RamView, 8/23/2014: Rams 33, Browns 14 (Long)

RamView, August 23, 2014
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Preseason Game #3: Rams 33, Cleveland 14

It’s official: preseason sucks. The Rams didn’t even win a battle, they won a training exercise, and they took a big step toward losing the war, with Sam Bradford gone for another season with a re-torn ACL. Yeah, I know. Trent Green. Rally. Good football. Screw that. Preseason sucks. This sucks.

Position by position:
* QB: Sam Bradford (4-9-77) looked strong in early action, with long completions to Brian Quick and Kenny Britt. He showed nimbleness in the pocket dodging a sack attempt by Barkevious Mingo. He showed confidence going downfield and especially in Quick, passing up a wide-open checkdown to hit him for 21 and later hitting him in traffic on 3rd-and-12 to keep the opening drive alive. Bradford did not finish the eventual FG drive, though, getting his surgically-repaired left ACL re-torn during a legal hit by somebody called Armonty Bryant. Jeff Fisher then had to play it safe and limit Shaun Hill (2-6-45) to one drive, also ending in a FG. In Hill’s brief time at the wheel, he threw a nice 32-yard pass to Britt, called a smart audible to take advantage of Cleveland’s ill-advised “under” alignment on 3rd-and-2 and pop Benny Cunningham through a big hole for 21, and threw a pass that Quick should have caught for a TD. Extended action for Austin Davis (14-22-198, 2 TD, INT) was next, and where was this guy last season, as opposed to the guy who lost his job to Kellen Clemens? Give Davis some blocking, and he looks quite all right, even with some dumb mistakes like delays of game and a truly wretched interception in the 3rd. He found Chris Givens (!) to convert a 3rd-and-19 and followed with a harpoon to Quick at the goal line for the Rams’ first TD. Next drive, a great quick read of his options and going to Givens again, man-up on a drag route and exploiting Cleveland’s ten in the box to run away for a long TD. Davis atoned for his INT in the 3rd with a long TD drive that ended with a FG in the 4th. He stepped up from a blitz and hit Trey Watts (!) for 25. He scrambled for 19 on 3rd-and-9, pointing out a man for Tre Mason to block and key the big gain. Again, funny what a little blocking will do. Davis looked in command, like a QB who can run a team. Garrett Gilbert (1-2-23) only threw a couple of times in the 4th, the completion setting up a Watts TD run. Looks like he learned how to scramble this past week, twice for 14 yards, on one putting a sweet open-field fake on Zac Diles to keep the drive alive on 3rd down. It also looks like the Rams are going to need all the QBs they can lay their hands on now, let alone in a future that seems destined to go on without Bradford.

* RB: I’m confused… is Benny Cunningham (5-32) the starting RB now? He started this game. He and Zac Stacy (5-11) had only a little more room than last week, though Cunningham had a couple of nice runs taken back by penalty. Stacy ran well after contact but encountered it much too early in runs. Cunningham popped for 21 on the Rams’ 1st TD drive, going through a monster hole Cleveland’s formation handed him and Jake Long and Corey Harkey made even wider. Cunningham fought to a draw with Barkevious Mingo. A poor blitz pickup in the 1st forced Bradford to throw one away, but in the 2nd, Benny flipped Mingo ass over teakettle, giving Davis time to throw a TD to Quick. Tre Mason (10-29) threw a nice block downfield to spring a long Davis scramble in the 3rd and and went for a nice slalom through the Cleveland D for 18 late in the game. Mason also got stuffed a bunch of times, though once because he didn’t follow Greg Robinson through the hole. Passed up a 5-yard gain that time. The star RB turned out to be Trey Watts (9-36, 3-31 recv). One one FG drive in the 3rd, he had a bobbing, weaving 7-yard run down to the 2. On another, he was left wide open in the middle of the field for a 25-yard 3rd-and-10 reception, then made a great blitz pickup to let Davis hit Alex Bayer for another 1st down. He drew for 11 late in the game, and, deserving a reward for his good work, got it with a 12-yard TD run to finish the game off. Running right, he bounced off a defender and cut back up the middle, where he got strong blocks from Brandon Washington (!) and Emory Blake. The Rams have room for this guy on the practice squad, don’t they?

