on the Rams/Chargers scrimmages, 8/1 & 8/3

Refreshing joint practice reps for @RamsNFL offensive line. One-on-ones between Bosa & Havenstein, Mebane & Allen, Ingram & Whitworth, etc. pic.twitter.com/20yWzHaKw3

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) August 1, 2019

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J.B. Long@JB_Long
Mike Thomas continues to make contested catches. Critical month ahead, battling for WR depth and SPTMs role.

Goff from his own 40 finds Higbee down the left sideline in stride for (what would’ve been) a huge gain, maybe a score. Precise execution and throw.

Refreshing joint practice reps for @RamsNFL offensive line. One-on-ones between Bosa & Havenstein, Mebane & Allen, Ingram & Whitworth, etc. pic.twitter.com/20yWzHaKw3

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) August 1, 2019

Bubbaramfan

Scrimmage With Chargers in Costa Mesa

Just got home form Rams-Chargers scrimmage from Costa Mesa.

Some impressions of Chargers TC. Not as fan or kid friendly as Irvine. Chargers set up has 2 fields with bleacher stand on only one side. No stands in the end zones and no access at all to the far field. Of course that’s where they put the Rams for warm-ups, and a lot of the 11 on 11 Ram offense vs Charger defense was on the far field . The only way to see was with strong binoclulars. I missed a lot because the action was so far away.

Had punts with gunner drills. One guy stood out to me . Nick Scott. Guy flat out gets after it with two defenders trying to slow him up before he can get downfield. Good luck with that, he beat them every time.

Gurley was full practice, was in on some plays but was only targeted a few times. Brown was mostly starting RB. after they ran position group exercises for the 1st hour they got into 7 on 7 and then 11 on11 without tackling. Teams looked pretty even with offenses getting the best of defenses.

We had Chargers offense vs Rams defense in front of stands, Far field 100 miles away was Rams off vs Charger defense, I couldn’t see that far and no fan access to that field.

Rivers and his O are good. He picked apart defending LB’s over the middle to TE’s mostly. Rams have to figure how to defend that or its going to be a long season.

Starting Ram D is not bad, with good rush. 2nd team got tore up. Don’t know what other folks are looking at but Jo-Day is a player and is a better NT than Gaines at this point, Day with the 1st, Gaines with the 2nd. A lot is going to change once the get some games in and coaches can look at tape vs other teams.

Things I think after 5 TC days and a Scrimage vs another team.

Rams offense is better than at this time last year. Goff is bigger and stronger and looks more confident.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with Gurley. I’ve watched him run, catch the ball, make hard cuts. If he’s hurting he’s not showing it. The OL looks solid. Whitworth looks great. Noteboom and Allen stood up well against Chargers 1st team D. I have no ideal who they want as backup C. Neary, Demby, Hrynkwicz?

Rams DL looks very good. Must mention that they went with just 2 DT and 5 LB’s several times today. Brockers, Donald, Fowler, Eubekam, Kiser, Littleton and Mathews. Brockers looks bigger and was getting off the line and penetrating. Mathews got a sack. Fowler got a sack. Jo-Day not losing out to Gaines any time soon.

Most everything else has already been coverd. Oh, Greg the Leg was nailing it from60+.

Back at Irvine tomorrow.

from oldnotdead

Noteboom looked very good with his movement on runs to the right. Both he and Allen have looked just fine so far. IMO Allen will be an upgrade to Sullivan. Allen is quicker with much better overall speed to get into the second level, which is something the center must do in this scheme. The same can be said with Noteboom, he appears more mobile and quicker than Saffold. Whit is just amazing. The dude just doesn’t age. He might want to come back next year too. Whit is totally energized and a complete technician at his craft.

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69RamFan

After four days of Camp and one Joint camp day against the Chargers….

For my bubble players who stands out so far…

First we start off with the last open WR sixth spot, I feel Thomas has a leg up on Hodge….

