Sometimes the most toxic people in your life are disguised as your family.
That's logically the case with Los Angeles general manager Les Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher who have become family after an arranged marriage by Rams' owner Stan Kroenke brought them together in 2012.
Kroenke cleaned house of the then St. Louis Rams after the 2011 season, firing both head coach Steve Spagnuolo and general manager Billy Devaney on the same day.
Since then, Fisher and Snead have had their ups and downs over the last four seasons, but things exploded on Thursday when a MMQB story by Albert Breer on SI.com stated that things between Fisher and Snead were "toxic," and that the Rams practice facility in Thousand Oaks, CA was a "junior high" atmosphere.
Both Fisher and Snead disputed that report on Friday morning and vowed to find the "anonymous source," that was quoted in the Breer article.
"I don't know where it's coming from, but I'll find out," said Fisher. "In our business, unnamed sources, they're not good. If we've got sources from within the organization that are speaking, then we'll address it. But there are no issues between Les and I."
Snead ushered the same sentiment when he met with reporters about an hour before Fisher did.
"The working relationship is good," Snead said.
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Fisher and Snead each received two-year contract extensions before the season began, but an announcement didn't come until last Sunday morning before the Rams faced the New England Patriots in Foxborough.
Fisher was asked about Snead's extension after practice on Tuesday and he told reporters that he was "honestly, unaware," that his GM of the last four years had received an extension and added "we need to do a better job from a personnel standpoint," a comment that the media took as a jab at Snead.
However, Snead saw the comments and said that he did not take them personally.
"I didn't blow it out of proportion in any way," said Snead. "I realized we were in the same boat as far as getting extensions."
As for the comments about a "junior high" environment at the facility, Fisher said those came from the "writer or editor" of the story and did not believe that anyone in the organization feels that way.
"I don't know where that's coming from, but I don't pay as close attention to those things as you do because I'm more concerned about the Falcons," said Fisher. "But I'll just say this again, Les and I are fine. We work together. We talk every day. "
For now, Fisher and Snead are focused on football and snapping a three-game losing streak by beating the Atlanta Falcons at the Coliseum on Sunday, but the witch hunt for the unnamed source within the organization has officially begun amidst the dramatic Hollywood backdrop that has become the 2016 Rams season.
