Per CBS sports, Fisher says Keenum is still the #1 QB and that he will start this Sunday. I received this via notification. Not sure if it is on their site yet.

1. We haven't seen the kid play.
2. Plausible deniability and general incompetence on the part of players, staff and front office.
3. No succession plan in place.
4. Nice guy, who people genuinely like.
5. Has moved a team before.
6. Played at USC / California local.
7. Team plays for him (not counting the 4th quarter because I did not see it).
8. Drafted Goff
9. Hired Snead
10. Will keep the team relevant in the eyes of the most loyal of fans (due largely to defense and not getting blown out in games... usually)



Did I miss anything? I would love to hear more reasons. I did my very best to be constructive here. I am genuinely curious as to how the fuck this is acceptable?

I think you'll figure out who's names and positions to replace for this to make sense.

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Rams fire offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti December 7, 2015

Rams Promote Rob Boras to Offensive Coordinator for the last 4 games of the 2015 season and Jeff Fisher makes him the permanent OC choice for the 2016 season.

I left out the rushing stats because when you have Todd Gurley just about any coordinator can look good calling run plays. Boras had his work cut out for him entering 2016 but the issue for this team was the passing game and he didn't do anything special to warrant Fisher keeping him as the OC.

Boras got too much credit in 2015 for the Rams winning 3 of their last 4 games. When you revisit the statistics (passing game & 3rd down conversions) Fisher selected his close friend who never was really qualified.

As soon as the trade for the #1 pick was done Fisher selected the QB that didn't fit his Boras/scheme. I also never thought much of 2nd year QB coach Weinke because his only background was that of his QB school. Weinke had not 1 game of NFL experience coaching QB's until he was hired by Fisher in 2015.

Neither Boras or Weinke had any experience at the NFL level to risk developing a rookie spread formation #1 overall pick. I never predicted they would fail but when you look back on it now it makes sense of why Goff was going to have a longer than expected learning curve.

Both of these coaches have a combined 22 games of NFL quarterback coaching experience on their resumes. I was happy the Rams chose Goff but this Offense needed to be tailored to his skill set from the beginning of OTA's and until we see different this was never the right staff to put much faith into.

This isn't about bashing Rob Boras but he had an entire off-season to tinker and prepare his offensive personnel to fit his revised playbook to work with the talent he knew very well before even being promoted to OC. He never had the experience of grooming a rookie QB and tweaking his playbook to get the best possible results. Fisher just figured they would all learn how to on the fly?

Rams Passing Game Under Boras 2015/2016

2015 Week 14 vs Lions

3rd Downs conversions 4/11
Total Net Yards Passing 114

Passing
C.Keenum 14/22 124 Yards.. 0 TD.. 1 INT

Receiving
K.Britt 2/35
B.Marquez 3/32
T.Austin 3/19
J.Cook 1/11
W.Welker 1/11
B.Cunningham 1/8
T.Gurley 1/7
T.Mason 2/1

2015 Week 15 vs Bucs

3rd Downs conversions 2/10
Total Net Yards Passing 221

Passing
C.Keenum 14/17 234 Yards. 2 TD.. 0 INT

Receiving
K.Britt 2/71 TD 1
J.Cook 4/64
T.Austin 3/41 TD 1
T.Gurley 2/31
L.Kendricks 3/27

2015 Week 16 at Seahawks

3rd Downs conversions 5/12
Total Net Yards Passing 103

Passing
C.Keenum 14/23 103 Yards. 1 TD.. 0 INT

Receiving
K.Britt 3/49 TD 1
T.Austin 3/16
B.Cunningham 3/14
T.Gurley 1/7
B.Quick 1/6
J.Cook 1/5
T.Mason 1/3
W.Welker 1/3

2015 Week 17 at 49ers

3rd Downs conversions 3/13
Total Net Yards Passing 231

Passing
C.Keenum 22/37 231 Yards. 0 TD.. 0 INT

Receiving
K.Britt 3/81
L.Kendricks 5/37
B.Cunningham 3/34
T.Austin 5/30
B.Quick 2/23
W.Welker 2/16
C.Harkey 1/12
M.Brown 1 for -2

2016 Week 1 at 49ers

3rd Downs conversions 3/15
Total Net Yards Passing 120

Passing
C.Keenum 17/35 130 Yards. 0 TD.. 2 INT

Receiving
K.Britt 4/67
B.Quick 3/23
L.Kendricks 2/15
T.Austin 4/13
M.Brown 1/8
B.Cunningham 1/7
T.Higbee 1/2
T.Gurley 1 for -5

Cause if they arent we are all in for a long painful season.