Thomas has been catching everything that has been thrown to him… second, Bones like him on ST….

Thomas made a nice catch against the Chargers in Carson City…

The negative on Thomas IMO, he got off to a slow start and wasn’t sure handed when he came on board with the RAMs and he is on his last year of his contract, but now Thomas looks like he is catching everything that’s thrown his way, whereas Hodge will have a total of three years left… So will it come down to money, plus time or performance? I hope performance and they pick Thomas…

As for the RB for the 4th and last spot, I haven’t notice much of a difference between Kelly and Davis,,,, Still a tossup, Hollywood Henderson has taken the lime light away from those two….

QBs Goff has been looking Great, he is taken another step for this season…
Bottles is a backup and looks good…

The O-line, Both C/Allen and LG/Noteboom have been looking good, Noteboom has been getting tested by AD, they are throwing the book at him… The other lineman that I see improvement is Demby, he even had a scuffle with AD… Demby has been playing with the second unit and even with the first unit at RG…. And at other times practicing at Center….

Also, Neary has been playing with the second string at Center, but he will have a four game suspension to start the season…

I still have my sights on Demby starting at RG for the start of the season or by the sixth game of the season…

TEs: both Higbee and Everett are locked, and I would include Mundts. The other UDFA TEs are playing for the PS unless someone gets hurt to make the 53…

On the Defense:

SJD will be starting at NT…

Possibly in the rotation at NT will be Gaines.

OLB: OO has been hurt nursing a slight Hammy, so the RAMs are being cautious.

Lawler and Young has been out there with the second/third units

ILB: Hager has been playing with the ones but has been rotating with Kiser…

Howard has been with the twos and threes… But I still haven’t notice anything special from him….

I haven’t noticef ILB/Allen either…

Rapp and Long have been in with the 2s and 3s

The Rams and Chargers held a joint practice today. Todd Gurley, who has been on an every-other-day schedule, participated. pic.twitter.com/Uwt9LHp2V5

— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) August 2, 2019

Chargers host Rams in joint practice

https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/sports/story/2019-08-01/chargers-host-rams-in-joint-practice

The Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Los Angeles Rams for a joint practice at Jack R. Hammett Sports Complex in Costa Mesa on Thursday morning.

Both teams made the playoffs last season, with the Rams falling just short of a championship in a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII.

One year from now, the Chargers and Rams will also move into the same building after the completion of a new stadium in Inglewood. The city of Los Angeles demands stars, and questions about a “Fight for L.A.” have resurfaced.

At the conclusion of practice, Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn fielded a question regarding the growing expectation of fans that his team should be among the championship contenders this year.

“To me, it’s no different than what it was last year,” Lynn said. “We wanted to win the Super Bowl last year. That’s our expectation every single year.

“The pressure, we apply that pressure to ourselves. No one has higher expectations than we have for ourselves and our organization and our players and coaches.”

At present, the Chargers continue to prepare for this season without Melvin Gordon in training camp. The fifth-year running back and two-time Pro Bowl selection is holding out for a new contract.

That has put much of the spotlight in training camp on a pair of running backs in Austin Ekeler (third year) and Justin Jackson (second year). The Chargers went 4-0 without Gordon last season, with the fore-mentioned tandem sharing the bulk of the load.

“He talked to us before camp,” Jackson said of Gordon. “Obviously, he’s got to do what he’s got to do. We’re holding it down until he gets back, but we all love him.

“He’s a part of this room, and he knows that. We all know that.”

Ekeler and Jackson both saw first-team snaps against the Rams defense, and the duo believes that they complement each other well.

“Justin, he’s a creative runner,” Ekeler said. “He’s a unique runner. There’s not many people that I’ve seen, in general, that run like he does. Like I tell him, ‘He’s got some razzle-dazzle, some hocus-pocus.’

“That’s how I describe his running. You really don’t know what he is going to do. I try to emulate some of his running, and it’s just so unique to how he has done it and his style.”

