If you hadn’t already done so, please entrench Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo firmly in the hot seat.
Despite the team’s dismal 1-6 start to the NFL season, the coach known for giving A’s for effort, despite consistantly failing results, had two things going for himself:
- Nobody can argue the first half of the Rams schedule was absolutely brutal.
- The Rams showed signs of life by beating the Saints, one of the league’s perennial title contenders.
With the lowly Arizona Cardinals coming into town, sans their starting quarterback, the Rams seemed primed to win consecutive games and cool off the coach’s chair. Oh, what a difference a play makes.
Actually several plays that doomed Spagnuolo and Co: the blocked kick, failed short yardage conversions and, of course, the walk-off run home by Cardinals rookie Patrick Peterson.
If the Rams want to be competitive down the stretch Spagnuolo needs to give up the “effort-speak” and hold players accountable, Sam Bradford needs to get rid of the ball much faster, the offensive line needs to come up big when it counts and somebody, anybody needs to find the hidden treasure map to the end zone.
