Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Wish the Rams had picked up a starting linebacker
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RamBill.
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October 29, 2014 at 10:11 am #10733
GreatRamNTheSkyParticipantLinebackers are what the Rams need on defense. Frankly, the Rams linebackers suck.
Grits
October 29, 2014 at 12:03 pm #10738
PA RamParticipantI agree with that, GRITS.
I guess they just didn’t have a deal to be made there.
Some are saying that Barron may play a sort of hybrid linebacker. No idea.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. " Philip K. Dick
October 29, 2014 at 1:58 pm #10751
RamBillParticipantOgletree was benched briefly against Chiefs
By Nick WagonerEARTH CITY, Mo. — Lost in the mix of the many injuries the St. Louis Rams suffered in the 34-7 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs was the absence of one player late in the game who did not leave because of health concerns.
Speaking on his weekly radio show Monday night, Rams coach Jeff Fisher made mention of his decision to sit linebacker Alec Ogletree after Ogletree picked up his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of the game with about seven minutes to go.
Fisher was answering a question about the defense’s game performance and pointed to the loss of safety Rodney McLeod to a knee injury, the subsequent move of Lamarcus Joyner to safety to replace McLeod and then taking Ogletree off the field as reasons things got away from the defense in the final minutes. (The answer is about 13 minutes into the show).
“It was that last five or six minutes where, you know, I’m not going to say we were tired and deflated, but we had some people off the field, we lost Rodney and then we moved Lamarcus and at a point in time I removed Tree because I’d had enough of the unsportsmanlike conduct stuff,” Fisher told 101 ESPN.
It was the second such flag of the day for Ogletree, who has also had some problems playing assignment football in recent weeks. Fisher made it clear when the Rams released linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong a couple of weeks ago that he would start taking action should his players continue to rack up silly fouls.
Ogletree, who is accustomed to playing pretty much every defensive snap, ended up missing just four snaps after coming out of the game. He played 62 of a possible 66 defensive snaps on the day. Daren Bates got some rare defensive snaps, playing five.
Despite whatever concerns Fisher might have had with Ogletree’s final penalty, he also made it clear he did not agree with the first call that went against him. Ogletree picked up a questionable 15-yard flag for hitting tight end Demetrius Harris late. On the play, it appeared Harris was still not down by contact when Ogletree hit him, but the penalty was called anyway.
“It shouldn’t have been called,” Fisher said. “I didn’t like it.”
Almost halfway through his second season, Ogletree has played 424 snaps and posted 44 tackles and a pair of forced fumbles.
October 30, 2014 at 8:44 pm #10855RamBillParticipantKorey Toomer grateful for opportunity
By Nick Wagonerhttp://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/13182/korey-toomer-grateful-for-opportunity
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Korey Toomer is only in his third season in the NFL, but he’s had an up close and personal look at the business side of the league almost from Day 1.
So a two-week whirlwind in which Toomer was out of work then signed to the St. Louis Rams practice then promoted to the active roster doesn’t really faze him. It’s actually business as usual in the NFL, a lesson he picked up right away.
“I’m ready to help this team,” Toomer said. “I have been around the loop as you guys know so I’m ready to come out and just play and show that I can play this game. That’s the business, and you’ve got to learn to adapt to it.”
Toomer seems to have adapted just fine, despite bouncing around to various teams and practice squads. Since entering the league as a fifth-round pick of Seattle in the 2012 draft, Toomer has spent time on the Seahawks active roster and practice squad before being released on Aug. 30 and then signing with the Dallas Cowboys on Sept. 1. He was with Dallas until Oct. 17 and then arrived in St. Louis to join the practice squad.
Through all of that time, Toomer appeared in just one NFL game earlier this season for Dallas.
For the Rams, the 6-foot-2, 234-pound linebacker is expected to contribute on special teams. With injuries mounting at other positions, another linebacker might seem a bit extraneous, but the Rams could clearly use special teams help after allowing Knile Davis’ 99-yard touchdown return last week.
In addition, Toomer became a hot commodity earlier this week when other teams began looking to add to their active rosters.
“For some reason, Korey became available,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “We got him to the practice squad, and early this week, there was a great deal of interest in Korey. We just had him on the field for a week. We saw some really good things last week as he prepared, got Jake [Long] prepared to play the game. We feel like he’s got a potential and a future here at the linebacker position. We’ve been shorthanded there, so we brought him up.”
Toomer said Wednesday that he had other options as all practice squad players do but elected to stay in St. Louis because of his early impressions of Fisher.
“I had other offers to go elsewhere, but I decided to give these guys a chance just based off of how Fish is,” Toomer said. “I know how he is and these coaches and atmosphere; this organization is a good place for me to be.”
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