Staley & O’Connell

from Rams newcomer Kevin O’Connell, ex-Aztecs QB, plans to help Jared Goff rebound: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/chargers-rams/story/2020-05-21/nfl-los-angeles-rams-super-bowls-sdsu-kevin-oconnell

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O’Connell, replying to a reporter’s question during a video chat Thursday, said that not just the Niners but the other two NFC West rivals — the Seahawks and Cardinals — will present the Rams with “some real problems.” All three teams, he added, seem to have improved this offseason.

On the other hand, he said Rams talent man Les Snead has done good work, too. Targeting the offense, Snead used his first draft pick last month on running back Cam Akers and his second pick on wide receiver Van Jefferson.

O’Connell praised Akers for his “grit” and ability to gain yards against Florida State opponents that overloaded against the run. He lauded the route running of Florida alum Jefferson, whose father, Shawn, was a starting receiver for the only San Diego team to reach a Super Bowl.

What O’Connell brings to the Rams are, among other traits, much-praised ability to see the game and a rare football background.

The quarterbacks O’Connell has taught include brainy veterans such as Alex Smith, Josh McCown and Kirk Cousins. In other words, if he didn’t know his stuff, he would’ve been found out.

“The why gets asked a lot,” he said. “They want to know why you’re doing things, and you have to have the answers for that.”

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O’Connell said he’ll work with the 25-year-old [Goff] on small details, seeking incremental gains.

“If we could just get one or two percent better across the board at all of those different things,” he said, “I think he’s got a chance to have a great season, and I’m really excited for him.”

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2020/05/22/nfl-rams-jalen-ramsey-safety-brandon-staley/

What makes Ramsey unique is his versatility. He can play man or zone coverage, but he can also play outside cornerback or in the slot. Staley wants to utilize his position flexibility even more than that, though.

He says Ramsey can play anywhere in the secondary, including safety. Ramsey played safety for two years at Florida State before moving to cornerback, and not surprisingly, he succeeded at both spots.

“He’s got command of all the positions in the defensive backfield” Staley said. “What’s awesome about him is he can play anywhere. He can play outside or inside or safety. So we can move him around if we need to.”

Brandon Staley’s approach, scheme energizing Rams players

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/defensive-coordinator-brandon-staley-well-received-players

Even from a distance and via digital means, new Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley is making his presence felt with a new, yet familiar attitude.

“I mean, the energy (Staley) brings, it’s just new. It’s kind of like a (Sean) McVay of the defense almost, with the way he talks, how smart he is and things like that,” Hill said, referring to the Rams head coach. “Thinking outside the box, I feel like that’s what I needed. He’s younger in a sense that he can relate to the players a lot.”

DC Brandon Staley: “Especially in times like this, you want to be able to create energy everyday.”
Staley has held his current position since early February. One month into his tenure, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down NFL teams’ facilities, which means Hill and other defensive players have been getting to know him and his scheme through remote meetings during the Rams’ virtual offseason program.

Despite the absence of interpersonal interaction, Staley’s attitude and vision for the defense are generating excitement.

Hill, who emerged as a starter last season, said the Rams defensive backs had certain ideas they felt they might be able to incorporate into their defense but it wouldn’t be taught throughout the whole unit. Consequently, Los Angeles’ defensive players wouldn’t be able to get in sync.

“But when (Staley’s) coaching some of these things, it’s like, ok, we was trying to do that last year and get that done, but you already coaching it,” Hill said. “So now we are all going to be on the same page and it’s going to be even easier. These ideas, it’s going to make the scheme a lot easier in being able to play different routes and everybody’s going to be on the same page.”

The player who can best speak to Staley’s impact is new outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, whom Staley coached in Chicago in 2017 and 2018.

“He’s very energetic,” Floyd said. “Like, I can’t think of a day where he wasn’t ready to get out and go play. He’ll have you ready to play. Basically every day we’ve been having virtual meetings, he’s been having guys ready to get on the field and go play. It’s just the way words come out of his mouth, he uses it the right way and it motivates everybody.”

Players feed off that approach, according to Hill, seeing how in tune the players are with him. And as the Rams’ virtual offense program continues, their defense stands to benefit from it.

“The defense that he’s bringing in, the scheme that he’s bringing in, I think there’s a lot of opportunity to make a lot of plays for everybody,” Hill said. “I like him a lot, to be honest.”

Staley said in times like this, it’s important to create that energy.

