RamView 7/31/15 training camp report (Long)

RamView, July 31, 2015
Training Camp Report from Rams Park

So far, so good for the opening day of training camp 2015 for the Rams. The rookie class is off to a pretty good start and practice looked pretty mistake-free. Aaron Donald still cannot be blocked by human beings and RamView is still long-winded. Are you ready for some football?

* QB: The offense was about as exciting and risk-taking the first day out as a Hillary Clinton stump speech, so no one really hurt their stock. Nick Foles got a lot of reps and worked with backups more than I remember Sam Bradford ever doing. He hit Jared Cook for one long TD 7-on-7. That was about all of 7-on-7 I watched, because they do it the same time as 1-on-1 line drills, so almost all the passing I saw was pretty short. I do like the arm Foles shows on short out routes. I never thought that throw was a strength of Bradford’s, and it sure wasn’t for Shaun Hill or Kellen Clemens. Foles has got better zip on that throw than I’ve seen in a while. Most deep balls 11-on-11 were bailout throws because, in reality, Foles would have gotten drilled by somebody. I’ll only see this practice and next Friday’s, so I doubt I’ll see enough to decide if Foles’ deep ball will be a concern. Austin Davis came out first at QB2 but that really looks like a timeshare with Case Keenum. Sean Mannion had a couple of hiccups in the final 7-on-7 drills mostly for rookies but didn’t have a bad day. His release looks a little weird but he throws a good-looking ball. Sure, a lot of passes only traveled a few yards in the air, but everyone’s timing looked good. I’ll take it for starters.

* RB: Todd Gurley participated in position drills but not team drills. He didn’t show any sign of his knee injury to me, but I think the Rams are very smart to play it safe with him so far. Tre Mason showed a little power running through some arm tackling, as did Trey Watts. I think that’s a good development for Mason because he didn’t have a lot of success up the middle last year and needs to improve there. Sweeps or leak-out routes for him were usually blown up, making the RB star of the day… … … oh man should I go here?… … oh, ok, Isaiah Pead. He also shows no sign of his knee injury from last year. Every rep I saw him take was good. He hit the hole quickly, used his blocks well, made himself small in the hole – he didn’t get touched without making a nice gain. At a minimum, it looks like Pead will put up a good fight for a roster spot. More power to him.

* Fullbacks: Yes! A fullbacks section! Pretty disappointing blocking today in the backfield, though. Lots of blitzers got there, or would have, in 11-on-11. Bennie Cunningham, who is usually quite good at it, didn’t look good in blitz pickup drills and wasn’t getting his hands placed properly. Corey Harkey was disappointing, which I hate to say when he’s one of my faves. Got beaten in 1-on-1 drills and had a false start 11-on-11. Justice Cunningham didn’t look like he had much business doing any of this and UDFA Zach Laskey looked completely outclassed. There’s a lot of work to be done here, but Bennie and Harkey stayed after practice to do some extra work, so hopefully this’ll turn around quickly.

* Receivers: Jared Cook scored a long TD down the seam in 7-on-7, one of the few standout receiving plays. There were some drops, though I’d blame two of them on the QB. Kenny Britt (now wearing #18, or I’m dyslexic) couldn’t come up with the ball on a deep corner route that was well underthrown. Tavon Austin (wearing #1, I don’t know if that is a permanent move) couldn’t make a tough semi-diving catch over the middle that I think Foles led too much. Austin made a nice gain early on off a quick screen with a shake-and-bake. The disappointing drop was Brian Quick’s, who had a very nice throw go off his hands to deny a nice gain. Quick oddly played much of this practice with a special teams beanie over his helmet, maybe that’s like the red jersey for QBs. He stayed and worked with Foles after practice, so again, there’s hope for a quick turnaround. Farther down the depth chart, a WR who “popped” a bit was Damian Williams. He always seemed like the fastest guy downfield on special teams drills and he made a nice overhead grab in traffic in 11-on-11. Alex Bayer made a nifty intentional one-handed grab of a fastball from Mannion (I think) in 7-on-7. Again, there’s a lot unseen to be making many judgments on the receiving corps. No deep game and not a lot of attempts to get it to Tavon.

* O-line: Good and bad here, which is something of an improvement because the o-line has been getting completely outclassed early in recent camps. Several of the youngsters are holding their own. I wanted to draft Jamon Brown, so I’m biased, but he looked strong in 1-on-1s against Nick Fairley and Michael Brockers. Good footwork, didn’t get beaten around his shoulder and showed excellent anchor. Rob Havenstein did not fare poorly against William Hayes 1-on-1. The rookies were not the raw meat I feared they’d be for Sack City. Having said that, there were a lot of protection issues on that side 11-on-11, but enough of that was blitz-related that I’d still say both rookies had good enough first days. Robert Quinn embarrassed Greg Robinson on their first 1-on-1 rep, with just a rip and a speed move around him for an easy sack, but Robinson won the second rep just as clearly, stoning Quinn on an attempted spin move. Tim Barnes appears to be the first-string center in what’s probably a three-way timeshare. I just find it so disappointing that someone besides Barnes isn’t already a clear leader here. Barnes did actually hold up well one rep, but not the other, I believe against Brockers, and that’s what Barnes is. He doesn’t have the anchor or power to hold up at center. These guys are all lucky right now I cannot remember who Doug Worthington pancaked. Also, it’s a good thing Aaron Donald is a Ram, because Rodger Saffold can not handle him. Saffold might have been the most disappointing lineman of the day. Then again, Brandon Washington looked really bad twice 1-on-1 against Louis Trinca-Pasat, who I believe scored a pancake. Time’s running out on that project, and the Jamaican, Darrell Williams, who looks completely outclassed, but the Isaiah Battle Project actually didn’t get off to a bad start. At backup LT, he was stacking some people up in the running game. Youth was served pretty well the first day, and Saffold only has to face Donald in practice.

