camp week 1: fan reports & comments etc.

If found this one on a board and the poster who copied it from elsewhere did not list the writer or provide a link. It’s just listed as “found on reddit.” I searched a bit out on the net but couldn’t find the original. I really frown on this, camp reporters should have their names or handles right up front. Anyway…

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Found on reddit:

Cooks does a really good job of cutting on his breaks. Really crisp, really sudden, and under control. Saw some good hands.

Higbee has a nice catch in traffic during scrimmage that had Aqib Talib saying he “let him” catch that.

Gurley looked fast as hell. No pads, but still, he was running away from DBs. Just amazing.

Ndamukong Suh looks big as freak and ready to wreak some havoc.

Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters seemed to get along really well on the sidelines.

Mannion didn’t look as good as I thought he did last year. His fastball is clearly slower than Goff’s.

Lamarcus Joyner almost had a big pick from his safety spot. He did a really good job of making a cover-1 shell look like it was trying to disguise a cover-2, but post snap, it was cover-1 after all.

QBs and WRs worked on hot reads on CB blitzes. Mostly recognizing the CB blitz and throwing to that receiver. The receiver’s job is to be on the same page. A couple of times, they had the CB fake the blitz and retreat to the receiver, causing the QB to throw it low and away.

Goff did a great job of not just hitting receivers but making sure that he threw it to the right shoulder, similar to how Bradford would throw it. On one five yard out route, he hit Brandin Cooks so that he could catch the ball away from the incoming defender. Very savvy.

Josh Reynolds and Mike Thomas had some nice moments.

All in all, there were very few balls dropped at all. Very big difference from last year. Only missed on a couple of deep routes.

Hekker’s punts were high and had a lot of airtime.

Ramsfan1971

day one camp notes post #1

I was able to attend the first day of camp yesterday. Obviously first day was a lot of drills. No Pads today.
There was a 11 on 11 at the end of practice. Here are a few of my takes.

1st- Special teams. Greg the Leg was kicking with power. Rams started off practicing new kickoff rules. Z was looked comfortable. No sight of back issues. He then started practicing field goals. He hit a few from 57 yards early. He then started missing to the right. He looks like he will be back 100% at beginning of season. He was key to many of our victories last year.

Goff- He worked individually at beginning of practice rolling out and throwing to sideline. He was very accurate. The chemistry between Goff and Woods/ Kupp is very obvious. He has a way to go with Cook.

Cooks- Very Fast, but also he looks small to me. I know he has been durable in his career, but not sure he survives any huge hits. I saw two drops with ball delivered into both hands. Hoping he has a great year!

Other Wrs- It looks like we will have great depth at Wr. Michael Thomas looks bigger to me this year. 86- Steven Mitchell had a good day. 83- Reynolds continues to improve and look fast.

Gurley- Looks fast and reacted fast. In 11-11, He broke off a couple of long runs. Dbs unable to catch him.

TE- Higbee and Everett made catches in 11-11. Higbee made a great catch on a corner route that looked like the db had a pick. Great concentration to make that catch. 84- Hemingway is back and a huge man. Sorry, but I have watched him the last few camps and I do not see soft hands. He is a great target in size, but Mannion threw a beautiful pass that hit him in the hands and he dropped it. I do not think he is a natural pass catcher.

Defense

DL- We look big with Suh and Brockers. Seems to be a big drop off between 1st and 2nd team DLs. Hard to get any idea of DL or OL without pads.

Lbs- No one really stood out good or bad. That could be good news if they just do their job.

Dbs- Most impressive group on D yesterday. Aqib is obviously alpha. He sits on his helmet and everyone kind of hovers around him. He and Peters are connected closely. Everyone else is off in another group. Both dbs were great in 11-11. Sam Shields had a pick that hit him in hands and then dropped it. Given he has been off the field for a year and some, it was good to see his reactions. A lot of depth in this group. There will be great competition in this group. Joyner and Johnson form their own duo. Like Peters and Talib, these two are hanging together constantly. Dbs may be our strongest position.

