Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
Billy_TParticipantDefense truly needs to get bigger and stronger at the nose and DT opposite Donald.
Turner was playing nose a large percentage of the time. He was replacing Brown III, who’s on IR. from
At 324 pounds, Bobby Brown III was the only defensive lineman over 300 pounds to start the season and in Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, their starting nose tackle went down with a knee injury. Brown is expected to miss 5-7 weeks with an MCL sprain, leaving the Rams without their space-eating defensive lineman.
Brown also has the frame to carry even more than 324, it appears. But, yeah, they miss him. I think teams need to have diversity of size and skill sets, and complement key players that way. To me, any team with an AD needs hogmollies at the nose and the other side to protect him, etc. And there should at least be big ol’ tree stump backups who can come in on short yardage and goal line situations to stuff the run. Small, quick, penetrating DTs lose most of their advantages when things are tight.
That would be my philosophy across the board, too. Running backs, big, small, fast, powerful, inside, outside, etc. Defensive backs to handle the speedsters/quicksters, and the monsters. Cuz, it’s pretty rare that you find players who can do it all. Offensive line, same thing. Everywhere, on both sides of the ball.
In general, I think the Rams lack that kind of diversity, and stick with their “types” instead. Exceptions, of course. I also wish they could bring in a seriously good running QB for goal line and short yardage too. Wanted the Rams to draft Dorian Thompson-Robinson for that option, and more . . . .
Just my two cents, etc.
Billy_TParticipantNittany,
Sorry to hear about your father. That’s gotta be tough to deal with. Heart-breaking, really.
As for the media, not saying anything new: but . . . the American MSM has always been center-right, and it’s controlled by conservative multinationals and conservative billionaires. It’s never, ever been remotely “liberal,” and it avoids leftists like the plague. Whenever I hear or read right-wingers whining ab0ut its supposed (completely non-existent) “bias” toward them, it brings to mind a vision of something that must have happened from time to time in the past:
Scientists, philosophers, and ship captains, shaking their heads at the “authorities” who tell them the earth is flat.
Billy_TParticipantNice to be able to watch a full game, live.
It’s already been mentioned . . . but, are the Rams the only team in the league with a home field disadvantage?
This loss is mostly on Maher, with an incredibly rare assist from Kupp, a player who has come up big for them countless times. As in, they probably don’t get to or win the Super Bowl without him. Kinda shocking, those two drops. They likely score a TD without them.
Liked what I saw from Freeman and Henderson. Have always thought it was a good idea to have at least one back heavier than 220.
Puca is incredible, but he scares me. He won’t quit, he won’t go down, and that’s going to get him into concussion protocol frequently. Regardless, he’s a hidden gem and a half.
Have forgotten the sequencing already, but what happens if Yeast doesn’t try to tip the pass again? Another DB — can’t remember who — was poised to make the interception.
Why no jet sweeps? Tutu seems like the logical guy for that. Sub 4.4 speed, and he’s gaining confidence by the week.
Defense truly needs to get bigger and stronger at the nose and DT opposite Donald.
Frustrating game. Thought they had it in the bag.
Billy_TParticipantZN,
I can see that take, and it has merits. It also has “it’s a done deal!” to give it weight.
But I’m stubborn, so there’s that, too.
:>)
Gabriel was the OG for me as a fan. He’ll always be the best in my mind. The Rams just didn’t have enough team speed or electricity on offense during his tenure. No real match-up nightmares on the o-side for other teams to deal with. If we can play what if games, Roman Gabriel wins two or more Super Bowls if he had weapons like Holt, Bruce, Faulk, and Hakim. With that defense and offensive line, he likely doesn’t need all of them.
Bulger doesn’t get enough credit. He was talented, and seemed pretty humble about that too.
Everett’s another one who lacked weapons. With Dickerson on the field, it may have taken just one more guy, one speedy wideout to tip the team over into juggernaut status.
Oh, well, c’est la vie.