* Defensive line: Some unexpected absences. Chris Long did not appear to participate in anything. I also don’t remember seeing Eugene Sims. That’s probably on me. The other unexplained absence is the #94 jersey, because Robert Quinn was wearing #2, and if not for his distinctive profile, I could have mistaken him for a big wideout. He looks skinny, though still lethally effective without having to expend a lot of energy. Aaron Donald picked up from his impressive rookie season, just blipping past linemen before they could get to him. Ethan Westbrooks impressed me. Hard not to when he’s killing Justice Cunningham every rep 1-on-1, but I thought he was getting there 11-on-11 as well. I would have lost a lot of money in the defensive lineman pancake pool, because it wasn’t Michael Brockers or Nick Fairley getting them, it was Doug Worthington and Louis Trinca-Pasat. Worthington ran over somebody whose number I couldn’t get, and vice versa, I’m sure. Washington was not ready for LTP’s quickness off the snap. Wonder how that matchup’ll go tomorrow. Way down the depth chart, I don’t remember Matt Longacre winning 1-on-1, but his number seemed to pop into view a lot 11-on-11.

* Linebackers: Sorry, I still suck at linebacking. I thought Daren Bates stood out with the 2’s. He did a good job sealing the edge on some runs. I like how he’s developing into a more and more complete player. Bryce Hager had a number of successful blitzes. Akeem Ayers was the victim of Cook’s long 7-on-7 TD, but I can’t believe having Ayers cover a TE deep down the seam is the ideal role for him. That was a scheme win for the offense.

* Secondary: Another disappointment for me is that E.J. Gaines was at best sharing the CB1 opposite Janoris Jenkins with Trumaine Johnson. Gaines should be getting all those reps over TruJo as far as I’m concerned. I really can’t explain what went on today other than a lot of mixing and matching. It looked like Lamarcus Joyner and Marcus Roberson were the 2s; I wasn’t even sure what Gaines’ unit was for a while. And it was Gaines who made the best play I saw, perfectly shutting down Chris Givens on a rare deep route. Hearing now that Mark Barron was a no-go today, I believe Maurice Alexander got that role with the 1s. The secondary wasn’t tested much, and I didn’t learn much. Down the depth chart, Jacob Hagen had the only pick I saw all day, in rookie 7-on-7, and recalling the positive ball-hawking comments I saw in his scouting reports, I doubt that will be the last we hear from him. I liked Montell Garner in that session, too; he jumped a couple of slant routes well and wasn’t afraid to get physical. Oh yeah, this is a Jeff Fisher team. Feisty.

* Special teams: The Isaiah Pead conspiracy started on special teams. The team opened practice with kick coverage the first twenty minutes, and the unit with Chase Reynolds, Daren Bates, Bennie Cunningham, Corey Harkey and Stedman Bailey on it would be the #1 unit, right? Pead was on that unit, along with a couple of other names I wasn’t expecting, Korey Toomer and Marshall McFadden, though both were on teams last season. Well, be more aware than I was that those guys have legitimate shots at roster spots. Alexander was also on that unit, which very much pleases me. Interesting names on the #2 unit included Tre Mason and Jo-Lonn Dunbar. I even saw Alec Ogletree doing some teams work, if my brain wasn’t too baked. Greg Zuerlein closed out practice going 4-for-4 from 30, 35, 40, and 45 (pfft, chip shots). I believe backup kicker Michael Palardy also ran the table.

* Strategery: This was the least tricky practice I’ve ever seen, though THANKFULLY, no inside handoffs to 170-pound RBs. Lots of play action, pretty even run distribution (end vs. middle), lots and lots of short passes. Based on today, the plan again this year is for a lot of 16-play scoring drives. Other than the one designed screen for Austin, I didn’t notice much meant to get him the ball in space, though that one effort worked well. Many release-valve throws to the backs, but I get fooled every year into thinking that’s going to be an offensive wrinkle. It’s the first day; I’m sure they’re saving the fumblerooski-triple-flea-flicker-flanker-throwback for tomorrow.

* Cheers: Well, I’d prefer not to go there from the very first report, but the name I heard mentioned the most in the crowd today, not favorably, was “Kroenke”. The Rams Park staff didn’t seem to mind the several keep-the-Rams-in-St.-Louis signs, though. It looked like a good crowd for a Friday afternoon; I wouldn’t be surprised to hear attendance in the 1,500 range. There are some downgrades. Last year, the rail went all the way around the near fields and afforded some access to the back fields; this year, it cuts off where it used to, just past the season ticket holders’ section. There wasn’t a concession stand on the hill like last year, just one beer guy going around, and he ran out of water before the end of the day. Might want to make sure to bring enough along if you’re attending a practice this year.

* What’s next?: RamView’s only other planned training camp report will be from the scrimmage at Lindenwood University next Friday night. I want to thank everyone who’s been reading these over the years. We all know it’s very easy to make too much out of what goes on during one day of training camp, or my Hall of Fame bust of Quinton Culberson wouldn’t have quite so much dust on it. I think I’ve gotten more right than wrong over the years (if just barely); thanks for putting up with these brain dumps.

— Mike