The five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with, Rams/collapse/torment . They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling.

:

I'm just as sick as everyone else about this embarrassment on national tv last night but its over and I'm still and will always be a rams fan. a couple of things I noticed when I wasn't turning my head in disgust was.

1. I don't know if RG Brown got hurt or they were sick of him getting beat but Witchman came in and played some then they put Brown back in. Did anyone notice if they were rotating them every other series or what? I didn't watch close enough to see who was in on every series.

2. The D played as good as one could expect when they were on the field for 95% of the game. The only negitive I have is Coty Sensebaugh got beat like a drum. Hopefully Gains will be back this week if not put Hill in he can't be any worse.

3. I thought Higbee was supposed to be one of the few on this team that had sure hands? He couldn't catch a cold last night but it didn't help that all his routes were 5 yard drags with all 11 defenders being 5 yards or closer it makes it a little tough.

4. I thought the Rams would just maybe not get screwed every week by the Zebras with the NFL wanting the move back to LA go over good but I was wrong. Fuck the refs.

5. There is no reason to not play Goff this week. There is no possible way that he could play any worse then Case did last night. He needs to get all the experience he can, he could have at least saved us the embarrassment of getting shut out on national TV. I'm sure Stan will be at the opener this week against the Seachickens if Fisher starts Case again and were getting blown out I would hope goes down at half time and escorts Fisher out of the building Ive seen enough.

I was hoping that I had a very bad dream only to wake up and realize that I was not dreaming.
Instead I woke up with my stomach in my throat and my heart squashed like a grape under a tennis shoe.
What happened I do not know, but this I do know we as a team are missing something in a big way and it isn't only talent or Coaching philosophy, lack of heart or desire. It is knowing how to win, how to stay composed, how to support each other and how to overcome adversity.
We are way off and change of some kind better be on the horizon or this franchise will lose another market. Too early you say? you may want to take a deeper look.
This forum houses the true fans and I know that my ROD brothers out there are hurting from this unexpected and underwhelming display.
Stay tough my friends.

From Tomsula to Chip Kelly was night and day for the Niners.

From league doormat in '15 to a team that simply abused the Rams for 60 minutes in front of a MNF audience.

We've all seen this movie before, huh?

We were outplayed by a country mile last night.

We were out coached by a country mile, too.

A very bad combination, indeed.

They quickly made us one dimensional. And a one dimensional team is really a no dimensional team, isn't it?

Hard for this old Ram fan to watch.

Shoulda replaced Fisher at the end of last season. Now, it's too late. We're in no man's land now HC wise for '16. Damned if we make a change, damned if we don't.

The frustrating thing? I know that there's real talent on this roster. A lot of it. Yet they are sputtering with fits and starts. Almost to a man and from top to bottom.

That's coaching, y'all...

I have been a Fisher supporter , but am begging to waver, so I had to post this.

Rams back in LA , with a rich owner, who does NOT want to have a crappy team in a brand new stadium in 2 years is a dream scenario for a coach. Pure spotlight. Rams cannot afford to fail with the time and money put into relocating and building the monster size stadium.

So Coaches that have flirted, nut stayed away might consider . Gruden anyone?

I wish they could make Williams the coach but make him bring in some offensive guru and let him run the show. Fisher just refuses to believe that his offense is obsolete. He reminds me of Al Davis and how he held onto that old Raider offense for so long after it has been made irrelevant.

This is going to be rough. But I have to do it. Hopefully this isn't too gratuitous.

The Good

I won’t waste any money going to Rams games this year since they are now in LA.

Kenny Britt’s 67 yards receiving was the highlight of the game. Yay.

Greg Robinson held up decently when he engaged. Had a couple people run past him but hard to know what the assignments were.

Benny Cunnigham had a couple nice kick returns. Averaged 29.5 yards. So there’s that.

Edit: Hekker- for obvious reasons.

The Bad

Tavon Austin PR-looking scared to return punts it seemed like. He could have returned a couple and that first one was a field position disaster that resulted in the Whiners first score. Had one nice return to get this out of the ugly category.

The Ugly- this is going to be falling through the ugly tree ugly

Team Defense- 0 sacks. 0 interceptions. Gave up 28 points to the offense we beat out for worst in the NFL last season

Linebackers- as I feared, any OC or coach worth their salt is going to abuse having one real LB’er opposite of their offense. I like Barron as the hybrid LB’er but keeping the Lamarcus “midget” Joyner in at all times, even in goal line situations, will be used against us all season long. Didn’t help that even in the passing game Joyner was completely embarrassed by Jeremy Kerley all game.

