Flying under the Radar

With Week 5 in the books for the Rams, the team is 0-5. Things have been discussed, players and coaches alike have been blamed for the failures of the team. But it's been five weeks and for some reason, one person has been relatively saved from the fire. Why, I don't not know, but you're being called out Tom McMahon.

Pat Shurmur has been the coaching goat recently with his uninspiring playcalling (which he finally decided to open up today), but Tom McMahon, our special teams coach, has consistently had his unit unprepared and it has showed. If this was the end of the season, and one coach had to go, he'd be gone faster then Alex Barron can say "free agency."

Ever since the beginning of the season (12 men on the field, anyone?) his unit has been incredibly sloppy. The Rams had three penalties today on special teams and have consistently been penalized for the same things, every single Sunday. Danny Amendola's huge return a week ago was recalled by one of these penalties. The Rams have practices and drills during the season, so what the hell has the special teams been doing? Is it that hard to teach someone to block without holding, or have yourself quickly count to twelve? It must be, as this team is seemingly making the same stupid mistakes every week on special teams.

It's one thing to not have a very good returner (Amendola appears to be serviceable, at the very least), but it is another thing completely when an average return get's called back because of a penalty. It's time to get the special teams disciplined and focused; the Scott Linehan approach to coaching obviously isn't going to work here.

I’d rather start at the 30 than the 29, that extra yard means something.

You're perfectly right Tom, it certainly does mean something. Oh, wait, nevermind, that extra yard just got called back because of holding.