camp reports, 7/29-(?) … & 8/9 scrimmage reports

8to12 camp report Day 2:

It was a nice day in Irvine…. about 78 degrees with a cool breeze. It was my second day of Camp and I am mentally exhausted.

A short recap:

As was mentioned yesterday, the defense won most of the battles with a strong pass rush or great coverage in the secondary. Today, the offense got after it and evened up the score. Defensive backs are being aggressive–pulling at the ball as it arrives to prevent the completion or stripping the ball once the receiver catches it. I saw 2 different plays today where the D-back stripped the ball after it was caught. The D-backs coach is the loudest one on the field.

I spent most of my time watching the offense. I am curious as to how the personnel groupings will work. In the 7-on-7’s, seems to be 2-WR, 2-TE, 1-RB is the common theme. The speed of practice is a bit faster than before and it becomes difficult to keep track which TE’s are running with the 1’s as opposed to the second team. Also, Spruce and Cooper and Reynolds occasionally are in with the 1’s. With 2 TE’s, 1 of the them is usually in line, and the other is split no more than 6 yards, and will occasionally go in motion. With 3 TE’s, the 3rd will line up far outside as a WR. Seems that route combinations are all over the board on any given play. For example, a deep route will be run by any one of the 3 receiver positions—TE, split end, or the wide out.

All of the TE’s caught the ball well today except maybe Travis Wilson. And, most of the WRs did well. Even Shakier caught his first pass of Camp–a deep post late in practice.

Overall, it’s hard to judge many of the plays as to whether the offense did anything good on any one play because they’re not in pads, and no tackling allowed. So, many plays are blown up by the defense early on but the offense plays through it. For example the crowd cheered when Gurley, and another RB broke long runs. They didn’t realized a LB blitzed and ran right by the RB, behind the LOS, which would’ve been a TFL if they had been tackling.

The practice, just like day 1, ended just under 2 hours. Much shorter than the previous training camp practices with the previous HC.

I understand tomorrow they will be in pads. I will be there to capture what I can.

phoenixrising (from the RFU board) camp report Day 3

I don’t have a whole lot to report. Probably the most uneventful practice I’ve attended.

I later found out that McVay pulled his vets to prepare them for the pads practice tomorrow. Might explain why I never saw Robert Woods. I also learned Wade Phillips did not attend. I think this made for a lackluster practice session.

But part of it was the defense. Phillips style is to play a stifling defense on the WR’s. Contest them at the line, contest them in their routes, and contest the ball even after it’s caught. There were some nice completions, but it always seemed to threading the needle. Just not a lot open space. The downside is they got beat over the top on a few occasions. They were lucky that those balls were overthrown for the most part. Goff still struggling with the long ball, but looking good intermediate.

Most my attention was on the receivers. You might have heard Pharoah Cooper had a head- high ball go right through his hands and pop up for an easy interception in the waiting hands of EJ Gaines (he always did have a knack for being in the right place) for a pick 6. I had high hopes for Cooper but I don’t think much of that will be tolerated.

It’s true what you’ve heard Tavon Austin is being used in more traditional routes, especially long balls. He had at least two thrown his way–one he was open by a couple steps the other he had close coverage that would have required dropping a dime in there. Both were overthrown.

Cooper Kupp intrigues me. He’s a very unique WR. I’m trying to figure out how he gets open. If you saw his 40 it is painful to watch. But on the field, watching his tapes, he pulls away from some pretty fast DB’s. I heard he was clocked at 22mph at Sr Bowl, so he’s got top end speed. I didn’t get to see him operate as much as I would have liked, the WR’s were tough to pick out until downfield. But he had a couple nice catches today. Really strong hands. Him and Higbie probably impressed me the most.

Higbie dropped one today, I couldn’t tell if it was pulled out. But he had a couple nice catches deep over the middle. He carries himself with a lot more confidence than he did last year. Might have added a little weight too. He’s really physically imposing and smooth in his routes. And you can believe the reports that the Rams will be featuring TE’s in their passing game.

One guy that caught my eye was T. Hemmingway, the TE. He’s starting to look the part and he’s got a lot of athletic ability. I don’t know if it’s his time yet, but he could develop into a real weapon.

My coverage was pretty spotty so don’t assume that the absence of a name means they didn’t show anything today.

I’ll be there tomorrow so that should be telling once they are in pads.

VeteranRamFan camp report Day 4

Day 4 of training camp. It was hot today and humid and as you all have now heard rain and lighting came rolling in.

Small crowd today. Good for us, easier access to choose camera spots. So, first day in pads and boy, were these guys hungry for some hitting! We watched Coach Bones and his punt formations with gunners and the cover guys fighting it out. FYI, Nelson Spruce and Pharaoh Cooper were both involved with special teams as was Kupp on returns. I sort of think that Spruce and Cooper are fighting for the same spot, the one with the special teams skills will win out.