Tavon Austin WR-12 targets, 4 catches. Obviously not his fault the playcalling and offense is useless. And Keenum threw a lot of balls to terrible places. But if you’re going to pay a player a big contract you use him to gain yards not waste downs catching balls at the line scrimmage.

Defensive line- wow, one thing I thought we would never see is Aaron Donald reduced to an afterthought. Let alone the whole d-line. This is our bread and butter… no matter how it gets we can rely on our d-line to at least punish the other offense and QB. Instead they let Gabbert do whatever he wanted and they got manhandled by the Whiners o-line. They performed better as the game wore on but never looked dominating at all.

The WHAT THE **** is going on?!?!??!?!

The Rams rotated Wichman and Brown at RG throughout the whole game. Remember the carousel of Barnes, Rhaney, and guy’s name I can’t remember last year all the way up until the first game? This o-line is in constant flux. Pick your god **** starting o-line and coach them! Jesus

Havenstein was not ready to play yet. He looked slow and tentative. Why was he in there? But more so, why was he in there after it was obvious to everyone? Since you can’t decide who sucks more between Wichman and Brown throw Saffold at RT anyway. It’s where he was all preseason.

Which leads to offense in general. I can’t put a ton of blame on the o-line though. They had no chance. Play calling was baffling and useless. The Whiners dared the Rams to throw the ball with stacking the line. Literally the only other thing they could have done was have Chip Kelly hold up a giant sign across from Fisher with big lettering that said “Pass the ball past the line of scrimmage… I ****ing dare you” while having all the players make chicken wing motions before the ball was snapped.

Coty Sensabaugh- I just…. Nothing needs said really he is what he is.

Team psyche- Fisher completely lost his team by the 4th quarter. This was evident by the way the team looked and acted. It came to a head when Donald got himself ejected and threw a tantrum on the field. I’m not sure how players can come to work today and listen to Fisher and buy what he’s trying to sell now. If I’m an offensive player how do you buy anything your coaches are telling you after this performance? It was a complete and utterly demoralizing loss. I never once saw Fisher yell or even talk to anyone else on the sideline. He just stood there and stared with a glazed look on his face. Like he had just found out Chip Kelly was banging his wife and was mulling his options between prison, suicide, or crying.

Team Leadership- Which leads me to this. Where was the leadership? Chris Long and James Lairinaitis left a void and no one has stepped into it. I was hoping Ogeltree and Donald would step up but they lost their cool too easily. There's more to leadership than yelling and throwing your helmet cause you're pissed. Hard Knocks didn't help with the way they portrayed some of training camp but it seems like this team doesn't have any accountability to it. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the NFL take disciplinary measure against Aaron Donald. Always having the youngest team in the league is getting old if no one is going to control the kids.

Fisher- said after the game Keenum was still the started and nothing will change. Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?! I give up, do whatever you want man. Keep digging your career grave. I like Fisher, I really do. But this game was a career ender. He’s going to have to pull out a miracle to win fans, players, and hopefully Kroenke’s confidence back.

So I know I'm not the only one thinking it's time for Fisher to go, so we might as well have a worthwhile discussion about our options. Believe me, I've stood up for Fisher and I want to like the guy, but it's been four years of inconsistency, unpreparedness, and just general sloppiness. He stays level headed which is a good thing, but he doesn't do enough to get good performance from his team. It's the same crap year after year. We all know how the offense has looked with him. Morale of the story is we're not going anywhere with Fisher so it's time for a change.

So that brings me to my question, what options are out there or will be out there for head coaches? Honestly I would be ok with Gregg Williams taking over to see how he does. At least he won't put up with BS year after year, and it's pretty clear the defense respects him. I don't think you could say the same for the offense and Boras. I feel like whoever we get, we're gonna need another new OC as well.

Discuss....

Remember when Demoff was deep in conversation with Bradfords agent after his first ACL, then Bradford blew it out again in preseason, which ultimately lead to Bradford being traded? So now, Demoff is deep into contract extension talks with Snead and Fisher and they lay this bomb on national TV. Seems this is the equivalent to the current regime of an ACL. Hopefully that will be the last of those talks. The hard part is the fan base has to grunt through another painful season.