11-11
1st team O went against 1st Team D only a few times. I think today, the D had the advantage. It is very hard to throw against the D today. We will see how McVay changes play calls against these Dbs and Lbs. When the 1st O went against 2nd D- Gurley broke off a couple of huge runs. He also got one against the 1st D

Good first day! Lots of competition for non starter guys trying to make or stay on the team.
Hoping for a Healthy Camp!

8to12

I went to Camp yesterday. However, I was hosting a fellow Ram fan from Italy and his family. So, I didn’t have the usual attention to detail that I usually do.

– Offense looked good to a degree ; When it was 7 on 7 it really showed. None of the CB’s could cover Woods, Cooks and Kupp. But, when it was 11-on-11, the defense made a few stops that the average Fan is unaware of. For example, the second team defense had the ROLB get past Whitworth on a play and ran right by Goff before he threw a nice pass down the middle to Woods. Most everyone cheered, but I shook my head saying, no, that was a sack. The second team defense made approx 3 stops like that against the first team offense in the first 12 minute session. ON another with some of the #1 DB’s on the field….. Woods caught aan intermediate crossing route, almost a slant about 15 yards deep. Most of the crowd cheered for the completion, but what they didn’t notice was Joyner coming to a complete stop bringing both feet together right in front of woods as he caught the ball. As the play breaks up and the offensive players go back to the huddle, about 3 other defensive players come and give Joyner a high five and 1 a hand shake, then McVay walks over and shakes Joyners hand, as if to say, thanks for not blowing up my starting WR. An example of why it is hard to tell who is ahead of who on the field.

– Mannion doesn’t look as good as Goff. 1’s go against the 2’s primarily through each practice but Mannion goes against the starting defense mostly and Goff does not. With that being said, Mannion threw one of the nicest passes of the day ; a deep route down the left side to Reynolds who dropped the ball. I think Mannion is doing just fine considering who’s protecting him and who is coming after him.

Other random notes:

DB Kevin Peterson – Kevin is now #25, previously #47 I believe ….. he was aggressive at anticipating throws. He made one pick by jumping a route and almost had a second. If he continues to improve, he will be in contention for the #4 spot.

Lamarcus Joyner – Joyner spent much of the early session, 1 on 1 drills, working with the QB’a and Centers getting the ball out quick off of 3 step drops. He played the role of the slot receiver running a quick slant. He also had the equipment guys throwing him passes from differing angles, up high, down low, over his head to work on his hands. The man is always working.

TE’s – Higbee looks the same ; do not see any improvement yet from last year. He is still inconsistent stretching the field. I’d say he’s making the catch 50% of the time. Hemingway made a few catches, but his routes are usually shorter and near the sideline. WOuld like to see Hemingway get the same opportunities that HIgbee gets to see if he’s more consistent. Cody McElroy caught some passes in 1-on1 drills then was non-existent the rest of the day. Same with Everett ; not many pays went to him today.

That’s it for now. I hope to make it to one of the practices where they will be in pads so there will be more to talk about.

OCRAM85

I was there on Saturday and JG completed several passes in tight windows and just over the DBs finger tips. His passes have so much zip on them. Sometimes just putting enough air under a sideline pass to get it over the DBs fingertips.

I think JG is going to be a top 5 QB.

He is working on not holding the ball so long. Seemed like there were times yesterday when it came out real quick and other times when he danced back there and seemed like 5+ seconds of holding the ball (I didn’t time his throws). Most of the time it was a second or two in his decision making.

Rampage2K-

Just some quick hits from training camp yesterday….first day in pads!!

Third year going to this event and it just keeps getting better….this year they introduced a new fan center, a concourse with a stage and cool booths and shop etc… cool new entrance way to the fields from there also.

All the bleachers are now covered with tents to shade from the hot sun and they have a mini Jumbotron to watch replays of the live practice…it’s pretty cool.

First class training camp for sure.

Goff made some sick throws and also had a couple dirt balls, wasn’t perfect, but you can just see this guy has immense arm talent…he hit Gurley on a seam route that was just perfect.