We were anxiously awaiting the 11×11 to start. When they did we moved up to the bleachers for a better view. I was watching the O line and I think we have something in Jamon Brown. He wasn’t perfect but he did hold his own against Barwin. Whitworth did a good job on Quinn but Quinn also had his day beating our LT. A really good match up. Speaking of Quinn and Barwin, I saw Quinn on the right and left sides but only Barwin on the left. I’ll be posting some picks and you’ll see in one of them TE Higbee is blocking Quinn on the left and he has good leverage against him. If you remember from last year Higbee’s run blocking was suspect. This is a marked improvement from Higbee.

Sullivan was solid with the exception of one exchange explained later and I’m not sure it was his fault. Our guards were doing some pulling. Saffold was practicing and looked like a veteran guard. I guess he better.

You all know about Easley and his injury. I didn’t see it happen, only the aftermath. I thought it was an ankle.

Sam Rogers is a workhorse. A blue collar kind of guy. He is one tough SOB. Never backs down and is always giving 110%. I hope he makes the team just on his desire alone. I really think Harkey may be on the outs with the versatility that Rogers brings.

Only fumble of the day come on the center exchange with Mannion. There were no interceptions for any QB but I’ll tell you this. No need to worry about our DBs. They were covering very well. During the red zone offense, I think there were only two completions out of ten or so tries. Goff would have been sacked on one of those completions by Quinn but Quinn let off the gas.

Since I was watching the lines a little more, I missed some of the passes but Spruce laid himself out for one on a crossing route. That got a lot of the fans yelling SPRUUUUCCCE. Yours truly included. Our TE can jump! I made a comment to the guys that those type of plays is what Quick was supposed to do for us.

Overall a good practice with a good pace. First and second teams and sometimes the third string would get into position quickly for each of their series. Efficiency is the key to these practices and if is demonstrated constantly. I’m liking what I’m seeing and I wish I could express it better.

I don’t know if I can make practice tomorrow but I will try my best. Take care my brothers!

phoenixrising camp report (from the RFU board) Day 5

Blissfully cool Wednesday. Full pads again, feeling feisty. Hitting seemed louder than Tuesday. Defense dominated again. Offense makes plays but inconsistent. Lots of pressure on QB’s. If play was live there would have been many plays where they were sacked or flushed out.

I was photographing today which means my attention was split. Some guys can shoot and still see everything, I’m not one of them.

Phoenix’ Play of the Day: Cooper Kupp goes high over the middle to haul in a pass but Tru strips it out. Good play on both ends but Tru won that one.

Goff looks much better than last year but you would kind of expect that. With apologies to Eric Dickerson, there is no QB competition. Mannion’s decision making has been erratic. He made a few throws that would have been picked if the DB had been more alert. Or caught the ball when they were alert. He has also led WR’s accross the middle where they’s get blown up by a LB if play were live. The field vision is still lacking.

I saw Gurley getting more receiving work. Getting in line with WR’s on route running drills. Staying after practice with coaches practicing over-the-shoulder catches far downfield.

Starting to get excited about Cooper Kupp. He seems to come up with at least one big play every practice. He stayed after practice and runs this drill where a DB (or coach in this case) mugs him while he catches passes. I mean drapes all over him, trys to pull his arms down, etc.

Random observations on players I happened to be watching…

Higbie was catching the ball today. No drops that I saw. Everett had another good day receiving, but man, his blocking needs work. Hemmingway getting a lot of work with “1’s”. I think he will contribute this year. Josh Reynolds has been quiet. Spruce starting to make noise. Whitworth is so good it’s almost a joke. Quinn was out and next men up were overmatched. It was nice to see a C (Sullivan) that could anchor and not get pushed into the backfield. The right side of the OL looked shaky.

Didn’t watch the D much. Brockers is a load, looks ready to go. Barwin is a great addition. I kept noticing an OLB #53. Good size, pass rush ability–at least against the 2’s. His name is Carlos Thompson. Never heard of him. UDFA apparently.

That’s it for this year, unless I make the Charger scrimmage. It’s been fun. Hard to explain to non-fans: “You mean you go to watch them…PRACTICE???”

the Professor camp report Day 6

First time I went to practice this year. The covered bleachers were a big improvement over last year. I will post this in sections. The first section will be on the drills prior to the offense vs. defense. The second section will be on the 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 drills. I may make a third post about post practice.

I want to point out that these are my takes and as I have never played I may be missing a lot of important details. Last year I focused in on QBs and WRs. Today I looked at ST and Oline a bit more so I won’t have too much to say on one on one drills for the WRs. This first post is just about what the drills were as they were not competing against anyone.

