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November 1, 2017 at 9:02 pm #76770
znModeratorThe Rams, improbably, are 5-2, and here’s how it happened
RICH HAMMOND
link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/10/24/the-rams-improbably-are-5-2-and-heres-how-it-happened/
LONDON — And you may find yourself, following a team that shockingly has a 5-2 record. And you may find yourself, watching a high-scoring offense. And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?
The Rams are atop the NFC West standings at their bye week, almost halfway through the season. For anyone who watched them flounder through a 4-12 season one year ago, or tracked the previous few mediocre seasons in St. Louis, this must feel like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Except it doesn’t seem so. The Rams still have a long way to go, and the schedule will turn tougher, but clearly the Rams are one of the NFL’s surprise teams this season, and the reasons are plentiful.
As the Rams rest up, after their 11-day journey through Jacksonville and London, here are five things, in particular, the Rams are doing well that league pundits didn’t predict at the start of the season.
1. They can block
During the offseason, the Rams made a couple notable moves along their offensive line, when they signed two veterans: left tackle Andrew Whitworth and center John Sullivan.
The Rams didn’t draft any linemen, though, and said that rather than make wholesale changes, they wanted to see what new line coach Aaron Kromer could do with the current group. That sounded like a rather large gamble, given how poorly the line performed in run and pass blocking last season.
Kromer, it seems, is a wizard, because running back Todd Gurley has been revived and quarterback Jared Goff not only has been kept upright but has been given time and space to make throws.
2. They move the ball around
It’s shocking, in hindsight, to think of how few offensive targets the Rams offered Goff and his predecessor, Case Keenum, last season. Top receivers Kenny Britt and Brian Quick were unreliable, tight end Lance Kendricks dropped passes and the Rams rarely attempted to throw to Gurley.
The group of skill players got revamped and upgraded during the offseason, and Goff has done an excellent job of utilizing all his targets. That makes the Rams tough to defend, unlike last season.
In Sunday’s victory over Arizona, six different Rams receivers and tight ends had a least two catches, and sure-handed Robert Woods, a free-agent addition, led the way with five receptions.
3. They drafted well
The Rams got ridiculed in April because they had to watch the first round of the draft. They gave their 2017 first-round pick to Tennessee as part of the trade that landed Goff, who didn’t look good in 2016.
It’s tough to imagine how the Rams could have better maximized the rest of their picks, though. Tight end Gerald Everett and receiver Cooper Kupp already are huge parts of the offense. Safety John Johnson has stepped into a starting role. Josh Reynolds and Samson Ebukam are important on special teams.
The biggest success, though, might be Tanzel Smart, a sixth-round pick who now starts at nose tackle. Smart’s success made it possible for veteran Michael Brockers to move to end, where he has thrived.
4. There is leadership
One of the biggest, and fairest questions, about Sean McVay is whether the 31-year-old coach would command respect from his players, particularly when things started to go wrong.
McVay, thus far, has been a rock, albeit a very energetic rock. Rams players rave about McVay’s football knowledge, but he also did a great job of guiding them through the last two weeks, which could have been chaotic.
The Rams suffered a narrow home loss to Seattle, then left town for a road game and a “home” game in London. A year ago, faced with the same situation, the Rams lost both games and their season spiraled into defeat after defeat. This time, McVay kept the Rams focused and they came home with two victories.
5. Aaron Donald
There was some fretting, in the first couple weeks of the season, about the Rams’ porous defense. Coordinator Wade Phillips made some adjustments and, more importantly, Aaron Donald returned to form.
Donald missed the season opener as part of his contract holdout, and did a fair job in his first couple games. Donald improved with every game and has been dominant this month.
Donald’s strong play at defensive tackle not only helps the Rams slow the opponents’ run game, but his pressure on quarterbacks reduces the time that the Rams’ defensive backs have to work in coverage, and increases their opportunities to intercept hurried throws.
November 1, 2017 at 9:11 pm #76771znModerator‘A lot of good stuff going on’ with Sean McVay’s Rams
Alden Gonzalez
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — It began on ESPN, with a talkback for SportsCenter and an in-studio appearance on the radio. Later Friday, it was off to The Rich Eisen Show, where Snoop Dogg suggested a play. Then, on Sunday, it was the NFL pregame show on Fox, where Michael Vick wore his high school jersey.
Sean McVay spent a substantial portion of his first bye week as an NFL head coach making the media rounds, which helped give him a sense for the buzz that surrounds his Los Angeles Rams.
“There’s a lot of good stuff going on right now,” McVay said. “We want to try to keep that momentum going, and how you do that is you take things one day at a time, one game at a time.”
The Rams are 5-2, off to their best start in 14 years and coming off a 33-0 drubbing of the division-rival Arizona Cardinals. Their plus-74 point margin trails only that of the Philadelphia Eagles, thanks to an offense that has already scored 212 points — 12 shy of last year’s total with nine games left — and a defense that has given up the sixth-fewest yards per game over the past four weeks.
“The excitement is there,” Rams sixth-year cornerback Trumaine Johnson said. “There’s no way around it; it’s everywhere. But at the same time, it’s still on us to be even better. Each game is important for us. It’s getting bigger and bigger. We just have to stay consistent.”
The Rams practiced Monday, their first substantive session in a week and a half, and took their normal day off Tuesday. Wednesday marks the start of installations for their Sunday road game against the 1-6 New York Giants. Their challenge now is to block out the noise, maintain their edge and basically doubt their own hype.
The Rams entered this season as the NFL’s second-youngest team, behind only the winless Cleveland Browns. But they also added four players who have been on playoff teams — left tackle Andrew Whitworth, center John Sullivan, outside linebacker Connor Barwin and cornerback Kayvon Webster.
“It’s important that myself and other guys that have ever been in that situation continue to encourage guys to realize the standard needs to keep rising,” Whitworth said. “The season goes on, the expectation will grow, the pressure will grow, the games will get bigger, and your standard of what is good and what is expected out of you has to rise with it. That’s really going to be the hard part going forward, and it’s not easy to do. We have to continue to raise our level and raise what we expect of ourselves.”
The Rams, coming off a 4-12 showing and 10 consecutive losing seasons, are eighth in ESPN’s Power Rankings. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives them a 55 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 16 percent chance to win the NFC West. Their Super Bowl odds are now 20-to-1, after opening at 100-to-1.
Their schedule will get tougher soon, with five of their final eight games coming against teams that currently have a winning record. But they’re fully healthy, and their players should only continue to grow under new schemes.
“I think we’ve got a mature team, and I think we’ve got the right kind of guys in that locker room to be able to handle both the good and the bad,” said McVay, who, at 31, already seems to have changed the Rams’ culture. “The one thing that’s been impressive about this team is that in seven weeks we’ve experienced a lot of different things — some good, some bad — and I’ve always really enjoyed and appreciated the way we have responded from some of the bad things.”
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