Billy_TParticipantputting the superbowl aside. i wonder how the rams with goff and all those first round picks would be doing right now. i still like stafford a lot. but i like goff too. maybe it was just mcvay and goff not being compatible. or maybe mcvay and snead we’re just a little too impulsive. maybe an older mcvay and snead don’t make that trade. but they were also desperate to win the big one.
To me, the question needs to be looked at prior to the trade, not in hindsight. It’s too easy to say it was a great trade because the Rams won it all the next season. As in, what was the context at the time? Stafford, as good as he’s always been, had never won a playoff game, much less the Super Bowl. Goff had already helped take the Rams to the Super Bowl just two years prior, and the Rams were still a contender with or without him. He’s also nearly seven years younger, with far less tread on his tires (due to injuries, etc).
Personally, I think the Rams would have been better off keeping Goff, and those draft picks, and working their butts off to help Goff play up to his potential. Two firsts and a third could have yielded a premier edge, LT, corner, etc. In my view, they could have had a sustained run at the Big Dance, instead of a one-off. That was my view going into the trade, and it still holds for me.
Obviously, I love that they won it all, and that can never be taken away from McVay, Snead, Stafford, or anyone else on the Rams. Stafford has proven himself over and over again, and few QBs have ever been tougher. There’s no quit in him. But I’m a greedy fan. I want both/and. Wins and more wins. The whole enchilada plus sustained access to fine dining.
Billy_TParticipantAlso, I don’t know if any of the folks who signed this on the 18th recanted yet, but we’ve heard some high profile celebs do so, with their respective open letters.
Another was published in artforum dot com, with the headline:
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE ART COMMUNITY TO CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS
By the undersignedOctober 19, 2023 5:29 pm
They published a response which “condemns” this. Again, not seeing why.
Billy_TParticipantI’ve recently read a couple of open letters from Arts organizations on this conflict, and I can’t for the life of me see how any of them should be condemned, or silenced, or “cancelled,” or why any of the signees would choose to recant. But that’s the current “PC” zeitgeist in the West. Slam, condemn, silence, block from employment, or worse, anyone who dares speak out against violence on all sides.
Here’s the London Review of Books open letter. Since the filter keeps blocking me when I add links, please do that duckduckgo thingy for sourcing:
(basic guideline: www . lrb . co . uk/ blog/ 2023/ october/ an-open-letter-on-the-situation-in-palestine)
LRB Blog
18 OCTOBER 2023
An Open Letter on the Situation in PalestineWe, the undersigned artists and writers based in the EU, the UK and North America, are speaking out to demand an end to the violence and destruction in Palestine.
The deliberate killing of civilians is always an atrocity. It is a violation of international law and an outrage against the sanctity of human life. Neither Israel, the occupying power, nor the armed groups of the people under occupation, the Palestinians, can ever be justified in targeting defenceless people. We can only express our grief and heartbreak for the victims of these most recent tragedies, and for their families, both Palestinians and Israelis.
Nothing can retrieve what has already been lost. But the unprecedented and indiscriminate violence that is still escalating against the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, with the financial and political support of Western powers, can and must be brought to an end. By cutting off vital electricity, food and water supplies; by attempting to displace by force over one million Palestinians from their homes, with no guarantee of return; and by carrying out continual airstrikes against civilians, including those who are attempting to evacuate, the state of Israel is committing grave crimes against humanity. Its allies, our own governments, are complicit in these crimes.
Human rights groups have long condemned Israel’s occupation of Palestine and the inhumane treatment of – and system of racial domination over – Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli state. But we are now witnessing a new and even more drastic emergency. The UN expert Francesca Albanese has warned that Israel’s current actions in Gaza constitute a form of ethnic cleansing. The Israeli historian Raz Segal has described the situation in Gaza as a ‘textbook case of genocide’.
We call on our governments to demand an immediate ceasefire and the unimpeded admission of humanitarian aid into Gaza. We also demand an end to all arms shipments and military funding, supplies that can only exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe at hand. Although these measures will not be enough to secure true justice, liberation and equality, they represent an urgent and indispensable first step. We plead for an end to all violence, an end to all oppression and denial of human rights, and a path towards a just and sustainable peace for all.
