Captain Obvious: The Rams Don't Throw it Deep
by Eric Nagel on Sep 13, 2010 4:15 PM CDT
in 2010 St. Louis Rams season
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PrintNot that you didn't already know, but the Rams average yardage gained by passing as dropped to absolutely abysmal levels. And before you use Pat Shurmur's mug as a dart board, just know it's been bad before him.
Here is the past 5 years, including the first game of 2010 (which isn't much of a data set, but we will use it anyway):
| Year |
Team Completions |
Yards per Catch |
Ranking |
| 2010 |
32 |
4.6 |
28th (out of 29) |
| 2009 |
312 |
5.5 |
29th |
| 2008 |
292 |
6.3 |
29th |
| 2007 |
333 |
6.2 |
28th |
| 2006 |
371 |
7.3 |
9th |
As you see, every year the Rams average yards per catch (which I believe does not factor in YAC). You can obviously see that Pat Shurmur's run first, throw small offense hasn't helped, but the Rams struggles have lasted longer then just 2009.
From what I've seen, the magic number seems to hover just below 7 YPC. The teams that at least meet this mostly compete (but don't always make the playoffs). Unfortunately, St. Louis is in the Oakland to Cleveland range, which, well, sucks.
It's been said before, and I'll repeat it. The Rams certainly have the speed to stretch the field with young WR's. Even mid range attempts would work (10 yarders?), because a 60% chance of picking up 4 or 5 yards just isn't going to cut it if the Rams want to continue to stay in games. If this continues, there won't be any reason not to load up 8 or even 9 players up front because the Rams won't stretch the field anyway.
Of course, the Rams couldn't exactly get separation yesterday, but separation gets difficult when you have five steps before you get the ball. Either that, or Madden's ridiculously slow speed ratings for our receivers might seem a bit more accurate then we thought.
Food for thought.
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Interesting research
First thing I noticed is that it’s not only been bad, but it’s been getting worse.
I know it sounds like “if my sister had a mustache, she’d be my brother,” but I am curious what the 2010 line would look like if a few more of Bradford’s laser-like passes were caught. If it’s a significant difference, then I don’t know if Shurmur is to blame so far in 2010. He can only call the plays, he can’t execute them.
Does anyone keep track of how far downfield the intended receiver was on incomplete passes?
"I have something 95 percent of all those All-Stars only wish they had: a World Series ring. If I had to choose between that and being an All-Star, it would be no contest. I’d grab the gold ring and never look back." -Tim Salmon
so....
The Worst Show On Any Playing Surface?
You know what, whatever…someone besides Josh Brown put points on the board for a change!
"Twin-headed infinite swirling vortex of grotesque suckitude known as Tony Clark and Eric Byrnes"
F**K Shumur!
Our offense stagnates and doesn’t give itself a chance because the field is NEVER stretched when the Rams are playing. Under Bulger, Boller, and Null it was understandable not to throw the deep ball because they were more or less consistently awful. Now we have a QB who is pretty damn good who is more than capable of throwing the deep ball. USE THIS ASSET!! Stretching the field will make short routes less predictable and allow our WR’s to do what they were signed for and gain some valuable YAC. It would also force more defenders to play further out from the Line of Scrimmage and allow Jackson to gain more yards and battle fewer defenders at the line. I don’t want to see any more drives consisting of only Slants and Screens. Defenses are never surprised and thats why our offense loses the battle every time. I would put 8 men at the line too if I were playing Pat Shumur.
Under bulger/boller/null...
…it was understandable because they were guaranteed to be under a pile of lineman .5 seconds after they planted their back foot.
Yesterday was a humongous leap forward in that regard Yeah Sam got sacked but no more than a qb would be against a high pressure defense.
But yeah the play calling was a real head scratcher. Like in the preseason, we saw Bradford throw that TE seam route beautifully…where was that play on play action after Jackson broke off a 10 yarder? You know you are going to get a good matchup there….plus it would have given WILSON something else to think about instead of licking his chops and going after our qb.
Your last paragraph sums it up
.. the first sentence about separation.