First set of drills. All three QBs throwing to Woods (one QB at a time). Later all three QBs practice taking snaps from under center and turning to hand off. Interestingly Blythe was practicing with STs punt blocking group (punts were sent via jugs so he was not needed to snap to the punter). Parker Collins was snapping to Orlofsky.

The ST punt return drill had a return man and three blockers up front. They would set up to block and clear a lane for the returner. Two players were out there to provide targets for the blockers. They carried a pad in front so that the drill was contact but minimal contact. Keep in mind that Reynolds, Thomas, and Austin were out. The three players acting as return men were Cooper, Shakier Ryan and Brandon Shippen. Ryan bobble the first or second punt he fielded but contained it on the second grasp (not terrible if it was a KO, but could end up as a fumble if the gunners are on him right away on a punt).
The blockers would rotate around and become the putting team to be blocked. Not much to report on how they did, but here is who was out there: #37 De’Mard Llorens rookie running back from Northwestern State. I never heard of him but I will be mentioning him a lot in this summary of practice. #41 Linard Tillery another rookie RB (he dropped a punt that did not have the distance to get to the return man), Justin Davis rookie RB (noticing a theme?), Johnson (rookie DB), Price (rookie LB), Blythe (2nd yr C), Smart rookie DT, Purcell 3rd yr DT (first w/team), Longacre, and Fox.

While these drills were going on, a coach was throwing about 15 yard passes to the WRs. The passes were thrown to WRs coming directly at the coach.

After these drills, the offense stayed on the field where the fans first enter the practice field area and the defense went to the far field. The Olineman practiced close to where the fans first walk in and near the hospitality area (basically in the end zone of that side of the field). Around the thirty or so yardline the QB lined up with 3 WRs, a TE, and a back. A coach hiked the ball to the QB and they would play against air. First team was Goff with Woods, Kupp, Cooper, Gurley and Higbee. The second team was Mannion, with Spuce, McRoberts, Shippen, Everett and Brown. Each team got about 5 plays in a set. There was no third team for this drill.

As I was watching this drill, I only watched a bit of the oline practice. The oline was playing three olinemen vs two oline lining up as defenders. Sometimes it was GCG, other times it was CGT or TGC. One of the times I was looking, Kromer came in after a drill and gave Pace Murphy advice. It looked from a distance like he was talking about his footwork. After the coach walked away, Hav came in and started talking to Murphy (and hit his chest). From his body movements, it looked like he was giving advice on hand placement but it may also have been footwork as well. My notes have question marks next to both of those concepts so I am not sure. Nonetheless, I am please to see him helping Murphy out. The oline then started working on a drill I just did not understand. It was a one on one blacking drill. The olineman would spin and then try to still block the defensive player from behind (by keeping their body in the defensive player’s way and blocking the path to the QB, runner, etc.). I get the idea of learning how to be useful as a blocker when one is out of position, but I did not get the spin move aspect. Maybe so that the player knew where the defender was in advance? It was a drill I do not remember seeing the rams practice last year (or back in the early 1990s). That said, I did not spend a lot of time focusing on the Oline during practices last year.

I will talk about the 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 in the next post.

In between the 7-7 and 11-11 drills, the rams practiced field goals. Initially Zuerlein was just kicking FGs with a holder (not sure if he had a snapper or just a coach snapping to him). One of the first two or three kicks was wide left. I don’t believe there were any other misses. About 10 years behind the goal posts was the raised platform so that the team can film from above. I am not sure if the platform was dead center between the goal posts or not (it looked pretty much like it) but Zuerlein hit it about three or four times and the kicks were pretty high up. He definitely still has a strong leg.

I am skipping over the 7-7 and 11-11 play to just mention a few things. First, we actually had refs on the field (at least one on the goal line). I do not remember seeing any refs at practice last year. If anyone has attended any of the practices this year, did you noticed any refs? I want to know if this was a one day thing or if we are having refs at practice often this year.

At the end of practice, the rams went into a 2 minute drill. After the ones had their drill, the 2s came on the field to do theirs. Standing about 20 yards behind the offense was Kromer talking to Sullivan and Whitworth. I liked that our two new vet oline players were talking with the oline coach after their practice was done. That said, I don’t know what they were talking about, it could have been that candlesticks are a good wedding present. I would have liked it more if Saffold was out there too. Someone pointed out to me that he was hanging with Gurley.

