Reporters on the OL, including PFF OL grades after week 4

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  • #31954
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    PFF OL grades after week 4.

    https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/07/ranking-all-32-nfl-offensive-lines-entering-week-5/

    25. St. Louis Rams

    Pass blocking rank: 25th

    Run blocking rank: 22nd

    Penalties rank: 26th

    Stud: The unit has no positive grades, but rookie tackle Rob Havenstein (-3.6) has played well enough.

    Dud: The same can’t be said of Greg Robinson (-8.1), who is starting to worry people with his performance. It’s certainly not a make or break year for him, but you’d like to feel you’re watching a second overall pick.

    Summary: For the most part, this is a very young line, and so there is hope in that; while they’re all graded below average, none present the kind of liabilities that stick out like a sore thumb. You’d hope they’d improve as the season went on, simply by taking their lumps, especially with two rookie starters.

    ====

    Their top 10 are (1st through 10th):

    Atlanta
    Carolina
    Cleveland
    Dallas
    Oakland
    Cincinnati
    New England
    New Orleans
    Buffalo
    Kansas City

    #31955
    lyser
    Participant

    They stink. Right now. Today. Bet they get better.

    #31970
    Herzog
    Participant

    I’ll bet we’re on the bottom 10 list

    #31971
    Avatar photonittany ram
    Moderator

    I’m not saying the Rams o-line would look good otherwise, but the great defenses the Rams have faced have contributed to that 25th ranking. It’s much harder to open holes against Seattle and Arizona than it is against Cleveland and Chicago, and few teams have had as tough a schedule through the first four games as the Rams.

    • This reply was modified 9 years, 2 months ago by Avatar photonittany ram.
    #31979
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    Credit the Rams’ O-Line for Gelling in Gurley’s Big Game

    Posted by: Anthony Stalter

    http://www.101sports.com/2015/10/06/credit-the-rams-o-line-for-gelling-in-gurleys-big-game/

    At 10:48 left in the fourth quarter with the Rams leading by only two, Todd Gurley burst through a hole and rumbled for 52 yards to the Arizona 16-yard-line.

    Those 52 yards were part of a 146-yard effort from Gurley as he helped the Rams pick up a 24-22 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday. Gurley has since become the talk among Rams fans, and he deserves the spotlight.

    But, Gurley didn’t accomplish the feat by himself.

    The Rams’ offensive line has been a lighting rod for criticism since the start of the preseason. Last week in the team’s loss to Pittsburgh, the O-line did its part to suffocate the offense by failing to open up holes in the running game and taking pressure off quarterback Nick Foles.

    Some argued that the line held up fine in pass protection, but when defenses shut down a running game they can sit back in coverage in third-and-long and force quarterbacks to make difficult throws in clogged passing windows. Unless we’re talking about the truly elite, QBs can only do so much with no running game and no passing game playmakers.

    But something clicked in the desert last Sunday. Suddenly a much maligned offensive line started executing and when you have a back like Gurley, who is capable of breaking tackles and gaining yards after contact, a 5-yard run turns into a 10-yard run.

    Or a 52-yard run.

    Take that play early in the fourth quarter as example. Out of an Off-set I, the Rams ran a stretch play to their left. At the snap, the offensive line stepped to their left in unison, which is a staple of the new zone-blocking scheme put in place by offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti this spring.

    Left guard Jamon Brown and center Tim Barnes executed a perfect double team on Calais Campbell, who winds up being pancaked by Brown. Barnes then slipped off the double team and worked to the second level (another staple of the zone-blocking scheme), where he walled off safety Tony Jefferson (who had lined up in the box for run support).

    Also play-side was left tackle Greg Robinson, who put Josh Mauro on skates and wiped him out of the play. Backside, Rodger Saffold blocked down and tossed Ed Stinson like a rag doll, which, along with the work that Barnes, Brown and Robinson put in, created a massive running lane for Gurley.

