Camp reports Oxnard Day 2 + some stragglers about Day 1

Cornelius

I made the hour and a half drive up to Oxnard yesterday with my son, to watch the Rams/Cowboys practice yesterday – and we had a blast. The facility was packed with Rams fans, and the Rams chants dominated the afternoon.

The Rams receivers were working out against the cowboys DB’s right in front of us, and even though it was a basic one on one drill, the Rams receivers seemed to get the best of the Cowboys. Stedman Bailey was VERY impressive. His route running was by far the best (IMHO) and he caught everything thrown his way. They need to make him a bigger part of the offense this year.

Throughout the day, Kenny Britt really stood out for me. Besides being a large, cut human being, he was the most animated player on the field. He was the first to congratulate a fellow receiver when they made a big play, and he was constantly jawing with the cowboys players – mostly in fun. When the 11 on 11 started, he again was full of energy on the sideline, getting his teammates pumped up and interacting with the crowd. At one point, he worked his way down the fence and high fived 20 yards worth of fans, saying “I love you guys, I love you guys”. My 9 year old was one of the fans to get a high five and it made his day. When the many fights broke out, Britt was always in there defending his teammates and not afraid to mix it up. While he is not for everybody – and I imagine he could be the type of player that gets under the skin of opposing teams/fans, I am glad he is on the Rams. I hope he has a great season.

ramsrams34

On Havenstein; he IS a technician more so than a mauler. He uses his hands well and waits to set up his blocks most of the time, or when the scheme/play call allows. When he does have to engage quickly, he lacks balance which probably comes from his weak base and that fact that he plays too high too often.

He is light in the a** which make his anchor in pass-pro a liability, but he shouldn’t be facing team’s elite pass rushers on that side which should help. He will need help for TEs/RBs in obvious passing downs, IMO.

If I were a DC, I would attack him in pass pro for sure as I feel he is the weak link in pass pro.

I am not so sure about B. Jones at center and will be watching him closely against Tenn. He did help open some nice holes in practice yesterday but got worked over against Oakland.

I also liked Rhaney.

Pead, yes Pead impressed me – much less tentative than he was against Oakland. He had a number of nice runs against the Dallas and looked fast if not explosive. I hope things pan out for this kid and with Watts suspended for the first 4 game, Pead might just make the team once again.

We didn’t get to see the D as they were on the other field but I am simply not worried about that side of the ball.

Here’s is my overarching though on this team:

If they get caught in too many obvious passing situation, the O-line simply isn’t good/experienced enough yet to win in those situations and keep our D off the field.

The addition of Gurley is SO obvious to me now, especially looking at our other backs. Yes, Mason is good and can be electrifying. But he is small, smaller in person than what he looks like on TV. Gurley looks like he will be able to create yards with power when daylight simply isn’t there.

Bennie Cunningham is a nasty football player..Period. He looks to punish LB’s. While not a feature back, he is the best in pass pro, can catch and can get tough yards. We are really set at RB as soon as Gurley gets in the mix.

Special Teams play and returns changing field position and generating points will be the biggest reason this team has a winning record or doesn’t IMO. This is simply because we cannot get into a pass heavy shootout with anyone. The O-line just isn’t ready for that yet. But if we can tilt field position with both D and ST’s and get scores from those two areas, this team will have a chance to beat some teams that are better than us: (AFC north, GB, AZ, DET). Other teams that are not dynamic (Sea, SF, TB, Wash, Cle, Chi, Minn to a degree) we should be able to play straight-up and not worry about getting into a one-dimensional, shoot out type game with.

My review of our team is more global but really hinges on our o-line and creating field position victories and hidden points, so to speak, with ST’s and defensive returns.

I also feel that this is EXACTLY how Fisher sees it. the great thing is, our St’s are awesome and our D has a knack for creating To’s and can win on third down more often than not.

But, our schedule is no joke.

Lastly,

Too many dropped passes yesterday. Although, in 1 on 1’s we tore Dallas up. But, they probably did the same to our D as that drill is heavily slanted toward the offense, as is 7 on 7.

GO RAMS, regardless of future location Smile But, I do have an opinion on that as well, lol – for another time.

