One of the cool benefits of having MTD part of SB Nation is the ability to leverage content from New Era Scouting (the parent site for MTD). Matt Miller is a writer for MTD and New Era, and his post today on how to fix the Rams (after they fired their coach, Scott Linehan) got me thinking on another way the Rams could be fixed. Mind you, I am not writing this to bash Matt's opinions. I strongly disagree with some of his suggestions, but that doesn't mean they are "wrong." This is just my alternative. Think of it as this: Matt made his pitch to Rams owner Chip Rosenbloom, and now I am making mine. Neither are wrong. Neither are right. Just ideas from two dudes who love football.

The Rams are guaranteed 8 home games on indoor turf. Their nickname for years was "The Great Show on Turf." They also play one game in Arizona (hot, but fast track turf) and Seattle's Qwest Field (though outdoors in rainy Seattle) is also Field Turf. This means the Rams play 10 games a year on fast turf. For this reason, the focus of the team must be on speed, not power. When you play at Heinz Field, Giants Stadium, or Lambaugh Field, power football is your friend. The surfaces are sometimes muddy, the winds fierce, and the temperature below freezing. For the Rams, that is not their element. 10 games on moderate weather fast turf means speed is the premium. Speed over power. That is the theme.

Matt suggests the Rams cleaning house in the front office and hiring Steve Spagnuolo as their new coach. This would work if indeed your focus is on speed, and Spagnuolo's a disciple of Jim Johnson's 4-3 blitz school of defense, which Johnson perfected in Philadelphia. However, if you plan to continue development of your offense (as we assume the Rams will do), a blitz happy D is not necessarily the way to go. Offense, defense, and special teams must work together, in synergy. They are not separate parts to one big machine. They must compliment each other.

Step 1: Fire GM Jay Zygmunt. I totally agree with this, as first suggested by Matt (he originally said Armey, but meant Jay Zygmunt). Zygmunt is a complete idiot who has no business running a local carwash, let alone a football team.

-Short list of new GMs: Tom Telesco (Director of Player Personnel for the Colts), Ryan Grigson (Director of Scouting for Eagles), Tom Heckert (General Manager for Eagles), or Ruston Webster (Director pf Player Personnel for Seahawks). All these men are experts at building a team with speed as the central theme, and all come from very successful organizations. Personally, i think the Rams should hire Ruston Webster from Seattle. Nothing against the other guys, but Webster was the Director of College Scouting for the Buccaneers during their Super Bowl run in 2002. He helped build great teams in Tampa through the draft, focusing on speed (especially on defense). Webster also has a strong knowledge of the Seahawks, a division rival of the Rams. Such information and knowledge is invaluable.

Step 2: Hire Leslie Frazier (current DC and Assistant HC of the Vikings) as the head coach. 

-Frazier is a creative coach with lots of experience coaching defense. He improved Minnesota's defense after inheriting it from Mike Tomlin, and improved the Colts secondary from 2005-2006.

Step 3: Hire Ron Rivera as the defensive coordinator (current LBers coach in San Diego, former DC in Chicago when they went to the Super Bowl).

-Jim Haslett stinks. He sucked for years in New Orleans and ran St. Louis' defense even further into the ground. Why reward him when it is the defense that got Scott Linehan fired? Haslett is equally to blame. Rivera is a smart coach who deserves another shot at DC.

Step 4: Hire Bob Bratkowski as the offensive coordinator (current OC for the Bengals).

-Bratkowski's offense in Cincy is the only thing worth anything in Cincy. He knows how to game plan and works well with talent on hand.

The purpose of these signings is to move St. Louis' defense to a fast, Cover 2-based system. Frazier and Rivera are very familiar with Cover 2, and Webster knows how to scout and draft for it. Defense is the main issue in St. Louis, and with their offense (which can score points), a fast defense will compliment the offense. current players like DE Chris Long were MADE to dominate in Cover 2. Long would post freakish sack and tackle numbers as a Dwight Freeney-like DE or a Warren Sapp-like "three technique" DT.

In fact, the last time the Rams had a dominant defense, they ran a Cover 2 scheme, coached at that time by current Bears head coach Lovie Smith.

Players like Adam Carriker (sub-300 pound DT) would also thrive in a Cover 2 scheme, where speed and quickness are valued more than size and power. DE Leonard Little was a dominant player in a Cover 2, and could post solid numbers again as a pass rusher in such a scheme.

Key to making a Cover 2 scheme work is the play of the defensive line (must pressure with only 4 linemen consistently) and the safeties. Since the Rams already have young, quality players invested in the d-line, the safety position is the priority in the draft. I can't speculate now on which safety to draft, because it is early, but there is a reason why Cover 2 based defenses in Indianapolis, Chicago, and Tampa Bay work. Each club gets tremendous safety play, and when those safeties are hurt, the defenses suffer.

On offense, the focus must be on creating a new offensive line. The Rams have tremendous players at the skill positions, but their QB routinely gets hit and their star RB has no holes to run through. A 2 TE based offense could help better control the line of scrimmage, switching to three WRs when the Rams want to spread teams out. But the base must be 2 TEs. The Rams must do everything to protect the QB.

Again, this is just my alternative to Matt's excellent article on what he would suggest to fix the Rams. I admit, the names I suggest are not as flashy or as accomplished in terms of their resumes. But you must establish a focus for your team and then hire people who will draft and coach with that focus in mind.

One focus.

One mindset.

One theme.

Speed. Speed. Speed. SPEED KILLS!

The Rams need to embrace that philosphoy and move forward to enable their current skill players (Holt, Bulger, Jackson, Long) and draft for the future with that philosohpy in mind.