Breakdown: Just horrible. The 210 combined sacks, hits and hurries they allowed were most in the league and they weren’t much better in the run game. The musical chairs that saw Mike Pouncey to guard and Ja’Waun James to left tackle had a detrimental effect and it was brutal to watch them. It’s a young group that needs to play better.
Breakdown: Yuck. Given the investments the team has made this was something of a stunner. Jake Long went down, after a strong start the play of Joseph Barksdale fell off a cliff and Davin Joseph played exactly as you’d expect him to (not well). Then there was Greg Robinson who looked lost as the line tried to find a role for him. Will he be better in 2015 now the team has committed to him at left tackle?
You know this disease is so rampant. What disease? The “just do not account for injuries on the OL” disease.
When you have injuries that extensive no OL plays well…ever. For years and years I asked for examples of OLs that did play well with injuries that extensive and I have never had an example that stood up. That’s with dozens to probably of hundreds of posters reading the challenge across that time. No one can name examples that stand up.
And look at PFF’s amateur tone and approach. It amounts to, yeah they were injured but they shoulda done better.
Um…they can’t.
In the Chiefs game, the Rams lost 3 players and it had an effect on 4 positions (5 really). Long went out, that moved Robinson. Saffold went out. Wells went out. Robinson moving brought in Joseph. At one point they had a line of Robinson Person Jones Joseph Barksdale. I have actually seen an analysis of that game that blamed Robinson Person Jones for not playing well. Well…what the hell. I don’t think any line in the NFL would play well if its left side consisted of a rookie LOT combined with 2 young depth guys who had never started before. The coherence isn’t going to be there, the timing isn’t going to be there, the communication isn’t going to be there, the translate practice reps to gametime speed isn’t going to be there. That’s like saying the people of Hiroshima shoulda done a better job standing up to just one american bomber.
As the season went on, that;s a rookie OT plus a banged up Wells and Saffold plus Joseph who was not supposed to start plus Barksdale, who starts slipping immediately as of the Chiefs game (why? because OLs are UNITS and if most of it is struggling and isn’t the same the one remaining healthy starter is going to slip too.)
Well…how many OLs have ever played well under those conditions? ESPECIALLY with the rookie LOT mixed in.
Here’s my thing.
If your line is battered up, just doing individual grades tells you NOTHING. When the coherence slips no one looks good.
So why in the heck don’t people just SAY that.
Grade, Rams OL, 2014. Once injuries set in and the Rams ended up playing a banged up Saffold and a rookie LOT, naturally, their performance suffered.
I have to say, this is an old issue for me. Starting in 2007, when the Rams OL fell completely the hell apart (far worse than anything since and they’ve been bad in the injury dept. since). And in 2007 when you pointed out OL injuries some people would go “well good qbs elevate their OLs.” Yeah, okay, that’s true when the OL is relatively HEALTHY, but when you go past a certain point with OL injuries, all teams suffer, and no freaking qb is going to elevator it. I don;t think anyone is deep enough to cover up to three OL injuries, especially if they include the LOT. If it’s both the LOT and the OC, they’re dead meat.
I just don’t get why some people don’t get that.
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