    Gurley did the rest, bursting up field while slipping a tackle and out-running Rashad Johnson before Tyrann Mathieu finally pushed him out of bounds 52 yards later.

    Some fans were enraged when the Rams selected Gurley with the 10th overall pick back in April. They asked why, after Zac Stacy showed promise as a rookie, would the Rams draft Gurley when, “they already had running backs on the roster?”

    That’s why. That same run may have only netted 12 yards instead of 52 had it been Stacy. Gurley’s combination of size and speed make him special – a playmaker. A difference maker.

    But the Rams didn’t receive that type of blocking in the first three games. Even in the win over Seattle, the initial double-team that Brown and Barnes executed was non-existent. Running backs were being met in gaps because the Rams’ O-line wasn’t getting to the second level of the defense. And even when linemen did, they were whiffing on blocks.

    That wasn’t Gurley’s only explosive run and that wasn’t the only time the Rams’ offensive linemen executed in the second half. You don’t gain 7.7 yards per carry as a back if you don’t have multiple explosive runs created by your own talents and the ability of your offensive line to create running lanes.

    The Arizona game is how teams draw it up. It’s how the Rams envisioned their running game would look back in April.

    Now, as with anything else as it pertains to the Rams, we need to see consistency out of the O-line moving forward. It’s time for that group to build off it’s performance in the second half so that the Rams can stay in contention all season

    #31981
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    from off the net

    ===

    DR RAM

    Every time I have watched Atlanta play, Matthews has struggled, and part of the reason why they are running the ball so much this year. Robinson has improved dramatically, IMO, and I see no reason why he won’t keep improving. he hasn’t even played a whole season at LT, was slowed by learning the OG position, he had off-season surgery, and the offense he came from had a handful of plays. I did expect a learning curve, first, from him being a rookie, and secondly, by all the other factors I listed.

    I’ll go out on a limb, and say, barring injury, he will be a slam dunk next year. I already see signs of that. I don’t think he will be an average to good OT, like Matthews might be someday, but great.

    Robinson blocked one of the quickest DB’s in the league, on one of our TD’s, and he was the one who noticed, communicated, and picked up the blitz, on a the player that was lined up two gaps out side of him. Now, that’s an island.

    I’d still take GRob over Matthews, and he will only get better. When his technique, experience, and discipline catch up to his size, quickness, speed, and strength, watch out. I don’t think that is asking too much of him, either.

    #31990
    Avatar photoAgamemnon
    Participant

    Robinson blocked one of the quickest DB’s in the league, on one of our TD’s, and he was the one who noticed, communicated, and picked up the blitz, on a the player that was lined up two gaps out side of him. Now, that’s an island.

    http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/All-22-Foles-to-Austin-for-a-Touchdown/eef2a336-6668-451c-818c-9d67a6070d51

    Here is the video. It is on the All 22.

    Agamemnon

    #31995
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    Robinson blocked one of the quickest DB’s in the league, on one of our TD’s, and he was the one who noticed, communicated, and picked up the blitz, on a the player that was lined up two gaps out side of him. Now, that’s an island.

    Here is the video. It is on the All 22.

    http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/All-22-Foles-to-Austin-for-a-Touchdown/eef2a336-6668-451c-818c-9d67a6070d51

    Yeah interesting, thnx

    #32034
    cgsuddeath
    Participant

    Robinson blocked one of the quickest DB’s in the league, on one of our TD’s, and he was the one who noticed, communicated, and picked up the blitz, on a the player that was lined up two gaps out side of him. Now, that’s an island.

    http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/All-22-Foles-to-Austin-for-a-Touchdown/eef2a336-6668-451c-818c-9d67a6070d51

    Here is the video. It is on the All 22

    The 2nd touchdown was a thing of beauty.

    #32045
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    i continue to believe in greg. he’s got it all. it’s just a matter of time. i’d just rather it be sooner than later.

    he and brown should form an awesome left side hopefully like when alexander was running behind jones and hutchinson all those years for seattle.

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