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi
I have a friend who is a Falcons fan...
and this gentleman is very knowledgable.
he actually said that the Rams had a better offensive gameplan than the Falcons and that their offense is more archaic than ours.
he showed me tape, and you’d never believe it, but it’s TRUE.
they have like 2 passing plays. a roll out and a deep out.
they do not have a single a slant route!
Bradford to Onobun!
is matt ryan dumb?
"Twin-headed infinite swirling vortex of grotesque suckitude known as Tony Clark and Eric Byrnes"
the blame is mainly aimed at OC mularkey
but Ryan is oft accused of locking on, slow release and inaccuracy on deep balls…
Bradford to Onobun!
Ummm
I really donno what to say to that.. other than, all wide receivers could be like a Mark Clayton if they go there.
3 plays? WTF
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi
watch the falcons game
that offense is more one dimensional than the Rams.
no variation in formations, no variation in routes.
I think we should ease up on Schurmer after the first game, only gripe i had was too little SJ and poor 2 minute drill.
greatly improved on last year and more creative than the Falcons
Bradford to Onobun!
this article doesn't excuse shurmur
it just shows that all the rest of the offensive coaches in those years were fired…lol
I can make one
Give me a second.
Sam Bradford drops back, sees Laurent Robinson in the open, and he completes the pass for a gain of 28! Oh- Wait, looks like a holding penalty is going to call this one back...(Oh wait; Barron's gone, ignore that last sentence).
You got it? I can if you'd like
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi
Hehe...I love how shurmur's offense is the same offense I run in madden.
Try to hold the other person from scoring and then work the screens, playaction and a whole lotta steven jackson.
Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers. ~Merle Kessler
Hey easy now. I win more than I lose. So some thing must be working. HB off tackle run always works.
Football players, like prostitutes, are in the business of ruining their bodies for the pleasure of strangers. ~Merle Kessler
by mlkgandhiv2k on Sep 13, 2010 11:57 PM CDT up reply actions
I have been telling you all that we cant win with Shurmur period
His game plan sucks little dink passes is the only thing he knows takes one month to get down field
I am not sure that it is all Shurmurs fault.
As I have been saying for the last year or so, our WR corps sucks soooo bad. A guy that was cut from Baltimore (would have been fourth on the depth chart), is now by far our best WR. If that’s not proof of how bad our receivers are I don’t know what is. Now don’t get me wrong Shurmur is not a genius but, he can only do what our WR’s will let him do. We needed to go after a top receiver and we didn’t. I lay the blame on Devaney and Spags for not getting Holmes, Boldin or Jackson when they had a chance. It’s all about making the right moves and we are so,so in that category. And Coach, if Avery was not injured he would have been under Clayton too. Go Rams!
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
A thought on Clayton
My Dad said that it’s the QB that makes the WR, not so much the other way around. It seems that Clayton was always that good, just that nobody ever threw him the ball the way he needed it. SJax was a backup at one time. So was the QB at Green Bay. Everybody’s time comes around (mostly)
You can spot a great WR on a bad team with a bad QB and you can spot a great QB with bad WR’s. Like Boldin, Fitz, Megatron and A. Johnson who all had bad QB’s to start their career were still talked about as elite WR’s and playmakers. When they did get a good QB to throw to them they approached super stardom. However they were putting up good numbers when they had guys like McCown, Lienart, Carr, Batch at the helm. So yes it makes a difference but, a good WR is a good WR and it will always show. Clayton would be a good number 2 WR, he is not big, he has middle of the road speed and dropped 4 passes while I was watching the game. The Ravens have the #1 talent scout in the game with Ozzie in the front office. He would not have let him go unless he knew the players that they had gave them a better chance to win. Therefore he was #4 on the Ravens depth chart, yet our number one indicating how bad our WR’s are currently. I am glad to have Clayton on the roster but we need to keep searching for help any way we can.
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
Why do you think we had a chance to get any of them?
The Cardinals weren’t going to trade Boldin to another NFC West team, so we had no chance to get him. Jackson’s salary demands are too high or Seattle would have grabbed him, and he wouldn’t be playing for us until the last 8 games of the year anyway. I don’t know that Holmes was ever offered to us, and he isn’t playing yet this year either.
I can understand wishing we had a true #1 WR, but blaming Devaney and Spags for things that aren’t their fault doesn’t help anything.
