Brian Schottenheimer to become Rams OC (updated, upgraded)

The next offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams will be former Jets OC Brian Schottenheimer. NFL Network is reporting that he interviewed with head coach Jeff Fisher for the job today, was offered the position, and is going to take it.

Schottenheimer is said to prefer a power-running version of the Don Coryell offense. He actually started his NFL coaching career with the Rams, as an assistant in Dick Vermeil's first season here in 1997. He coached the Redskins' QBs in 2001, (Dad Marty was HC; Uncle Kurt, DC) where his first QB project was.... TONY BANKS. Banks threw 10 TDs and 10 INTs in 14 games, with a passer rating of 71.3, pretty much his career average.

Daniel Snyder fired the whole Schottenheimer family after one season, and Brian moved on to San Diego for the next four, also as QB coach for... his dad. In his third season under Schottenheimer, Drew Brees developed into a Pro Bowl QB, with 27 TDs, 7 INTs and a passer rating of 104.8. He slipped the next year to 24/15/89.2, not that those aren't numbers the Rams would take from Sam Bradford.

I also apologize, and find myself guilty of crap research, for not knowing there was a Brian Schottenheimer-Drew Brees link until now. Though I'm not alone.

Schottenheimer also coached Philip Rivers' first two seasons. Rivers became San Diego's full-time starter the next season, with Brees moving on to New Orleans and Schottenheimer on to the Jets, but it seems unfair not to say Schottenheimer had a hand in developing a second Pro Bowl QB. Rivers threw 22 TDs, 9 INTs, had a passer rating of 92 and indeed made the Pro Bowl in 2006.

Schottenheimer moved on to the Jets in 2006, where he was OC for six years. I've already chewed over those, so a quick rundown:
Scoring offense: 18th, 25th, 9th, 17th, 13th, 13th.
PPG: 19.8, 16.8, 25.3, 21.8, 22.9, 23.5. Three of the top ten scoring seasons in Jets history, 3rd in 2008.
Total yards: 25th, 26th, 16th, 20th, 11th, 25th.
Rushing yards: 20th, 19th, 9th, 1st, 4th, 22nd.
Passing yards: 17th, 25th, 16th, 31st, 22nd, 21st.

Update:
The biggest statistic to hire Schottenheimer on is the Jets' red zone performance last year; they were #1 in the NFL. Mark Sanchez threw 21 TDs vs. 3 INTs in the red zone. Sam Bradford has been an abysmal red-zone performer so far in his career. If Schottenheimer can even turn him around close to Sanchez's 2011 performance, you've got a 2013 Pro Bowler right there.

Sanchez has not developed into a Pro Bowl QB in Schottenheimer's offense, though he did have career highs in 2011 with 3,474 yards, 26 TDs and a 78.2 passer rating. Unfortunately, he also threw 18 interceptions.

That's a legitimate criticism of Schottenheimer QBs: they throw a lot of picks. He's also been criticized for uncreative play-calling, getting away from the Jets' offensive identity this season, not getting the most out of his offensive talent, time management mistakes and for botching Sanchez's development by giving him too much too soon. The last straw for Jets fans appeared to be the highly-charged Week 16 29-14 loss to the Giants. Schottenheimer called 67 pass plays with a struggling Sanchez vs. just 25 runs.

Another problem for Schottenheimer in 2011 you never want to see a coach have: he lost his players. Led by Santonio Holmes, the Jets WRs pulled rank to complain to head coach Rex Ryan about Schottenheimer's system. Holmes sulked about his role all season, got into arguments in the huddle and was eventually benched by Schottenheimer in the season-ending loss to Miami.

Schottenheimer also got a bad season in 2011 from his offensive line. Doesn't seem to suit him well to what he'll be facing here in St. Louis. Rex Ryan defended his work, though, as did RB LaDainian Tomlinson and former QB Chad Pennington, who was Comeback Player of the Year Schottenheimer's first season.

While his results as an offensive coordinator certainly beat anything we've seen in St. Louis lately, Brian Schottenheimer's record as an OC is still fairly mediocre. The Rams are not going to be a pretty picture for him after he couldn't adapt to problems on the Jet o-line this past season. And though he may be coming here at the right time to get a young QB in Sam Bradford on the right path, he sure didn't do it with Sanchez as OC. He's been a better influence on QBs coaching them directly.

For a franchise desperately needing to add a charge to its offense, RamView finds Brian Schottenheimer a fairly uninspiring hire. I'm grading his possible acquisition a skeptical C, and really think Fisher needs to hit home runs with his coordinator hires vs. fly balls to the warning track. I believe Schottenheimer would serve Sam Bradford and the Rams better as a QB coach. But if he can turn around the Rams' pathetic red zone performance, and there's history that says he can, I'll gladly put the man up for a Nobel Prize.

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