Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › 8/23 — news, vids, etc.
- This topic has 3 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by
zn.
-
AuthorPosts
-
August 24, 2016 at 1:35 am #51505
znModeratorPFF: TRAINING CAMP TOUR: RAMS’ TOP-TIER DEFENSIVE LINE CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
On the final stop of the PFF training camp tour, analyst Jordan Plocher reports on the Rams’ QB situation and D-line.
JORDAN PLOCHER
IRVINE, Calif. – The Rams return to Los Angeles this season, but without a permanent team facility in place to handle their practices initially, training camp practices are being held on the campus of UC Irvine. The Rams’ practices have a distinctive Southern California feel to them with the sun shining, Disneyland close by, and the HBO cameras and microphones everywhere capturing footage for the show Hard Knocks. This was the final stop on the PFF training camp tour, and we saved one of the best players in the NFL for last.
Defensive line is loaded with talent
Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald was PFF’s highest-graded player in 2015. His blend of quickness, natural leverage (short by NFL standards, but with long arms for his height), and instincts helped him to finish the 2015 season as our top-graded defensive tackle in run defense and as a pass-rusher. Donald is the main reason the Rams’ front-seven owns a ranking of No. 4 in the league, but he is also surrounded by talent.
Robert Quinn’s overall grade of 83.3 last season put him at No. 20 among 4-3 defensive ends, while William Hayes’s overall grade of 85.8 ranked No. 13. Thus far in the preseason, Dominique Easley looks like the incredibly-disruptive interior defender we saw coming out of Florida. On a per-snap, basis Easley was actually a more productive pass-rusher than Aaron Donald in 2015. If Easley continues his impressive play, the combination of he and Donald inside will prove to be a difficult matchup every week for opposing offensive lines.
QB battle continues, but L.A. still a run-first team
The Rams’ quarterback group ranked 28th in our positional rankings. No. 1 overall draft pick Jared Goff is supposed to take over the starting job at some point, and hopefully can lift the Rams in this regard. For now, though, the battle between veteran Case Keenum and Goff for the Rams’ starting quarterback duty is one of our 10 preseason position battles to watch.
Currently, Keenum is still the Rams’ starter, and he received the bulk of first-team reps at Monday’s practice, but Goff’s velocity and ball placement really stand out, so this is really a matter of when—not if—Goff passes Keenum and becomes the Rams’ first-string QB. Unfortunately for Goff, his two preseason showings have been a bit rough, as he took some big hits in his first game and had two self-inflicted fumbles in his second outing. While Goff should continue to improve, the Rams will still be a run-first team in 2016.
The Rams’ running back group is deep and stands at No. 6 in our positional-group rankings. Todd Gurley is the Rams’ best offensive player at this point, and one of the better young running backs in the league. Rams running back Malcolm Brown and Benny Cunningham have both made plays coming off the bench. In their last preseason game against the Chiefs, Brown had 12 carries and averaged 5.7 yards per attempt, forcing two missed tackles, while fellow running back Benny Cunningham carried the ball four times and averaged 9.5 yards per carry.
Other camp notes
– The Rams’ top trio of wide receivers—Kenny Britt, Tavon Austin, and rookie Pharoh Cooper—all made plays in practice. They also took turns catching tennis balls thrown over their shoulder to improve tracking ability and eye-hand coordination. Former Bills great wide receiver Andre Reed was a VIP guest at practice, and took some time out to give tips to the Rams’ wide receiver group.
– On one of the earlier episodes of Hard Knocks, William Hayes stated that he believes that mermaids are real. On Monday, an Ariel-imposter showed up to practice in full mermaid costume to try and get his attention.
– The sound of the airhorn that signified the end of practice for the Rams also signified the end of the road for the PFF training camp tour. On behalf of every PFF analyst that took part in the tour, we hope you enjoyed the coverage of all 32 training camps leading up to the season. It’s time to get down to the business of football season now, and hopefully we will see some of you out on next year’s tour.
August 24, 2016 at 2:21 am #51508znModeratorPractice Report 8/23: Defense Under Williams
Myles Simmons
Gregg Williams is heading into his third season as the Rams’ defensive coordinator. Known as a coach who can adapt his scheme to get the most out of his players, Williams has a kind of advantage going into Year 3 with the club.
