Josh McDainels Is Rams New OC

If you called Josh McDainels a nut job, I couldn’t blame you after the way he handled his head coaching gig with the Denver Broncos. Since McDainels failures have been well documented over the past few months I won’t spend much time on talking about them and would rather focus on his strengths.

This week McDainels accepted the offensive coordinator with the St. Louis Rams, and that should mean good things for quarterback Sam Bradford. Acquiring McDainels was a great move as the Rams need to continue Bradford’s development and with his old OC gone to the Browns (new head coach) it was curtail to find someone to keep the offense on track.

In New England, McDainels helped little know quarterback Matt Cassel mature into a Pro Bowl caliber player in his first year as a starter. Sure, Cassel had Randy Moss and Wes Welker to throw the football with but since he hadn’t started a game since high school, I would say it was an impressive year.

Oddly enough McDainels best season for quarterback and offensive passing development may have come in the year he was fired by the Broncos. Last season, Kyle Orton wasn’t expected to do much, and wide receiver Brandon Lloyd was a forgotten castoff from teams like the 49ers and Bears.

All of a sudden, Orton and Lloyd became to notch performers at their respective positions and were house hold names in fantasy football leagues around the country.

Starting A New Chapter

In St. Louis last year, the Rams had an unexpected run for the playoffs as rookie quarterback Bradford proved why he was worth the first overall selection as he stayed healthy throughout the season. This group didn’t have much of a deep threat but some of that can be blamed on the fact that they lost Donnie Avery to a season ending injury in camp.

With McDainels calling the offense, and Avery expected to have a full recovery, the Rams should open up the passing game, and that will further their success on offense. My one concern for this group is in the running game as McDainels had trouble developing Knowshon Moreno into the star player he was drafted to be.

Thankfully, the Rams do have a star at this position in Steven Jackson so hopefully he will continue to find success in McDainels pass heavy offensive scheme. One part of Jackson’s game that should be used often is in the underneath passing game as he has great hands and McDainels loves to use tailbacks this way.

All in all, Rams’ fans don’t have to like McDainels and his, at times, weird ways, but they should feel good about the direction of where their team is headed on the offensive side of the football.