Josh McDaniels- New Rams' Offensive Coordinator

[daCode2123]

The St. Louis Rams have brought in Josh McDaniels to be their new Offensive Coordinator (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6034987). This move works two-fold:

1) It fills the void presented by Shurmur's leaving to accept the Browns' HC position.
2) It prevents the Seahawks from signing McDaniels.

In all seriousness, this move intrigues me, especially as a Rams' fan. McDaniels helped lead the Patriots to their offensive success during the latter part of their '00s dynasty. Those teams posted numbers comparable to the "Greatest Show of Turf" Rams' teams of the early '00s and the Vikings of the late '90s. He tends to run a spread offense, which Sam Bradford utilized in college at Oklahoma, so it would not be a difficult adjustment for Bradford to make.

My worries lie within his lack of personnel and use of the running game in his offensive schemes. While McDaniels's previous teams had good runners (Corey Dillon, Laurence Maroney [sometimes], and Knowshon Moreno), he tends to focus more on the passing game... which could lead to less of Steven Jackson running the ball. Jackson has been one of the top 5 running backs the last few years, and while injuries held him back for part of last season, his ability to be a key component/THE key component of an offense may be lost within this new spread system.

The lack of a solid receiving core also troubles me about this near-certain shift to a spread offense. Amendola works as a Wes Welker-type slot receiver and either Brandon Gibson or Mark Clayton can serve as a #2 receiver. Laurent Robinson and Donnie Avery have shown glimmers of potential to be the #1 receiver, but both have been injured too much to present a collage of games to analyze this claim. Until a true #1 receiver shows up and I see this offense in action, I will stay cautiously optimistic.

 

[Big Sexy]

There's some positives and negatives with this move.

Positives

1. McDaniels was a shit head coach but he has had great success as a coordinator.

2. The Rams offense was way too conservative this past year and it cost them in the season finale against Seattle with the playoffs on the line. McDaniels is a lot of things but conservative is not one of them.

Negatives

1. The only major negative out there is the fact that McDaniels just doesn't run the ball enough and the Rams best player happens to be running back Steven Jackson. It's never good when your best player isn't a major part of the offense. I could easily see those two butting heads.

 

[Theo Mays]

I like the move for the Rams. McDaniels may not be a running coach but the Broncos tended to throw the ball a good amount to their RB and they have one of the best pass catching backs in Steven Jackson. Like Big Sexy said these two could be butting heads, but McDaniels has never had a back with the talent of Jackson so I think he knows where he is going to have to build the offense from. McDaniels is a great offensive mind and will most definitely help the offense there. I'd bet that a WR is on the way (mostly through the draft) to get a threat for Bradford to work with other than Jackson and Amendola.

 

[6timehitta]

While Steven Jackson is the best guy on the offensive side, he can also catch balls. He is the biggest part of the Rams team next to Sam Bradford, and he will thrive in McDaniels' scheme. Huge signing because once Shurmur left to the Browns, no1 on the current staff they had could've filled the OC position better than McDaniels will do. HUGE SIGNING for the Rams. McDaniels is salivating at the chance to work with the Sam Bradford.