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Thursday, September 10, 2015
Rams banking on revamped run game to get in the zone
By Nick WagonerEARTH CITY, Mo. — After Frank Cignetti took over as the St. Louis Rams new offensive coordinator early this offseason, he promised that there’d be some changes coming.
With former tight ends coach Rob Boras promoted to assistant head coach/offense with a focus on the run game, the Rams offered a clear glimpse at who they are hoping to become offensively. The emphasis and devotion to creating a run game that can move the chains, control the clock and offer quarterback Nick Foles opportunities to make plays down the field became more clear in the NFL draft when the Rams selected running back Todd Gurley No. 10 overall and followed with four offensive linemen.
On Sunday, the Rams will lift the curtain on their new-look offense against the daunting Seattle Seahawks defense after a preseason in which they once again took a vanilla approach to play calling.
“We went into the preseason with thoughts about what we wanted to get done before we even played a game,” Cignetti said. “We looked at it and said, ‘Hey we get four preseason games, what do we want to do in each game?’ from a standpoint of a run plan, a protection plan and a pass game plan.”
Benny Cunningham
Benny Cunningham, who rushed for 246 yards and three TDs in 2014, could be the man of the moment for the Rams.
While Cignetti has installed some tweaks all over the offense, it’s the changes made to the run game that will perhaps be the biggest factor in whether the Rams can have more success offensively in the first season with Cignetti at the helm.“It’s important for everything we do as an offense,” rookie guard Jamon Brown said. “Establishing the run early allows us once we get to the pass downs to be able to do what we’re trying to do and that’s convert those pass downs, those third downs. If we have positive yards on first and second down, it makes it easier for us on third downs. So establishing the run early is going to be very important for us and I think we’ve got the guys up front that are ready to get down and get dirty a little bit and open some holes for our backs to do our thing.”
To be sure, the Rams aren’t completely overhauling the offense or the run game. In addition to some of the power man-blocking concepts they’ve used in recent years, they intend to add more outside zone plays to the mix.
For the offensive line, outside zone concepts ask them to move laterally and push defenders to the side to open cutback lanes. That means they have to be diligent about moving fast to make things happen, especially as they adjust to lining up in a three-point stance on a consistent basis.
“If you are coming from a team that runs the read option and all those things in a two-point stance, it is a major adjustment,” offensive line coach Paul Boudreau said. “That’s a big adjustment for these guys. Even from high school, some of these guys have never put their hand in the dirt.”
For the running back, his task is fairly simple on the surface. His job is to find a hole, make one cut and go. It has been a staple of the Seahawks over the past few years and comes with one important prerequisite: patience.
“I feel like with this scheme, it’s more patience,” running back Benny Cunningham said. “You have got to be real patient and trust everybody. It’s not a lot of difference but the outside zone we are doing now, I feel like it’s just about being patient.”
From the Rams’ perspective, the adjustment shouldn’t be anything they can’t handle though they are also charged with the task of getting off to a fast start despite some moving personnel pieces. With Tre Mason (hamstring) and Gurley (knee) recovering from injuries, the Rams will likely look to Cunningham to jumpstart the offense.
Cunningham said he played in a scheme with a lot of outside zone at Middle Tennessee State and though he had to relearn it this offseason, it has come back fairly easily. According to Cunningham, the mantra for all Rams runners this offseason has been “slow to, fast through” the hole as a way of reminding themselves to be patient.
In two years with the Rams, Cunningham has not started a game and had double-digit carries in a game only once. But if his opportunity arises against a Seattle defense that held the Rams to just 3.13 yards per carry in two meetings last year, Cunningham knows it won’t be easy but that he must take advantage of the chance.
“Anytime you get the opportunity to kind of remind the team how valuable you can be, you try to look forward to those opportunities,” Cunningham said.
As for the offensive linemen, Rob Havenstein said Wisconsin did a little bit of outside zone when he was in college but the Badgers were more inside zone and power. Those will still be part of the Rams’ attack in 2015, but Havenstein said he’s adjusted well to new concepts.
Brown said he did a lot of zone in college at Louisville so it hasn’t been much of a change.
“It helped me make that transition to this level being able to do that in college and how often we did it helped me,” Brown said. “So really, I’m just trying to use the tools I learned in college, maybe tweak them a little bit to make it so I can do it at the NFL level and then go.”
If the line and the backs can make it work early, it would go a long way toward helping the Rams’ offense become what they envisioned when the offseason began.
AgamemnonUDFAs Make Initial 53-Man Roster
Posted 3 hours ago
Austin Lankford Digital Media Intern @AustinLankford3
The road to making a 53-man roster is grueling. The climb is that much steeper for rookie undrafted free agents, but after two rounds of cuts the Rams have three.
Offensive tackle Darrell Williams will be the first to say there were people who questioned his decision to come to St. Louis after the organization drafted four linemen this year.
“But the Rams were in contact with me after I came back from the NFLPA Bowl that I played in,” Williams said. “During the entire pre-draft process they were talking to me.
Boudreau called me and told me I’d get a fair shot here. I did and made the most and took advantage of it, and I’m still here.”
The two-year starter out of South Florida said he was with linebacker Bryce Hager and fellow lineman Cody Wichmann when they received their calls from head coach Jeff Fisher.
“I thought Bryce got cut because he was talking so low and he didn’t show much emotion on his face so I kind of got scared for a second,” Williams said. “Then coach Fisher called me and I was so happy. I talked to my agent, my parents, and family members and it’s still catching up to me now.”
Linebacker Cameron Lynch said he actually missed the initial phone call and responded to Fisher after receiving a voice mail from the head coach.
“I felt good and I felt like I put the hard work in,” Lynch said. “The stretch to the NFL, the camps under the hot sun, and all the hard work has finally paid off and it’s a great feeling.”
Lynch feels strongly that special teams is a reason he made the roster, noting he made a point to meet with special teams coordinator John Fassel as much as possible.
“I definitely bugged him,” Lynch said. “You have to and I’m glad I did.”
Bradley Marquez, the wide receiver out of Texas Tech, said his emotions during the call from Fisher are hard to explain after working toward the NFL for so long.
“You have a dream your entire life and that phone call fulfills it and lets you know that you made an NFL roster so it’s pure excitement,” Marquez said. “It was awesome and I’m blessed for the opportunity to be with a great organization.”
All three players expressed gratitude and excitement, but also know that the road doesn’t end with Fisher’s phone call.
“There’s still a 100 percent sense of urgency and you cannot change your approach now that you think you have arrived,” Marquez said. “I did fulfill a dream of mine, but that’s over with now and I have to continue to improve and achieve newer goals that I want to accomplish. You can’t stay the same and go back to old habits. You have to continue to do the things that got you here.”
Lynch said he was able to briefly take a deep breath, but the work is just now starting with the Seahawks coming to town and a full season ahead.
Williams referred to a phrase one of his college coaches used to say: “Don’t lighten up, tighten up.”
“Yeah cuts are over, but I know how this league works,” Williams said. “Any minute you could be the next one on your way out, so I just want to keep playing hard every day and make them have to keep me here.”
AgamemnonYou know, if Mason’s Hamstring lingers, we might see Gurley before we see Mason.
btw, This is a good video. Rams Report: 53-Man Roster Breakdown
Join reporter Dani Klupenger and insider Myles Simmons as they take an inside look at the Rams’ 53-Man Roster http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Rams-Report-53-Man-Roster-Breakdown/6bae10e5-0c17-4d33-85a9-b04d9520cc93 Agamemnon
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