Offensive line plays big role in Rams future plans

Offensive line plays big role in Rams future plans

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20160603/bonsignore-offensive-line-plays-big-role-in-rams-future-plans

OXNARD >> You’d get little argument within a National Football League locker room that offensive linemen represent the most practical position group on any given team.

They are protectors, first and foremost. And for all the violence and ferociousness and brute force associated with their job, at the end of the day there is a very rudimentary and fundamental nobleness to the sense of duty they carry to the line of scrimmage each play.

“If we don’t do our job, other people get hurt,” is how Rams offensive guard Rodger Saffold put it.

Given that sort of empirical understanding of time, place and responsibility, don’t expect an offense lineman like Saffold or Greg Robinson to start looking for a piece of wood to knock on or a four leaf clover to pluck or a rabbits foot to carry around just because they find themselves as healthy as they can remember during the first week of organized team activities.

That would be foolish and irrational. And if you’ve ever spent anytime with an offensive lineman, that’s just not how they roll.

That said, if there was a practical way Saffold and Robinson could avoid any black cats or broken mirrors or number 13’s right about now, let’s just say they’d be all in.

“I’m feeling really good,” Saffold beamed Friday after the Rams wrapped up their fourth OTA practice.

Said Robinson: “All Praise to God, but hopefully I can just stay healthy and be able to focus and keep getting better.”

Together Robinson and Saffold make up the very critical left side of the Rams offensive line, and they both enter the 2016 season not just at a mutual crossroads, but also carrying considerable burden.

Robinson is a potential cornerstone left tackle, the second overall pick in the 2014 draft for whom so much was expected and so much has yet to be delivered. His first two years have been marked by inconsistent to downright poor play, a nagging toe injury he carried all of last offseason and deep into 2015, followed by a noticeable spike upward in which he showed polish tenacity and promise over the last four games.

The final snap shot from 2015 offered a glimpse of what Robinson is still capable of becoming: A productive, reliable anchor to the Rams offensive line.

“And I absolutely accept and embrace that responsibility,” he said.

But it’s also a bench mark from which building upon is expected and deviation won’t be tolerated.

The crossroads he faces is obvious: Is he a physical, imposing force that consistently blows open holes for Todd Gurley and keeps Jared Goff upright as a foundational piece of the Rams future?

Or is he forever destined to be a 6-foot-5, 335-pound tease that never lived up to the type of expectations associated with the second pick overall?

The practical offensive linemen in Robinson understands what 2016 represents for him personally and to the Rams decision making moving forward.

“The biggest year of my career,” Robinson said. “It’s the one where I really have to focus and minimize my mistakes. It has to be the best year, and I don’t want to put pressure on myself because it’s really too early to put pressure on myself, but it’s a big year for me.”

The toe injury is in the rear view mirror, and while he refuses to use it as an excuse for his inconsistent play last year he acknowledges his improved health is cause for a more vibrant outlook and work-day approach. It’s a mindset he wasn’t able to tap into for most of last season.

“I was so frustrated with the problem I was having with my body. And it carried over onto the field in terms of going through every day with a great mindset,” he said. “I was just so frustrated because my body wasn’t right. It wasn’t cooperating. And I wasn’t able to do a lot of things.”

It’s been a complete reversal so far this offseason. And Robinson understands the potential significance if that remains the case throughout next season.

“When one part of the puzzle is missing, it hurts the whole team,” he said. “So it’s important for me and the team to stay healthy and stay on top of things so I can be there for my team and give it my all and to the best of my abilities.”

For different reasons, Saffold can appreciate.

The veteran lineman is coming off two shoulder surgeries over the course of the last year – the most recent of which ended his 2015 season after just four games. It’s a frustrating continuation of a star-crossed career in which only two of his six NFL seasons have gone the distance thanks to injury problems. And it’s incumbent on Saffold to show he can play a full season.

When he’s healthy, Saffold provides tenacity, leadership and a veteran presence that creates invaluable offensive line cohesion. To say the line has struggled to replace those attributes in his absence is an understatement.

The shoulders are feeling good now, and he’s intent on keeping in that way. If so, he and Robinson have a chance to physically anchor the left side of the line and he and center Tim Barnes can provide nuance and leadership to the entire unit. The Barnes/Saffold pairing could be as important as any, especially with Goff expected to start as a rookie.

“And that’s the good news because inside you have veterans with me and Tim so we’re able to talk through things and get the whole line intact,” Saffold said. “And that makes (the younger players) comfortable enough to ask us ‘hey, what do you want to do with this look and how do we block that particular look. And plus, we make them accountable.”

If Saffold and Robinson can stabilize the right side, and Barnes, right guard Jamon Brown and right tackle Rob Havenstein the rest of the starting unit, the Rams should be in good shape considering all the reps younger backups got last year as injury replacements.

“When you look at the good teams across the leagues, they all have good offensive lines,” Saffold said.

And for the Rams to elevate beyond the 7-9 seasons they stumbled though, the offensive line must do it’s part.

“It really does start with us upfront,” Robinson said.