Kupp broke coach McVay’s ankles in a red zone drill as Kupp made a move that left McVay on the ground and the crowd laughing it ass off…it was pretty funny.

Very few dropped balls, this WR corp is deep….Cooks looked too fast for most out there. He is going to be a star in LA…bank it!!!

Made our way to the covered bleachers just in time for the 11 on 11 scrimmage.

Woods made an incredible diving catch that had the capacity crowd erupt.

Cooks also had a great catch for a TD that he bobbled then reeled in over the middle.

The DB’s were not messing around out there…there were quite a few big hits, capped by Joyner going a little overboard on a hit on PCoop at the goal line that he was slow to get up from.

Looks like McVay had a word with Joyner about it right afterwards, but gave him a pat on the helmet as he ran off the field.

The defense looks swarming, Goff is going to get good going against this defense in practice.

Suh looks like a man amongst boys out there.

Wish I had more, but it seems like it goes by in a blur….oh yeah, just as we were talking about how well Brandon Allen was looking he threw a pick six.

Our secondary is deeeep.

TEs all looked good…Everett had play of the day with a fade throw into end zone where he high pointed the ball at last second with LB draped all over him for the TD

Crowd was great….bleachers were full and the fence areas were 2-3 deep.

Didn’t bring the good camera, but I got some pics I’ll try to post soon.

bubbaramfan

Great day at Irvine, upper 80’s and not a very large crowd. Had a beer (and no more) and sat on the south side of 2nd field. The team came out and stretched for about 15 min. then broke off into groups. OL and DL on south end of field 1 away from our vision. We had Coach Fassell and ST doing punts and kickoff coverage in front of us. Lots of players, mostly bottom tier, interchanging reps. Hekker focusing on directional punts, Cooper, Fred Brown and Kendal Thompson stayed back to field punts.
Most punters keep both hands on the ball until the foot comes up and hits it. Hekker is unusual in that he releases the ball from his grip about shoulder height, letting it drop, putting either back or forward spin on the ball with his hands before it hits his foot, giving the ball direction when it comes down on the field. Was fun to watch him do this in practice.

Whistle at 15 min and group rotation. We get LB’s for tip drills. One coach threw a ball about 10yds, another then tips in up, and players then try and recover while the other set up return. good drill.

whistle rotation. TE’s and RB’s short passes over middle w/ no D from #9 Perez Hemingway and Everrett the quickest. Higbee biggest.

Whistle, rotation. 11 on 11. 1st team OL Whitworth, Saffold, Sullivan, (yes, Sullivan is OK and took a lot of snaps today), Brown and Havenstien. Gurley, Goff. WR’s alternated between Woods, Cooks, Kupp, Reynolds, Cooper and Thompson. Defense 1st team rotated a lot of players in and out, with Bockers and Suh getting snaps at first then being pulled and Westbrooks, Joseph-Day and Omairus Bryant getting work with the ones. I saw a lot of switching around and different guys getting reps at different positions. Trevon Young, and John Franklin Myers saw a lot of work at DE. Franklin-Myers impressed me. He is quick off the snap and gets around the edge. Mixed up the LB’s but Littleton, Hagar and Ebukam played with the ones.
Good pass rush but Goff gets the ball out quick. Good timing with wr’s. Gurley is fast. Several deep balls Cooks got a TD, Reynolds dropping balls, at least three he should have caught. Thompson never even got a look.
Woods clearly the best WR today.

2nd team 11 on 11 started off with an OL of Demby LT, Noteboom LG (next play they switched and continued switching for several plays), Blythe C, (several plays , then Allen), Neary, Womac LG, and Corneilius Lucas at RT. Lucas played exclusively at RT. I didn’t see anyone else but Hav and Lucas at RT. I don’t think D Williams dressed, injury? Demby, Noteboom and Lucas looked to hold their own. Allen at QB, Brown, Davis and Kelly rotating snaps. Brown looks leaner and caught passes out of the backfield, Davis has good lateral movement and is quick, but Kelly is fast and fights through traffic, got a TD. Going to be a battle between Davis and Kelly. TE’s Higbee, Everett and Hemmingway all took snaps with ones. All got targets and all had receptions. Higbee had a drop he should have caught.

