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EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams fired offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, head coach Jeff Fisher announced Monday and replaced him with assistant head coach/offense Rob Boras. Sunday, it was an exasperated Fisher that faced the media after a 27-3 loss, their fifth straight, to the Arizona Cardinals in which the offense had another inept performance.
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In his opening remarks, Fisher said, "It's kind of a broken record with the offense. We have to get the offense fixed. Three first downs at halftime, I think we had six to start the fourth quarter; it doesn't give yourself the chance to be productive or win games."
When one reporter later noted that the media is running out of questions, Fisher said, "Coach is almost out of answers. My responsibility is to say, 'Hey, I'm going to get this thing fixed.' I mean we're not efficient on offense. We have too many good players. We've got guys that can produce. We have an outstanding running back and we have a dynamic receiver. We're starting to get a little bit better on the offensive line and so we'll keep working. But it has to get better. It's not good."
Fisher considered both Boras and Cignetti for the job after the 2014 season when then-offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer left for the University of Georgia. Boras was hired as the tight ends coach when Fisher became head coach in 2012, the same year Cignetti was hired as quarterbacks coach.
Fisher decided on Cignetti to preside over an offense that entered the season with a new quarterback (Nick Foles), a rookie running back (Todd Gurley, who didn't play in his first game until Week 3) and an offensive line that featured two rookies (right guard Jamon Brown and right tackle Rob Havenstein), a center with four previous starts (Tim Barnes) and a left tackle with 12 starts (Greg Robinson). Left guard Rodger Saffold was the most seasoned lineman, but he was lost for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery following a Week 5 loss to Green Bay.
Still, when Gurley became the starter in a Week 4 win over Arizona and the Rams went 3-1 to have a 4-3 record after a Nov. 1 win over San Francisco, there was hope.
That optimism came crashing down following a 21-18 overtime loss at Minnesota as injuries on the line mounted, Gurley found little room to room and Foles was benched after a particularly poor performance in a Nov. 15 home loss to Chicago.
Case Keenum started in a 16-13 loss to Baltimore, but suffered a concussion late in the game and was inactive for a loss the next week to Cincinnati, 31-7. He wasn't cleared until the day before Sunday's loss to Arizona and was active, but did not play. Afterward, Fisher said Keenum would start in next Sunday's home game against the Detroit Lions.
In the team's five-game losing streak, the Rams have scored a total of 54 points and converted 16-of-70 third-downs (22.9 percent). Against Arizona, they were 1-for-12 on third down and Foles was 1-for-11 for nine yards. For the season, Foles has completed 45.0 percent of his passes on third down and his 57.5 passer rating is second-worst in the league. Overall, he has the second-lowest passer rating in the league at 69.0.
When asked Sunday if he might try something completely different with just four games remaining in the season, Fisher said, "There's change weekly. The coaches are game-planning and there's change weekly. Now granted, this was a good defensive team. But still, we have to get more production. We made some plays late, but not enough early. As you game-plan on offense, you install things and you try to attack your opponent, and it's just not working right now."
So much so, that after thinking about the move for a few weeks, Fisher pulled the trigger Monday.
He said, "It was, in my estimation, time to move in a different direction. Our focus is on the future of this offense, the future of this football team. I felt like this was the best thing we could do. All of the blame is not to fall on (Cignetti's) shoulders, but it's the way this business works. Players contributed, coaches contributed, everybody contributed, but we have to move in a different direction. The lack of production is obvious."
A part of Boras' role previously was coordinating the running game and when asked what he believes Boras can bring to his new role, Fisher said, "There's some different thoughts. Stimulate the staff. A little more creativity. But, it's run game. We're lacking the run game efficiency right now and it all starts right there. Rob, wherever he's been, he's been very successful with respect to the run. So, that's where it's going to start."
Considering Boras' involvement in the stagnant ground game over the last five weeks, Fisher was asked what he expects to be different. He said, "What I'm anticipating is it's play selection, it's calls, it's adjustments and things like that. It's commitment to it as far as the play-calling is concerned. Expanding on some things that we need to do and then hopefully pushing things down the field as a result of it, because that's what we haven't been able to do."
