my hope is that goff is so freaking good that fisher has no choice but to start him from the first week. wishful thinking i know.

by the way, mack, i don’t know about all these different offenses and whether a wco can work or not without a mobile qb. but i did have a preference for the mobile qb. just having that extra dimension that defenses had to account for was appealing. wentz’s experience working under center was appealing to me.

but the choice has been made, and i see a lot of merit to picking goff. now i can’t go into detail like you can about why it will or will not work. i just have a hunch. ya like that? i just got a hunch that it could work. that’s all i got. but what you say is very interesting even though i’ll never understand the nuances of it. it’s something that will be in the back of my mind as we watch how the next three years or so unfold.

or who knows? maybe fisher gets fired. and the rams hire sean payton as the new head coach! ha!

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by InvaderRam.

yeah foles wasn’t able to adjust at all. keenum did with relatively better success. hope goff does better.

nittany ram wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

i’d like to say i have no reservations, but i’ll admit i’m not 100% confident. i don’t know. i wonder how the air raid system compares to the one marcus mariota was in at oregon.

This is why I preferred Wentz. I think this is something to be concerned about. Not saying Goff won’t work out but it’s no gimmee’.

i felt the exact same way. i guess we just trust that the snish know what they’re doing.

if they don’t then they’re gone anyway.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by InvaderRam.

zn wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

i agree. i liked wentz more because of his ability to create more outside the pocket.

goff can do some of that but is not nearly as good as wentz.

It’s just the classic distinction.

I’ve done the numbers on this before, but, as a rule a pocket passer who makes quick throws has a lower sack percentage than a mobile qb who runs out of the pocket.

There’s a sports science vid here somewhere that shows Goff’s release (time from cocking/throwing to ball gone) is quicker than Brady’s.

That’s one of the things they like about him, if you listen to Snead and Fisher on Goff.

I like Wentz too but they put their money on the quick release qb with the superior pocket presence, and that’s just not a bad bet.

yeah. i believe that which is one reason i think wentz is going to have to temper his style.

i think he will have a tendency to get nicked up if he doesn’t.

i think though that mack also brings up an interesting point in how fisher will do with a pocket passer in the nfc west. does a fisher offense need that extra dimension to be successful? i don’t know.

i do know that when fisher had bradford, jackson, and amendola healthy the rams offense looked good. and that was against nfc west defenses. problem is he’s rarely had that luxury.

my guess is with a healthy goff, gurley, and if cooper can fill the slot receiver role. they can replicate what bradford, jackson, and amendola did.

but that remains to be seen and arizona meanwhile has gotten even better on defense.

zn wrote:

Zooey wrote:

PA Ram wrote:
I wonder if the Pharoh Cooper pick is Tavon’s future replacement. They seem to have similar games and Tavon is going to get costly. I wonder if they looked ahead at that with this pick.

That was the first thing that went through my mind when I read Pharoh described as a Swiss Army Knife. I like Tavon, but there is a salary cap. And, well….

Well they just picked up Tavon’s 5th year bonus so he’s with them through 2017.

It is possible though, I think, that Cooper learns enough of the Tavon role to fill in for those times when TA misses a couple of games.

But at the same time Cooper is something TA is not nearly as good at–being the traditional slot receiver in the Amendola or Hakim role (not that he is identical to those 2 players in terms of skills). Or in the Baldwin role in Seattle. TA never really worked out to be that.

i didn’t think of that but yeah. if he could be like an amendola or a welker type slot receiver that would be great. be that kind of safety blanket that goff will need.

bradford, jackson, and amendola would look so effective at times together. tavon was supposed to offer that but never panned out. mabye fisher is thinking cooper can fill that amendola role…

yeah i can dig that.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 12 months ago by InvaderRam.

Zooey wrote:

Boy, it would be ballsy to start him week one, in San Francisco, on MNF. Welcome to the Big Time, kid.

I dunno. But it seems to me that if the plan is to play him as soon as possible (i.e. this year), they may as well start from Week 1. Otherwise he isn’t working a full load; he would be working the scout team with backups, and his opportunity to learn diminishes.