Free safety Eric Weddle joins the Rams after spending his first nine seasons with the Chargers and the last three with the Baltimore Ravens. He joked that his former teammate, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, did not challenge him during the scrimmage.

“I didn’t get much action from him today,” Weddle said. “It’s all right, though. It was fun. I love and have the utmost respect for him and all the players I used to play with.

“It was fun to get out there on the practice field and…compete. It makes each other better, and we got better today. That’s the main point and the main goal out of this.”

Rams head coach Sean McVay said the joint practice was a welcomed wrinkle in the schedule from lining up against teammates. The Rams will host the Chargers in another joint practice at UC Irvine on Saturday.

Lynn also sees the benefit in holding joint practices.

“It [brings] a little more energy,” Lynn said. “We get tired of going against each other, so we get some new blood in here, brings a little more energy. When you get energy, you get more focus, and hopefully, more production.”

2ND SCRIMMAGE, 8/3

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bubbaramfan

Just got home from todays TC scrimmage with Chargers. Huge turnout, almost as many as last weekend. 10,000 plus so it was hard to get around. I found a place in the north stands and got lucky with the Rams offense vs Charger defense.

Much went the same as Thursday’s scrimmage with the 1st teams and 2nd teams getting all the work. Seeing guys like Brandon Allen and John Wolford at QB and Nsima Webster, Kha Darrell Hodge, and John Lloyd at WR, and some of the other UDFA’s will have to wait til pre-season games. None of those got scrimmage snaps.

Todd Gurley was fully involved in all aspects of the scrimmage. He was targeted A LOT. Made some good runs and made several catches. He lined up as wideout several times and pass blocked for Goff. My take is he’s 100%.

Malcolm Brown has turned it up a notch and is the clear #2RB IMHO mainly due to his pass blocking ability. Whenever Henderson is in, he’s not pass blocking.

Goff was threading the needle and completed several long pass plays. one to Woods for a TD, and another to Everret for a long TD. Bortles made some good passes to Higbee and Reynolds who were with the 2nd team O. Bortles looked much better today than Thursday. He moved the ball down the field in the 2 minute drill and got a score with a pass over the middle to Higbee. Goff also made a long TD drive in the 2 minute drill with a dunk to Gurley.

I made and effort to watch the OL play. Whitworth is still the Rams best O lineman. Guy makes it look easy and effortless when clearly it’s not. Great technician. Noteboom looks like a veteran. After today I’m quit worrying about him. Allen held his own today for the most part, he got beat once and Goff got sacked, but he’s tough and gets to the next level.

I feel better about the backup OL. Edwards LT, Demby LG, Neary C, Kolone RG, Evans RT. Demby also took snaps at C and Matt Kasky and Chandler Brewer got snaps at G. 2nd team OL pass blocked well for Bortles.

I didn’t get to the other field to watch the Charger offense vs the Rams defense. I heard a lot of cheering though so I guess Rams D did good. I did see Talib get a pick.

Zurlien was nailing FG’s from 55+ with 20 to spare. Greg at some point should be breaking the standing
FG record. He makes 70 yarders in practice with room to spare.

I got a short chat in with D’Marco Farr, I asked him if his radio station , 710 ESPN, were going to Napa to cover Rams TC and scrimmage. Still up in the air he says. He will be there for the game on Saturday.

All I have for today unless something else comes to mind and I’ll post later. I’ll be looking in. I want to hear how the D did today.

Tomorrow is a walk through in shorts and tees, so I’m not going.

It was a pleasure doing camp reports. I enjoy doing them and enjoy the interaction here at ROD.

2ND SCRIMMAGE, 8/3

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from 8to12

1) Goff was a bit off today compared to the practices I saw last Sat and Mon, though I’m not concerned. What I am happy with was ability to step up and get rid of the ball when he was being rushed by Bosa and Ingram. He made better decisions and was able to manuever better than Bortles.

