More Pressure To Succeed: Gregg Williams or Brian Schottenheimer

It is well-known that 2014 is a big year for the St. Louis Rams, another 7-9 or 8-8 year just may not be enough to please the fans. The Rams haven’t had a winning record since 2003, and haven’t made the playoffs since 2004.

The Rams finally look to be getting back on track with their corps of young players. However, some members didn’t perform as well as expected for various reasons. This is the last piece of a three-part series called “More Pressure to Succeed”.

Today we go away from the players and look at the coaches. The Rams have two coaches with a lot of pressure on them this season, Brian Schottenheimer and Gregg Williams.

Schottenheimer is in his third season with the teams, however, he has taken much criticism for his basic play calling. Williams on the other hand is in his first season with the team, but is taking over a potential top defense that struggled at times last season due to the defensive coordinator. With that said, which one will have the more pressure to succeed in 2014?

Brian Schottenheimer

Time and time again we saw questionable calls, and time and time again we saw “Schotty” misuse weapons such as the talented Tavon Austin. It wasn’t until toward the end of the season that Schottenheimer finally realized that Austin could be explosive.

Not to mention it took four weeks into the regular season for Brian Schottenheimer to figure out that this offense wasn’t going to win throwing the football an average of 45 times a game.

It was vanilla game plan after vanilla game plan. When the Rams played the elite teams in the NFC West, it was almost as if the defense knew what was coming before it happened, and yet the Rams stuck with the game plan.

This will be a big year for Schottenheimer. It’s time to stop being average, and take this offense to the level needed to get them over the top. Sam Bradford is in his third year in the system and it’s time we see the play book being opened up a little bit, this isn’t Mark Sanchez we’re dealing with.

There is no question Schottenheimer will be on the hot seat this season if he struggles to get the offense going, especially early. The Rams know their identity and what they want to do on offense. The Rams have plenty of weapons and it’s time for Schottenheimer to utilize them.

Gregg Williams

Gregg Williams is arguably the best non-player acquisition of the entire offseason throughout the league. The Rams defense struggled at times last season and was simply inconsistent, and for a defense with this much talent, that is inexcusable.

Tim Walton has gone through a lot of hate from Rams nation for not being able to get this defense to its potential. With Gregg Williams that SHOULD be no problem.

The Rams are going to live and die by their defense. As a defensive team, that’s the way it is. This offense isnt going to go out and score 30-plus points a game. The defense needs to be able to take over games which will allow the offense to do just enough to win game.

This unit has potential to be a strong top-10 if not top-5 defense, its time for them to play like one and play like one consistently. It will be up to Williams to get them their.