There is absolutely nothing in his post that would lead me to believe that he's butt hurt so I'm not buying that everyone knew that except for one soul. Not only was he posting someone else's thoughts, he pointedly disagreed with them and still took the blame for it. If you don't think people ignored that and used it to further their own Bernie, JT, Nick Waggoner, local reporters bashing agenda you probably need to read this whole thread again.
I think it depends on how we do "Out of the gate". If we have a poor showing with more losses than wins pre-bye week, then I see sub .500 a true possibility unfortunately and I think it boils down to our defence, show up week one and do what they do best and we're off to a winning season.
With my homer blinkers off I see it like this:
1. We have one of the, if not THE best D-lines currently playing, they just seem to start slow, bring it guys, every week - please!
2. Our secondary dept. is maturing well, with flashes of brilliance now and then - I hope the errors are minimised this year.
3. Special teams & trickery, on our day, I don't think there's a better set of STers in the league
4. Greg the Leg needs to reduce his wayward kicking, I really don't want missed PATs this year of fluffed sub 40 FGs
5. QB: we've got a good starter, but he needs to improve on last year, I hope he stays healthy throughout the season (and post-season)
6. WRs: since adding Britt last year, I think we have a great set of WRs, not a Holt or a Bruce, but solid, and a bit of depth too - hoping Britt brings it again this year and Quick can return to the form we saw last year, Austin and Bailey could be threats in this league, I'm hoping Cignetti can use them to their potential.
7. RBs: Please don't rush Gurley back on the field, Mason is a more than capable starter and he's going to want to show the FO that he has the tools and ability to be a starter and lead-back in the NFL, he will also want to show other teams how good he is
8. O-line: ohh our much maligned offensive line... there are whole-sale changes here, they're young, they're big and I'm excited!!!
9. Coaching: Consistency please, Fisher can out-coach one week, but his game-plan can get torn apart others, we go from looking like contenders to one of the worst teams in the NFL, I just don't get it!
10. Penalties: Just cut 'em out guys, wouldn't mind seeing how many points we lost due to penalties last year...
With the OC, O-line and QB being totally new, it's difficult to project where we'll fall this year it could be 6-10, but the potential is there for a 12-4 season too, it's all about the pre-bye week for me, if we go 5-1, then we're on - but I do worry about what happens if we go 1-5, both seem like possible outcomes!
Totally agree with this. Those first 5 games are brutal, four playoffs teams, and will be the season bell cow if the Rams are finally ready for prime time. Can't start slow against Seattle at home, have to win that game if things are going to be different this season. Or at least beat Pitt, and steal an away upset at GB or AZ. Need to come out 2-3 at worst if we want to finish 9-7, and a 3-2 start means double-digit wins and playoffs.
To me this is all McLeod. Sadly I don't see him improving and I expect the coverage breakdowns will continue as long as he's starting.
PAT"s", plural? The guy misses one PAT in his life and now he's missing multiples? That's his only PAT miss of his career, he's at 98.9%. I understand he had a bad stretch and that clunker in Washington, but in a "horrible" year still hit 80% FGs. He's 82% on his career that includes a hell of a lot of 50+ attempts. Compare to Morten Anderson, Janikowski, whoever career rates, GZ is right up there or more accurate on FGs and PATs. He also is over 50% touchbacks on kickoffs (his 66.6 yds/kick average distance is #1 in the NFL). You said you were taking off your homer glasses but I think you should put them back on here and don't jump off the GZ bandwagon. I still love the kid, he's a lethal long range weapon and has a great career ahead, including the NFL record for longest FG at some point!
Probably not a meaningful amount of points lost. Remember there's no big statistical correlation between penalty rates and performance. But yeah, cut out the obvious stupid penalties, play the game smart (which includes the right kinds of penalties).
I've been pointing out JJ's less than stellar play for years now but here's the thing for me. JJ's mistakes shouldn't always result in huge plays when we're playing zone coverage. That's what a center fielder is supposed to stop. While I hate it when JJ takes unnecessary chances and gets beat, sometimes those chances pay off. McLeod should be there to limit the damage when they don't and he's not more often than he is.
But sometime Mcleod wasn't supposed to be back there. Even Fisher's said.
So Janoris just gets a pass. Don't get me wrong I like Jenkins that's why my screen names is LockDn 21 but dude is Mr Double move and I don't mean it in a good way. My Hope is Tru comes back strong. I don't think he was completely healed last year
That would be why I said "he's not more often than he is." It's also one of the reasons I haven't been all in on JJ either.
