For Donald, Never Being Comfortable is Key to Success

Kristen Lago

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/For-Donald-Never-Being-Comfortable-is-Key-to-Success-/143541c3-9380-41f5-9a64-9de0788335b9

Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald is widely regarded as one of the best interior linemen, if not one of the best overall players, in the league.

With just four seasons under his belt, the Pittsburgh product has already achieved more than most have in their careers — accumulating four trips to the Pro Bowl, a Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, and two All-Pro Honors.

This season, Donald led the league with 91 quarterback pressures. He also recorded a team-leading 11.0 sacks and currently has the most sacks ever recorded by a Rams defensive tackle with 39.0.

So what keeps the fourth-year pro performing at such a consistently high level? “Never being comfortable,” he says.

“I’m my worst critic. You know even if I have a good game, I’ll find 5-10 plays that I feel like were bad plays where I could’ve done better,” he said recently. “So, I’m always trying to improve some way, somehow. Hard work pays off and that’s the thing my dad’s been telling me since I was 12 years old working out trying to get to this point.”

Head coach Sean McVay is a lot like Donald in this regard. In his first year as the Rams head coach, McVay has instilled a new culture within the organization — one centered on hard work and accountability. While Donald was absent for much of the offseason program and all of training camp, it’s something he noticed right away when he returned for the regular season.

“When I got here, just coming after practice and seeing all the guys that stay after, all the extra work on the field,” Donald said. “That’s something I didn’t see in years prior. Little things like that go a long way.”

And Donald credits McVay for a lot of the changes that have come through the organization this season.

“You want to follow his lead and be with it 100 percent,” he said. “I tip my hat off to him [and] I have a lot of respect for him. I always tell him how much I appreciate him because he got us on a winning track. We just have to keep going.”

McVay’s leadership drove the team to an NFC West title and a playoff berth — two firsts for Donald. The defensive tackle said clinching the division was one “of the best feelings in the world,” proving to him that all of the team’s hard work was finally paying off.

“During the offseason, this is what you work for, this is what you do the extra reps for [and] this is why you’re studying film and trying to find ways to make yourself better,” he said. “I’m happy just to be a part of it and be here now. Sky’s the limit. We ain’t done yet, so we have a lot more work. But we’re in a good position right now.”

This Saturday, the franchise will make its first playoff appearance in over a decade, welcoming the Falcons in the Wild Card round. For Donald, bringing the playoffs back to L.A. means a lot, adding to the intensity of an already critical game.

“You’re playing at home and it’s going to be a big game for us, an important game. I know the fans are going to be there live and making it loud for them guys,” Donald said. “We just have to go out there and perform.”

“This is for it all,” he added. “I’m just ready to go out there and see how it is for myself. Because I hear a lot about it. I’m pretty sure — definitely sure — it’s going to be live.”

ESPN story about Patriots coming

Mike Florio

ESPN story about Patriots coming

Patriots fans and ESPN have had a contentious relationship in recent years. It could soon be getting more contentious.

PFT has confirmed, as reported by Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch, that ESPN will publish a new story about the Patriots on Friday. The focal point reportedly will be the relationship between quarterback Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick, and owner Robert Kraft and, specifically, the existence of a rift among the three central figures in the 16-year run of unparalleled NFL success.

Allen contends that the ESPN report will explain the struggle flows from the question of which member of the trio deserves the most credit for the franchise’s success, and that the report suggests the rift is so severe that this could be the last year that the three men work together. According to Allen, the ESPN report also claims that Brady went to Kraft to force the trade that sent Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers.

A source with knowledge of the ESPN report tells PFT that the ESPN report will not contend that Brady tried to force a trade. Beyond that, the specifics of the report aren’t currently known.

Whatever the specifics, it’s inconceivable that the Patriots would have traded Garoppolo if they had any doubt about Brady’s desire and/or ability to play for the team in 2018. The trade happened presumably because Garoppolo was unwilling to sign a contract that would have paid him high-end backup money until Brady finally retires.

But even if the team believed there was any chance that Brady would leave, voluntarily or otherwise, after the 2017 season, the smart play would have been to let the next several months play out. If, ultimately, Brady hadn’t retired and the Patriots had decided not to use the franchise tag on Garoppolo in order to kick the can into 2019 (or for an attempted Matt Cassel-style tag-and-trade), the Patriots could have allowed Garoppolo to walk away as a free agent, setting the stage for a third-round compensatory pick in 2019 — which isn’t dramatically lower than the second-round pick they’ll get in 2018 as a result of the Garoppolo deal to San Francisco.