2) Seems Everett’s position is something of a hybrid; he doesn’t do the same things as Higbee, and yet does not run the same routes as the other receivers. Up until the 2-min drill, he was split out on every play that he was in on. And he was split wide on at least 33% of the plays. When people say Higbee versus Everett, I have to say no such thing…..they each have an exclusive role in the offense.

3) Henderson – I couldn’t see any pattern of how he is used or if there were any new formations in place for him. The pace and the player rotation of practice makes it difficult to note when he is in.

4) Running the Ball – Rams lost that game today. I would say the Chargers D held 75% of the Rams run plays to 2 yards or less. The interior of both the first and second units are going to have to improve this week or else the Rams play-action will not be as affective.

5) Receivers – a few of the lower rung guys got a couple of snaps today like Proehl and Jojo. Hodge got a lot of reps today. Jojo looks suceptable to injury when he gets the ball on offense. It seems he goes down with just a defender blowing on him. He is difficult to bring down in the open field I will admit, but from scrimmage, he is going to be in more traffic. He went to the ground about 3 times today after incidental contact from defenders. If I Had to rank the receivers in order of depth, I would say Woods, Cooks, Kupp, Reynolds, Thomas, Hodge, Webster…..only the top 6 or 7 matter

Rams pleased with joint practice, even though they experienced some revenge

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/1115059/2019/08/03/rams-pleased-with-joint-practice-even-though-they-experienced-some-revenge/

IRVINE, Calif. — In the quiet aftermath of the Rams’ joint practice against the Chargers last Thursday, a session most participants agreed the Rams’ offense carried rather distinctly, a couple of prominent Chargers defensive players confided in me they were already looking forward to Saturday’s rematch.

“We’ll make some adjustments,” one said after paying the Rams’ offense a respectful compliment. “We’ll be ready for them on Saturday.”

Such is the ultra-competitive nature of the NFL, even in a practice session as easily forgotten as a seven-on-seven drill during OTAs. Nary a moment goes by that can’t be won or lost. Every drill, every rep, every period is a chance to own or be owned.

Not long afterward, I conveyed the message to a Rams coach.

“Haha. That’s awesome!” he replied in a text message, knowing full well the extra juice the Chargers would bring to Irvine on Saturday, and knowing whatever adjustments they made would only benefit his team.

There was no scoreboard to declare a true winner in the second session between the L.A. neighbors, but to the naked eye — and in the immediate breakdown by coaches and players — the Chargers’ defense turned the tables a bit on the Rams, at least through the early part of the two-hour practice. That mostly was the result of a more focused effort by the Chargers, the handful of different looks they unleashed on the Rams and a rather lethargic opening by quarterback Jared Goff and his offensive teammates.

“A rocky start” is how Goff described it afterward. “I think the Chargers did a good job bringing some different stuff to us,” Goff said. “Showing us some different looks.”

“We were sluggish,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “Offensively, not even close to good enough.”

The result was an uneven start for the Rams’ first-team offense during 11-on-11s, during which Goff said the Chargers had the Rams “on our heels a little bit” and “off-balance.”

It made for some frustrating, out-of-rhythm moments, although to the Rams’ credit — and much to their satisfaction — they gathered themselves over the course of the workout and responded with some big moments. There was the 55-yard strike Goff delivered to Robert Woods for a touchdown over Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward, and the two touchdowns the Rams secured during a two-minute drill to end the afternoon.

It didn’t make up for the choppy beginning. And the Rams were eager to get back into the classroom to review the film to better pinpoint whatever breakdowns or mental and physical lapses led to the listless start.

But in the bigger picture, the practice soon be forgotten, and the manner in which they responded and adjusted on the fly provided a small victory the Rams weren’t shy about claiming.

“I was happy with the way we finished,” Goff said. “I was happy the way we responded and that last drive, scoring (touchdowns) was good. I felt good about it.”

Said McVay: “I thought they finished the day strong. Which is what’s important.”

