Rams Should Tailor their Offense around Sam Bradford

After Week 4 in the 2013 NFL Season, the St. Louis Rams are currently 1-3 and loosing the last three games on average of 18+ points and as a Rams fan it's very disappointing. I have re-watch all four games to check what went wrong and I come into conclusion: The offensive scheme doesn't bode will with Sam Bradford's skills sets. 

Skillset-wise Sam Bradford is a product of a no-huddle spread offense in Oklahoma and running the no-huddle practically WON the game for the Rams. 

Personnel-wise, Isaiah Pead, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey all thrive into a similar type of no-huddle spread offense. Even Daryl Richardson fits as a scatback in a spread offense who is better in space. 

The only runningback that fits Brian Schottenheimer's offensive scheme is Zac Stacy yet they didn't gave him opportunities in the last game. 

The Rams are about to face a then mediocre team in Jacksonville Jaguars yet their past performance would make it more of a grudge match rather than a clear cut win unless the Rams gave in to the facts that the no-huddle would give them a much better chance to win games. 

If I were to quote STLToday.com's Bryan Burwell: "The Rams need to unchain Sam Bradford".

Coaching Revamps that the Rams can explore

After a quarter of a season the Rams just manage to post a 1-3 record with the last two games losing in a blow out.

As of now the Rams are in recovery mode for 10 days to fix their problematic offense and defense and here are some of the suggestions that MIGHT help

Hire Mike Martz: One of the most successful offensive coordinators in the Rams history is Mike Martz and it won't hurt to hire him as a consultant for now. With the personnel the Rams have I'm sure coach Martz would love to create some plays off of them.

Demote Tim Walton to DB Coach and promote Chuck Cecil as DC: The Rams have a bevy of experienced Defensive Coordinators in the current coaching and I'm scratching my head why up to know they promote any of them, in this case Chuck Cecil gets my vote to be promoted as DC and Tim Walton taking his place as secondary coach.

These are only my personal opinion but if the Rams wants to win their remaining games these suggestions are by far the best moves they can do.

Time to Use Zac Stacy

Since Steven Jackson left for free agency and subsiquently signing with the Atlanta Falcons, We expect that the Rams running game would suffer because of the inexperience in the runningback unit.

Before the regular season started Daryl Richardson was name starter with Isaiah Pead as the main backup with Zac Stacy, Benny Cunningham and Chase Reynolds rounding up the group. After three games the running game is still very subpar to the point they become one dimensional. The Rams usually dresses 4 runningbacks every week and Stacy is usually the one in the inactive list.  

As I recall during the offseason, Les Snead and Jeff Fisher was very high on Zac Stacy to the point they traded up and pick him in the fifth round because he's a 2,000 yard runner against a touch SEC conference in college. Zac Stacy is effective runner specially in between the tackles and since Daryl Richardson is currently ineffective due to his foot injury why not Coach Fisher make good in his "runningback by committee" approach and de-activate Daryl Richardson so that he can recover from his injury and dress Zac Stacy to backup Isaiah Pead who has finally shows his skills against the Cowboys.

Draft Prospect Spotlight: OT Eugene Monroe

Virginia OT Eugene Monroe 

Height: 6-6, Weight: 315

Strengths: Possesses the best combination of pass blocking and run blocking of any prospect in the 2009 NFL Draft…played at Virginia, which has been increasingly effective at producing top level NFL talent on both the offensive and defensive lines…is such a terrific talent that he kept top 2008 NFL prospect Branden Albert at offensive guard…at 6’6 315, has prototypical size for a NFL left tackle…dominated at times throughout his collegiate career, but perhaps even more importantly, he never seemed to battle inconsistencies that many offensive tackle prospects do…a very low bust factor, and you know when your drafting a prospect the likes of Eugene Monroe, he will contribute from day one…