Sally Rooney, Naomi Klein, Gillian Slovo, Kamila Shamsie, Kathleen Alcott, Kevin Barry, Sara Baume, Claire-Louise Bennett, Ronan Bennett, Fatima Bhutto, David Butler, June Caldwell, Seamus Cashman, Rachel Connolly, Selma Dabbagh, Margaretta D’Arcy, Edwidge Danticat, Natalie Diaz, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Yara El-Ghadban, Anne Enright, Caleb Femi, Esther Freud, Mia Gallagher, Francisco Goldman, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Isabella Hammad, Honor Heffernan, Rita Ann Higgins, Louise Kennedy, Trevor Knight, Laila Lalami, Ben Lerner, Jonathan Lethem, Patricia Lockwood, Andrea Long Chu, Rosa Lyster, Carmen Maria Machado, Sophie Mackintosh, Niall MacMonagle, Lisa McInerney, Maaza Mengiste, China Miéville, Pankaj Mishra, Sepideh Moafi, Noor Naga, Viet Nguyen, Megan Nolan, Iman Qureshi, Youssef Rakha, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, James Schamus, Olivia Sudjic, Susan Tomaselli, Eley Williams, Gary Younge …
Click here to see the full list of 750 signatures
Billy_TParticipantWV, Have you read Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson? I’m about a third of the way through, and it’s stunning, heart-breaking, at times jaw-dropping, in its historical look at the way caste structures form. She concentrates primarily on the US, Nazi Germany, and India, but not just those places. It’s a truly important book, and I wish it were required reading for our “leaders,” corporate America, police, and in our schools. https://www.isabelwilkerson.com/
I have not read it, BT, but the fact that Oprah liked it, makes me wary of it 🙂 w v
Well, I’ve never looked to Oprah for my reading lists, or anything else. But I don’t think her stamp of approval should deter you. She’s just one of dozens of reviewers who praised Caste, and the author previously won the National Book Critics Circle award for The Warmth of Other Suns.
Your comment did give me pause, though, so I duckduckgoed Oprah’s favorites. It’s not that bad. In fact, she has some true classics on her list: Cormac McCarthy, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Faulkner, Tolstoy, Toni Morrison, to name just a few.
Anyway . . . I’m learning a ton from the book. Didn’t know, for instance, that the Nazis patterned their Nuremberg racial laws so closely on ours, and in a meeting of top Nazis in 1934, a few actually thought America had gone too far, especially with our one drop rule and the severity of our miscegenation laws. When Nazis think a nation has gone too far on matters of “race,” that should be the mother of all red flags. Lots of other heartbreaking facts, and she makes it easy for the reader to connect the dots. Readers don’t necessarily have to agree with her overall premise about caste to learn a hell of a lot of important historical things.
Anyway, I recommend it.
Billy_TParticipantAside from the obvious matters of death and destruction, which makes everything else secondary, I’m most frustrated with the following, in no particular order:
1. The lop-sided, blindly loyal (MSM) coverage of these events
2. The dangerous inability of all too many people to differentiate between wildly different things: Being “pro-Palestinian” versus “pro-Hamas; criticism of governments versus criticism of an entire people; criticisms of the far-right government of Israel versus any support whatsoever for Hamas, or terrorism in general; the conflation of Hamas with the Gazan people.
3. Far too many want us to believe there is no history, no context, that everything apparently started on October 7th, 2023, and anyone (including students) who doesn’t blindly follow the PC view (support Israel unconditionally), is somehow evil and should be punished.
4. The moronic idea that violent retaliation will put an end to violence. That killing stops killing. That war is the answer to everything. That US funding of that war is necessary, rather than advocating for peace, relentlessly, and tying all aid to serious, genuine, relentless efforts at peace.
5. That so many people have lost the ability to walk in any one else’s moccasins.We’re all guilty of blindness now and then, of course. None of us is above that at all times. But one would hope that we’re also open to “I stand corrected” if the evidence warrants it. It seems that’s a lost part of the human experience for all too many these days.