When practice was over, a lot of players stayed on the field to practice. Right in front of me Gurley was working alone on popping a single person blocking sled. He was working on getting momentum going up and back. All three QBs stayed and practiced with WRs. Orlofsky was throwing to Shippen, Ryan and #13 who was not even listed on the roster handout. When I looked at the roster tonight I saw that he is Germany. Canon is 3 and Thomas is 9. I am not sure I saw either of those players today. Mannion and Goff were throwing to the TEs (I noticed Harkey and Wilson). I also noticed Havenstein and Brown working together. Quite a few other players were out there as well. The DBs left the field to sign autographs for some of the kids. I will mention one other interaction between players and the fans. Just before a red zone drill, a fan called Tru over. He seemed to know Tru as they talked for a bit and then Tru took a few pictures with the fan’s 3 year old son. When I was leaving practice, the son went over to where the DBs were signing. In order for a kid to get autographs in these sessions, they need to have won a token from a drawing. Although the boy did not have one, the dad called Tru again and that was enough to get the staff to let his son in

the Professor camp report Day 6…some follow-up

In one of the 11 on 11 sessions, the offense starts off at the 1 and has to work their way down field. The 2s were eaten alive by the D. After a short gain, Spruce flinchrf on the line of scrimmage for a false start putting the offense back at the 1. The Defensive players claimed they had safeties on three of the next four plays. Justin Davis never made it out of the backfield. The next play Mannion would have been sacked. Don’t have in my notes what the last one was. Our second team oline could not handle the D.

In other drills the second team offense looked ok. Everett, McRoberts, and Spruce looked good and Mannion displayed some arm strength. He had some nice crisp passes. Early on Mannion floated a pass over Kupp.

In my mind the star of the day was #37 De’Mard Llorens, a rookie running back that I never heard of. He scored a TD on a pass from Mannion (not sure if this was in 7 on 7 or 11 on 11). After the second team offense was chewed up by the D in the start at your 1 yard line, it was the third teams time to play. Llorens got the edge and had a nice run. At the end of practice, the rams practiced a two minute drill. On back to back plays, Llorens got the edge going right for a big pick up, and then gets the edge going left and takes it to the two.

Ryan, a WR we signed after the free agent camp, looked good as well. He had a nice sideline catch from Goff early on where the throw was a bit off. He looked good with the 3s, but took a big hit after a catch in the start from the 1 part of practice. He walked off the field with a limp. However he got back on the field later and made a leaping catch in the end zone for a TD to end practice.

Ramsfan1971 camp report (from the RFU board): Rams/Chargers practice 8/5

I had a friend with season tickets for Chargers season. He is a Steelers fan, but bought them so that when Steelers come to LA, he will already have tickets. I went to the practice today. I was surprised at how many Rams fans did make it to the practice even though it was for season seat holders. This practice was similar to the one the Rams had for season seat holders at the Coliseum last year. Let me start by saying the Stubhub Center is a great venue to watch a game. Only 30,000 seats , so no bad seats in the house. Easy parking, great concessions, and easy to get around. I hope the New Ram stadium follows suit. As for fans, not even half of the stadium was full. Last year, the Rams practice at the Coliseum was about 1/3 full, which would have filled the SH Center. I will say, Chargers fans were nice and accommodating to all the fans in Rams gear.

Last year, I went to quite a few practices in Irvine and wrote updates. I am not going to go over play by play from what I saw. I will give an over all sense or feeling on how our Rams did against the Chargers and compared to last year. I spent my day in the the endzone the Rams offense was working today. As for most of us, the offense is the biggest concern given how horrible we were last year. Here is what I saw today.

First half of practice Rams 1’s OFF against Chargers 1’s- started off running Gurley. A few plays there was actually a little day light for him to run. After watching him go for numerous plays for a loss last year, he was decisive and quick to the hole. When Goff went back to throw, pressure came from the Right side fairly consistently. He threw to Gurley early and TE on outs. It is hard to get a sense of the run game sense there was no actual tackling. Refs sometimes blew the whistle and some time did not even though the play would have been over.

7 on 7’s did not fair well for either Goff or Mannion. Both were inaccurate throwing more than 15 yards down the field. The Rams went about 6 straight plays over throwing the receiver either short or long routes. I was very disappointed to see both Goff and Mannion not be able to complete a pass without any pressure.

RedZone practice 7 on 7’s- Goff did much better. He threw a couple of td passes and was able to move in chunks. When they moved to 11 on 11, it was a little more difficult to move the ball, but a few td passes were completed as well.

At the end of practice they did 2 minute drills and 11 on 11 scrimmage with the offense starting at their own 20. Goff threw 4 straight 10 yd outs to the right side for completions. Receivers were all covered tightly. Goff moved the team to inside the 10 and then they blew the whistle and it was the Chargers turn. I am not sure if the 2 minutes was up or they had just used the aloted time. Goff continued to get rid of the ball quickly to short routes and did not look down field very often. On one play, he had Woods open about 20 yds crossing route, but chose to throw to TE for 5 yd gain.