“There’s not a lot of new stuff. They’re used to me, I’m used to them,” Williams said. “It’s been a real productive spring, and I do like how they’ve come back from the spring OTAs, and coming back in condition here for these training camp practices. It’s been a real positive format, so far.”
The familiarity Williams has with Los Angeles’ veterans means more time can be devoted in preseason games to players he may not know as much about. For instance, Williams said he wasn’t concerned about defensive end Robert Quinn not playing much in the preseason because he knows what the lineman can do.
“I need to see him play on gameday in [the] regular season,” Williams said. “I’ve been through a lot of games with him, I see him in practice every day. He’ll got some limited reps, but not looking to get a lot of banging around because I want to see him banging around come Monday Night Football against San Francisco.”
When a player has recorded 50 sacks in only 71 games over five seasons, it’s a clear indication of elite-level talent. It’s another reason why Williams doesn’t feel a need to see Quinn do much in games that don’t count, especially given that Quinn is returning from back surgery.
“He does things that you can’t coach, he has some of the fastest-twitch pass-rushing I’ve ever seen,” Williams said.
One of the ways that comes through on the field is how quickly Quinn can turn the corner on an offensive tackle.
“When you watch a pass rusher turn the corner, everybody in the National Football League has to turn the corner at nine yards. The good ones start turning the corner at eight yards, the Pro Bowlers will start turning the corners at seven yards,” Williams said. “You’ll see Robert turn [the corner on an offensive tackle] it at a four, five and six [yards – not very many people can do that, only the elite of the elite.
“I can’t coach that,” Williams continued. “I’m a better coach when he plays and does that — I’m telling you that.”
Williams likes to let players use their natural instincts. He’s talked about it with defensive tackle Aaron Donald, and mentioned a same sort of principle when discussing Mark Barron’s transition from safety to weakside linebacker.
“Last year, the biggest thing we wanted to do as a staff is not overload him, not slow him down,” Williams said. “I told the staff ‘don’t coach him. Unless he asks a question, let him alone – and then when he asks a question, that’s what he needs to know to figure it out.’
“Now, this year, we’ve started from day one, scratch one, building him back up through there and the light has really clicked on for him,” Williams added. “He’ll be even better this year.”
Plus, between Barron and middle linebacker Alec Ogletree, Williams thinks the Rams can be one of the fastest teams on defense in the league.
“I really can’t wait to see he and Ogletree play together,” Williams said. “You guys are going to see a pretty good, fast pair of backers doing things.”
But those are players Williams knows well. For the ones he doesn’t, he relies on preseason playing time to see who can realistically contribute to the defense.
“Practices are so much different now in the NFL and training camp, with the non-contact that you have — the ways with not very many padded practices,” Williams said. “So now you get a chance to get them into a game, especially some of these young college guys coming in as rookies. And even some of the veteran guys that we sign free agents that came from other teams.”
The next chance to evaluate will come on Saturday in Denver — a team that will certainly present challenges in all three phases as the reigning Super Bowl Champions.
“The things that have happened in the first half in a couple of these games have been very good correctable things that these guys have grown from,” Williams said. “So far, so good. Now when they take the next step this week, It’ll be interesting to see these guys play.”
August 24, 2016 at 4:51 am #51509
AgamemnonParticipanthttps://www.facebook.com/InsideTheRamsSCNG/videos/vb.215161288828361/325098284501327/?type=2&theater
Rams training camp — Aug. 23
Live from Rams training camp, Ryan Kartje and Jack Wang talk about the latest on rookie quarterback Jared Goff, as well as an updated injury report.
AgamemnonAugust 24, 2016 at 8:34 am #51515znModeratorGary Klein
http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-tight-ends-20160823-snap-story.html
Quick hits
Goff took snaps with first-team offense and completed several impressive passes. … Offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (foot) went through a few warmup drills and did work on the side with trainers. … The Rams practice Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Quarterbacks and tight ends will be signing autographs. The Rams final open practice is Thursday
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