Agamemnon wrote:

I hope that is all true. It is what I expect.

Hard to say isn’t it. I don’t think we’ll honestly know for a while.

Govane

I was there. Both days. Couldn’t really hangout since I was with my 5 year old son.

Two hour drive to get there. Stayed at the Hyatt on Westlake Village about 30 min away. My kid showed up with his backpack smiled and talked to people at the front desk. Got us a free suite upgrade, movie and snacks.

Some notes from memory…

Parking was $10 per day. Another $20 to gets you to field level for all of training camp and access to autographs. Got there around 45 min early and all the space at the low fence was already taken. The low fence was about two feet from where the players are standing. Was able to find a spot on the right side around the 40 yard line. Inglewood Mayor was talking to crowd at the fence. Crowd chanting “bring them back!”

Team bus arrives. Cowboys and Rams huddle in between the two football fields. Hekker is one of the first to get on the Rams field. The crowd goes wild. Hekker acknowledges the crowd. GZ joins him and smiles waves to crowd. Britt is the only one walking around without a shirt. Puts his jersey on and goes over to high five the crowd at the low fence and signed some autographs.

During team stretches, Tavon is stretching right in front of us. Rock Gullickson comes over to Tavon and conversation goes something like this…

Fan – “Coach, Tavon is not lifting up his foot during the stretches.”
Rock – “Are you the coach?”
Tavon gets up after the stretches smiling, “Why you gotta rat me out?”

DB’s start doing footwork and ball handling right in front of us. Tru looks huge. Joyner looks like a lil kid next to him. Jenkins has the best feet and hips out of all of them. Makes the drills look easy. Fan yelling, “Hollywood Jenkins!” Gurley getting reps mid field on 7 on 7. Thought I saw him get tackled once. They started leaving him alone after that.

Rams WR’s vs. Cowboy DB’s right in front of us around 30 yard line going in. Press coverage. They must have been running option routes because some receivers ran an in while others ran a comeback. Timing looks good on the comebacks. Ball was out before break.

Haven’t been this close to a pro QB throwing the ball, and man I was surprised the WR’s were able to hold on because those passes had some pepper on it. Especially Foles’. Britt schools Claiborne. Fan yells to Claiborne, “Glad we didn’t draft you!” He would hear that throughout the drill. Austin’s turn. Shoves the DB, does a sweet foot move, DB just froze in his tracks and Austin is wide open for the slant/in. Crowd goes wild, and fan yells, “Tavon, this is not basketball!” Quick’s turn. Wearing a yellow beanie on top of his helmet. Looks huge. Cowboy DB coach tells his guy. “Give him room. Don’t touch him!”

Same drill, but 20 yards going in this time. Still press coverage. Austin just runs through his guy, and catches a sweet pass from Foles at the side of the EZ. Not much room to spare. Tyler Slavin’s turn wearing #8. Fan yells, “Let’s go Bradford!” Then poor guy drops a pass. Some things I noticed, Marquez looks like a keeper. That guy can plant his foot and go. He kept getting a ton of space on those slant/in routes. Also, our receivers played really physical. I’ve never seen them play this close, but I saw them shoving the DB’s to get open. I also saw a ton of backshoulder passes completed.

11v11. Rams O vs. Cowboys D going right to left 80 yards from EZ. Tre Mason is walking around with blonde dreds and a half jersey showing off his six pack. Fan behind me yells, “Tre are you a diva!?” Tre follows that by gashing the Cowboys on Robinson’s side for a long gain. Thought I saw Barne’s playing Saffold’s spot and had good interference on the second level. Next play, PA right. Cowboy DL gets a good push, but Foles stands in there. Throws a beaute that Austin just runs under. TD! Barnes was right at Foles ankles on his release.

Same drill, but from other side of field going left to right. Few unsuccessful runs, then pass play with Bailey running a 7 route right at us wide open. Foles doesn’t see him because the rush is in his face. Next play, Foles drops back to pass, but DL gets good push again. Throw is behind Bailey for a pick.

That’s all I remember from day 1. Had to leave early because my kid was at the end of his rope. I’ll try to do one for day 2.