Lastly, I also find it absurd that after the hospital bombing report was contested, some ranted and raved that the supposed “lies spread on social media and by public figures” were unforgivable, and also should be punished. Common sense, logic, and physics all tell us the natural deduction in that case was to blame the far-right Israeli government, given its current bombing campaign. When one country drops more than 6000 on another, who else is the likely culprit? Drop that many bombs on a tiny strip of land, with roughly 2 million inhabitants, and the chances of blowing up hospitals is very, very high. It was the logical deduction to make.
Billy_TParticipantA fraught subject, and incredibly sensitive for many. But certain aspects really shouldn’t be this difficult. Murder in response to murder is still murder. And the continuum in that part of the world is far too blurred at this point to demarcate who did what to whom first. Too many want to start the atrocity clock this month, though. As all of you guys know, it goes back to the early part of the 20th century, perhaps the late 19th, and as usual, the “Great Powers” tried to play god, carve up an entire region, and set all hell in motion.
Recreating a “homeland” after roughly two thousand years was destined to cause endless strife, war, and misery. I understand the desire for a safe space, a true home, after all Jews have suffered through, but it never should have been on land that was already occupied. It became, on a much smaller scale, all too similar to our theft of Native American land, but without the aspect of a “return.”
It’s also reminded me of our own obscene brutality in wars, like our fire-bombing of Dresden, Tokyo, and dropping the Atomic bombs. None of that was necessary, and it all targeted civilians, directly. There were no “accidental” killings in those cases, no “collateral damage.” Slaughtering civilians was the point. That’s beyond appalling, and it should never. happen. again.
This article is well worth reading:
You Can’t Selectively Pay Attention To Certain Atrocities And Ignore All The Others
How is it possible to be outraged by Hamas killings of Israeli children, but ignore or rationalize the killing of Gazan children?
Nathan J. Robinson
October 18, 2023 at 8:06 pm in reply to: Rams on the radar this year who weren’t before the season #146269Billy_TParticipantSorry about that, ZN.
:>)
I’m really happy about Young’s development, and I wish the Rams could clone him for the other side. That would likely solve a ton of issues on the D.
Speaking of that, what are your thoughts on the defensive backs? I was worried going into the season, but it appears they’re playing pretty well, all things considered. Tied for the least number of touchdowns allowed (4), and apparently with bargain contracts all over the place.
https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2023/10/17/23921193/rams-defense-raheem-morris-coaching-interviews
October 18, 2023 at 7:54 pm in reply to: Caleb WIlliams wants partial ownership of team that drafts him #146268Billy_TParticipantI also want partial ownership of the team that drafts him. I suspect that our chances of realizing our dreams are approximately the same.
Well, I want the entire economy to work that way. If memory serves, I may have some company here?
No more bosses. Just co-owners. No more employer/employee dynamic. Everyone’s an employee of the abstract firm known as “humanity iz us,” and we share the fruits of our labor equally. Cooperatively. Democratically.
Democratic egalitarianism and egalitarian democracy. We go from M-C-M and exchange-value, back to C-M-C and use-value.
With one exception: I get to own the Rams all by meself, and I alone make all the decisions regarding the draft, free agency, scheme, coaches, beer brands, music, helmet logo, and the Michelin Star chefs who make our food at the stadium. We’ll win a ton of Super Bowls along the way, but I gotta be me. Is that too much to ask?
Billy_TParticipantWV,
Have you read Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson? I’m about a third of the way through, and it’s stunning, heart-breaking, at times jaw-dropping, in its historical look at the way caste structures form. She concentrates primarily on the US, Nazi Germany, and India, but not just those places. It’s a truly important book, and I wish it were required reading for our “leaders,” corporate America, police, and in our schools.
https://www.isabelwilkerson.com/
October 18, 2023 at 6:06 pm in reply to: Rams on the radar this year who weren’t before the season #146263Billy_TParticipantJust tried to post a response with a link. Looks like it got caught in the filter.
