an annual treat: "my report from the sideline" & some follow-up

Note from me: MF28 knows and works with a local St. Louis group that supplies oxygen to the Rams sideline. Once a year in the pre-season he joins them on the sideline and reports on it.

He always answers questions for a day or 2 afterward so there is follow-up in this thread, in later posts.

So…from off the net.

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Marshall’s Faulk28HOF

First I will start this off by saying I will not be on my laptop all day so if you have questions please ask them but I may not get back to you right away. But please ask just in case I forgot something… it may jog my memory.

So here goes:

I will start with Nick Foles. They “LOVE” Nick Foles. He is the unquestioned leader of this offense. He’s not cheesy or over the top, but he has a way about him that makes every guy seem important. No question. Every offensive player gives him respect. And he handles the entire team like a franchise QB. The entire team respects him… After the Givens TD Quinn and Long went over to him and told him they will follow him and that he was the man! He has the leadership skills that I think have been missing on the sidelines. He isn’t a rah rah guy but he is constantly in guys faces. Correcting guys, teaching encouraging guys. And it was a simple but nice touch when he stayed on the field when Brown went down. The guy simple gets it. Now of course he still has to win us over on the field starting Sept 13th, but I can definitely see why the guys on this team respond to him. I like Foles. I really do…If he is half way decent on the field we have our guy!

After he threw the TD to Givens he told Givens, “I trust you dude”. He said “I couldn’t see you breaking but I knew you would be there if I could throw it to the outside post. He said, Once, I saw the safety bite, I just wanted give you a chance to run under it.” Givens told him, dude I got you! If you put it out there I’ll go get it!

I really like Foles. Now I just hope all of this translates to the field and at that point I will love the guy! The “entire team” responds to him. Haven’t seen that in a while…Keenum will be the back up(and he better be ready)…Mannion will be number 3 and Davis is gone IMO.

Which brings me to my next point. The offensive line. 😥

This is a real concern guys. They are looking over matched and confused. If you cannot pass pro or open running lanes, Foles will be hurt soon or it will continue to be 3-downs and punt. Wash rinse repeat. Defense will be on the field too long and we all know how that goes.

G-Rob seemed like he wasn’t locked in for some odd reason. He seemed as if he was in a daze or something and when he was getting beat like a turnstile, the only person talking to him was Saffold because Boudreau was to busy cussing out everyone else..they are sooooo young up front. The concerning thing was the Colts weren’t doing anything complicated most times and these guys were simply getting beat one on one. Brown and Havenstein couldn’t get on the same page to save their lives. This is where Boudreau spent most of his night, with these two. Havenstein is a massive human being and nasty. But he’s isn’t athletic at all and couldn’t square his shoulders on the pass rush and it was driving Boudreau crazy! He and Brown couldn’t pass guys off, guys were shooting their gaps and they both were recognizing it way too late hence the penetration in the back field. They are both thinking too much…Boudreau was losing his mind with these two…Guys we going to see Seattle’s front 7 in 2 weeks (I could be wrong) but this is not looking good at the moment. And you could tell by Boudreau’s stress level that he knows it. 🙁

Right now I see no one taking the lead at center. Jones was sloppy. Boudreau would give him the evil eye every time he came off the field. Barnes was ok. Just ok. On the zone blocking stuff, I think Barnes may be better suited for that IMO.

You all saw G-Rob on TV, he had decent moments but he had alot of bad moments. And Robert Mathis was in street clothes! He is having technique issues. Saffold is a pro’s pro. He was constantly sitting with Robinson teaching and encouraging him. He kept telling him you have to stay focused on every single play and move your feet.

I am still waiting for the light to come on for him…I don’t know if he was mad at himself or something else was going on with him, but he was very disengaged, then he would go back on the field and look sloppy and soft. He is much much thinner. He almost looks like a power forward, which I don’t understand all the weight loss if you want to be a running physical offense. the bright spot was Rhaney at guard. Wow. He is a much better guard than center. He may beat out Brown if he can flip and play left guard. If Saffold goes down again I think he can step right in…He looked quick and athletic. Strong at the point of attack. He was the sole bright spot. At this point I flip him to the RG and let him start over Brown.

There is honest concern for this group. Fisher can give us all the PR crap about the O-line, but this really concern. They are no where close to being cohesive.

The WRs. hmmmm…Givens’ one big play. Next…

The RBs. There wasn’t much going on with them simply because of the O-line play. Tre Mason was clearly frustrated with them…they were very quiet on the bench. I mean what could they say, there were no holes to be found.

Side note Gurley is big and lean…He’s really young and acts like it. He was very engaging with the vets and they all seem to like him…but he sort of blew some young fans off that wanted his picture and he turned his back to them and Chris Long saw it and went over to him and physically turned him around so the kids could get their picture. He’s pro now and he needs to learn a few things. Rookie stuff I guess.

