Brady, Fisher each a long way from ending his reign as the NFL’s best, worst
Fisher’s ironclad status is certainly one of the more mockable stupidities in a league that has no shortage.
COMMENTARY
The most amazing thing to happen Sunday wasn’t the way the New England Patriots overwhelmed the pathetic Los Angeles Rams, 26-10, for their 10th victory of the season.
It wasn’t the fact that Tom Brady, with his 201st NFL victory, overtook old foe Peyton Manning to become the winningest quarterback in NFL history. And counting.
It wasn’t LeGarrette Blount ripping off a fourth-down, 43-yard touchdown, Chris Hogan’s nifty grab in the end zone, or the halftime celebration with the 2001 Super Bowl champions, celebrating 15 years since they changed the entire face of a franchise.
At the time that those Patriots upset the then-St. Louis Rams in New Orleans, current Rams coach Jeff Fisher’s career record was 65-53 with the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans.
No, the most amazing, ludicrous, and downright bewildering development on Sunday was the laughable matter of the Rams extending Fisher’s contract for another two years, the reward for a stint that has thus far delivered his new city a 4-9 record with a franchise for whom he has gone a mere 31-44 over five seasons of perplexing job security.
Two more years.
Fisher’s ironclad status is certainly one of the more mockable stupidities in a league that has no shortage. He’s en route to his fifth-consecutive sub-.500 record, and hasn’t had a winning record to talk about since 2008. That was back when the football world hoisted Fisher onto the same balcony as Bill Belichick, claiming him among the best coaches in the game. He’s not.
He’s not close.
Somebody should tell the Rams.
“This was done well before the season started,” Fisher said. “It was done well before we had 90,000 people in the [Los Angeles] Colosseum for our first preseason game. And you know, we’re just moving forward, that’s what we are doing. Trying to put our product on the field, we’ve lost some close games, you know, and we are struggling offensively. That’s where it is at. That stuff is out of my control.”
Also out of control: Fisher’s reputation elsewhere.
With Sunday’s loss to the Patriots added to his laughable resume, Fisher is now one game away from tying Dan Reeves for the most losses (165) in NFL coaching history. The Rams will lose to the Atlanta Falcons next weekend, then the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 15, to put Fisher solely in first place. And counting. Two more years, at least.
Meanwhile, there’s Tom Brady with his 201st career victory, the most for any quarterback to ever play the game.
It’s the only thing a future Hall of Fame player like Brady has in common with a befuddling commodity like Fisher. Both guys are going to shatter their respective win-loss records.
“To be fortunate to play over a long period of time with a lot of different players, I think I’ve learned so much with everybody that I’ve played with,” Brady said after completing 33 of his 46 passes against the Rams for Sunday for 269 yards and a touchdown. “Lot of great teammates over the years, lot of great coaches, and a lot of wins.”
Even though this aren’t the same Rams Brady helped beat in the Super Bowl 15 seasons ago, there’s a nifty line of symmetry that the quarterback made two of his greatest career marks against the franchise; his first Super Bowl MVP trophy and now his 201st victory.
That’s 28 more than Fisher can claim as head coach for some 22 years.
It’s not like Rams fans should expect any sort of firm base in order to give football another go in Los Angeles. Instead, what the city receives is pretty much what everybody else on the NFL map should come to expect; a middling product of inferiority to the handful of teams that still manage to present NFL fans with a viewable product, one that stands annual tests of their stature with continued reasons to expect contention.
The Rams haven’t been that kind of team for more than a decade. The Patriots haven’t not been that kind of team going on almost 20 years.
“It’s been a lot of football over the years. I’ve been very fortunate to be on a lot of great teams,” Brady said when asked about the reunion of the 2001 champs during halftime of Sunday’s game. “I just feel very grateful.”
That’s a similar feeling noted by Rams owner Stan Kroenke, who appreciates Fisher more for being a good ol’ boy travel agent than he does his ability to coach (remember Dave Dombrowski’s support for John Farrell saying in-game managerial skill was a secondary factor for the Red Sox job?). Fisher was integral in the team setting up shop in Los Angeles over the winter, providing a rock of “consistency” according to the Rams.
“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,” Rams COO Kevin Demoff told the NFL Networkrecently. “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.”
Model job. Four wins.
“Stan knows what we have been through and he knows the direction we are headed as a franchise,” Fisher said.
That makes all this even more confusing.
The Rams are finished. It will be a struggle for them to even make the Fisher-trademarked record of 7-9. Meanwhile, the Patriots took their first step without Rob Gronkowski, done for the season after back surgery on Friday. They didn’t really miss a beat. Albeit against the Rams.
“He’s a big loss because he’s such an integral factor of what we do, but we’ll keep fighting on,” Brady said. “I think we have a lot of other players who can fight as well. We’re going to have to keep doing it. He’s not coming back.
“I thought all of the receivers did a great job when they got their looks. Julian[Edelman] (101 yards receiving) made some really great catches and some really big plays for us. He’s done a great job all year, and we’re going to need him to keep doing it.”
Win No. 202 awaits against the Baltimore Ravens next Monday night. Win No, 208 could come as early as early February in Houston.
“It’s gone really fast,” Brady said. “These seasons have gone fast and the years have gone fast….Yeah. Time’s flying.”
Time’s flying in New England. It merely stands still in Los Angeles, where underwhelming results have given Jeff Fisher a job for life, much like many of his Hollywood neighbors.
“I’ve got some work to do here to finish up strong,” Fisher said. “You know, we have some personnel issues to deal with and get better. And we have some issues to deal with from an offensive side of the ball.”
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