Will try it without that link. Shortened a bit, for good measure:
Good analysis, ZN. But for me, it’s not just Hoecht’s coverage issues. I haven’t watched as many games as you elitist Sunday Ticket guys, but when I have, he looks like he’s not able to set the edge so well. Not the best guy for sweeps or QB breaking out of the pocket. That’s where I think he has problems.
Williams had similar crazy testing numbers, if memory serves.
Here’s Hoecht’s:
The six-foot-four, 295-pound defensive tackle ran a blazing 4.65 forty-yard dash on his first attempt and followed that up with a 4.68 on his second attempt. Those times are virtually unprecedented for a player of his size.
The rest of Hoecht’s testing was strong as well with: a 7.05 three-cone; 4.21 shuttle; 33.5-inch vertical; nine-foot, two-inch broad jump; and 23 reps on the bench press.
The native of Oakville, Ontario told me earlier this month that football is his passion.
“Football is all-consuming and becomes one of those things that is burned into your DNA. It becomes who you are,” says Hoecht. “I’ve played football since third grade and in no world do I see myself really having the passion to go do something else.”
October 18, 2023 at 12:26 pm in reply to: Rams on the radar this year who weren’t before the season #146253Billy_TParticipantWilliams and Hoecht were good UDFA signings. But they’re misusing Hoecht. He’s not an edge. He’s a tall, but undersized DT.
Lacking strength/weight is correctable. Lacking bend and twitchy athleticism pretty much never is.
Billy_TParticipantOh, and the part about the Old West is fascinating. How far away it actually was from the depictions in our movies. They actually had very strict “gun control,” and it apparently worked. The incidents of gun murders were extremely rare, even in the famous cities of yore, like Tombstone, etc.
Billy_TParticipantOne more reason for a national gun policy. No assault weapons of any kind, shape, form, semi, quasi, kinda, sorta, regardless of jargon or in-group terminology. Limit guns to six bullets, max. No external chambers allowed of any kind. Must need to be hand-loaded. No auto-load devices.
No concealed carry. No open carry. No guns, period, without licenses, confirmed training, insurance, and smart tech. None. Nada.
And all of that is fully Constitutional, given the wording of the Second Amendment, which refers solely to use within the context of militias — which no longer exist. The forgotten piece to all of that is the term “bear arms,” which refers solely to soldiers in a military situation or training. It did not refer to civilians, ever. Civilians don’t “bear arms,” unless they go to the beach and take off their shirt. Soldiers do.
Paul Auster’s Bloodbath Nation breaks all of that down, plus a ton more, in a very short, powerful book.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/bloodbath-nation-paul-auster/18539643?ean=9780802160775
Billy_TParticipantI only got to see the highlights, not the actual game. One thing I noticed, that I haven’t seen before with Williams: he looks very quick, if not actually fast. His 40 times were pretty awful for someone his size, but it seems clear he plays faster than he times. A lot faster. And, as mentioned before, he’s put on some seriously good weight since his rookie year.
They’re gonna miss him next week. Apparently, Zack Evans is the next guy up, cuz Rivers is hurt, too?
Hoping my pre-draft assessment holds: I saw him as a potential late round steal.
Good comparisons via Michel and Emmitt Smith. Bringing in Brady, too. He may well have been the worst testing QB of his era, and teams must have thought of him as a poor athlete, cuz he lasted until the 6th round. But he built himself up, physically and mentally, and the rest is history.
The rarest player is the guy who comes into the league as an athletic freak, but still works his heart out to get better, and better. As in, Aaron Donald.
IMO, Dickerson was gifted beyond measure, but didn’t like working out, at least not for most of his career. He was 6’3″, 225, coming into the league, and explosively, unnaturally fast, but he likely could have added 10 to 20 more pounds without losing any of that speed. That would have put him into the Jim Brown category, or better. He’s still my favorite Rams’ back, evah. Hated it when they traded him.
Billy_TParticipantPretty much the entire league missed on Nacua. I couldn’t find anyone or any draft service, pre-draft, who had him rated as worthy of an early pick. All kinds of receivers were slotted ahead of him. Boiled down, he was thought to be too slow and too banged up.
