Deposed Linehan delivers one final message to players
At 11:10 this morning, Scott Linehan emerged from the main entrance at Rams Park with his wife, Kristen. They climbed into their white GMC Denali and were gone.
Linehan, fired this morning, asked for permission to address the players one last time. He spoke to them briefly in the auditorium at Rams Park. “He told us we’re winners, even though we’re not winning right now,” rookie Chris Long said. “He said there were good people in the room.”
“He was very classy,” added vet Todd Johnson.
Some arriving players hadn’t heard the news. Special-teams ace Gary Stills asked reporters what was going on. Informed that Linehan had been dimissed, Stills’ eyes widened and he struggled to find words. “I’m tongue-tied,” he said.
Interim coach Jim Haslett was to address the media at noon, but now that is scheduled to take place at 12:30 p.m.
All for now . . . more later.
Good bye Coach Magoo.
“…arriving players hadn’t heard the news…” What! Just shows you what little interest they have in their own team and career! Unbelievable.
The Rams have talent. You can’t lose that many games and expect to keep your job. Hasslets sabotage mission is now complete, but he will be on the hot seat now. Its doesn’t seem right to reward failure but he was a good choice because of his HC experience. The changes the Rams made were effective for the first half. Lets see if Hasslet can motive the Rams to show up in the second half of games. DE Ayendeyju and DT Ryan should continue to start with DE Little and DT Glover coming in on passing downs. Culberson more in the middle to free up Witherspoon, and more blitzing on Defense. The O line is making progress but the Rams must make defenses pay when they blitz by hitting the quick slant. Lets go Hasslet.
I’m simply amazed at the venom directed solely at Scott Linehan, not just from fans but from our own Dispatch writers. Miklasz and Burwell have been without mercy. This is somewhat understandable. Linehan wasn’t successful and I AGREE with his being terminated, but much of the attention should be directed at what was done (and not done) before Linehan even took the job. Bad drafts and personnel moves, literally for years, have left the cupboards practically bare. It’s simply a bad organization from a football standpoint. The club needs a proven talent evaluator and other administrative support if they’re going to get back to respectability..and it’s going to take time. Are we prepared to accept that or not?
Linehan did seem like a nice guy, and I’ve never seen a printed word that criticized him for anything other than his coaching ability with the Rams. I wish the guy well.
As for the team, it is a shambles and switching the coaches won’t make a real difference. The organization is like an apple with a rotten core… it looks nice and shiny on the outside, but the insides are no good. The Rams have to replace the inside, and it sounds like they will during the offseason. You can’t squander as many draft picks as this team has over the years and expect to win, and it’s not something that has occured only since 2000. The Rams have a history of bad drafts since the late 80s, and that is a big part of what led to their decline in the 90s.
This guy is not a coach…he’s the Dalai Lama…I mean, c’mon. “You’re all winners”? What kind of crap is that? “Now let’s get in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbayah”. Seriously? AT 0-4…following a 3-13 campaign…WINNERS they are not. And lying to their face like that is probably more detrimental. “You’re all good people” a little more acceptable… “Thank you for making this a memorable experience”…even better… but WINNERS? No wonder they weren’t into playing for this guy…
It’s a shame he started one season 4-0 and it never really went good from there I think with the right people he can be a good coach in this league he got a bad rep from players that dont like being told what to do!