Rams fired their O-Coordinator today, and while Cignetti certainly deserved it, it's hard to see the move as anything other than a scapegoat move. Fisher didn't even try to look outside the organization for a new coordinator in the offseason - the only candidates he entertained were in house, which is baffling since the offense was in bad shape last year, too. Last year Fish could hide behind Bradford being injured, but he's got no crutch this year. Fisher really seems to be cracking - I wouldn't be at all surprised if he resigned after the season. He's usually been so confident and articulate, but lately, he's been telling the media to kiss his ass one week, then saying in the next that he's out of answers (no shit).
Still, Cignetti deserved the firing. There's one play that sticks out to me this year - it's the double-fake end-around play-action pass that he's so fond of. It worked great in the opener against Seattle, and I remember thinking "wow, where was this kind of creativity from Brian Schottenheimer," but as the season has gone one, Cignetti has revealed himself to have an even more limited offense than B-Schott. He's run that same damn double-fake play-action in every game, and it hasn't worked since. In all my years of watching football, I've never seen an offense have so few plays to run as this one. He actually "streamlined" B-Schott's predictable, elementary offense, which is just insane. Did he and Fish actually think that Schotty's offense was too complicated?
The good news is that STL's stadium proposal is close to being finalized, and it's looking promising that the Rams stay in town, which means that StanK will have to start caring about the product on the field. A big part of Fisher's attractiveness to StanK was his prior experience with a relocating franchise - if that doesn't pan out, then he's just another losing coach. And if the Rams stay in town, I would be shocked if StanK held on to the team for the long-term, and nothing would make me happier than for him to sell.