DB’s Peters and Talib are the real deal. Great competition with WR’s. they feed off each other. Hill and Peterson looked very good. Peterson getting in and getting his hands on the ball had an INT.

LB’s, I think every one of them get in with ones or twos. this is getting sorted out still. Longacre got reps and then got sat. He looks fine.
11 on 11 over 40 minutes

Whistle, group rotation. 2minute drill. they did this in a kind of slow motion, with McVay jumping around on the field yelling instructions and pointing at people. , Clearly trying to get something across. Wished I could have heard what he was saying.

whistle, rotation. FG attempts with a D rush. I think this was a first for TC and Zuelien. Ball snapped at 35, making it a 45-7 yd FG attempt. Greg nails the 1st three, putting the ball on the roof of the endzone bleachers. Greg’s back is “back”.

Whistle rotation. We didn’t get to see much of the OL or DL. they were on the other field furthest from our view. We walked around to the endzone where McVay was in serious teaching mode with Goff, Allen QB, Kupp, Cooks, Woods and Gurley. He had Goff and Allen taking long snaps and getting it out of their hands as fast as possible, flinging it sidearm to one of the four. Curious drill.

That’s all for now from my notes. There will be much more later as it comes to me.

They have an off day tomorrow, and I intend to go again on Wednesday.

The Professor

This was my first camp practice of the year. I got in about 90 minutes before camp and was able to go through the signing area where Fred Dryer and Michael Stewart were signing autographs. I bought a mini football for them to sign. So it was a nice start to the day. Some nice additions from last year are a) the covered bleachers (it was pretty hot), the replay screen (but I was in a bad spot to really be able to see it). It was pointed so that the players could see it well. I was on the 50 yard line and it was on the 30 or so on my side of the field pointing at the field so it was not really helpful for me to see. Both fields have scoreboards which list the clock for each part of practice, which part of practice they are in, the play clock and the down.