If it seems the Rams are reading too much into a joint practice, keep in mind their two sessions with the Chargers and the two coming up against the Oakland Raiders are their de facto preseason games. It’s almost a given Rams will follow last year’s plan by sitting most, if not all, of their offensive and defensive starters during the four preseason games, which means the joint sessions represent the only live action most key players will get against an opponent before the start of the regular season.

And while nothing can replace or replicate an actual football game, the joint-practice format is the next-closest thing. There is a decidedly different vibe between a normal practice and one featuring two different teams.

And the players feel and appreciate it.

“When we’re practicing against our own guys, we’re really cognizant of taking care of each other,” Goff said. “But when we’re practicing against another team it’s a little bit more contact, a little bit more physical and a little bit more real football. And that gives us a chance to see where we’re at and try some different things out.”

Which is why so many teams are seeking out practice partners from among their NFL brethren.

The Chargers, for instance, will host the New Orleans Saints for a pair of practices ahead of the teams’ preseason game in two weeks.

Goff said he preferred the work of a joint practice because the controlled elements allow for more beneficial work. He pointed to the 50 or so reps the Rams’ offensive line got Saturday against Chargers defensive stars Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram.

“Whereas a preseason game it might be five or 10 (snaps),” he said.

There was no official winner on Saturday, but if you had to call it, the nod went to the Chargers.

But you get the sense the Rams were perfectly fine with how it played out, and how they eventually responded to the heavy push they got from their L.A. neighbors.

Inside linebacker battle

A week into training camp, the Rams haven’t yet made an official determination on who will start alongside Cory Littleton at their Mike linebacker position. And while it’s presumed that Micah Kiser, the second-year linebacker from Virginia, has the inside track, he will alternate first-team reps with veteran Bryce Hager every other day for now.

That’s why Hager got the bulk of the work with the Rams’ first-team base defense on Saturday.

At some point over the next few weeks the Rams will determine an official starter — and it appears Kiser has the edge — but for now it remains an open competition. The Rams typically play their base defense 30 percent of the time, and their Mike linebacker will leave for an extra safety or cornerback — depending on the situation and personnel grouping — in whatever sub-defensive package they use.

‘Obo’ still out

The Rams still have hopes for Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, their 2018 fifth-round pick out of Oklahoma who is in the mix for a roster spot as a rotational edge rusher.

The problem is, Okoronkwo can’t seem to stay on the field long enough to show he can be a dependable asset. A broken foot last year in OTAs essentially wiped out his entire rookie season, and an undisclosed injury this year in training camp has limited his availability.

Okoronkwo was not dressed Saturday for the second straight day, and while the Rams are hopeful he’ll be ready to go by next week’s preseason game against the Raiders, it’s never a good thing when young players miss time and opportunities to impress.

Okoronkwo still has time to earn a roster spot, but in the meantime young players like Trevon Young are making the most of their chances. The Rams appear set with a rotational group of Samson Ebukam, Dante Fowler and Clay Matthews at outside linebacker, with the veteran Matthews continually shining in camp while being deployed all over the defense.

That leaves precious few openings behind them, not just for spots on the roster but for playing time. Okoronkwo, Young and Justin Lawler, who can play both outside linebacker and defensive end, are in a fight to claim jobs.

69RamFan

The offense only struggled in the beginning, and settled in… during their joint practice in Irvine, the Chargers came out strong… wanted to prove something…

the same thing happen with our defense, we came out strong with several picks….. or just missed picks…

Also Wade has some packages with five LBers, Brockers and AD in the middle, Fowler and Ebukam on the outside… with Littleton, Matthews and either Hager or Kiser as the Mike

As for Natson, he has been playing with the second unit as a WR…. and nobody else can match his PR skills… He is not going to have a problem losing his position…. I say he is a lock…. The RAMs will most likely keep someone that has PR skills on the PS…. possibly Webster, or Proehl