Ram Rumors are flying. Let's untangle fact and fiction

Four significant pieces have been published in the past 24 hours outlining some spectacular Ram-Rumors.  The jist of these pieces are as follows.

• Apparently, Steve Spagnuolo and Billy Devaney await the gallows.  Their fate is sealed.
• Jon Gruden has decided to return to coaching in 2012
• This would apparently void his 5 year contract with Monday Night Football
• The Rams mean to get him
• Should the Chargers fire their GM, A.J. Smith, Stan Kroenke intends to make him GM of the Rams.
• According to the bullshit, A.J. Smith has the wherewithal/clout to bring Gruden into the organization
• Some Ram fans are sweating the fear that Gruden would dump Sam Bradford, and want to roll with Andrew Luck

First, let's temper all these scrambled eggs with some facts:

1. Most hope/believe that Spagnuolo and Devaney await the gallows.  I am gunning for the second name, not the first, but I accept the fact that they rise and fall together.
2. Stan has said nothing.  That's why they call him Silent Stan.  We all hope he will do the deed.
3. I am going to peel back-flips and celebrate overindulgently if we nail Jon Gruden.  I fully endorse & support this move.  I love it.
4. Jon Gruden has said nothing.
5. ESPN claims Jon Gruden is fully committed to Monday Night Football.
6. If Stan tries to hire A.J. Smith, I will fly to St. Louis with a .460 Weatherby Magnum sniper rifle and make sure he never enters the building alive.  In all seriousness, I can hardly think of a worse candidate for the job.  This is absolutely not the man for the job.
7. The notion that A.J. Smith has the wherewithal/clout to deliver Jon Gruden is spectacularly fictitious bullshit.  I will continue to say this until someone shows some proof of a connection.  I know of no connection, direct or indirect, between A.J. Smith and Jon Gruden.  
8. Jon has never voiced any love for this guy.  I don't know why he would.  I certainly wouldn't. Would you?  Of course not!  You would never do a thing like that.  Neither would I.
9. Why does anyone think A.J. Smith, a guy whose stock is about to be delisted on the Dow Jones, has the clout to deliver Jon Gruden?
10. Kevin Demof is the guy with the most likely open-connection to Jon Gruden.  He worked with Gruden in Tampa Bay during their championship run.  Demoff is vastly more likely than A.J. Smith to deliver Jon Gruden.  Further, using this connection could be the move that saves Demoff's neck.
11. Most writers have correctly slapped down rumors that Gruden would dump Sam Bradford.  This is utterly baseless.  He hasn't even accepted the job.  This is just pure fear.  Gruden worked with Sam during his QB camp two years ago, and said tremendously flattering things about him... aside from declaring him the world's worst slider.  There are presently no reasons to believe Gruden would dump Bradford.

Anyhow... here are those pieces for your consideration:

• Business Insider
• ESPN NFC West Blog
• NBC Pro Football Talk
• Bleacher Report

I would feel much better about the whole thing if the rumors said "Dick Vermeil declared Team President, and presently negotiating for Jon Gruden's services."

Can somebody please start that rumor?  That would be good.

One very nice footnote to report:  Highly-esteemed Sports Illustrated writer Peter King declared that the Ram-jobs could be the most desirable and best landing spots for candidates during the 2012 hiring cycle.  Why?

1. Sam Bradford
2. The #1 absolute pick in the 2012 draft
3. The greatest projected cap room of any NFL franchise come 2013.

Two terrible suggestions for the Rams

Lately, two terrible suggestions for future moves have being sloshed about loosely in public.

Some have suggested that the Rams should select Andrew Luck if we should be so fortunate as to win the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes. The second terrible suggestion is that we can or will use EVP Kevin Demoff's family connections to get former Titans coach Jeff Fisher in the building.

I shit upon both suggestions, straight-up and no chaser. Shakes, nates, bollocks, nay, no, never, forget about it!

Fortunately, I think both propositions are completely irrelevant to the true situation. We have two victories, the Colts have none. I think the Colts will cruise to the #1 slot. We may well win the #2 slot. This is more than fine with me. It spares us from the morons who would give up on Sam Bradford already. Further, it gives us plenty of picking power to grab Justin Blackmon, the proper target of our draft.

I think Kevin Demoff is on his way out, ergo there is little chance his family connections will be involved in the new coaching search. Rule out Jeff Fisher. He's going to San Diego where he will enjoy a perfect Gemini/Sagittarius alliance with Philip Rivers.

If we are going after one of the so-called 'top coaching candidates', I would like that to be John Gruden. This would entail a reversion to the WCO, but worse things have happened. Gruden is the only so-called A-Lister that I would endorse.

So Kroenke is planning to blow up the front office...?

Ryan Van Bibber of the Turf Show Times is reporting that Rams' owner Stan Kroenke is planning to blow up the front office and hire a new head coach.  That's the Rams' front office and the Rams' head coach, just to make sure we are clear.  Stan owns a lot of sports franchises.  Just wanted to avoid confusion there.

You can read about it here.

I place a question mark at the end of my title because I was unable to follow the trail of breadcrumbs back to the original source.  The links provided on this article point to the San Diego Union Tribune, and a piece detailing the Chargers' need for fresh blood in the management suites.

I do not deny the fact that both teams need new management.  I've been saying it for years.  I just couldn't find any reference to the Rams in that piece.  The piece is 3 pages long, and I grepped each page.  The word 'Rams' does not occur on any of the three pages. Since it is an online article, a revision and partial retraction may have been published.