Over all sense of Offense- The Chargers defense did not dominate us during the practice. It was about even going back and forth . My concerns–The line continues to have leaks allowing pressure to our young qb. He will not survive long given a couple of times guys came clean right up the middle. Rams worked the passing game, but I was not impressed. A lot of short passes to the outside. We saw a lot of that last year. We do not seem to use the middle or the left side of the field very well yet. Our receivers get very little separation from db’s. That means Goff better be extremely accurate. I hope McVay was just calling his Vanilla plays, because I did not see much creativity. Hopefully he is saving it for the games.

Our Defense- While I was not focusing on just the D, I do believe they held their own. There were times Rivers threw to a guy who was wide open (we do not see Rams receivers with that type of separation). Some went for td’s, some were dropped, and some never would have taken place because our Dline would have sacked him. I will say that Donald’s absence is very noticeable. We need to get him signed and creating havoc again.

What was the noticeable difference between the two teams– Rivers. His experience and command of the offense was very obvious. He knew where the open receiver would be and what audible to call to get them open. Our D did a great job, but they will not be able to shut out every team. For us to be competitive, our O and qb’s will need to make giant strides. Hopefully we see a big difference a week from today against the Cowboys.

Elvis camp report (from the RFU board): Day 9

Woods is the always the one catching passes from the QB’s in warm-ups, gotta think that familiarity is gonna pay off in the regular season. I think Woods is gonna see a lot of balls, may well be our #1. (Of course Tavon has been out.)

The 3’s are getting less reps now, usually goes 1,2,1,3 or something like that in scrimmages. Mannion still solidly #2.

After Kupp caught that TD from Goff, next play was Mannion to Kupp for about 5. Kupp is everywhere all the time.

Tried to look for John Johnson a little more. He had a nice break up/should’ve been INT with the 2’s. (Or was it the 3’s?)

The offense had a lot more moments today but i still think the defense is winning overall.

One play with the 2’s a rusher came free from the right as Mannion dumped left to a back for a long easy TD, totally schooled the defense, probably the only time i’ve seen the offense clearly outsmart the defense. Hopefully more of that to come, especially against real opponents.

K.D. didn’t look on a route where he was the target with the 3’s and it struck me how that never happens. And he’s only been here for like a day. It seems like everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing almost all the time.

A few thoughts on Trumaine:

i’ve noticed McVay pays special attention to him, i’ve seen it more than once. Yesterday he came over to where the DB’s were drilling and gave him a big hug, they chatted, shook hands. I just happened to be standing there at the time. McVay makes the rounds but is mostly with the offense and QB’s during practice.

Tru and Webster seem to be developing a bond and during scrimmage when the 2’s are out there, he’s like a coach yelling out coverages to the guys on the field.

It’s surreal considering the contract/fish out of water scenario we have going on but to my eyes he looks like he’s assuming a leadership role…But my take is McVay is really good a doing the people part of his job. Though he spends the great majority of his time with the QB’s and offense he’s making sure everyone feels included and valued, especially potential trouble spots.

VeteranRamFan scrimmage report covering the 8/9 event

Today was a scrimmage between the Rams and the Chargers. There were, at my estimate, over 5,000 Rams fans and two Charger fans in attendance (I kid). I think we saw maybe four Charger’s jerseys all afternoon.

These Rams fans were true supporters of the team. No booing was heard from our section or anywhere else for that matter. Unless of course you mistakenly heard “Cooooooppp” (C. Kupp) or “Spruuuuuccce” (Nelson Spruce) and thought those were boo sounds. As to be expected, the beer garden attendees were very vocal.

We were on the north side of the fields in shady bleachers. I did go and try to get some pics. Just too many people in my way for any good shots! The ushers (I guess that is what they are called) kept everyone away from the railing that separates the fans from the field so I couldn’t just hang out like I had been during camp practices. I went back to our seats but the sight line was not very good for photos.

Here is how practice started. The usual warm ups by position and then the teams split up with the Rams defense going to the far (south) field and the Chargers offense along with them. That meant we had the Rams offense and the Chargers defense on our field. We didn’t need to watch our D and wanted to see how our offense was looking. We were not disappointed. More on that later.

The teams broke into groups with our QB/WR 1’s and 2’s doing one on one against the Chargers DB’s at midfield and going away from us to our right and the 3’s at about the 30-yard line (about where we were sitting) going to our left. Things happened fast! This is another reason I couldn’t get any pics. Just too much action.

All of our QB’s were doing a good job of connecting. The Chargers DB’s did well in these drills also. Cooper Kupp runs some insanely sharp routes and catches everything. Other standouts include Higbee and Everett. Pharaoh Cooper also was getting open and making great catches. Back to Higbee for a moment. He went out on a seam route, out ran his man coverage and Goff dropped a dime for a TD. Let’s not forget about Woods and McRoberts. Both were showing well. McRoberts pulled one in on the far sideline on an out route. It was a great catch. Gurley was lining up in the backfield then going in motion and lines up outside as a WR. He did this a few times. Once he took off on a go route and Goff threw a pretty decent ball, a little short and Gurley had to turn around and backpedal. That one got deflected by the DB but not because he knew where the ball was, just got his arms in the way.