Seems to me that they oughta go Week 1 this year, or Week 1 next year. I don’t think Week 9, or whatever, makes sense.

I guess if I had to wager, I would bet he starts Week 1 this year. The future is now.

this. start him as soon as possible.

unless of course the oline is in shambles or he’s so confused you’re worried about crushing his fragile little ego. but my guess is he can handle it. he handled a 1-11 season at cal as an 18 yr old.

the best way to learn is just playing so unless keenum is lights out i figure they’ll just throw him into the fire.

i would also add that in the case of harvin, austin, and to a lesser extent cobb, all three were surrounded by much better players. harvin had tim tebow and aaron hernandez. austin had smith and bailey. cobb had a qb who threw for 3000 yards and 23 tds cobb’s junior season. cooper? his qb threw for less than 1900 yards and 12 tds cooper’s junior season. now when you look at cooper’s sophomore year when he had a better supporting cast. unsurprisingly his numbers were better.

cooper sophomore year.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/south-carolina/2014.html

cooper junior year.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/south-carolina/2015.html

i’m bored and couldn’t think of anything to do. so my attention turned to pharoh cooper.

a lot of people are comparing this guy to guys like tavon austin. but also guys like cobb and harvin. so i decided to look up the stats on each of these guys in college just for fun. it should be noted that cooper, harvin, and cobb all played in the sec although at different times while austin played in the big east. it should also be noted that cooper only played 2 seasons as a wr. his freshman season is listed as a defensive back. the other three played their entire college careers on offense although not necessarily at wr.

i also want to say that cooper is by far the biggest of the 4. he’s got 15 pounds on both harvin and cobb. i’d like to see him used more in the running game than he was in college. and it seemed that whenever he did run, it was in the wildcat formation. wondering what he would look like if he was used more like austin on sweeps and as a running back. i mean he’s 208 pounds. he’s a big guy.

pharoh cooper
5’11” 208 lbs
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/pharoh-cooper-1.html
138 rec 2163 recyds 15.7 ave 18 tds 71 rus 513 rusyds 7.2 ave 4 tds 209 touches 2676 totalyds 12.8 ave 22 tds

randall cobb
5’10” 192 lbs
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/randall-cobb-1.html
144 rec 1661 recyds 11.5 ave 13 tds 228 rus 1313 rusyds 5.8 ave 22 tds 372 touches 2974 totalyds 8.0 ave 35 tds

percy harvin
5’11” 194 lbs
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/percy-harvin-1.html
133 rec 1929 recyds 14.5 ave 13 tds 194 rus 1852 rusyds 9.5 ave 19 tds 327 touches 3781 totalyds 11.6 ave 32 tds

tavon austin
5’8″ 176 lbs
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/tavon-austin-1.html
288 rec 3413 recyds 11.9 ave 29 tds 110 rus 1033 rusyds 9.4 ave 6 tds 398 touches 4446 total yds 11.2 ave 35 tds

he compares pretty favorably to these guys. his total touches and total yards and total tds lag far behind the other three, but when you take into account that he spent his first year essentially on defense and rarely saw the ball on offense, i think it’s understandable. if you take just his sophomore and junior seasons and extrapolate it over three seasons you get 279 touches 3630 total yards and 30 tds.

also his average yards per touch is higher than any of the other three at 12.8.

i’d like to see cooper used more in the running game than he was in college. they use austin the running game and he is 176 pounds. cooper is actually the size of a lot of running backs at 208 pounds, and i just wonder how effective he could be used in that role.

goff pick is important for sure, but i think picks like higbee and thomas and randolph as a udfa could make a big difference in closing the gap. really need to hit on these draft picks.

ogletree and quinn getting healthy could too.

zn wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

i just fell in love. and his name is brian randolph.

