reactions to the Carolina game

Max

It was 95 degrees in direct sun beating down on us. Had to be brutal for the guys traveling 3 time zones.

We got the win because the Cam was worse than Goff. Goff just played smarter, but he didn’t look decisive. Even in pregame warmups, he was uncharacteristicly inaccurate. My son said Goff is missing guys badly. It carried over into the game especially early.

CMc is amazing to watch close up. What an athlete. He looked better than Gurley. Gurley is not the same guy I saw in NY in 2017. Not yet.

I’ve seen enough of Reynolds. He’s one of those guys with size and ability but I’ll never trust. He’s gone next year, bet on it.

I think we caught a break playing Cam week one. Our DBs especially Talib, were rusty. Tackling was not sharp.

From the field it looked like Goff had enough time but wasn’t decisive. Just looked a beat slow. But they weren’t giving us the deep ball at all.

Noteboom has the best feet of any of our OL. Noticeably quicker and ligher than Whitworth, and even more so than Hav. Watching them in pregame warmups, Noteboom really stood out. Allen looks like a fire hydrant. He got bull rushed a bit.

Bottom line, we won a game that very good teams win on the road in less than ideal conditions

Speed_Kills

Rams opened in shot gun and 4 WRs. They came in guns blazing trying to get after what McVay thought was a favorable matchup against the Panthers secondary. Problem was Goff was off. I originally thought it was nerves but he actually just wasn’t sharp all game. They ran very little jet or play action in the first half.

However in the second half they opened with back to back play action passes that got them 2 big chunk first downs to Cooks. Basically the play action and deep dgig to Cooks back to back. From there the run game got going and it never looked back. The Rams as you know don’t run a ton of different run plays but today they ran several pitches and draws in addition to the signature outside zone plays. When Goff has play action he does better than when there isn’t.

They did not run much at all in the first half but certainly Brown was more effective of the two. Gurley has a knee issue and IMO it showed today too but the second half he had a ton more room and broke off some huge chunk runs as a result

alyoshamucci

First official report of the year! welcome back to Ram football everyone.

For the record I did enjoy watching the developmental league during the PS.

This was a tag ugly and rusty but also gave me a real sense of hope and a great feel for the new approach McVay is taking.

The Great

1) First starts for Allen and Noteboom and they were excellent. Kromer is a genius.

2) Littleton. Lock that guy up. The evolution he has undergone since his signing as an undrafted player is unreal.

3) Fowler showing what he can do.

4) Rapp playing meaningful snaps and making meaningful tackles in his first game.

The Good

5) Nice to see Patrick on ST.

6) Higbee making nice meaningful catches in some tight windows.

7) The approach to the Gurley/Brown timeshare. Im sure fantasy folk are beyond pissed … but Malcolm takes the mid game tough yardage snaps and Gurley seems to come in early and late … seemed to work as they were obviously gassed as he was running them over late.

8) JJ3 is just a really good football player.

9) Clay still has explosion and quick feet, want to see him get after the QB more but I was happy with him.

10) Cooper looked full strength.

The Bad

11) Goff was rustier than I’d wanted. Missed some easy throws.

12) Wanted McVay to go for it on the 4th and 1 that GZ missed.

13) You can’t half a$$ tackle McCaffrey and a lot of our players were not getting it done.

14) I don’t know how much was McCaffrey’s skill, but I want a better run defense and front line with faster LB fits.

15) No AD blow ups? I know he started slow last year but he had training camp this year … were they scheming him that well?

16) Losing Weddle … hope he can get back sooner rather than later, I hate to not have him against Brees this week.

17) Goff Locked in on the wrong read like 4 times.

Wildflecken

1.) Uncharacteristic special teams gaffes made contest too close for comfort. Rams have benefitted from stellar teams play last two seasons. I expect Bones to get his squads up to par quickly.

2.) Make no mistake, McVay has set his sights on winning a title. Love his approach with the running attack and firmly believe come December Rams will have one of the most feared running attacks in entire league.

Todd Gurley remains the best running back in entire league but incorporating Malcolm Brown and Henderson into the running attack weekly presents opposing defenses with an enormous challenge before Jared Goff unleashes one ball through the air. I have been posting and patiently awaiting the Rams to unleash the beast that is Malcolm Brown for the last two seasons. This season Brown becomes a household name nationally. Come December fans of this organization are going to have a lot of fun watching this running attack operating on all cylinders.

3.) The offensive line passed its first test of the season. The real test lies ahead however when teams have film. My take, this line will be the best run blocking offensive line Rams have had during the Sean McVay era.

4.) How can one not be excited about the potential of this defense? They have the talent to exploit teams doubling Donald weekly and can create pressure from any spot of the field.

Thought Fowler would benefit greatly by attending Wade’s camp. He is athletically nearly as impressive as Donald, now if he improves his consistency since entering league, Rams have another pro bowler this season.

Wade has a lot of options this season to dial up the pressure weekly and what is shaping up to be a lockdown back end certainly will assist the effort weekly

5.) Was anyone else impressed with Higbee’s performance?

6.) Cooper Kupp, enough said.

Tough test ahead next week with the Saints coming to town wanting revenge. Going to be a war and Sunday cannot come early enough