OTs, guys like Oher, in the draft this coming spring.
Job security will be a big key for motivating a lot of the current roster this year. Haslett has to make sure they know that things are going to change and use the rest of this season to restore some pride in the on-field product.
Comments
Speaking of Klopf
I did enjoy reading this piece from Bill Coats at the STL Dispatch that had Haslett getting in Klopfenstein’s head. Keep in mind, this was a 2nd round pick from 2006. It’s hard to fully explain how bad Zygmunt has been when it comes to drafts, but this does a decent job.
by 3k on
Oct 1, 2008 11:38 AM CDT
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Sorry for your loss, Van
hopefully, the Rams can rest up a week and cheer your spirits with their first victory of the season.
by tbell61 on
Oct 1, 2008 12:39 PM CDT
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How is Haslett viewed in St Louis???
Hello, I’m on the Saints blog, Canal Street Chronicles. We’ve been discussing former Saint head coach Jim Haslett and his promotion to head coach for the Rams. I don’t understand all the media referring to him as having a “fiery” personality. Is that how you guys see him? Check out what we’ve said about Haslett here:
http://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/2008/9/29/624339/haslet-a-head-coach-again
by stujo4 on
Oct 1, 2008 4:59 PM CDT
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Well when the bar is set so low...
By comparison to Linehan, Haslett is a fireball, an explosion of emotion, a human tornado of passion an dedication.
by 3k on
Oct 2, 2008 12:49 AM CDT
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I think "fiery" is relative...
There’s a bit of wishful thinking in using that term, I believe. Truth is, no one here knows anything more about Haslett now than we did when he was on the opposite sideline, because since day 1, Linehan kept a hermetic seal around practices, and forbidden assistant coaches from talking to the media.
I think columnists like Bernie Miklasz of the P-D want to see him as an anti-Linehan, and want to pimp his motivational tactics, just to paint a different picture than the one we’ve seen from our last coach.
From the experience of playing against the Saints, his teams were never short on emotion — whether self-congratulatory or self-destructive — but seemingly always short on discipline. So I guess that speaks to some sort of fiery nature or controlled rage. and there may be more that I don’t know about him from his playing days, as well.
Personally, I see him as a continuing part of the problem here in St. Louis, or at least, not a viable part of the solution. The Saints’ defense was never anything to brag about, and ours has gotten steadily worse since his arrival. Our defense this year has been an absolute joke, outside of two guys who are too young to know they can half-ass it.
It’s funny, I read the thread you linked to, and the prevailing condition on your site seems to be “he was pretty decent as a D-Coordinator, but couldn’t hack it as a head coach.” Here, thanks to the bye week and a suspension of disbelief, it’s “he flat out sucked as a D-Coordinator, but hopefully his experience as a head coach will turn this ship around.”
All I can say is I’d trade him and Rick Venturi back to you for Sean Payton any day.
"Attaway to stomp 'em. Stomp the piss out of 'em. Stomp 'em when they're down. Kick 'em and stomp 'em. Attaway to go boys. Pound that old Budweiser into you and go get them tomorrow." -- Joe Schultz
by taiko on
Oct 2, 2008 1:01 AM CDT
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