Remember when the St. Louis Rams looked like a playoff team? When Todd Gurley, for a minute, was the scariest running back in the league? When Nick Foles seemed like the right choice at quarterback, finally? Well, the last one might have never been true.
Personally, I felt Foles, under the right guidance, might be a pretty good solution for a franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs in over a decade. But there are things to remember: Next to his 2013 season, a statistical anomaly if there ever was one, is his so-so 2014 campaign before he got injured. And there’s Jeff Fisher, the head coach, who knows how to pick players and put a team together, but making the best out of it is rarely something he does well. He’s lucky Stan Kroenke doesn’t mind losing and losing until the franchise is out of St. Louis.
Gurley is a weird case, but it does make sense considering teams aren’t afraid of the passing game, and the offensive line is nowhere near where it should be. Gurley started his career with four games of more than 100 yards; 566 yards with three touchdowns through weeks 3-6. Since then? Five games and only 266 yards, while his yards per carry have dropped from 6.43 to 3.29.
Foles is the real mess in all of this. In his first 8 starts of the season, he did throw five interceptions, but had six games without one. In the last three games (Case Keenum started one) Foles has thrown 0 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, completed just 53% of his passes and posted a passer rating of 48.9. The Rams have lost their last four games and at this point, they just some broken on about every possible level.
The most damning stat comes from Trey Wingo: Every team in the NFL is better than the Rams converting the 4th & 10 situation than the Rams are at 3rd and anything, which more or less means the Rams are better off punting the ball on third down. They’ve converted just 24.5% of their third downs this season, one of only two teams with sub .300 in this situation. Not the way to get the franchise back on track, which seems to be still a while longer, and maybe forever with Fisher incharge.
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