First off, I have to say this was one of the hardest games to watch. It was so bad I turned it off midway through the second quarter. I cannot understand how an NFL team cannot score a single point in a game. Words cannot express how pissed I was about the lack of performance by the offense. We are right back where we were last year. No passing game, no offensive continuity which puts the defense on the field the majority of the game. Also, I found it disturbing to see some of our key players seemingly not giving any real effort. I honestly think they thought they were going to come into San Francisco and blow them out of the water. Little did they know SF was ready, punched them in the mouth and knocked them out. We continue to be the butt of jokes around the league, and yet Fisher continues to be the head coach. The ineptness of this organization is mind boggling. With that said, I really thought if this team went 9-7 given all the distractions of moving to LA, Hard Knocks, and all the moves within LA, would be a successful year. After last night's debacle I'm now thinking 5-11 or 6-10. Am I jumping the gun as to predicting a bad season only after the first game? Maybe so, but until Fisher is gone, and Kroenke finds someone who can turn this team into a contender, we will continue to see losing seasons and more players jumping ship when they can.

National headlines are ugly fellas

Everything about the offense last night was simply atrocious especially considering how much time Boras had to prepare for this game.

• The Niners were ready for a steady dose of Gurley. So how the 9ers gameplan? Eight in the box and key on Gurley and Austin. How did Boras respond? A steady dose of Gurley with some Austin sprinkled in. Why not keep calling play action and press the ball downfield to loosen up the LOS?? Nope-keep pounding the rock when it was clearly not working.
• Passing-every pass (other than 3 or so to Britt in the seem that actually worked) was a three yard hook or hitch in the flat. How does any receiver have YAC after they have their back to to defense?
• The Austin Package? Third year in a row where we have heard about the exotic plays for Austin. I saw nothing but high school level screens and hooks. Where was the jet sweep-the one play that consistently worked last year?
• Play calling was not to Keenum strength. Revelation-Keenum is short. So why the heck is he standing in the pocket on a 3-5 yard drop? He cant see!! Hence, pick in the middle of the field. He should have been in motion, rolling more often to the right or left to give him passing lanes.
• Use of Cunningham. What did have 3 touches before the 4th quarter? Bennie is a much better screen option that Gurley. They ran it to Benny 1x.
• Why isnt Goff ready?? Isnt that the job of the coordinator? They have had the kid for 3 months or so. Why couldnt Boras create a system that plays to Goffs strengths? Could he limit the verbiage if its too overwhelming?

In conclusion, the entire game was called in a stubborn, inflexible manor that demonstrates how the Fisher regime may never understand how to raise an offense out of the bottom 10th of the league. In year 5, now with a young offensive line and one of the best backs in the league, the offense is worse than I have witnessed in the 5 dreck years of the Fisher offense.

Was in a discussion in the vent thread with @jrry32 . Good discussion btw, That said, I'm thinking and he's thinking, Goff should be starting for different reasons of course. Myself I thought we gave up to much and the kid was a reach. Jrry32 doesn't think that, and I respect his opinion. I'm ready to see the kid start just to see what he has, as jrry32 is ready to see him start. Mr. Fisher please end this debate.

You give up all these picks, take him #1 overall, and have him in street clothes? Worse case, go with Mannion who played college ball in a Pro Set, and have Goff ready in case? Myself, let's start Goff behind this OL and with our WR's, and see what transpires. The rubber shall hit the road.. I should do a poll.. lolol

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an offensive guru, just an avid Rams fan.
I understand that an NFL offense is difficult to learn and can take years to fully master.
What I fail to understand, strictly from a QB perspective, is how/why our seemingly simplistic offense is so hard to grasp?
Play calling seems pretty difficult, having to learn the verbage and "wordiness" of the play.
But seriously, how much is there to really learn to call a 3 yard out (which we seem to run a LOT) or a handoff to Gurley?
What I'm getting at is why the hell is our elementary offense so god damned complicated when it doesn't appear that it needs to be?
New England's offense seems WAY more intricate and complex than ours is.

Maybe I'm completely off base because I've never called, designed or ran an offensive play in the NFL.
There just seems to be a lot going on for a whole lot of nothing...

It appeared that the blue was lighter than the blue last year, but darker than the old royal blue. Maybe they are trying to change the color slowly over time, a little lighter every couple games in hopes that the NFL uniform nazis wont notice.

After tonight's shit show, I'd say it's time to cut ties with Fisher and move on. With that being said I really think, and I can't believe I'm typing this... We need to go after Jim Harbaugh hard.

This is the perfect spot for him to come back to the NFL. Come backs to CA, gets a chance to exact his revenge by playing the niners twice a year. Not to mention what he would do for Goff. If he can make Colin freaking Kaepernick look like an elite player, imagine what he could make Goff look like.

I know this isn't gonna be a very popular idea on this board, but this guy isn't stuck in the 90's and have the saying 'Can't teach an old dog new tricks' sum up his ability to be a Head Coach.

I hear tons of frustration about our QB situation and the question must be at this point:
Who Do you Want as our Starting QB next week?