Reminds me of the way McCleod played under Wms. Which I am sure is no accident.

i hadn’t thought of that, but i can see it. time for williams to work his db magic.

i just fell in love. and his name is brian randolph.

i’m really going to be rooting for this kid.

wow. team leader. smart. i read somewhere that he got a degree in management and spent his fifth year as a graduate student. all-academic. but he’s also got a goofy side. a little bit of a clown but in a good way.

learned three different schemes in his time at tennessee.

the one negative is the acl tear he had his sophomore year but has played three full seasons since then. he sounds exactly like what this secondary needs.

http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/vols/football/brian-randolph-will-leave-void-at-safety-locker-room-for-vols-2814959f-612b-1b17-e053-0100007f0588-363867001.html

Brian Randolph will leave void at safety, locker room for Vols

By Dustin Dopirak of the Knoxville News Sentinel

TAMPA, Fla. — Brian Randolph was surrounded by media members during a group interview late in the season when Kendal Vickers signaled to Randolph from behind them.

“I have a question,” the Tennessee defensive tackle said to the senior safety. “Who’s the strongest person in the weight room?”

If the 6-foot, 200-pound Randolph wanted to be honest and accurate, he could’ve said it was Vickers, a 6-3, 286-pound converted defensive end who reportedly can squat 710 pounds.

But accuracy isn’t funny. Randolph, who doubles as a steady captain and a sly court jester for Tennessee, will never choose accuracy when deadpanned fake bravado is an option.

“I’m the strongest person in the weight room,” Randolph said. “You oughta see my bench. I get 30 (reps) on 225 (pounds.) Stronger than Vick, a D-lineman. I take great pride in that. … They call me Hercules.”

Nothing he said was true, of course. Not even close. But Randolph never let on. He never laughed, smiled or so much as changed his facial expression even as the press around him cracked up.

That’s Randolph’s schtick. He uses sharp, dry wit to come up with preposterous, self aggrandizing statements he can stay with a straight face. Usually, that involves him declaring his team superlatives.

“I’m the fastest, the strongest, the best looking,” said Randolph, who will play his final collegiate game Friday (TV: ESPN2, noon) after four years as a starter when the Vols (8-4) meet No. 12 Northwestern (10-2) in the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium.

He was especially entertaining Sunday when the Outback Bowl held its bowling outing for the two teams.

Randolph told the media after practice earlier that day that he was the best bowler on the team and had a technique “no one can grasp.” He also told the media that in golf, he’s “The next Tiger Woods.”

The technique, it turned out, involved him lifting the ball over his head, running toward the pins, and falling over right in front of the line while pushing the ball forward in a motion similar to a basketball bounce pass.

He actually managed to bowl a respectable 118 that way.

“I knew Brian had done that for a while,” senior left tackle Kyler Kerbyson said. “We were in a bowling class together freshman year. … He did it in class and I’m pretty sure he got an A.”

The Vols will remember Randolph’s antics and wise cracks when he moves on, but they will also remember those as a means to an end. He kept the atmosphere light, and used that to connect with younger players so they could learn from his Football IQ and grit.

“Randolph is a crazy dude,” junior linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin said. “I remember when I came here my freshman year, he told me, ‘the longer you stay here, the crazier you’re going to get.’ I can tell it happened to him. He got crazier every year. … But on the field he’s more calm. He gets everyone settled down. He’s real smart. I guess he just decides to let loose sometimes.”

‘voice of reason’

Randolph’s most outward displays of his personality are manifestations of soft rebellion.

His parents, Mark and Lisa Randolph, required their sons to walk a tight line, put academics first, stay out of trouble and generally not do anything to attract unwanted attention. Brian’s older brother, Justin, a former walk-on at Georgia Tech, walked that line dutifully.

Brian, though, occasionally tests the boundaries. His dreadlocked hair with its multi-colored braids, which he said are just the contributions of girls who like to play with his hair, would not have been allowed in the Randolph household. The only reason it doesn’t cause more of a stir when he goes home, his high school football coach said, is because his mother is more opposed to tattoos and piercings.

“His brother is the more serious type,” said Derek Cook, who coached the brothers at Kell High School in Marietta, Ga. “He was always the guy with the calm voice, the voice of reason. Brian you had to pull back a little bit. He was the younger brother, a little more mischievous and fun.”

