St. Louis Rams Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo Takes a Back-to-Basics Approach

On one level, National Football League teams are highly sophisticated operations.

State-of-the-art technology helps scouts and coaches analyze player weaknesses and identify opponent tendencies. Massive football staffs work 24/7 to seek every possible advantage through analysis and preparation. 

Bleary-eyed players spend hour after hour in meetings, enduring exhaustive video reviews of the previous game and studying elaborate plans for the game ahead.

Some operations take on a military persona, stressing secrecy and security. Some team complexes remain on lock-down, to keep outsiders (especially media types) in the dark about what happens in the inner sanctum.

But on another level, professional football boils down to simple blocking and tackling. Teams that consistently block and tackle well win games. 

Teams that fail to block and tackle—like the recent-vintage Rams—lose.

The Rams won a Super Bowl with the “Greatest Show on Turf,” a highly skilled team which used cutting-edge offensive tactics. Mastermind Mike Martz prided himself on strategic subterfuge, using exotic personnel groupings and constant motion to keep defenses off-guard.

In the end, though, the Rams won because they blocked and tackled well. (See Mike Jones, “The Tackle.”)

And now, new Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo is guiding the Rams back to those basics. On both sides of the ball, he is striving to make this team sturdy again.

NFL offenses must be able to run before they can pass. They must become sound before they get tricky.

This is why Spagnuolo is putting a premium on blocking. To that end, the Rams signed free-agent fullback Mike Karney.

He was brought in to do one thing: Block for Steven Jackson. Yeah, he is not a bad pass catcher. In one game, he did score three touchdowns for the Saints.

But Spagnuolo wanted a power-blocking fullback for this team. He didn’t want to make do with a hybrid back (Brian Leonard) or a tight end pretending to be a fullback (Richard Owens). He wanted a real fullback willing and able to blast holes in opposing defensive fronts.

“When you want to line up and knock somebody back, it’s good to have a fullback who can do that,” Spagnuolo said Wednesday at Rams Park.

“I know what my position is all about, I know what it stands for,” Karney said. “I know what my approach is, my mindset is and I know I’m here to block and get it done for our offense in any way, shape or form. That’s run blocking, that’s picking up blitzes, that’s whatever that may be. That’s what I’m here to do.”

In New Orleans, Karney became expendable because the Saints have evolved into a passing-oriented team. The Saints, like many teams, have diminished the role of the pure blocking fullback in their offense.

“The game is changing,” Karney said. “Some teams are getting away from it, but I’ve always said, look at the top five rushing teams and they all had a lead fullback. All five top rushing teams this year were in the playoffs.

“So it’s there and coach Spagnuolo understands that. He understands that you have to run the football. You have to have two backs. You have to have that traditional fullback. I appreciate that.

“I remember telling my wife when I was still in New Orleans, when coach got the job here, I said there is going to be a fullback there. I know his track record. I know where he has been, I know what he wants.”

Going forward, Spagnuolo will continue to look for blockers and tacklers. Look for the Rams to add linebackers and offensive tackles through all available means, especially the coming NFL Draft.

Will they take one of the big offensive tackles with the second overall pick? Will they take linebacker Aaron Curry? 

Might the Rams switch up and go for explosive receiver Michael Crabtree to give the offense more flash and dash?

All that remains to be seen. Step by step, Spagnuolo is striving to build a new culture—a program, really, based on sound, hard-nosed play.

He wants this team to be able to line up and knock people back. At its core, pro football is no more complicated than that.