I’d be interested to see who Haslett would bring in as coordinators. Venturi is NOT acceptable. Of course, I remember the last time a beleaguered Rams head coach made big changes at the coordinator/assistant level…did Al Saunders impress anyone?

also acceptable for an answer to question 2: “With some real commitment to winning from the front office.”

    * “Why did the Rams lose their last ten games?”

“They’re all bums! every last one of ’em”

    * Follow up: “After that, how do you feel you can be successful as the team’s head coach?”

“Get Rid of the bums!”

    * “Many of the games featured a lopsided score by half-time and down the stretch the Rams were blowing leads. Explain.”

“Bums!”

    * “Richie Incognito.”

“Bum!”

    * “What players do you see as problems or simply as unable to play at this level?”

“I will kindly refer you to the answer I gave moments ago”

But here goes….

1. “Why did the Rams lose their last ten games?”

(for the record, I’m not sure this is a question that would be asked. It’s definitely not a fair question, since I’m pretty sure Haslett and Devaney have been in constant conversation about this, but even though it’s not a fair question, I’ll answer it best I can)

We were not a good football team. From the coaches down to the last player on the roster. We were bad and we weren’t able to do what had to be done to win football games (I’m trying to talk like a football coach, so I’ll use the word “football” as much as possible).

By the end of the season, we started competing in games, but we still weren’t able to win any. This improvement is something that I look toward as a positive step and one that I intend to continue improving upon.

2. “After that, how do you feel you can be successful as the team’s head coach?”

Well, in picking up where I left off with the last question, I believe we made great strides at the end of the season and I see this helping us as we go forward. I was able to see all of our players and coaches perform in real-time game situations which will aid in my preparation and evaluations heading in to next season. We need to make changes and with our experiences through the course of the season, I feel we are positioned perfectly to make the correct changes and modifications to the direction of the franchise.

3. “Many of the games featured a lopsided score by half-time and down the stretch the Rams were blowing leads. Explain.”

I think a lot of what you saw was what happens when a football team starts from scratch in the middle of the season. We basically had to take our team back to the pre-season while our competition was in mid-season form. We did this because what was being done previously wasn’t working so we stripped everything down, started to make roster changes, and played with what we had.

As you notice, the lopsided games went away at the end of the season and while we did let some leads slip, I’d like to point out that we went to the wire with Miami and Atlanta (two playoff teams) and competed in 4 of our last 5 games. The Arizona matchup was a tough on for us, but the other games I feel we played pretty well in. Holding leads is something a team becomes. We still have a lot of guys with a losing team mentality and once we either change that mentality or replace those players with guys who know how to win games, closing out football games will become a lot easier and much more frequent.

4. “Richie Incognito.”

Richie has a lot of talent. He is probably our best lineman from a physical ability standpoint. Unfortunately, I am not sure Richie will ever have it mentally to be a successful professional football player.

We’ve have had our conversations and we have had more than that. I feel Richie listens and knows what it is that is expected of him, but ultimately I don’t know if Richie is able or willing restrain what apparently motivates him.

I don’t think he is a lost cause, but I also don’t feel he has a place on this team. We are changing the attitude of this team and we want people who not only play with passion and drive (Richie does this well), but also understands game situations.

5. “What players do you see as problems or simply as unable to play at this level?”

(Honestly, I don’t think Devaney would ask this quesiton. However, trying to be positive, I think he would ask “What players do you see as the core of this team that we can build a successful franchise around?”

I don’t see the point in him asking for coaching candidates to call out players as not being any good. Who cares? They’ll be taken care of in due time. But, he’s going to want to see the candidate’s vision, and that’s while I’ll answer my question. Well, I’m tired and have to get up early in the morning so I’ll just list the core building blocks)

Offense:
Marc Bulger
Steven Jackson
Torry Holt
Donnie Avery
Randy McMichael

Defense:
Chris Long
Will Witherspoon
O.J. Atogwe

And both Donnie Jones and Josh Brown.

Now, I’m not saying all others have to go. Not quite, but these are the guys I would build around for the most part.