* WR: The Rams’ big receivers didn’t play perfect, but they sure played big. Kenny Britt (2-68) caught two long balls, beating Leon McFadden on a skinny post for 35 in the 1st and going up over Ron Bartell, ER, Justin Gilbert for 32 at the end of the 1st. Both big plays set up FGs. The Rams have needed that kind of factor for a long time. They’ve also needed Brian Quick (4-47) just to be a factor for a while, and he mostly delivered in Cleveland. Three of his catches came from Bradford on the opening drive. He hauled in a 21-yard catch in traffic and tight coverage, and converted a 3rd-and-long, making a simple comeback route look great by coming back strong to the ball for 13. Quick whiffed on a low end zone pass from Hill that should have been caught for a TD (grr), but made up for it by catching a Davis fastball at the goal line for a TD later. Quick has left the waiver wire far behind this preseason; Chris Givens (2-94) may also have done so with a 75-yard TD this week. He outraced the woeful Gilbert across the field on a short drag route, and with Cleveland putting 10 men in the box on 3rd-and-2, all the Browns could do was chase him once he turned upfield and put on the jets, leaving Donte Whitner in his contrails. The Mountaineers did not fare as well. Tavon Austin (0-0) was at best a decoy. Stedman Bailey (1-9) got a couple of TD opportunities but coverage was too good. None of the other wideouts even look like they’re on the radar; I can’t imagine the Rams keeping more than five. I don’t know what’s happened to Austin Pettis this preseason.

* Tight ends: Atop this week’s fight card: Justice Cunningham (2-32) vs. the ball. The winner and NEW champion of the WORLD: the ball. Justice was well-served but still had two brutal drops, added a false start, and even his catches were struggles. He took a pass over the wrong shoulder on a flat route and fought the ball hard (but won!) on a wide-open 23-yard catch-and-run that set up Watts’ TD. Alex Bayer (3-36) was much more reliable receiving – loved the play in the 4th where he knew to expect a quick throw with a Cleveland blitz coming to convert a 3rd-and-9. Bayer was not so good blocking, getting Watts stuffed a couple of times and losing a nice run for him with a presnap penalty. Who to keep, who to keep. Lance Kendricks and Corey Harkey got their blocking games ramped up for the regular season. Harkey had several good run blocks, including one to clear the path for Cunningham’s 21-yard run. Kendricks made a crucial lunging block on Mingo that let Bradford make the 35-yard pass to Britt. Jared Cook (1-13) lost a big catch to a penalty but maybe could have worked harder. Marshall Faulk commented that one pass targeted for him was incomplete because he didn’t come out of his break strong enough. Another play was supposed to be the stupid bootleg pass to him but he screwed his block at the snap and slipped and fell. The hope is for more complete games from Cook this season. This wasn’t one here.

* Offensive line: Rams Nation can thank the prodigious amount of rust on Jake Long for ending Bradford’s season before it even began. Long was rustier than a shipwreck and his pass protection was a train wreck. Robert Quinn, ER, Barkevious Mingo caught Long flat-footed with an inside move to pressure Bradford into nearly grounding early on. Rodger Saffold saved a certain sack by peeling off a double-team just a couple of plays later to block Mingo after the 12-time Pro Bowler had whipped Long again. Next play, Long cancels a nice run with illegal hands to the face. Two plays after that, he false started on 3rd-and-20. Bradford actually converted that, but could have used another false start two plays later. Football legend Armonty Bryant smoked Long like he was Quinn scrimmaging against Sean Hooey and got Bradford with a legal hit – he even let up after initial contact – that ended Bradford’s season. Long looked strong collapsing the Browns into a big pile on Cunningham’s 21-yard run, but had little business trying to pass-protect a QB of any value Saturday night. Saffold, starting at LG ahead of Greg Robinson, looked good but was only in for the one series. He got rolled up on by Phil Taylor at the start of the next series and suffered a sprained ankle. Joseph Barksdale got pretty good push run-blocking but had troubles pass-blocking Paul Kruger later. With the twos, Tim Barnes continued to put the light in lightweight. He got blown into the backfield on his first snap. Two plays later, Jabaal Sheard threw Barnes to the ground as he and Karlos Dansby got to Davis for Cleveland’s only sack. Not that it mattered, but I think it was Robinson’s job to pick up Dansby, but he stayed on a double-team. Barnes added a hold and a false start. You’re. The. Center!!! Just my general impression of Robinson with the twos was that he played run and pass well. Even getting beaten 3 or 4 times, Hooey held up much better than last week. On the 3rd-and-19 completion to Givens, he knocked one Brown inside, then stepped out and chipped another, easily his best play as a pro. Brandon Washington was a surprise entry as LT2 – I guess Mike Person played RG2? – and also held up well. He might have been beaten a couple of times in pass pro. The weaker part of his game was that he had a lot of run-blocking breakdowns, but he had a key block on Watts’ TD run. Late word is that Saffold won’t miss time due to his injury, which is good news this line needs. Between that and Long’s old and caked-on rust, things were still looking pretty unsettled up front.