I think we are all at the point now where we have rejected Billy Devaney's eye for talent.  More specifically, we don't think he's got one.  The thought of Devaney running another draft makes the hair on my neck stand on end.  The dude can't draft a wide receiver to save his life, and this is precisely the player we need the most.  I think we are all hoping that a transition will be accomplished quickly after the season ends.

However, with that said, they don't call him Silent Stan for nothing.  As far as I know, Silent Stan has been silent on this subject.  I would not expect him to telegraph his punch in this situation.

I sure hope Van Bibber is correct about this, but the prospect also fills me with some dread.

I had a lengthy conversation about this with some fellow Ram-fans at work, and we discussed the implications of firing the EVP and GM in some detail.  I am a fan of Spagnuolo's, and would prefer to see him stay on.  However, we know that this is bloody unlikely if both the EVP and GM are fired, as need be.

When you appoint a new Team President, EVP and/or GM, you almost always delegate the authority to remake and remodel the team.  Some owners can and do established protected players and coaches, but this can interfere in the rebuilding process.  Generally, you don't bring in a man at the rank of President/GM unless you are ready to trust him with the reigns of power, and the right to select his coaching staff.

More precisely, it would be unwise to talk Dick Vermeil into accepting the job of Team President, and then tie his hands by now allowing him to pick his coaching staff.  You have to allow Coach Vermeil to remake the organization in his own image.  Preferably, something a bit more like the good 'ole days of the Greatest Show on Turf.

All of this implies that we can't get rid of Demoff and Devaney without also sacking coach Spagnuolo.  Many will be glad to see him go.  I will not.  I have admired his defense mind for some time now.  I like what he has done with our defense.  Unfortunately, offensive power has been Priority-Z under his administration, and we have shown very little of it.

I am afraid that a lack of attention to scoring offense is going to cost another defensive HC his position.  It's an age-old story.  I have seen it many times before.  Names like George Allen, Chuck Knox, John Robinson, and Marty Schottenheimer come to mind.  All of these men have been hired and fired many times because of their strong defensive minds, and their offensive conservatism.

Will E. Stanley Kroenke clean house this off-season?

For those who do not follow my lowly Rams, you may or may not be surprised to find out that quite an angry clamor has been welling up in St. Louis (and other places) among Ram-fans.  There are rumblings.

A movement has been rising among Ram-fans, and the goal of this movement is to throw out the bums at the top of the organizational pyramid.  We're not talking about the Head Coach or the QB.  You do hear some rumblings about Spagnuolo and Bradford, but not much.  No folks, the stated targets of the movement are Executive VP Kevin Demoff and General Manager Billy Devaney.

Specifically, a motion is on the floor to fire Demoff and Devaney and bring back former head coach Dick Vermeil as the team President, and perhaps the GM, if he wants to wear two hats.  If he doesn't want double duty, let Vermeil pick his management team.

Will our owner, Enos Stanley Kroenke, pay attention to this mob of rabid Ram-fans?  I sure hope he does.  I was on the fence until today's game, but this loss to the Seahawks was just too much to take.  If we cannot defeat an inferior and rebuilding football teams in our pathetic division, when we have the home-field advantage, certainly the project is an abject failure.  This loss pushed me over the edge.

I am now calling for Devaney's head on a platter.  It would be good to get Demoff out of the way at the same time.  Clean house at the top.  Flush the toilet in the executive board room.  Have them pack-up and go.

You might not be surprised to read this in print coming from me.  I have very seldom been in agreement with Billy Devaney about personnel moves.  I would not have drafted many of the players he has drafted.  I found nothing winsome or impressive about many of the players he selected.  They were not on my shopping list, and I don't understand why they were on his shopping list.  I have a difficult time understanding how these busts wound up on his radar, much less his draft cards.

We must conclude that the man has poor taste in horseflesh.  He just doesn't seem to be able to identify a real player.  Certainly, an eye for durability, dependability and reliability just isn't there.

After the 2011 draft, I stated in print that I was ready to bury Devaney's arse somewhere in the Nevada desert.  I believed he made heinous mistakes, and it is looking increasingly like I was right about that.  Certainly, we did not equip Sam Bradford for success in this past draft.

Furthermore, I haven't particularly liked his taste in free-agents.  The two guys starting at guard for us right now would not have been on my shopping list.  I would have made a change at Left Guard by now.  There are some substantial free-agents we could have had for a song, and we did not go get them.  This has been analyzed and presented very well by the NFL Network's own Jamie Dukes.  Consult him for an unbiased opinion.

Football is a contest of men, fought on the field of battle.  The game belongs to the players.  They win the game.  They loose the game.  Certainly the coach matters, but the men make the difference.  This is not a good team loaded with good men.  Our offensive skill position players are pretty terrible, and our offensive linemen are pretty damn fragile.  We're doing a bit better defensively, but we have only 2 all-pro caliber talents there, and this is probably Coach Spagnuolo's doing.

After many years (6) of losing records, our team seems to be listing and foundering on the low-tides of the 2011 season.  We are no better than we were two or three years ago.  The offense is struggling just as badly as it was in 2009 when we averaged 10.9 points per game and won just one game.

This offense is ugly as sin to watch.  Our offense is downright offensive to any decent football-sensibilities.  Things have not worked out as planned.  The script was not supposed to play out like this.  The Rams were the buzz in the NFC West during preason... not that this is saying much.  This is a fight gone bad.

I truly believe the failure is at the top, it begins and ends with Billy Devaney's choice of players.  This is where we have to begin the correction.