Putting it another way, if the Brady-Belichick-Kraft partnership were careening toward some sort of critical mass, there would have been no reason to dump Garoppolo in late October for a 2018 second-round pick. Instead, the right move would have been to wait it out and to make decisions about Brady and Garoppolo after the season ends.

(On if he will take a longer look at CB Kevin Peterson in this game because of his strong performance against the 49ers)

“Well, I think what it does is it lets you feel very confident in the four corners that you’re going to have up for this game

It is really remarkable what the Rams have done with the secondary.

They lost Jenkins, McCleod, and Gaines. They added then lost Webster.

They added Roby-Coleman and J.Johnson. J.Johnson is considered one of the league’s best rookie starters.

They already had Tru, Hill, Peterson, and Joyner. Cody Davis has been good this year.

Every person I named is at least solid, and many are much better than solid.

Not a single 1st round pick in the bunch. They’re all 2nd & 3rd rounders, FAs, UDFAs, and “ronin” (young veterans someone else cut and you pick them up). The 2 FAs were originally a 3rd round pick (Webster) and a UDFA (Robey-Coleman). Of the 11 guys I named, starting with guys they lost like Jenkins, 5 were UDFAs.

Rams defense is 13th in passing yards, 4th in opponent completion percentage, 10th in yards per attempt, and 5th in opponent passer rating. Remember, that’s after losing Jenkins, McCleod, Gaines, and Webster. Plus they cut Alexander, who played well last year but never fit this scheme.

Name the last time you know of where a secondary lost 3 or more starters in 2 years and was still good. If there are other examples, it’s not common. In fact, in the entire time I have followed them, the Rams have NEVER had this kind of Midas touch when it comes to finding DB after DB who can play.

how we coach the quarterback is whatever the defense is playing that might predicate where you start your read.

What I see in that comment is a surefire sign that the offense depends heavily on sight adjustments, which may also be one reason Tavon isn’t really a receiver for McVay. Running sight adjustments means the receiver has to read defenses pre-snap and after the snap as well as the qb.

…

wv wrote:

I still havent forgotten this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA_4pv9W5LI

I think that link is dead, I can’t find it on youtube.

QUARTERBACKS 2017

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/qb

T.Brady
P.Rivers
D.Brees
C.Keenum
B.Roethlisberger
J.Goff

LMU93 wrote:

The Rams will be playing in their 44th playoff game on Saturday. This will tie Oakland for 9th most in NFL history. If they win the following week they’ll tie the Colts for 8th most (45).

A playoff win Saturday would tie Miami for 11th most (20).

.@RamsNFL @JaredGoff16 flips this TD to @robertwoods —- same play as @49ers ran v Rams. =same playbook #BaldyBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/I6HZLLBW3o

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) January 2, 2018

zn wrote:

“I think when you just look at him coming out of Georgia, very rarely do you see a player of that size returning kicks, taking kicks to the house and having that long speed to finish. You see the consistent production, you see the athleticism where he’s hurdling over people and things like that.

I looked this up after that comment. Probably a lot of people know but he was a hurdler in high school.

from the wiki:

Gurley was also a world-class hurdler and sprinter for the school’s track & field team. He competed for Team USA in the 110-metres hurdles at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics, where he placed 3rd in the prelims with a career-best time of 13.66 seconds, but finished 15th overall in the semifinals. Also a top competitor in the 100-meter dash, he ran a personal-best time of 10.70 seconds in the prelims of the 2011 NCHSAA 2A State Track Meet, placing 2nd.

I like the Rams chances in this game, though they look like closely matched teams.

I think Atlanta;s real strength from last year left for SF–Shanahan.

from NFL Playoffs Confidential: Blitzing Brady, grounding Gurley, negating Newton … players, coaches tell all

targeting ways to deal with each teams’ strengths

http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/264404/nfl-playoffs-confidential-tackling-todd-gurley-blitzing-tom-brady-stopping-aaron-donald-more

—

LOS ANGELES RAMS

On minimizing Aaron Donald’s impact: “Man, you want to be able to have a good running game. He’s just an exceptional talent, one of the best defensive linemen to play this game ever. Definitely the best right now. You want to be able to run the ball effectively, get a couple bodies on him. You don’t want to be in a one-on-one matchup with him throughout the game. But having an effective running game is the best way to do it because if you get behind and you’re in a passing game throughout the day, it’s going to be a long day for you. He’s going to find a way to get to the quarterback, one way or the other. He has a little bit of everything. He’s quick, strong, [has] great instincts and a variety of moves.”

On the best way to slow Sean McVay’s fast-break offense: “I feel like if you know your role and your assignment, then that’s not going to be a problem. I don’t think it was a problem for us. I think it is a problem for teams who have struggled with knowing their roles and their assignments or identifying personnel. If you’re able to identify personnel, know your role and know your assignment, then you’re going to be fine.”

