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The End of the Schottenheimer Era: Jets Fans Tried To Warn Us

On January 15, 2012 the St. Louis Rams signed offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. A few of the New York Jets’ faithful stopped by Turf Show Times. They tried to warn us...

Alan Maglaque-USA TODAY Sports
In case you missed it,  St. Louis Rams’ offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is no more.  After nearly three years with the Rams, Schotty is headed back to college.  He’s been hired as the new offensive coordinator/QB coach at the University of Georgia.

After failed attempts at winning seasons with Pat Shurmur and Josh McDaniels, some fans were excited at the prospect of a new offensive mind...especially of the Marty Schottenheimer ilk.


Goodbye McHoodie, hello Air Coryell!

Not so fast.  On the date of Schottenheimer’s signing [Jan. 15, 2012], a few New York Jets' fans stopped by to congratulate the Rams on their newest signing.  No, that’s not right.  They stopped by Turf Show Times to warn us all...

MDGeekyGrl said:

I’ll give you an example of Schotty’s "genius":

Shonne Greene was averaging 4.2 yards a carry against the Giants a couple of weeks ago but Schotty decided to call up 60 plus pass plays with a struggling QB playing behind a shaky Oline . I’m sure you will read more technical analysis from other Jets fans but I thought I would start things off you guys.

Ok...ok.  That’s actually a pretty solid start.  Timmaht weighed in as well...

I'm so sorry for your guys...I truly mean that. Hopefully his gimmicky/nonsensical offense bodes better for you (With the exception of the matchup we have next season). If your personnel works for his scheme you will be better but if it doesn’t get ready for some inflexible, never changing, frustration.

We never threw the deep ball or ran anything consistently, just short dinks and dunks (Hope you like the slant).
He had me at "...but if it doesn’t" something something "frustration."

One of the more detailed responses that day, Jeff Parks, featured writer from
Gang Green Nation said:
I feel kind of badly for Bradford. Well, I still hope it works out best for the both of you. I’m just glad to have change with my team. He really did not perform well in NY at all.

Most GGN’ers will attest to extremely predictable and ineffective play calling over the years. Schotty also has a tendency to get cute or gimmicky, especially when he has time to prepare. He never really seemed to use any of his best players to their strengths. Most frustrating is that you could sit there and actively call his plays before the happen. Communication is also a huge problem, leading to countless timeouts, penalties, even safeties.

Sure, some of that falls on Sanchez and the diminished line. To be fair, no QB has ever done very well under Schotty, including all the former Jets I mentioned before, AND Drew Bress in SD when he was an assistant attached to the passing game for his father with the Chargers.

The most successful Sanchez has ever been are in high pressure situations, 4th quarters, 2 minute drills, no huddles and hurry ups, and audibles. Also he’s very effective on post season road games where Schotty has limited planning time. The common theme in Sanchez’s success moments are they are the times where he had the least amount of preparation with Schottenheimer. Most other times the kid is a dud.

Sanchez has shown promise, especially in playoffs. Schottenheimer largely hasn’t. I’d like to give Mark one more year under a different OC, ANY other OC at this rate.

Simply put, I don’t see the appeal of him. I’ll admit, it looks like Sanchez sucks, but if you read my comments you’ll see Schotty’s problems far predate any of the people who the Jets woes are blamed on.

Maybe all he needs is a clean break. Maybe Schotty and Bradford are exactly what each other need.
That’s a pretty substantial, and very reasonable, take on Schottenheimer, and how he’s not been the answer in NY and won’t be in St. Louis...followed by a pair of maybe’s that simply never came to fruition...

Meanwhile, Timmaht hadn’t gotten it all out of his system:
His strategy all year last year was to present an inflexible game plan for the opposing defenses weaknesses even if it doesn’t suit the personnel’s strengths. You’re really going to need pass protection or you’re going to be in for a really disappointing offensive year, unless your HC or FO forces him to run the ball (Which ours didn’t).

I am not lying at all when I’m saying, IMO, he was the worst OC in the league last year. Anyone pointing to any other reason need not look further then the 100+ fanposts over the last two years on GGN. In 6 or so years he never understood the personnel he had an what would work with those pieces. He was trying to force square pegs into round holes the whole time.
Things are starting to heat up.  And it appears that no Jets’ fan, including rexthejet [also from GGN], is sad to see Schotty on the move...
Guys, I’ve always liked the rams, but why did you have to pick up this idiot. In 6 years with us, we never had a offense in the top half of the league. He’s worked with 3 different QB's, and Pennington and Favre both were in the top 5 of the MVP voting the year after they left us. Of course they were wierd situations, but I’m not sad to see him gone. Good luck though.
Now we’ve got the ball rolling.  The gloves are off.  Bob_The_Friendly_Baker had this to say:
Not trying to troll or anything

But this is a terrible hire, this dude is one of the worst OC I’ve ever seen.

Like Cam Cameron bad
Don’t look now, but Timmaht is back...
Here are some things to look forward to:

1) Shotgun on 1st down
2) Empty backfield on 2nd/3rd and short
3) Fakes to Jackson and running reverses to whatever WR is the slowest.
4) Jackson running for 3 straight 1st downs then passing the ball until you get a 3 and out or turnover
5) The WIldcat, rar!

(Most importantly) Disappointment. The Jets should owe you guys a 1st round pick.
And the icing on the cake...PuffDaddy18 says it best in fine GIF fashion, entitled "Schottenheimer’s favorite 3rd down call"


And thus the ending of an era.  Brian Schottenheimer is no longer with the St. Louis Rams, and they’ll begin their search for a new offensive coordinator, effective immediately.

My hope is that a few Jets' fans will swing by to tell us what not to do this time.  I’m simply trying to avoid the old "fool me twice" scenario.