Bruce or Holt? The Zygmunt Legacy lives on

by Ryan Van Bibber on Dec 23, 2008 10:00 AM CST in 2008 St. Louis Rams season

Watching Isaac Bruce play like, well, like Isaac Bruce in this Sunday's latest disappointment, I started thinking about the decision to hand Bruce his walking papers. Vintage Jay Zygmunt, with help from Linehan no doubt. As Bruce, who most people questioned as a #1 WR, cemented his place in history, I wondered if the Rams maybe cut the wrong Turf Show wide receiver. Given Torry Holt's performance this season, it's an easy argument to make.

Let's set aside the financial aspects of the decision, and consider it on purely based on team needs. In case you hadn't noticed, the Rams don't pass to the middle of the field anymore. Those routes belonged to Bruce, and with McMichael out, the Rams lack a guy who specializes in that area, the curl routes in particular. The play calling has been white bread at best, and they never throw to the middle of the field anymore, making it much easier to defend. Avery, and to a lesser extent the others, runs the post and other deep routes fine, and would likely run it better with defensive backs forced to account for the middle.

There's also the question as to who has more left in the tank. I wonder if Bruce, with 4 years seniority, doesn't have the fresher legs this season...unless the Rams have just been so bad you can't really tell. Bruce has around 100 more yards receiving than Holt on about the same number of receptions. Holt has 3 TDs; Bruce has 7.

Oh well, it's all academic at this point, and Bruce or Holt or even Randy Moss wouldn't have been the difference between the current incarnation of the Rams and somewhere closer to .500. Still, it's an interesting "what if" now that we can look back on the Jay Zygmunt era, secure in the knowledge that it's over.

Tweet Comment 3 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Bruce

has been excellent this season, yes. But would he really have made a difference on this pathetic football team? I love everything that Isaac did for this organization, and I think the team may have won 1 or 2 more games with him this season, but at this point, it’s good that the Rams will get the No.2 draft pick to build for the future.

by BruinFanBaby on Dec 23, 2008 10:40 AM CST reply actions

I think Isaac Bruce would not have helped this team in 2009 any more than Torry Holt did. The 49ers had Martz running their offense — it was a gimme that the 49ers would get the ball to their receivers a lot more than any offensive Rams coach would in 09.

by Downing Rules on Dec 23, 2008 6:48 PM CST reply actions

Look at the flip side of your argument. Going into last offseason, could you have made an argument for cutting Holt loose? He’d only missed two games in his career. He had caught better than 1100 yards every year. And he was the most-targeted receiver in the NFL two years ago, and targeted 150 times last year. The passing offense ran through Holt. Still does, if only barely. (109 targets this year compared to Avery’s 95, per fftoday.com)

This argument only makes sense if you have some sort of ouija board. And as sub-par as Zygmunt was on many levels as a GM, you can’t criticize him for this.

"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 Dec 23, 2008 7:53 PM CST reply actions