rideaducati":3d0ruoti said:
Ramfan128":3d0ruoti said:
So let me get this straight - you're saying that the NFC West isn't better now than it was in 2011? If that is your stance, I don't think anything you say could be taken seriously...
7-9 against an easy schedule versus 6-10 with one of the hardest....which team was better? It's not that hard.
Also, the Seahawks lost to that bad Rams team last year...with our 3rd string QB playing..
I don't think THIS YEAR's NFC West will be very good with exception to the Seahawks. I believe the Seahawks will win the division by at least three games and no other team in the division will be over .500.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut SOME TIME. An analog clock is right twice a day, it doesn't mean it works. The rams beat one or two good teams every year that they shouldn't, it sure meant a whole lot in the playoffs didn't it?
The cards were 24th offensively and defensively, so I think their record was a fluke. They'll be better offensively with Palmer, but that won't do a whole lot for the defense which I believe will finish in the bottom third of the league again.
The rams were a bottom five team offensively and a lower middle defense and I don't think they have done a whole lot to improve. You may "think" they've improved, but how can you convince others that this has happened? A new QB that hasn't done anything yet. A running back coming off knee surgery. Same coaches. Is that a reason for anyone other than ram fan to think they've gotten better? NOPE. Please tell me HOW you think the rams will be better. There has been ZERO improvement on either side of the ball for three years now, but this year is going to somehow be different just because you say so? Sure, the D-line got better rushing the passer, but their run D was awful. Maybe this year they'll focus on their run D and not rush the passer as well, which would be EXACTLY the result I expect because that is the way Fisher's teams "improve". They are only consistent in that one area of the team always improves while at the same time another area of the team falls off by the same amount which equates to a ZERO net gain or often even a LOSS overall.
The niners are going to be a train wreck no matter what niner fans have talked themselves into believing.
Seahawks have lost exactly one starter from the defense and have added a known playmaker on offense. They traded Unger who missed half of the last two seasons and the Seahawks were undefeated in the six games he missed last year. Carpenter was just a guy that should be replaced without much, if any, drop off.
At the end of the year, statistically there has been no improvement. But the 2nd half of the season last year the defense was top 5 in most categories. Why is that significant? Teams that typically get hot the 2nd half of the year carry that over to the following year. It's easy to look at rankings and say there's been no improvement, but if you watched the games you might not feel that way. The defense got MUCH better as time went on, and after being the worst run defense in football for 6 weeks or so, we were one of the best.
I'm not saying the Rams will be great, but I'm 100% confident we will be better. Hopefully Foles stays healthy, doesn't matter if you like him or not, he's better than what we've had the past two years.
And that's really why we've been confident the last few years - with a starting QB we're better than 6-10 last year - I don't think anyone would disagree with that. How much better? I'm not sure. I don't need to convince others of anything - I come here because I like enemy forums....typically more than my favorite team's forums (for any sport).
Some Seahawk fans think the Rams will be good this year. Others like yourself don't. We're a popular pick for threads like "Give me 5 teams that will make the playoffs this year that didn't last year". Doesn't mean we will or will not be good.
I have my reservations. I'm not Fisher's biggest fan, but I think it's naïve to say that a team won't be good because a coach is mediocre. Some Ram fans have argued this. I think Fisher can get the Rams to the playoffs...I think this because he's gone to the playoffs before. People point to his record and say he's mediocre....but there are always extenuating circumstances. Coaching nearly his entire tenure with the Titans while having to deal with Peyton Manning was bad luck. That's not something very many coaches had to do. From that perspective, he's a hell of a lot better coach than whomever has coached against the Patriots all these years....at least Fisher led the Titans to 1 or 2 division titles during Peyton Manning's run.
I believe because I've seen the improvement....I've watched every snap the past few years and I think this team could explode this year. But I could also see them going 8-8. And I think that's a dilemma most people have with the Rams this year.
