One Man's Interpretation of Rams Coach Steve Spagnuolo's Conversation with Owner

As I sat in the media room at Rams Park on Monday and heard the head coach of the St. Louis Rams talk about his postgame conversation with owner Stan Kroenke, I was taken aback by how defensive Steve Spagnuolo seemed to be. Spagnuolo described the chat as being “real quick.”

“I’m not going to share it all, but we really just talked about the game,” he said. “I love having Stan there. He’s tremendously supportive. It’s inspiring to me to have him there. He’s talking with the guys and all that. I think that is good...I’m not going to go into the conversation. We talked about the game.”

This is how I interpret Spags discussing his talk with Kroenke, and I definitely think there was more to his conversation with Kroenke than “just the game.”

Here’s what I would envision Kroenke saying to Spagnuolo, “You know I’m probably going to have to let you go at the end of the season, but I’m not going to do anything until then. I like you, Steve, and think you're a good coach, but we're not getting the results we need to keep you around.”

That could be what Spagnuolo meant when he said Kroenke is “tremendously supportive.”

As a reporter, I like talking with Spagnuolo. He’s always been congenial with the media and comes across as genuine. That being said, I don’t believe he can save his job, although I’ve been saying that the lockout could be the saving grace for both he and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The former Denver Broncos head coach and New England Patriots offensive coordinator did not have an offseason to put in his new system. If Kroenke wants to be fair to second-year quarterback Sam Bradford, he may want to keep the current staff so Bradford won’t have to learn a third offense in as many years.

There are many moving parts to this, and we likely won’t know what “Silent Stan” is thinking until Jan. 2—a day after the Rams’ season finale, which is a home game against the same San Francisco 49ers that beat the Rams up in a 26-0 loss on Sunday to clinch the NFC West.