If I remember correctly, and I asked the guys at the end of practice this, did the Chargers DB’s defend any passes? I could only remember one pass breakup where the DB got his hands on the ball and knocked it away. There may have been some others.

I think at some point we did 7X7 and that is where a lot of the above happened.

The 11×11 was really nice to watch. Hav was at RT, Brown at RG. Goff was afforded a good clean pocket and I think there may have been one sack. Goff did fake a handoff and rolled to his right. He threw on the run and Woods caught it sliding out of bounds. Incomplete as Woods came down out of bounds. I think Goff took way too long to decide to throw the ball on that one. Gurley was gaining about 5 yards a carry when going up the middle. Not bad, I’ll take it.

The teams then went into punt formation. Hekker is the best punter ever. We all know this. Our gunners were getting down field and covering very well. Special teams won’t be a problem. During this portion another fight broke out. Seems one of the Chargers blocking the gunner didn’t want to stop at the whistle. Coaches got in there quick and broke it up. This was the third fight of the afternoon. The other two came early on with our D against their O on the far field during 11×11. At the start of the second fight on the far field, Coach McVay was seen running from our field over to the action.

In summary, I was getting worried about our O as it seemed during our own practices the defense was winning the battles. That was not the case today. Our D is really good, especially the DB’s. I started off believing we would win 12 games this season, then I tempered that down to 10 and lately I stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and was hoping for 8 and 8. After today, I’ve changed my mind again and drank some more Kool-Aid and I’m back at 10 wins.

So Ram — general camp goer commentary, 8/9

The Rams depth is better now than it has been.

Nick Robey is looking good. Joyner is out so Cody Davies is an excellent back up at FS. John Johnson.

Tru & Webster look solid. There is a lot of young depth at CB. Even Hatfield is looking good. Troy Hill has stepped up. Last Thursday didn’t look that good. Since then looks even better than EJ Gaines at CB.

LBer’s ? Will see. Quinn& Barwin will add serious pressure of opposing QBs.

Westbrooks is good.

RB depth? Malcom Brown is looking real good. Surprising hands out of the backfield.

Hemingway’ growth is fun to watch. He is a stud. Harkey I believe makes the team. He can always be used as an extra blocker. Higbee has been inconsistent.

The OL’s starting 5 is already in place, however that will look like. I actually think Kromer has it right with Jamon Brown at RT. After Monday’s practice I’m really impressed by John Sullivan. Saffold in between He & Whit is cool. Pace Murray looks good. He is the next man up. The Rams have him switching everywhere. He will play guard or tackle. He’s just a baller. Donnal has been hurt , but I think the Rams go light on the offensive line. I think that is a strength,but Saffold scares me injury wise. Blythe doesn’t stand out. Eldrenkamp looks good. Williams has to go for sure. Depth = Wichmann,Donnal,Pace Murray,Eldrenkamp?

theduke scrimmage report covering the 8/9 event

I haven’t done any long write ups on training camp, even though I go to every one. I’ve actually now got it timed up so that I arrive just in time for scrimmages, 7-on-7s, 11-on-11s, and red zone drills rather than boring drills.

Anyway, here goes my report today.

I was on the near field where we normally see the offense practice. My reasoning is that our defense will be fine. If the offense can keep them off the field for a few long stretches every game and if we don’t have any major injuries, we have a top-5/top-3 defense. So, I don’t really watch the defense anymore.

Drill Set #1

RBs/TEs vs. their LBs
Essentially, we had our TEs and RBs running different routes against their LBs. This was a 1v1 drill, so the RB/TE was matched up against the LB. Most of the RBs had out routes and wheel routes, while the TEs were working on seam routes and post/corner routes. Our RBs were giving them fits in coverage. Their defenders could not stop the RBs on most plays. It was so bad that in some cases, it looked like the defenders were sitting in zone because they seemed to let up after the first five yards. This may be by design. I don’t know if LAC (because the Chargers are now the Los Angeles Clippers of the NFL) plays a zone-heavy defense, but the LBs may cover the RBs for the first five yards before releasing to help over the top. (I’m throwing them a bone here!)