But the Rams apparently dug a bit deeper on this one and utilized Next Gen stats, saw that his GPS speed crushed his 40 time, and took a risk that he’d get healthy.
He’s got Rookie of the Year written all over him, and if he stays healthy, he’s a likely pro-bowler, season after season. He basically has it all: size, good speed (20.7 mps at the Senior Bowl; 21.05 as a Ram), great attitude, heart, good hands, etc. From the outside looking in, he’s a coach’s dream.
Kupp is 30 now. The Rams need to find another guy to pair with Puka for the long haul. But in the near-term, Kupp and Nacua make for a seriously dynamic duo.
Billy_TParticipantOn Goff. I agree it was a bad marriage, and I am not the least bit surprised to see him faring well in Detroit. I still think it was the right move because the Rams were ready to win immediately, and Stafford was ready to win immediately, and Goff wasn’t.
I’m not so sure Goff wasn’t ready. He helped take the Rams to a Super Bowl just two years before that trade, right? What happened to him in the meantime?
Of course, that’s likely what you and ZN mean by “bad marriage.” Takes two to tango, etc. But I lean toward most of the blame going to McVay on that one, but am still glad he’s the Rams’ coach. Both/and.
Stubbornly, I think Goff was fixable, and thought so at the time of the trade. His success in Detroit just confirms that for me.
Oh, well. C’est la vie!
Billy_TParticipantGood post, ZN.
Billy_TParticipantWell the Rams would be better if they hit on all their 2s and 3s in 2019 and 2020 and had at least 2 or 3 of those 8 who were still with the team. 2019 2 Taylor Rapp 61 2019 3 Darrell Henderson 70 2019 3 David Long 79 2019 3 Bobby Evans 97 2020 2 Cam Akers 52 2020 2 Van Jefferson 57 2020 3 Terrell Lewis 84 2020 3 Terrell Burgess 104 Yet in their defense, if you look at those draft years, they were not great ones in those rounds.
Agreed. Too many misses in both those draft classes. I didn’t like the Rapp pick when it happened. Thought he lacked athleticism. I did see him as a try-hard player with heart, and he played that way for the Rams. I also think the Rams chose the wrong guy, Akers over Henderson. From my (limited) vantage point, always thought Henderson was the better back, but he did have injury issues. Long was a disappointment. Solid athleticism, but just didn’t seem to fit. Evans was a reach. Lewis was a gamble, but had elite size and athleticism, with major injury history. He’s another player I think the Rams cut long before his time, and they didn’t have to cut him. His cap hit was low, still on a rookie contract, etc. Almost the same with Burgess, but with less athleticism. Didn’t understand that cut, either.
Good point about relative options across the board.
In general, though, I think teams need to hit on at least the first three rounds. If a team isn’t in the top tier, those first three rounds should yield starters — as rookies or soon thereafter. If they’re middle to bad teams, the first four rounds. Even the best tier teams should be able to find depth upgrades or key specialists.
The Rams have played well enough this season to confuse the heck out of me. I really don’t know where to place them. I don’t see them as top tier, or the next up, but they’ve played much better than I had anticipated going into the year. If this continues, I think they’re in the middle. A good draft would then mean hitting on the first four.**
**Caveat being later round hits can compensate for early misses, but not entirely. In my view, the best teams do both now and then, and they usually hit on early picks. Of course, no team ever consistently does that. I haven’t done the legwork, but I’d guess it’s never happened in the NFL, year over year, for any team. So, basically, I’m talking aspirationally, etc.
Billy_TParticipant. Two Seconds and two Thirds. Gone. It’s really difficult to team-build when that keeps happening.
Interestingly, the only player still on the Eagles roster from their 2020 draft is Hurts.
ZN, I responded to this earlier, but it was lost in the filter. Probably due to a link.
Will see if this gets through without it.
I don’t follow the Iggles, but when I checked, it looked like three players from the 2020 draft are on the active roster, and one is on injured reserve. So four made it through, total.
To me, though, the point is that the Rams, at least recently, seem to give up on their draft picks early on, even before their first contract expires. And, typically, they either cut them outright or get very little in trade.