Now the defense. Greg Williams was really relaxed up beat and looked very happy.

The D-line. They started off rocky. And no one can belt out cuss words like coach Mike Waufle. They were having communication issues in the run game in the beginning and JL55 couldn’t get off blocks. And Herron was gashing that front 7. Waufle is a drill Sargent and his standards are high. But he knew they would eventually get it together and they did…it is apparent Long, Hayes,Quinn,Donald and Brockers love each other. They are a happy (and rich) band of misfits. Long was joking to some rookies, pointing at Quinn ” that’s what a 66 million dollar superstar looks like… ” he told Martin Ifedi, you want get paid in this league play like him”.

Donald is the man. I remember last year was a really quiet guy. Now he looks like an old season vet. The guy has earned his strips. Man, these guys are really really really good. If Brockers stays healthy this might be his break out year. These guys are so cohesive. You can just feel it when you are around them…Hayes is like the old man of the group. Quietly dispensing his wisdom. Chris Long and Quinn are constantly teaching the young guys.
Listen I have been a critic of Chris Long in the past, but he is absolutely essential to the mental health of this team. He is always encouraging and engaging…man he is a class act. I mean a really nice guy. All of them are…I will tell you this…If you want to go into a dark alley at 3 in the morning take Eugene Sims with you…

Westbrooks is beeing groomed and will see alot more playing time this season. They really like him. He’s been playing inside and outside in the rotation and Waufle seems to really like him.

Lookout for Matt Longacre. He got a long look last night. He really did some good things. Quinn and Long were constantly praising him as well as Waufle. I’m telling you this kid is a player. I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t make the team. He earned alot of respect last night.

I will be equally shocked if Martin Ifedi makes the team. Waufle was absolutely drilling this guy for missing his assignments. I mean he was going off so bad I thought kid was gonna start crying. Waufle seems to have no appetite for this kid. None at all. He kept missing reads, not shooting gaps when he supposed to, over pursing and opening up cutback lanes. You name it he did it wrong. After awhile I felt bad for the guy. Waufle was just relentlessly screaming at the guy. Welcome to the NFL kids. This is a man’s world.

The linebackers. I am an open critic of JL55. That has not changed…He always seems frustrated on the sidelines. Maybe because someone is lined up wrong etc. but he just seems frustrated all the time. Maybe thats just how he is IDK…Ogletree is the exact opposite. Highly energetic and all over the place. He is constantly praising the defense. In the second quarter when they started to play better he ran over to the Dline and yelled at all of them we are f’ing best defense in football and now we are playing like it. The way he yelled it got me pumped up!

If we win some games I can see TJ McDonald in the probowl. He has an energy on the sideline. a punishing tackler too… he is very vocal with guys in the secondary. I would argue to say he might be the emotional leader of that group. Jenks is always quiet on the sidelines. He just goes about his business. Jenks is gonna be Jenks. I am concerned about Tru. I think we are going to miss Gaines. I hope not but I think so…his technique gets sloppy at times and he doesn’t have the speed to make up for it when he does…his position coach was telling him to stay sound in his technique.

Sidebar: I openly heard one of the stars of the D’line having real concerns about the O-line. And I will leave it at that…

To stand next Hekker and him punt is insane! I thought one of his punts was going to hit the rafters at the dome.

The sound the ball makes when it comes off his foot sounds like a canon going off!
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Its simply organized chaos on the bench.It really is amazing how detailed things are at the NFL level. No one would know it but guys are actually going to the bathroom on the sidelines. It really is amazing to say everything it takes to put on one NFL game.

Oh yeah on the stadium front. I was casually talking to some guys in the organization and it is not true that the Rams have asked employees about moving. They are just as clueless as everyone else. There are no facts to that rumor. NONE. One guy told me Qualcom in SD is the worst stadium in the NFL period. There isn’t even a close second. He said it may be getting to the point where it is too dangerous to host events there pretty soon.

I ask them their feeling on the Rams moving and they said no one knows…but all of 3 of them said SD is in the worst position and needs to be taking care and that is what the league might be looking at first. Don’t know what that means…Stan has “everyone” in the dark. He will reveal his endgame whenever he does at thats that…

Man watching Luck throw is a thing of beauty. And how come T.Y Hilton can do what he does and Tavon is stuck in the mud?

Oh I asked about the whole Oxnard thing…and the 3 guys I talked to blew it off. They said the first day it was amazing…then it started to fall off. And when practice started Dez Bryant was constantly running his mouth and openly doggin the entire team. He provoked alot of that crap. This is why he got punched in the face. 😆