* Defensive line: As it’s now clearer than ever that these guys are going to have to carry the whole team in 2014, this was a heartening game by the d-line. Robert Quinn beat Joe Thomas for an easy sack in the 2nd and for an early run stuff. That’s a 7-time Pro Bowler Quinn was just toying with at times. And once Quinn got there, Brian Hoyer was pretty skittish the rest of the way, bailing out early or making wild throwaways. Helped by plays like the textbook edge Chris Long set to stuff a Ben Tate run in the 1st, the Rams held Cleveland to 32 total rushing yards. Michael Brockers also had a run stuff before leaving the game with – guess what – an ankle injury. Supposedly minor. The only lineman who really looked bad was Kendall Langford again, getting dominated at times by one John Greco. Langford also left the game with an ankle injury. May have been pride. No matter, the Aaron Donald Show took over in the 3rd. Donald started the 2nd half by getting around Mitchell Schwartz in roughly a blink and mauling Hoyer from behind before the QB could even get his rollout started. Sack, fumble, turnover. On a 3rd-and-1 the next drive, he beat Thomas into the backfield, got held by Thomas, and blew up a handoff to Tate that Lamarcus Joyner stuffed. Eugene Sims put some serious quickness on Pat McQuistan to stuff a run for a 5-yard loss. Then, right about the time everyone started thinking, gee, Ethan Westbrooks and Michael Sam sure have been quiet, Westbrooks knocked down a 2nd-down pass and Sam sacked Johnny Football on 3rd down. Another textbook sack by Sam, swiping down Martin Wallace’s hands and pushing past him around the corner. The Rams ended the game with a sack party. Westbooks pushed the pocket using an impressive spin move, and Sam and blitzers E.J Gaines and Christian Bryant all got there for the Rams’ 4th sack, officially credited to Sam. More than ever, the Rams need the defense to bring it in 2014. This week it looks like they’re on a good track.

* Linebackers: Run defense was much tighter than it had been this preseason, but one sloppy moment ended up costing the Rams. On a play that would get called back, Terrence West bobbed and weaved for about 20 yards, with Rodney McLeod and Daren Bates whiffing on him badly, Bates so badly that he took Trumaine Johnson out with a helmet shot to the knee. Alec Ogletree made the unit’s best play, getting great depth dropping back in coverage on the back side of a blitz and bringing an interception back inside the Cleveland 20. Once again we saw athleticism at that position we haven’t seen for years in a Rams uniform. Ray Ray Armstrong also had a nice outing, scoring a run stuff, a big downfield hit and knocking down a pass on a blitz. He appears to have settled back down as hoped. Phillip Steward gave up a TD to Andrew Hawkins in a particularly poor coverage design, but seems to be solid for LB6. His main challenger looks like Lawrence Wilson, who defended an end zone pass to the TE very nicely in the 3rd but got faked out of his jock by Johnny Football on his TD run. The Rams look like they can survive opening day without James Laurinaitis if they have to, though Adrian Peterson is a whole other mountain to climb.

* Secondary: Pretty good game in the Rams defensive backfield, though they really weren’t tested much. The worst play was TruJo taking Bates’ friendly fire, shelving him for 4-6 weeks. Rodney McLeod ended the first two Cleveland drives with blitzes, forcing a throwaway and stuffing a draw. Lamarcus Joyner blitzed, closed lightning-fast and blew up a screen in the 2nd, and man, is he good at that. Greco might as well have tried blocking his own shadow. Joyner also stuffed a run off Donald’s pressure in the 3rd to force a 3-and-out. Marcus Roberson recovered a fumble Donald forced but set up Cleveland’s 2nd TD with an end zone DPI. Darren Woodard and E.J. Gaines had pass breakups late in the game. Cleveland’s longest completion was its first one, 17 to Miles Austin, and that only came because the Rams got caught blitzing. Other than that they kept everything in front of them, nobody really came close to getting burned, they blitzed well and supported the run well. If only every game could be this easy in the secondary.

* Special teams: I hoped last week that Greg Zuerlein could get back into a groove before the season starts, and voila, four easy chip shot FGs this week. It did show that the Rams went really backup-heavy on the kickoff teams. Poor returns by Justin Veltung and Austin Franklin, and poor coverage on a couple of long Cleveland returns, especially Emory Blake, Aaron Hill, Avery Cunningham and Jarrid Bryant on the right side. Calm back-line tackling by Marcus Roberson probably saved the Rams a 2-kick return TD embarrassment. I’ve still got Givens for returner opening day, but for yet another year, the Rams are giving us no clarity on that issue. Johnny Hekker hit a 60-yard boomer in the 2nd but outkicked his coverage by a lot. Seemed like a lot of dead legs on special teams this week, other than the kickers.