Similarly, the TEs were doing very, very well on their deep routes against the LBs. At one point, I turned to my left just in time to see a LAC player who faked out of his boots and on the ground, while our TE had an easy 15-20 yd. completion. I didn’t see too much because I was too busy watching…

WRs vs. their DBs

Goff and Mannion looked fantastic in this drill. There were some drops, but for the most part, they made good, accurate passes, mostly to the outside. The best WRs were Cooper Kupp, as always, Nelson Spruce, and Robert Woods. Kupp mostly seems to run hitches and deep dig routes. Woods tends to run a lot of 7/8/9-type routes, with the occasional out route or comeback, and Spruce runs a lot of in routes and slants. Spruce has amazing hands and great quickness. He’s a lot like Amendola, in my mind. They seem to catch balls well despite being covered or held. Woods, on the other hand, does a great job by getting good separation. In traffic, he definitely struggles to locate the ball and snag it.

Kupp? He does both very well. I hate to make the comparison, but he’s kinda like Jerry Rice. His 40 time is 4.65 or something “terrible” like that, just like Jerry Rice. However, his route running is so crisp and his feints are very good. He sets up the defender well. He also uses some contact to knock his defender off balance just before the ball gets there. He did get caught on OPI once, but he does it very subtly. He’s going to be our leading receiver, 100% He’s already got Goff’s eye. Goff often goes to him in third down situations because he knows Kupp will be open and that he’ll catch the ball.

Drill Set #2

RBs against LBs in 1v1 blitz pick-up

Rams RBs need a lot of help in this area. They often failed to hold the LB for long, but we have to remember that RBs just need to knock the LB off course in a real game. They don’t have to have the blocking power of an O-lineman, so they just need to thwart the LB a bit. Still, this is not a pretty sight, especially concerning given that we’re often in 11 personnel, with three receivers. This means that there is no second TE lined up alongside the O-line. May the best blocker stay in on 3rd down situations. In my opinion, it looked like we are going to opt to motion the RB out to create a five-option passing situation to let Goff pick apart the defense quickly rather than keep the RB in to block. Seeing how poorly the RBs impeded the progress of the rushing LB, I’m glad we’re doing that. Forget keeping Todd in to block the blitz; let him go out and be another receiving threat and maybe the defense will break down somewhere. None of these RBs are going to be anything close to #28 in pass protection.

The best defense is a good offense, as they say. This will be a problem in 3rd/4th and long situations because the defense will probably bring a DB blitz or a dog blitz to disrupt the longer passing plays.

Scrimmage

Scrimmage was interesting. Our offense was on the near field while the defense was on the far field, so I only saw the offense’s plays.

Everything was going just fine when players on the offense’s field started running off towards the defense’s field. Well, sorta. You see, the LAC defenders ditched the scrimmage to go looking for a fight on the far field. However, the Rams offense stayed put. This just goes to show you the different mentalities of the defense and offense. The offense doesn’t want to get into a fight because they might injure their hands. The defensive-minded players are always looking for someone to hit.

When their defense returned, scrimmage resumed. Again, Spruce, Woods, and Kupp dominated. Hemingway and Higbee also did very well. Higbee is going to be the type of tight end that takes the lid off the defense because the safety sometimes gets distracted by the slot receiver (usu. Kupp/Spruce/Pharoh) or the wideout (usu. Woods). I am expecting big things from the TEs. Hemingway almost always is an in-line TE, meaning he is usually lined up next to a T. Gerald Everett and Higbee sometimes line up on the outside, even in 12-personnel (1-RB, 2-TEs). So, from the QBs left to right it sometimes looks something like this: 10 Cooper out wide, 84-Hemingway next to LT, 86-Spruce in the slot, and 89-Higbee/81-Everett out wide right.

I also noticed the the DBs guarding Cooper gave him plenty of space. They rarely played bump and run against him, which is interesting to see. I wonder if they have done some scouting on their own already.

Another observation from the scrimmages (11v11 and 7v7) was that Goff was operating out of shotgun like 75-80% of the time. Might as well let him do what he does best rather than make him take it from under center because he is supposed to be a QB for a run-first, run-second offense as under Jeff Fisher! I think this is a sign of McVay’s willingness to cater to his players’ strengths rather than force them to fit into the offensive agenda. Goff makes good, fast decisions these days, and it may be because he is operating more frequently out of shotgun. He can scan and see the field better.

Speaking of seeing the field better, Goff needs to be careful about picking up blitzes. On one particular play, it was obvious that he wanted to throw to Kupp out of the left slot position. He eyed it the whole way, only to see Kupp double-teamed. By the time he went to his second read, the corner blitz from the other side would have annihilated him. This lack of awareness concerns me. Those sack-fumbles are huge game changers. I hope he improves his awareness based on his pre-snap reads.

Hmm, what else? Mannion is fantastic. Don’t need to say anything about him except that he will be more than a serviceable backup QB. His arm strength is not as good as Goff’s, but his awareness in the pocket and his ability to antipate passing windows is fantastic. He has a stranglehold on the QB#2 position.

Oh, look, Orlovsky threw another INT. Luckily, it was to our defense! Oh well, he’s not making the team. QB3 on most game days will be Hekker, so it’s really hard to see Safety Dan making the team.

