| Advertisement |
Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher, in the final year of his current five-year deal, may still return in 2017 despite a 4-7 record this season. Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said it is not fair to judge Fisher only on the team's record.
Advertisement
"Everybody will want to judge Jeff through the prism of just the record, but that's totally unfair when you look at the set of circumstances he was handed this year," Demoff told Steve Wyche of NFL.com. "It was different than any team in the NFL.
"We moved halfway across the country, then had OTAs in Oxnard. Training camp was in Irvine, now we're in Thousand Oaks. We moved coaches and players and families. To provide leadership and consistency, he's done a model job."
The Rams moved back to Los Angeles during the offseason after relocating from St. Louis, where Fisher had four losing seasons. He has a 31-43-1 record in his four-plus seasons with the Rams.
"He's a terrific leader of men," Demoff told NFL.com. "Players, coaches and staff -- he has their complete respect in the way he runs the franchise. It's easy to talk about the record, but you have to take a snapshot of everything this year and give him the credit that he's due.
"The past two years, he's had to deal with the specter of relocation. This year, the actual relocation. A couple of coaches have had to deal with the specter of relocation. No coach has had to deal with an actual relocation. You have try to understand what this team has been through and the success he has had."
The 58-year-old Fisher talked about what the Rams have been through this season following Sunday's 49-21 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
"We've been through a lot," Fisher told reporters Monday. "It's not an excuse, but we've been through more than any other team in the National Football League this offseason and the moves and the travel and all those things. We're dealing with those as best we can."
Fisher reportedly was in line for three-year contract extension earlier this year. In 22 seasons as an NFL head coach with the Tennessee Titans and Rams, Fisher led his teams to the playoffs only six times, including getting the Titans to the Super Bowl before losing to St. Louis in 2000.
Fisher's 163 losses are second-most in NFL history among head coaches. He is three defeats away from setting the all-time record, held by Dan Reeves at 162.
Meanwhile, Fisher has been feuding with Los Angeles Rams legendary running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson.
Dickerson, 56, said Fisher told him that players feel "uncomfortable" with him because of his criticism of the team, and Dickerson told AM 570 in Los Angeles that a member of the Rams front office told him he is no longer welcome on the sidelines.
Dickerson said he was not lobbying for anyone to be fired, but he initially promised to boycott games while Fisher is coach. Fisher denied the rift between the two.
"I don't know where it got off course as far as he's concerned," Fisher said after Tuesday's practice. "He's welcome here. He's a Hall of Famer. I have great respect for his career, and his jacket, and what he represents. I'd welcome him in the building. I'd love to have him come in. I'd love to have him come to practice. I'd love to have him come in the meetings."
Dickerson, on business in Canton, Ohio, said he is not mad with Fisher.
"I don't hold a grudge against him," Dickerson told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't have a vendetta against Jeff at all. My thing is, when he said to me that I make his players uncomfortable and his coaches uncomfortable, I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable. That's not my job. I want my team to play football. I know the players aren't saying, 'Oh, wow! That's Eric Dickerson! We can't concentrate!' They're not worried about that kind of stuff. But I don't even want that distraction."
