ST. LOUIS – Jeff Fisher isn’t wasting any time putting his staff together in St. Louis.
The new Rams coach formally announced Monday that Brian Schottenheimer was the team’s new offensive co-ordinator and Gregg Williams will run the defence.
Schottenheimer spent the past six seasons with the New York Jets, where he helped the team make consecutive trips to the AFC championship game. He was also a quarterbacks coach with the Chargers and will be in charge of getting the most out of Sam Bradford in St. Louis.
“I am really excited to have Brian join our staff,” Fisher said. “He is a well-respected coach in this league who has had success for many years at a high level as an offensive co-ordinator.
“We share the same philosophies on the offensive side of the ball and I think he is a tremendous addition to our staff.”
Williams is a 22-year NFL coaching veteran who spent the last three seasons as defensive co-ordinator for the New Orleans Saints. A former head coach in Buffalo, he also spent six years coaching under Fisher with the Tennessee Titans.
“He brings an aggressive approach that I’m sure will benefit our defence and he has a wealth of knowledge that will aid our entire team,” said Fisher, who was hired little more than a week ago.
The Rams haven’t had a winning season since 2003, and they had the NFL’s worst offence last season with Bradford nicked up and no true deep threats at receiver. Offensive co-ordinator Josh McDaniels recently left to return to the New England Patriots.
Williams will replace Ken Flajole while fired Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo is taking over the Saints’ defence.
Spagnuolo was fired earlier this month after going 10-38 in three seasons with the Rams.
The Rams replaced him with Fisher, who sat out the 2011 season after 17 years in Tennessee. He and Schottenheimer will have a franchise-type player in Bradford, the No. 1 overall pick in 2010, and the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft.
They also have a favourable salary-cap situation.
Schottenheimer has been here before: The former University of Florida quarterback was an offensive assistant on Dick Vermeil’s staff in St. Louis in 1997, and later worked for his father, Marty, in Washington and Kansas City.
Williams, who has deep ties to Missouri and played at Northeast Missouri State, has put together seven top 10 defences in 15 years as a defensive co-ordinator or head coach (Tennessee, Buffalo, Washington and New Orleans).