* Strategery: Starting Jake Long turned out to be the strategic fiasco of this game, to the point I’d be interested to know how it came to be a good idea to the coaching staff. Sure, the week before, they put Bradford behind a rookie left tackle, but getting his first live action in 9 months, Long was in over his head physically much more than Robinson ever was. Looking at him Saturday night, he sure didn’t look ready for a real game to me. Even healthy last year, Long was average at best in pass protection. It was unrealistic, unfair to Long and unsafe to Bradford to roll Jake out there and think he would knock off months of rust and be adequate in pass protection. A healthy Long may be the preferred left tackle, but there wasn’t a need to rush him in before he was really ready. That need, and Long’s ability to fill it, both were overestimated, and Bradford paid the price. I know, I know, you take a risk getting up in the morning. Nobody said you have to sleep in the middle of the highway, though.

Gregg Williams did not look impressive when his blitzes got burned on Cleveland’s first two plays. His use of three-man rush near the goal line was also vexing, as lack of pass rush down there helped give up both Cleveland TDs. On the other hand, he got the Browns off the field twice by blitzing McLeod, and the defense on Ogletree’s INT was pretty brilliant, with T.J. McDonald faking a blitz to induce a quick throw to the area Ogletree dropped back into. I’m not confident Williams won’t blitz the Rams out of a few games this season, but I’ll stay on board with him. The defense is crescendoing for the start of the season.

* Upon further review: I initially thought differently, but unlike Rodney Harrison 15 years ago, Bryant did not deliver an illegal or even particularly vicious hit on Bradford to end his season. The ball was out, and Bryant did a pretty good job to let up on Bradford after making initial contact. In turn, Brad Allen was right not to throw a flag on Bryant. Not that I thought Allen, a new full-time referee, had a great game. I thought there were a ton of missed spots. The Browns got two yards more credit on some plays than they ever should have. Faulk pointed out on TV that Gilbert was hit well after he slid at the end of one of his scrambles. Not flagging Bradford for grounding was a good call, though. Grade: B-minus

* Cheers: How I wish Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt could work every Rams broadcast. Faulk’s the analytical guy telling us how an audible made a play successful or which read the QB threw to; Holt’s the rah-rah guy clapping during plays, yelling at Chris Givens to go on his TD play. They took a fan question if either one of them was interested in going into coaching. Faulk’s humorous answer was you pretty much could never pay him enough to do it. So much for that then. Though he initially guessed a hyperextension, Faulk sensed something was very wrong with Bradford based on how early Davis came in. Faulk, Holt and Andrew Siciliano are a really knowledgeable booth and they complement each other well, even with Faulk making eighth-grade quality jokes about Brad Smelley having been a Brown.

* Waiver bait: The roster’s getting deeper, and injuries make it unpredictable who the Rams will want to keep for the final preseason game, so even the first cutdown, due by Tuesday, is tough to predict this year. Plus I’m not that good at it. With Isaiah Pead cut and Bradford on the way to I.R., the Rams will have to cut 13 players to get the roster to 75. My guesses: DE Kourtnei Brown; P/K Bobby Cowan; T R.J. Dill; WR Austin Franklin; WR Jordan Harris; LB Aaron Hill; LS Jorgen Hus; FB Kadeem Jones; WR T.J. Moe; OL D.J. Morrell; LB Etienne Sabino; LB Pat Schiller; TE Brad Smelley. Hill and Franklin were my toughest choices, but the Rams are overstocked at LB and WR, and UDFAs are very vulnerable at this stage. Bradford’s injury and the Rams needing bodies in the secondary gave Jarrid Bryant the lucky-dog save.

* Who’s next?: The Shaun Hill Era in St. Louis has begun, but Thursday night’s preseason finale is more likely to feature Davis and Gilbert, both now safely on the main roster, one last time. The game should also feature the offensive line combo the Rams plan to use opening day. Get the rust knocked off Long or figure out he’s not ready to start yet and get Robinson and Saffold ready to go. On defense, the Rams have a lot of shaking out to do in the secondary – who’s even starting across from Jenkins opening day? And last question, how ironic is it that Michael Sam has turned out to be far from the Rams’ biggest distraction this training camp? Last chance to impress the coaches, everybody. Make it good.

— Mike
Game stats from nfl.com