“We’ve all been in classes or conferences or seminars where a lot of it’s depending on how good the teacher or presenter is for how you really learn the material,” Staley said on a video conference with reporters Thursday. “So what we’ve tried to do as coaches is be on fire every day, to prepare something that is really going to help them get better, making as like being in the office or on the field as possible.”

Rams hope new defensive boss Brandon Staley is a quick fixer

link https://www.dailynews.com/2020/05/25/whicker-rams-hope-new-defensive-boss-brandon-staley-is-a-quick-fixer/

It’s not a souffle or a roast duck. It’s football. The prep time is overrated.

When Brandon Staley was coaching at John Carroll, there was no spring practice. At Hutchinson Junior College at Kansas, players constantly rushed through the turnstile, none available for more than two years.

“When I got hired by the Bears, Khalil Mack showed up seven days before the first regular-season game,” Staley said. “And that was one of his best games. People wonder about it, but the competition starts when everything goes live.”

Stanley is the 37-year-old defensive coordinator of the Rams. He was Mack’s position coach in Chicago. When he followed Vic Fangio and Ed Donatell to Denver, Von Miller was in his linebackers’ room.

“I told him he could coach 20 years and not have two guys like that,” Donatell said.

Instead, Staley now works with Aaron Donald, who could be roused from a midnight snooze and still sack quarterbacks.

Donald says he wants to see Staley’s defensive alignments “out there on the grass,” not just on teleconferences. But with no live OTAs or mini-camps and maybe a truncated summer session, Staley will be operating under a running clock and a tight lens. They say trust is built slowly. Not here.

“The first thing he does with those guys is establish his knowledge,” said Donatell, who became Denver’s defensive coordinator when Fangio became the head man. “Then he connects with people. The great players are looking for somebody with credibility and it doesn’t matter who it is. That won’t be a problem for Brandon.

“He’s prepared. When he interviewed with us in Chicago, he showed he’d been following Vic not just for a couple of years but for 10. He can frame problems quickly, while everything is going on, and address them. I know (Rams’ coach) Sean McVay is unique, but Brandon will be a good match.”

“Aaron would play well with my wife Amy coaching him,” said Staley, who added that, as a schoolteacher, she often coaches him. When she heard him use the sloppy expression “aiiight” in too many remote conversations, she called him out.

Like McVay, Staley was a high school quarterback, in Perry, Ohio. He also quarterbacked at Dayton, not far from McVay’s Miami of Ohio.

Unlike McVay, Staley took the scenic route to the NFL. He was an assistant at Northern Illinois at 24, went to St. Thomas (MN) at 27, was at Hutchinson at 28, was a Tennessee graduate assistant at 30.

Then Staley ducked out of prime time and spent three of the next four years at John Carroll, with a pit stop at James Madison. He was ready to join his John Carroll coach, Tom Arth, at Tennessee-Chattanooga when the Bears called.

“Other than Jon Gruden, who played quarterback here, Brandon was the best at putting stuff on the greaseboard,” said ex-Dayton coach Mike Kelly, “although it was a chalkboard back then.”

Joe Novak, the Northern Illinois coach, made Staley a defensive backfield coach for the same reason, because Staley could see all the pieces moving.

“When a young kid wants to get into coaching,” Novak said. “I always ask them, ‘Can you live without it?’ Because if he can, he probably should. I don’t think Brandon can live without it, and he shouldn’t.”

“I’ve been able to coach all 22 positions,” Staley said. “But I just grew up fascinated with all of it. I was drinking coffee and reading the paper every morning in the first grade. What I’m going to show the players is that I’m out there competing as much as they are.”

Hidden in that curriculum vitae is a scrimmage against Hodgkin’s lymphoma when Staley was 24. He coached for NIU through it all. His dad Bruce, who was his high school coach, is also a cancer survivor. His mom Linda was not. She died three years before Brandon got sick.

Staley might be the new kid, but the block has changed. Only four of the 11 defensive Rams who started in the Super Bowl in 2019 are still here. You might ask what Wade Phillips did to lose his job, since the Rams were fourth in sacks and seventh in rush defense (per carry). But the bad games were really bad (Tampa Bay, Dallas, Baltimore, San Francisco) and the third down and red zone stats were below the NFL average.

McVay surely remembered a back-alley night in Chicago, 2018, when the Bears picked Jared Goff four times and dealt him a 19.1 passer rating in a 15-6 win. Staley’s resume was built by association. This job could go any which way, but forget the prep time. He’s been in training camp all his life.