On playing vanilla

PA Ram wrote:

I can understand the offense struggling a little bit. I can’t get the defense looking hopeless and lost. They said they didn’t have gap discipline, things like that. Clearly their tackling was sloppy. Do they work on that in camp? The defense has been together–should know their assignments, and should certainly do more than lunge at runners hoping they’ll drop.

I don’t even know for sure how much the Titans and Raiders actually gameplanned specifically for the Rams. I do know that they are not good teams and they looked great against this team.

I do believe the travelling affected some things. I get that.

But this team needs to look a LOT different this week.

We’ll see.

A lot of responses, PA. This is of course the optmistic view.

#1. Tackling is sloppy all over the league, and yes they work on it. On this one, it’s the new CBA. But I did not see playings “lunge at runners hoping they’d drop.” What I saw was players going for take-out hits instead of executing fundamental tackles efficiently.

#2. Gap discipline issues against the Titans, said Fisher, came from them not knowing what it was they were playing against (the disadvantage of not gameplanning). He said they adjusted during the game and that improved things. It’s not a matter of knowing their assignments, it’s a matter of the Titans deliberately doing things that threw them off balance, while they themselves didn’t have the equivalent on their side. They will look hopeless and lost if they are going up against a plan meant to attack specifically them, while they themselves don’t have an equivalent plan.

#3. The 1st did not play with any level of investment. But in my mind it’s hard to do that if you’re on the road for game one, stay on the road for 2 days of competitive scrimmages, come home, and go back on the road for the 3rd live encounter with another team in 9 days. In fact as I said, Dallas crashed and burned last weekend too (though they also have a couple of injuries). Here’s stuff on that: Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett was livid about his team’s dismal performance in the 23-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night. “It wasn’t very good on offense, it wasn’t very good on defense it wasn’t very good kicking game,” Garrett said. “It wasn’t good early, middle or late. It wasn’t a very good performance at all.” Garrett refused to blame the offensive problems on the absence of three starters on the offensive line and receiver Dez Bryant. … “No excuses. We’re going to evaluate the game,” Garrett said. “When you’re out there you have a responsibility to play to a certain level. Period. The standard we set is high and we’re looking for guys to play to that standard.”

#4. There is no question both the Titans and Raiders gameplanned for the Rams defense, at least. You can tell by the way the plays are designed. Those were both “attack the Rams D” set-ups.

And I think the Rams D has to step up, too. In fact Rams players have been saying that themselves. But then think about that. Has Donald done anything in 2 games? Do you believe he will be that way all year?

So anyway that’s my “just a different view” different view.

They of course have to play better.

.,

wv wrote:

This may sound wishy-washy but its how i see it — i agree
with both zn and rfl, in general.

I mean, I think i see what zack is saying and it makes
sense, but i also have a stream of thoughts/feelings in wv-brain
that watch the play of the offense and defense so far, and
that stream is going…”Its Year FOUR, WTF?!..”

w
v

The trick will be how they look across the next 4 weeks.

Venturi predicted they will come out strong, at least tomorrow.

I see signs of that already. When you get guys like Quinn talking in public about how the team has to step up, to me, that means he’s echoing the coaches.

And this is of course about the defense. We know an offense with a new coordinator, a new qb, and a new OL is going to struggle.

BTW I think it is completely telling that even Hekker and GZ looked bad against Tenn, and then you read that Dallas had the exact same issues last weekend, also in all 3 phases—offense, defense, special teams.

I don;t think they played well against the Titans but I just took that as a one-time thing.

..

wv wrote:

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.”
― Aldous Huxley

Huxley is quoting Wm. Blake’s much more optimistic original:

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”

― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Cal wrote:

zn wrote:

Same as last year the Rams did not gameplan the first 2 pre-season games. And without question, the Titans and Raiders absolutely DID gameplan. At least they did on offense.

I don’t see how you be so absolute about the idea that Tenn. gameplanned. After the Oakland game, the whole gameplanning thing was in the back of my mind as I watched the Tenn. game.

I didn’t see any evidence of gameplanning. I saw that the Rams were too small upfront without Brockers. They’re just too small to stop a running game consistently. John Lynch specifically talked about how the Titans were winning the battle at the los.

Remember that they also lost Kendall Langford. Without Langford & Brockers the DL looked too small to me. This team wasn’t good against the run last year, and they’re gonna be worse if Brockers misses time.

I also noticed a couple pass plays that highlighted a big loss for the Rams D–EJ Gaines’ injury.

The first one was a blitz that didn’t get to Mariotta fast and he was able to find Kendall Wright running free with Tru in coverage. (The Titans success here wasn’t evidence of gameplanning to me. It was poor defense and football 101. All Mariotta had to do was see the blitz and hit the open guy.)

The second play was when Donald flushed Mariotta out of the pocket and he was able to throw a nice pass to the tight end. I believe I noticed that Tru was in the vicinity, but it looked like he had lost track of the Titans’ receivers and was unable to defend the pass. It wasn’t a poor play on Tru’s part, but maybe a good cb is able to do something there.

The Rams WILL miss Gaines this year.

I’ve always believed that there are things you can tell about a team during the preseason. And for me, I am seeing some troubling things for this defense.

The Rams were not a top 5 defense last year, and from what I’ve seen so far they won’t be as good this year as they were last year.

Well we just saw different things. I saw a defense that was flat and missing assignments, and I saw them going up against an offense that built in a plan of attack based on informed knowledge of the Rams tendencies, scheme, and personnel on defense. They designed an attack for that defense without, at the same time, having to face a defense that in turn designed an attack for them. I say they gameplanned because of the plays they ran, and how they sequenced their plays. It’s just what I saw.

The only difference between this year and last year is Langford v. Donald, and I honestly don’t believe that one difference accounts for them suddenly as a group being smaller overall.

I don’t think the problem was size per se, I think that Westbrooks suddenly found out he is the next nose tackle up, and he has never played it before in a pro game. That was just his game to become the #2 NT.

We have seen good things from Johnson too. The problem in the secondary is the old one though from last year…players out of position giving up big pass plays. And of course they need to really fix that.

Cal wrote:

Last year at this time it would have been Langford & Brockers instead of Donald & Westbrook, who are both in the 285 pound area. That’s a HUGE difference in size.

For that game.

And Brockers isn’t gone.

I am just not as concerned about it as you, though I get the point. To me, anyway, the question you raise is whether Fairley for Langford is a useful swap.

I attribute most of the run issues last year to gap discipline. And you know btw who had the same issues? The GSOT Rams defense, before 99. When they got gashed on the run it was gap discipline. Or so they kept saying.

We see this thing differently so far, Cal, though as always, good discussion.

Jump into the chat room tonight if you can.