McVay runs a tight ship. After the clock ran down on a practice session, that session is whistled over, and the next practice session starts with a new clock on how long that period will last. The practice session counter was not labeled so I was confused about it initially. I noticed it was at 8 when Allen was QB, so I first thought it was listing who was at QB but when it did not change when Goff was QBing I was able to figure it out.
The team started off stretching. One coach would show the team what to do, and every ten or so seconds, McVay would blow a whistle and then the next stretch was modeled. McVay was constantly moving during this time period and sometimes would model the stretch.
After the stretching, the players went to their position groups to work on specific drills. In front of me, Cooper, Nick Holley (Rcool smiley, and JoJo Natson (WR) were practicing catching punts/KOs from a jugs machine. I doubt Holley or Natson make the squad, so I am not sure who is the real backup. Initially, they were doing it against air, then they did it with one of the others running at them, finally they did it in a set of three kicks. If they caught the first, then they had to catch the second while still holding the first ball and the third while holding both previous balls. Cooper had a chance at catching it when holding the other two, but the punt was way shorter than ANY other I saw in the drill and he could not get there.
The DBs practiced covering the WR coming off the line in press coverage. The DBs would alternate played D or simulating a WR coming off the line. They started off at a jogging pace but picked up the pace and worked on getting their hands on the receiver as the play started.
Goff, Allen and Perez started off just talking with the three centers Allen, Sullivan, and Blythe. Mannion was not there. I learned later on that he had the day off to be with his wife who is very far along in her pregnancy.
The other oline man worked on their hand placement coming out of their stances. Initially, they did this against air, later on against other olinemen.
The special teams kickers were hanging underneath an easy up between the two fields. Next to them were three stationary bikes. Peters and Talib started out stretching by those and then started pedaling.
The other DBs and a two WR/TEs were working on punt coverage/return on each side there would be a gunner and two return team players trying to route the gunner away from the center.
I did not focus a lot on the Dline at this time. I noticed them stretching and at one point they were doing this next to the Oline doing the same.
In the next practice session, the QBs, RBs and WRs ran a drill. I don’t remember if the QB started with the ball or it was snapped by a coach, but the WR would take a jet sweep handoff in front of the QB and run down the line. Another coach would then flip a second ball to the QB and the running back would come out of the backfield and the QB would hit him in the flat.
At the next practice session, the QB would practice play action drop backs and then throw to the RBs. These were the only players in this drill. The simultaneous WR/TE drill had the player run 5 yards one direction 5 yards back and then catch a pass as they go back in the original direction. Later on the receivers were about 20/30 yards from the coach throwing, they had to juke around a coach in between them and catch a pass as they ran towards the coach with the ball.
The olinemen would hit the blocking sled and then drive into another olineman who held a pad to cushion the blow. As there were practices going on both fields, I do not have much to say about the defense’s practice as they were practicing on the far field.
On the offense’s field, the QBs started playing with a RB and four receivers (including TEs). My biggest takeaway of the practices was Perez is not ready for the NFL. He was consistently high with his passes. Many were over the receivers’ heads and gave them no chance to make a play. Allen was better than Perez but not accurate enough. I felt that Mannion improved his chances of being the number 2 and he was not even there. At one point, Goff and Allen were both passing to receivers at the same time (one throwing to the left side the other to the right). The receivers were alternate plating on the right and left side so they got some reps with both QBs. On the other side of the field, Perez was throwing to the 3rd string WRs/TEs. He still was high and again this is against air. I mostly focused on the 1s and 2s, but I did see one of the coaches showing Allen some tips on his footwork after he lofted a throw. During the first part of these drills, one throw was high to Woods and he had to make a one handed grab and then spin to keep his feet in bounds. After hearing a lot of Ooohs and Ahhs from the crowd, he took a bow as he went back to the QBs.
When the Offense started playing against the D in 5 on 5, Goff hit Gurley for a TD and shortly afterwards was picked by Christian. Goff was low on a completion to Cooks but for the most part was pretty accurate.
When 11 on 11 started, the starting D seemed to be Westbrooks, Suh, Donald, up front, Littleton, Wilson, and ? as LBs (I did not catch the edge player’s number), and Talib, Peters, Joyner, Johnson, and Robey-Coleman in the secondary. I read that both Peters and Talib would take one side of the field for their teams last year. They were not lining up that way for the Rams. They were often on the same side. Sometimes Peters was in the slot, sometimes playing man and tracking their receiver as he moved presnap.

Most of my oline commentary is on the LTs as that was right in front of me. I watched Whitworth vs. Price for a few plays. The first one Price was stood up, on the second Price got through, around Whit but as it was a running play to the right side, this may not have been a win for Price, Whit may have been letting Price take himself out of the play. The next two plays I watched, the left side of the line held up well.

At one point when Goff was in shotgun, he raised his hands to call for the ball and perhaps draw the D offsides, but the LG jumped. Unfortunately, I do not know who it was. The other times the oline was flagged before a play it was on the left side as well. When Noteboom played LT, the first play I watched he was pushed back but held his position (Hill picked Allen on that play but I did not really see it as I was not looking at that aspect of the play). On the next two plays, Noteboom stood up the DE, handed him off to the guard and then picked up the linebacker (Sickles). At this point Lucas was the RT. Late in the practice, Eldrenkamp played RT (as they were going in the other direction at that time I focused on RT).
I will add more comments about the D and the receivers in a second post. It is getting late, so I will be signing off now.

stlramz

Some observations from Camp

So I made an unexpected family trip to LA so my 5 year old, who is a huge King Tut fanatic, can see the exhibit at the Science Center. Of course, since I was there . . . .I convinced everyone that a trip to the padded practice was both necessary and appropriate family time.

I will echo other comments about the facilities and the set up. I attended school at UCSD in the early 90s and the Chargers practiced at our school. I used to routinely attend to watch the chargers practice. That was like a high school practice (and kind of cool in that way) compared to the set up the Rams have.