In short, I think they need to do a bit better on team-building, drafting, maximizing trade value, etc. I like their coaching, and think it’s an area of strength overall. But I also think McVay can get impatient, and make impetuous decisions about this or that player. Jourdan has mentioned that they reflect at times on this and admit some errors . . . which is a good sign.
Hoping for the best, as always.
Billy_TParticipantIMO: 1. Poor return for a 2nd round pick, but trading him made sense. 2. Dealing him tells us the (2020) pick itself was botched. 3. The Rams have had too many of those in recent years. 4. Doing this too often catches up with teams. 5. Oh, and get off my lawn! ;>)
Disagree in one way. Rams rock with lower picks. Their hit rate after round 2 is stellar in comparison to league averages with lower picks. Yet, oddly, they tend not to do as well with 2nd rounders. Well until 2023.
True, they usually do well on the late picks, and on UDFAs. But their early choices haven’t been so hot.
Of course, “fault” is always tricky in these situations, as everyone here knows. Players, coaches, staff, scheme, injuries, timing, even just flat out luck, etc. How much of this is about choosing the “wrong” guys, or just failing to develop them, and so on?
Regardless, a look at recent draft classes isn’t encouraging:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ram/draft.htm
For instance, 2020: The first four picks are already gone. Two Seconds and two Thirds. Gone. It’s really difficult to team-build when that keeps happening.
Billy_TParticipantIMO:
1. Poor return for a 2nd round pick, but trading him made sense.
2. Dealing him tells us the (2020) pick itself was botched.
3. The Rams have had too many of those in recent years.
4. Doing this too often catches up with teams.
5. Oh, and get off my lawn!;>)
Billy_TParticipantI dunno. Didnt look to me like the Carolina defenders were ‘caught off guard’. They look like they see exactly who has the ball – Lions just blocked the hell out of it. w v
Yeah
I dunno. Didnt look to me like the Carolina defenders were ‘caught off guard’. They look like they see exactly who has the ball – Lions just blocked the hell out of it. w v
Agreed, WV. Looks like 95 saw who had the ball almost instantly, as did the rest of the Panther D. It was the blocking, and the pretty good cuts by the running back, not the trick play.
I’m happy for Goff, doing well with the Lions. I think the Rams bailed on him too soon.
Billy_TParticipantZN,
Good point about ends or edges not generally lighting it up with sacks as rookies.
I haven’t looked at other players, but had to check on Deacon. In just 14 games, 6 starts, he had 9.5 his first year (or more). They weren’t doing “official” tallies at the time, so they may have missed some.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneDe00.htm
Billy_TParticipantAm I the only one who thought the PI call against Kendrick in the EZ at the end of the first half was bogus? I haven’t rewatched it. I only saw what was shown during the original broadcast, but it looked like to me the the receiver initiated the contact and then fell down.
I agree. Thought so at the time. It looked more like offensive pass interference, or a no-call.
As in, I thought it was bogus too.
Billy_TParticipant2nd half swoon 4 games in a row simplest explanation is conditioning
Possible, but a huge part of it was time of possession. They were gassed yesterday in large part because they couldn’t stop long drives. The D was on the field way too much.
Of course, it may be a chicken and egg thingy, cuz that might have been because of lack of conditioning.
I haven’t checked time of possession for the other games. Was that a common denominator?
Billy_TParticipantPositives: It was great to see Kupp come back, and once he’s truly healthy, the Rams will have a crazy good wideout room. They don’t even need Jefferson any longer to manage that, and I hope they can trade him.
Witherspoon is a keeper.
I also think Turner will be good, but he needs a hogmolly nose tackle to help him out — as does Donald.
Young, I hope, gains some good weight too. He’s among the fastest linebacker/edges in football, and appears to be a very good pick for the Rams. But, again, as others mentioned already, he needs to wrap up on tackles. In the NFL, just “hitting” the ball carrier often won’t cut it.
Fun to watch my team again, not just the highlights.
-
AuthorPosts