Once again Andy you have no idea if Boldin would have been allowed to the Rams. And what is a GM’s job? To get us good players right? We held some very tradable spots in the draft and Holmes was traded for a fifth. We also could have grabbed Washington to back up SJAX39 for just about nothing. As a GM you have to make things happen and that is all I am saying.
Ignorance is bliss and way too many people are happy.
I agree with Everett 11 on that Devaney was waiting for some one to make us a offer
While other teams were making moves trading latter draft picks for players they had targeted our GM did nothing ,every one knows we needed a No 1 WR to go along with Sam,but no moves were made he sat in his chair like he was dumbfounded with he arms crossed
Yes we can always say it starts with the FO but at this point in time i think
We have to use what we have the best possible way ,from last year his play calling was suspect,why would I want to run complicated plays that get me from 0/2 yards and most of the time its in the minus side,just to show what a fucking idiot he is?simple is better no side line passes take that shit out of the play books ,first they get nothing for yards gained second if you get intercepted its gone all the way for a touchdown, and by not stretching the field the defense keeps closing in on you tighter and tighter till they choke you ,Surmur you fucking dick head run the ball or pass for nothing less then 10 yards,with Sam we should be attacking at the back door of the defense every time not little dinks for 2 yards,and please don’t tell me that our receivers cant run 10 and 20 yard plays,Robinson and Burton and Gibson are just fine I’m not going to put the blame on them at this point in time,its Shurmur all the way, and it has to do with managing the clock too having Sam throw the ball 50 times his first game WTF is wrong with this guy DAM
It just seems a world
of difference in play calling from the preseason to the regular season. In the games against the patriots and the ravens, it seemed that the team took opportunities to stretch the field. Against the cardinals it seemed we never even tried until the last play of the game. I have no issue with the short high percentage passing game, but you still have to keep the defense honest and show you are willing to stretch the field.
You can go the the high percentage passing game when you have Pat Haiden as your QB not Sam
If your QB is 5’ 11" and cant see over the line P.H.then you would use Surmurs offense cause you dont have a choice ,when my guy can throw high percentage at the 15 and 20 yard range why would I be throwing for 2 yard plays?
+1
I don’t get the hesitation to call the long ball. That 36 yarder to clayton was a thing of beauty.Or call a couple to amendola. That little SOB has so much heart you know he would do everything in his power to go down and get it
Just let me say this
Last year every time I said Shurmur sucks I had 90% of this chat room attacking me lol
this year I have half of you on the same page with me, by the end of the year you will want to lynch Shurmur and I don’t think any fan will be on his side and try to defend his play calling,I guarantee that
After watching the Jets play...
… we arent that conservative on offense LOL! The offense did enough to win, they just didnt do enough to dominate. I mean there are like about 7 different things, if just one of those falls in the Rams favor, they win the football game…
Ultimately, the game showed that the Cardinals have that winning mentality from being a playoff contender the last couple of years. The Rams do not have that yet…but I have no doubt they will get it. They are just getting better and better.
you are right
if they had a winning mentality they won the game 3 or 4 times over. The good thing is, in the interviews after the game, they all said the same thing to which means they get it. As for shurmur (rams210 above) I will give him until the end of this year. If I were him I would stop worrying about wether or not I had players capable of running the scheme. Let’s let the honest chips fall where they may. Call the plays that would win a game with capable players and see who rises to the challenge. Seriously, I think his job depends on it. At least that way we can see who really holds responsibiliy coach or players. If he calls good plays and the players can’t run them it’s on the players but if he doesn’t show some smart playcalling this year he needs to be gone. I’m sick of making excuses for inept calls. Not only does he have to show balance but he has to show the intillect to know when to run and when to pass. I saw alot of that this week where he would pass when we should have ran or vise versa.
And you my friend giving Shurmur another year lol mark my words on this
You will be first in line for his lynching lol,he should have been gone last year and we would no longer be talking about this as a problem ,personally I don’t think he will last this season
and the only thing for sure is the sooner he is gone the better for the Rams
+1
our offense was not as horrible as being made out.
cases in point: Jets and Falcons.
Bradford to Onobun!
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