Jamon Brown is the RG. Havenstein is the RT. They only switch in practice, in training camp, to give each some experience in case someone goes down and we need to shuffle. Havenstein is great at RT and Brown is great at RG, end of discussion.

I also noticed that Goff and Mannion had much more time against the LAC defense that they usually do against the Rams D. I hope this is a sign of our defense’s superiority. Of course, the back of my mind says that it’s because the defense knows the offense’s moves better, but who knows? Goff had time all day, and when he didn’t, he did a great job of sliding up in the pocket to complete the throw.

Paul McRoberts had a great leaping catch, but he caught the back end of the ball. Got lots of oohs and aahs from the crowd, but I don’t see how he makes the team. PS guy against this year, I think.

Only three PBUs by LAC defense, all on the same type of play–an out route from the left wideout position. I dunno if the Rams were just practicing one type of play concept today, but the same guy #43 read it and swatted it away each time, including a near two-handed INT by the sideline. Luckily, he dropped it.

Finally, I wanted to comment on the fact that the LAC DBs were holding our WRs like crazy. Most were called by the officials, and some were missed. Many of them were blatant.

Special Teams

Hekker had one beautiful coffin-corner punt. The ball flew off the field at like the 3 or 4 yd. line. Incredible. On another punt, he had the punt returner running back like 20-25 yds after the punt! It looked a lot like that 78-yd. punt from the Jets game. What a weapon!

Zuerlein hit a field goal from 55 yd. that would have been good from 65 yds. He’s fine.

Shakeir Ryan made a nice punt return TD. He caught the ball, started running to his right, saw a cutback lane to his left, and then got past the punter. Touchdown! He is really fast and QUICK. Hard to see him making this team though. We have a lot of TEs and WRs that we need to keep. Think about this:

Tight ends
89-Higbee
84-Hemingway
81-Everett
46-Harkey
39-Rogers
87-Travis Wilson

Of those guys, I would say that Harkey is at most risk for being cut!

Wide receivers

11-Austin
18-Kupp
17-Woods
10-Cooper
86-Spruce

It’s nuts.

Cameron DaSilva: http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/08/10/rams-training-camp-5-takeaways-from-day-10/

The Los Angeles Rams held their second joint practice with the Chargers on Wednesday, and while the constant fighting was the main storyline, there was plenty of good to come out of yesterday’s action.

For the Rams, the offense continues to improve, but it’s not yet firing on all cylinders. The defense, on the other hand, has been the better unit and proved that once again on Wednesday night.

Here are five takeaways from Day 10 of camp.

The offense is still a work in progress

Wednesday night’s joint practice with the Chargers was a step in the right direction for the Rams, but the offense continues to be the weaker side of the ball. According to Alden Gonzalez of ESPN, the Rams didn’t cross the Chargers’ 40-yard line once in the two-minute drill. That’s not a great sign, but take it with a grain of salt. Los Angeles didn’t have Tavon Austin, arguably their best offensive weapon, and it was against a defense the team hadn’t really prepared for. However, it’s clear there are still improvements that need to be made.

The defensive backs are extremely aggressive

If there’s been one standout group in training camp, it’s the defensive backs. They’ve played with a high level of intensity and aggression, leading to some great plays in practice. Wednesday was no different as things got even more intense than normal. Trumaine Johnson got into a fight with Dontrelle Inman, leading to both players’ helmets being taken from them. Then, cornerback E.J. Gaines got into it with another Charger, which was the third fight of the day. Outside of the fighting, the Rams’ defensive backs had a great day against Philip Rivers, essentially neutralizing his deep passes.

Rob Havenstein would rather play right tackle

One of the best battles of the day was the one between Havenstein and Joey Bosa. The veteran offensive lineman has spent time at right guard and right tackle during camp, but he may have to stay at the latter after Wednesday’s showing. He held his own against Bosa, proving he may be a better fit at right tackle than Jamon Brown. Havenstein said after practice that he feels more comfortable at right tackle, but still isn’t sure where he’ll play when the season kicks off.

Jared Goff is getting more comfortable in the offense

Day by day, Goff is getting better and better in Sean McVay’s offense. He had a good showing against the Chargers, who boast a strong defense with playmakers at every level. He drove the ball downfield more than he did in Saturday’s joint practice, which is a positive development after he struggled in that department last season.

There are plenty of pass-catchers on offense

Despite not having Tavon Austin, Goff showed off just how many options he has on offense. While they may not be as talented as other teams’, he doesn’t have to center his attention around one guy the way he did last season. In 11-on-11, he targeted Pharoh Cooper six times, Tyler Higbee five times and threw three passes each in the direction of Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. Once Austin gets back into the mix, the Rams will have a significantly better group of receivers than they had in 2016.