But Brian didn’t violate his parents’ core guidelines and realized that there were some lines not to be crossed.

“He was never in trouble in high school,” Cook said. “He was never the class clown. He knew when to pull the trigger and when to act like a fool and when not to.”

Two places he didn’t were classroom, where he was a 4.0 student, and the football field, where he was a three-time All-State pick and the 2010 Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year.

Randolph was revered as a high schooler in part because of raw talent. At that level, he could do anything, rushing for 1,068 yards and 16 touchdowns, catching 17 passes for 414 yards and recording 162 tackles and four interceptions as a senior. He was a bone-crushing hitter as a safety and nearly unstoppable with the ball in his hands.

But he also had a high Football IQ, understanding how to line up his teammates, and he set the team’s standard for work ethic.

“He never finished second in a sprint,” Cook said. “Never. He never let anybody beat him at anything.”

And he wouldn’t let anything keep him off the field.

Randolph tore the labrum in his shoulder in his junior year, Cook said, because of the wear and tear he got from all of the blows he delivered as a safety. However, he opted to delay surgery until after the season and played through it. Every time Randolph raised his arm his shoulder popped out of place, and he had to have it put back before he could re-enter the game.

But Randolph not only played through that, he practiced through it.

“That’s not something you see a lot in this generation,” Cook said. “A lot of guys if they’re hurt will spend all day hiding in the training room. Brian was the exact opposite. He wouldn’t even talk to the trainer because he might find out he couldn’t play. We actually had to hide Brian’s pads one time to keep him from practicing, because if you didn’t, he’d put them on and sneak back in there.”

Problem Solver

In his five years at Tennessee, Randolph has convinced younger players to follow him for the same reasons.

He has always been productive, going back to his freshman year in 2011 when he was named an SEC All-Freshman pick and a Freshman All-American by multiple publications. He sat out most of his sophomore season after tearing his ACL, but has started 35 of the Vols’ 37 games since.

Randolph heads into Friday’s game with 307 tackles including 6.5 for loss, seven interceptions and 20 pass deflections in his career. He has 67 tackles this season, and his pass break-up at the end of the 38-31 win over Georgia clinched Tennessee’s most important victory of the season.

After the Vols missed bowl games in each of his first three seasons in the program and surrendered 35.7 points per game in 2012, the year he lost to injury, Randolph has helped make Tennessee’s defense steady if not dominant. They finished the regular season ranked sixth in the hyper-competitive SEC in scoring defense, allowing 21.2 points per game, and eighth in total defense, allowing 370.4 yards per game.

“He means so much to our defense,” defensive coordinator John Jancek said. “He makes so many checks. He solves so many problems for us. … He just does a fantastic job back there.”

Said Tennessee coach Butch Jones: “He’s been one of those seniors that’s really played his best football, which has been very stable for us. He’s provided stability for us, not just in our back end, but in our football program.”

Because, as he did at Kell, Randolph has set a standard for the young defensive backs. Like the rest of the defensive backfield, he fell victim to breakdowns in coverage and tackling early in the season, but the Vols have generally been able to rely on him to know where he is supposed to be on every play and to also counsel his teammates.

“He’s very, very smart and not many people realize that,” Kerbyson said. “… He’s a very smart individual, and that helps him in the back end and it helps him coach the younger guys too and let them know what they need to do. On Fridays, the DB’s have tests, they’re all coming up to Brian asking him questions. He can help them in that aspect and he can keep it light in the room being his funny self and doing his little antics.”

Randolph’s humor and antics carved him his own niche in Tennessee’s leadership next to the more boisterous Curt Maggitt, the older brotherly Kerbyson and quarterback Joshua Dobbs, the offense’s by-the-book CEO.

With his departure, they lose a player who could make them all better, even while constantly reminding them that he is the best at everything.

how in the heck was this brian randolph kid not drafted???

hey, mack. no by all means say what’s on your mind! and welcome back!