McLeod proving doubters wrong as one of Rams' McSafeties/PD

McLeod proving doubters wrong as one of Rams’ McSafeties
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/mcleod-proving-doubters-wrong-as-one-of-rams-mcsafeties/article_8d826777-9423-58d1-ba9c-35fc8da06b4c.html

That little shimmy by free safety Rodney McLeod after his second-quarter interception was no impromptu celebration.

“It’s just a little dance that me and T.J. (McDonald) put together right before the game,” he said.

Apparently, it’s part of the weekly pregame ritual for the Rams’ McSafeties. It’s all about being prepared for success.

“If we make plays, this is what we’re gonna do today,” McLeod explained. “It’s just something that we’ve got going on.”

McLeod told McDonald before Sunday’s 19-17 victory over Tampa Bay that he was going to get an interception.

Hard to explain but he just had that feeling.

“I thought if we got good pressure on (Josh) McCown, he’d most likely to throw one up,” McLeod said.

McCown, the Tampa Bay quarterback, did just that early in the second quarter of a 7-7 game. The Bucs were knocking on the door with a first-and-goal from the St. Louis 9.

But linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar flushed McCown out of the pocket on a blitz, and then linebacker James Laurinaitis came bearing down on McCown. Instead of taking the sack, or throwing the ball away, McCown threw it up for grabs in the general direction of wide receiver Vincent Jackson.

There was just one problem with that decision: Jackson was being double-covered, with cornerback Janoris Jenkins behind him and McLeod in front.

“He did a crossing route,” McLeod said. “Basically I just read the quarterback. He made a bad decision and James got good pressure on him.”

It wasn’t an easy interception. The ball was thrown low and away, and McLeod lunged to keep it off the ground.

“Gotta give credit to the hands, the gloves. Fresh gloves,” McLeod said, laughing.

McLeod wears a new set of gloves each week on game day.

“That was a big point (in the game),” McDonald said of his teammate’s play. “They were close to scoring, we don’t give up any points. We give the ball back to our offense, get a lot of juice, a little momentum going.”

It marked the first interception, and only takeaway, for the Rams this season. Without McLeod’s INT, the third of his three-year NFL career, the outcome might’ve been different. Even if Tampa had to settle for a field goal, that might have been enough in what turned out to be a two-point game.

McLeod joined the Rams in 2012, the first year of the Jeff Fisher-Les Snead regime, as an undrafted rookie out of Virginia. He led the Rams in special teams tackles that year (16), then took advantage of preseason injuries to Darian Stewart to earn a job at safety in 2013. He started all 16 games, recording 87 tackles and two interceptions.

Even so, the general consensus this past offseason was that the Rams needed to upgrade the position, find a free safety with more range.

Granted, it’s just two games into the season, but McLeod is proving doubters wrong. He has shown improved range and has taken quickly to defensive coordinator Greg Williams’ system.

“I think it just comes with experience, and the coaching we get from OTAs to training camp with Gregg coming in, and Chuck (Cecil), and all those guys just getting us right,” McLeod said.

Cecil is the Rams’ secondary coach.

Even before the start of the regular season, Williams has been impressed with McLeod.

“Rodney has just been one of the most pleasant surprises for me — his instincts on playing the free safety position,” Williams told the Post-Dispatch in a late-August interview.

“Chuck Cecil did a good job talking to me about him when I first got here. Chuck was very high on him and wanted me to make sure that I was patient with the evaluation process on him. I think Rodney does a phenomenal job on picking up the nuances of how we want our safeties to play.”

Williams continued: “The free safety and the middle linebacker have to be a direct extension of the play-caller and what we do. He’s sharp intellectually. He’s sharp in big-picture understanding of the game.”

An added bonus is that McLeod has become a more aggressive tackler this season than he showed previously, whether it be in coverage or in run support.

“I just think it’s the mentality that Gregg instilled in us from Day 1,” McLeod. “You know the mentality that he has.”

Yeah, if you’re coming in this neighborhood, you’re going to have to pay a toll.

“There’s been nothing but good stuff going on from Day 1 in this system,” McLeod said.

It’s a system not too different from the scheme run in 2012, when Williams was serving his one-year “Bountygate” suspension and his son Blake was de facto defensive coordinator.

Now in their second season starting together, McLeod and strong safety McDonald are developing a good rapport on the field.

They complement each other well, with McLeod usually playing deep in coverage, and McDonald frequently playing near the line of scrimmage, or blitzing, or covering tight ends.

“With T.J., what I don’t have, he has,” McLeod said. “We just work well together. It just works out.”

Fisher likes the way things are working out so far.

“Both the safeties have played very well the last two weeks,” Fisher said. “Now, we missed some tackles, but everybody’s going to miss tackles. … But I think considering where we were last year, they’ve come a long, long way. I’m happy for them.”

RAM-BLING

Linebacker Kevin Reddick has been released from the team’s practice squad. Defensive lineman Matt Conrath is expected to take his place.