Yes, yesterday's loss was frustrating, incredibly frustrating for both the St. Louis Rams and the last of the true believers, who mostly congregate around this site. The team had shown some real progress recently, but watching things unfold yesterday memories of that progress were hard to conjure. Is it officially time to proclaim doom? Probably not. That, however, didn't stop some of those needing to fill column inches from hitting the panic button. Let's dive into over reaction Monday's pundit watch.
The award for worst punditry comes from Jeff Gordon in his PD column today. After pointing out the inexperience of the front office and coaching staff, Gordo says this:
I still believe these men are following the proper blueprint...
Ok. But then he then goes on to say this:
Presumably, the next ownership group will put a strong football man at the top of the organizational chart and go from there.
If the franchise doesn’t gain new ownership during the next few months, then the current leadership must learn from this struggle and overhaul the entire operation. Everything should be up for re-evaluation.
What? So after suggesting that the team is on the right path, despite their struggles, he goes on to suggest a complete overhaul. Another overhaul? One year after we got a much needed overhaul to end the Shaw/Zygmunt era? Talk about setting the team back a notch or two.
Let's be honest here. Devaney, Spagnuolo, et al inherited a bad situation. Years of infighting, bad drafts, pools of money tied up in injured and aging players and a general lack of vision left the Rams in complete and total disarray. Nobody could turn a franchise around that fast, not unless they had no salary cap, a gazillion bucks and a handful of first and second round draft picks. And people wonder why the newspaper business isn't long for this world.
Let's get past over reaction Monday, and into rational Tuesday.