Weaknesses: There is not a specific element of his’s game that one can point to as being superstar level quality…very good prospect, but can he be great?…low bust factor yes, but also may not possess the potential and ceiling that a few other offensive tackle prospects in the 2009 draft class do…one would have thought that with top-tier NFL talent the likes of Monroe and Albert playing side by side the Virginia rushing attack would have been more dominant…would be well served to add some more muscle to his wiry 6’6 frame… would like to see him play with a bit more of nasty streak…

Overall: There is not much to dislike in regards to the draft prospects of Eugene Monroe. Eugene Monroe is another safe pick and there is little to no chance that a team in the top ten do not select him to protect the blindside of their quarterback. Eugene Monroe has long arms, uses his hands very effectively, and is arguably a better pass blocker than Andre Smith. Eugene Monroe will continue to progress and develop, and although he may not have Pro Bowl level potential like some, he will start and contribute immediately.

Source: WarRoomReports.com 

My Opinion: Before, I go over my opinions about the prospect in particu;ar, I just wanna say that the Rams are clearly gonna draft an offensive tackle to address the loss of Orlando Pace. the idea of moving Alex Barron to left tackle is a bit unclear because Barron works better at RT. 

Regarding Eugene Monroe, the possibility of him being drafted at #2 overall is close to none unless Detroit drafts him beforehand. Monroe has a similar report to his fellow Virginia alumnus DE Chris Long (which the Rams drafted in 2008) on which he has the best overall skillset but little room to improve (so as they thought).

Opinion: Rams should go with Brock Berlin as #2 QB

There were reports that the Rams are planning to sign veteran quarterback Gus Frerotte back after the releasing Trent Green, well for me this move is PREPOSTEROUS. They are gonna replace an old veteran with a much older veteran.

The Rams should think of giving Brock Berlin a chance to prove himself and draft another QB in the late rounds for QB #3.

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Meanwhile the hunt for Steven Jackson's lead blocker has suffered a minor setback as fullback Heath Evans signed with the New Orleans Saints. The Saints also released FB Mike Karney to make room for Evans. In my opinion the Rams should pickup Karney because he's a proven solid lead blocker and average receiver out of the backfield which can be very beneficial.

My Overview on the Rams Free Agency

With a new headcoaching staff and two new personnel for the purpose of handling the salarycap, the Rams enter free agency with a modest $14 million under the 2009 salary cap ceiling of $123 million. But this not enough considering the Rams' rookie salary amounts to about $6 million this year.

Here are some scenarios we can ponder on:

-Trading, releasing or restructuring the contracts of Torry Holt and Orlando Pace. This has been the rumors and speculation around the internet if these two Pro Bowlers are to be traded or release, the Rams would save a combined value of $14 million on the salary cap.

My speculation on this is that Big O is most likely willing to restructure because he loves to play as a Rams ( as evident on firing of his previous agent who has almost created a strain bewteen him and the Rams for stonewalling for more money) on the other hand Torry Holt, has previously express he might end up play for another team before his career ends (and expresses playing for his hometown team the Carolina Panthers) well I might be wrong and Torry should help the team restructuring his contract.

-Retaining Atogwe and Bartell is a priority. There are some reports that the Rams are focusing most of their money to retain O.J. Atogwe and Ron Bartell with Atogwe possibilty gonna get the francise tag. well I don't fault the Rams for doing so as Atogwe is the Rams best defensive player.

- Letting go of the underachievers and past-prime players. This one might get some attention as most of you might agree with me on this one. WR Drew Bennett and LB Pisa Tinoisamoa (frequent injuries), DT Claude Wroten (suspension), S Corey Chavous and DT La'Rio Glover (age). Of the aformention names, I might give Pisa Tinoisamoa some considerations of retaining as he has really contributed to the team but the rest won't matter if they are let go.

-Improvement on the O-line and Run Defense. This one is obviously the main goal of the Rams this offseason. If the Rams can get their clear answer on the free agency , the #2 pick on the draft will most like go on either an OT, WR or a trade down for a MLB.

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