The Rams QB Situation (long)

[primelord]

We have had several threads about Kurt Warner around here lately, but they were more focused on things like Warner's place in history etc. I wanted to vent a bit on the Rams QB situation as a whole.

What the hell are the Rams doing? I have said from the beginning that I think giving Bulger the starting job without knowing for certain that Kurt Warner was done was a huge mistake. In the few games he played after 2001 Warner certainly had some issues. However I haven't seen conclusive proof that he is "done". In 2002 there is no question he struggled early. However many people forget his first three games were against the Broncos, Giants, and Buccs. And the Denver and Tampa games were on the road. So he was facing 3 teams that all finished in the top 10 defenses and two on the road. I thought he should have played better, but overall it isn't shocking that he wasn't superb. Then he breaks his finger in the Dallas game. Bulger comes in after Jamie Martin was slaughtered by the 49ers on the road and was injured and gets to face Oakland, Seattle, Arizona, San Diego and Chicago. Only the Arizona game was on the road, and only Oakland was any good out of those 5 teams and even then that was the start of their 4 game side that year where they were awful. And all 5 teams finished near the bottom of the league in total defense.

So Bulger excels against the weaker competition at home and with the help of a recommitment to the running game by Martz. Warner gets realtively healthy and gets thrown back into the mix on the road against Washington and Philly. Again two top ten defenses on the road. And he breaks his hand in the first game. And the Rams still had a chance to win both games. So he is done for the season after the Philly game. Bulger gets in one more full game that year again against Arizona and again shines.

We fast forward to 2003 where Martz has said all preseason that Warner will be the starter. Warner looks fantastic in the preseason, but since they don;t want him to get hurt he is limited in his playing time. He gets the start against the Giants and everyone here knows the fist half was awful. He kept getting sacked and kept fumbling the ball. We can argue about whether or not he had a concussion on the second sack and fumble, but there is no question either way he had problems in the first half. However many people forget he was very good in the 2nd half of that game and again the Rams had several chances to win that game.

Martz decides to bench Warner and he never sees the playing field again except for a few meaningless plays at the end of the year. However after a fast start Bulger looks awful down the stretch in 2003. The media is ooohing and aaahing over his various 4th quarter comebacks, but are largely ignoring the fact that Bulger was responsible for the fact that the Rams were in the majority of those 4th quarter holes. It gets so bad that the Rams choose to kick a FG against Carolina and go into OT in the playoffs instead of giving Bulger a shot to win it with time left to kick the FG if he didn't. Martz had no faith in Bulger to get the job done.

The knock on Bulger is he can't hit the deep ball. At all! He was awful all last year and reports so far in the mini camps is that Chris Chandler of all people is continuely out shining him throwing the deep ball. Bulger has proven he can play well against weak defenses at home. However his accuracy and decision making are very questionable. And the whole time there was a 2 time MVP sitting on the bench who has not been given the shot to prove whether or not he still has it. Is Warner done? He might be, but he certainly hasn't been given the chance to prove whether he is one way or the other. So instead the Rams cut him and head into the season with a QB that the head coach doesn't trust in key situations, who can't throw the deep ball on team built for speed, who has the same problem with turning the damn ball over that Warner had in his struggles, and with a backup QB who is 98 years old and tends to be injured if a Dlineman looks at him funny. What the hell are they doing?

End of rant.

[Noop]

Kurt Warner should have never went to the Gaints because Eli is the future. Miami needed him more then any team in the NFL but alas.... good post.

[Sweed]

Couldn't agree more with your post Primelord. I also believe Martz changed the way the Rams played when Bulger was in compared to Warner. Warner in the game send everyone out and block with 5 and wonder why he gets hit. Bulger in the game keep in a back and maybe the TE and no wonder he gets time to throw. Bulger is terrible at the long ball. How many times did he just wing it downfield into 2 deep coverage for a pick. Hell I'd say it looked like a punt but he can't throw it that far.

This is all from a Ram fan of 35 years and it just makes me sick. I'd love to see Warner have a good camp and preseason. Get the nod to start this year while Eli observes. Be a shame if he had a probowl year again and crushed the Rams in the palyoffs, something I never thought I'd want to have happen to my team.

Martz may be an offenive genius but I've never seen a headcoach do so little with so much talent. Well maybe Rich Kotite but then he's not a real coach

[WSUCougar]

All I'll say is that Prime pegged it. I agree 100%.

[TroyF]

Yup, well said. To this day it saddens me that more people couldn't appreciate Warner for the things he did. I pop in that tape of him vs. the Dolphins a few years ago, and think that may have been one of the top 3 regular season performences by a QB in the history of the league. Those two peak years were very special.

I think Martz is making a boo boo, but that's nothing new.

[primelord]

It drives me crazy that they didn't give Warner a chance to show where he is at. I think Bulger is an ok QB. And if I was convinced that Warner was done I would be ok with him as the starter. However I can't stand it thinking that we might have still had an MVP calibre player sitting on the bench and now released and on his way to NY.

And if they weren't going to give Warner a fair shot why in the world did they pay him that roster bonus before the 2003 season? Now you have to take a cap hit to release him instead of letting him walk with no financial obligation. Not to mention he still ha dtrade value at that point as well. Ugh. The Rams have botched this situation in every way possible.

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by primelord

And if they weren't going to give Warner a fair shot why in the world did they pay him that roster bonus before the 2003 season?

I think that was the moment of truth and Martz was hedging his bets. If I had to guess I'd say that Martz truly wasn't sure what to do at that point in time.

[ISiddiqui]

I agree with you primelord. There was no question that Martz changed things when Bulger was in. With Bulger, Faulk got the ball on the ground much more, and more people stayed in to block. Of course Bulger is going to have more time to throw and perhaps look at little better. The defense is being kept honest by the running game and has to deal with more blockers! You put the same scheme in when Warner was QBing, and you'd see another close-to-MVP year, even with the messed up thumb. It was amazing how everytime Warner came in the game it was totally wide open with no running game and how different it was when Bulger was in.

[Franklinnoble]

Write this down:

Mike Martz is an idiot. The Rams will struggle this year, and will likely fire him at or before the end of the season.

[ISiddiqui]

Well Martz is pretty good when he's just an O-Coordinator with a strong enough Head Coach to balance things out.