Stan (who was in attendance at the practice) has a beautiful set up at UCI including a fan shop, a stage with music cranking and practice fields with fully covered bleachers. The fields spans quite a distance so it would essentially be difficult if not impossible to observe all of practice sessions because the units are broken up at different parts of the field.

I posted up in an endzone and watched the QBs work out, the OL work and then focused on the DBs. My take on the QBs differs a bit from the other posters. From my vantage point and because Mannion was apparently out on family leave, Brandon Allen got a lot of work. I was TOTALLY UNIMPRESSED by Mr. Allen. I would be surprised at the end of the day if he is kept around over L. Perez. Perez is raw but he has something. A confidence, a way he carries himself that just stood out to me versus Brandon Allen.

The QBs did quite a bit of work basically coming off an imaginary center, opening up their gate and flinging the ball to the perimeter. You can see how this type of play, where the QB basically just takes the snap turns and fires to the outside guy will take advantage of DBs playing off of Cooks et al.

Goff has definitely grown a bit simply in demeanor and confidence. I saw no hesitation. He appeared to be in complete command and while he attempted to throw balls in tighter windows, I wonder how much of this is a product of our DBs being OFF THE HOOK.

We are deep at DB. I completely forgot about Sam Shields and I was watching #37 move smoothly and quickly as if he was a seasoned veteran. Who T.F is that? I look at the roster, oh yeah, Shields. We are deep. KP had a pick, NRC locked down the slot, Hill looked fantastic and Peters and Talib when the season starts will be the best duo we had since Rod Perry and Pat Thomas patrolled the backfield.

I’ll say it now, Wade is going to do real damage with this Defense.

On offense, I still think our TE’s are underwhelming. I heard good things about Higs coming in but he still looks stiff to me. Tamarack Hemmingway is huge and looks healthy but he doesn’t look at all like a natural pass catcher. G. Everett is our hope and he continues to show flash though he looks very lanky and basically a big WR.

Todd Gurley — may have his new contract but that is a player that absolutely set the tone on offense. The rams ran numerous plays up the middle and though there was really no tackling, Gurley always made a point to run hard, run through the traffic and sprint the distance. It was clear he was setting the tone and tempo for the offensive guys. Malcolm Brown looks noticeably thinner and quicker but I think he will have some problems from Kelly, he appears to have “it” and I think will unseat Brown before seasons out as the go-to back up.

The WRs and DB groups really appeared to be tight within their own groups. Kupp, Woods and the Archer all appeared to be genuine buddies along with Cooper and the rest of the unit. Same with the DBs with Talib being the Godfather and holding center court.

As practice broke, people headed over to the ropes where the players went back to the dorms. Many of the players stopped by to sign. I spoke with Johnny Hekker and told him that he was the only player I have ever seen on this team that has a real chance of matching / breaking Jackie Slater’s team record for years with the club. Hekker immediately went into a full speech about how impressive it was for Jackie to do all those years from a tackle position versus a punter. Called Slater an absolute beast. I love that type of stuff — knowledge of the past and respect for the studs that came before.

Brockers, Westbrooks, McQuaide, came by and chatted and then . . . . I spotterd Kevin Demoff slowly strolling through. No one says anything and finally, I call him over because no one is saying anything. He was very personable and I was making small talk with him as he was looking down signing people’s hats etc and I say to him — in full BS mode–: “I have a good source that says the final number is 6 years $22,555,522 per year” “The palindrome made me know it was legitimate”.

His head literally snapped up and he turns to me and holds a stare for just a second. It was like he looked at me like “how the @#$%& does this guy have this information?”

Maybe it was just him running the figure I threw out to confirm it was, indeed, a palindrome — one of his signature trademarks — but his look was like I just guessed his social security number.

I add “the 6th year is voidable right? allows you to stretch out the cap hit?” He kind of chuckles.

Of course, I could be misreading him but I have seen that look before when you bust someone on the witness stand. So, my new prediction is Aaron Donald $22,555,522 per year for 6 years – 6th year voidable yes

I did ask if August 7th “was still the date” and he just walked away from me.

All in all an enjoyable day and well worth the trip.