On tackling Todd Gurley: “The key to defending him is maintaining gap discipline. I think if you maintain gap discipline, then you’ll do a good job against him. But I think the moment you take a peak or the moment you feel like you’re going to make that play and try to make the play for yourself and your teammates, you’re going to get out of your gap, and that’s when he takes advantage of it. One step and he’s gone.”

—

ATLANTA FALCONS

What’s different about the Falcons’ offense compared to last season? “They’re really trying to establish the run game with the wide zone. They have two very good running backs, powerful backs that can get downhill quick. I would say they’re more predicated toward the run. Matt Ryan seemed to have a little more free range to get the passing going [last year]. Now with [Tevin] Coleman and [Devonta] Freeman, they’re definitely trying to establish the run game a tad more than we’ve seen in years past.”

How do you take Ryan out of his game? “He’s not the type of guy that likes to get hit. If you can get after him early, that’ll get him rattled. We know they like to run a lot of two-man routes, so there’s going to be more protection. Wherever their singles are, those are the guys that have to win.”

What’s the best way to attack the Falcons’ defense? “You have to get them off-balance. You’ve got to slow down those pass-rushers … with screens, with draws, with an established running game and then hit them with the play-action. If not, you’re working right into what they’re game planning for. It’s the same thing throughout the whole league. Pass-rushers are high paid for a reason: to sack the quarterback. If you don’t stop what they do best, you’re just playing right into their trap.”

These WRs were dynamic after the catch pic.twitter.com/WTwKc0fyVQ

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) January 3, 2018

How Rams’ hiring of Sean McVay turned with power dinner at Spago, co-starring Fergie, Josh Duhamel and Wolfgang Puck

RICH HAMMOND

link: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/01/03/how-rams-hiring-of-sean-mcvay-turned-with-power-dinner-at-spago-co-starring-fergie-josh-duhamel-and-wolfgang-puck/

Sean McVay dined with an NFL legend, got inadvertently feted by a celebrity chef and rubbed elbows with two Hollywood A-listers, then returned to his hotel room and hoped for the phone call of a lifetime.

January 2017. What a month for McVay. He started it as a well-regarded but relatively unknown assistant coach and, within two weeks, he became the youngest head coach in NFL history.

One dinner, last Jan. 10, changed McVay’s life, and as the Rams prepare for their first playoff game in 13 years, Saturday night against Atlanta at the Coliseum, it’s fair to think that night might have changed the course of the franchise. It’s the night McVay aced the test be needed to pass in order to coach the Rams.

“It was such a whirlwind,” McVay recalled this week, almost one full year after his league-rattling hiring.

First came the appetizers, so to speak.

The Rams fired Jeff Fisher on Dec. 12, 2016 and compiled a list of potential replacements, most of whom were young NFL assistants with no head-coaching experience. McVay appeared to be a footnote on that list.

He had developed a good reputation in two years as Washington’s offensive play-caller, both for his football acumen and his personality. McVay also had a pedigree because his grandfather, John McVay, was a longtime executive with the San Francisco 49ers.

Still, he was 30 years old. He would get a couple interviews, league pundits figured, then be a more serious candidate after the 2017 or 2018 season. The Rams had heard good things, though, so after Washington ended its season on Jan. 1, McVay flew to Los Angeles to meet with Rams executives.

An initial dinner in Santa Monica on Jan. 4, with McVay, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Demoff, General Manager Les Snead and Senior Assistant Tony Pastoors went well. A more formal interview the following day made the Rams believe they might be onto something with McVay.

“The best part about it was, it never felt, formally, like an interview,” McVay said. “It felt more like a conversation the whole time, and that’s a credit to them. Even the next day, when it was a little more formalized, it still felt like you were just kind of talking about ball and talking about things that you enjoy.”

The Rams were so impressed that they brought in quarterback Jared Goff to meet with McVay and watch game film. Snead told Demoff: “I’m buying stock in Sean McVay.” Further, as part of his due diligence during the coaching search, Snead collected comments from players who worked with McVay.

“Very good players with strong personalities, on both sides of the ball, were very quick to give him a thumbs-up,” Snead said recently. “Like, ‘Oh yeah, home run.’”

The Rams were intrigued, but not totally sold. They did more interviews, with Carolina’s Steve Wilks, Arizona’s Harold Goodwin, New England’s Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia, Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone and Buffalo’s Anthony Lynn.

Meanwhile, McVay interviewed with San Francisco on Jan. 9. That night, Demoff called McVay and invited him back to Los Angeles the next day. McVay would be the first (and only) candidate to receive a second interview, and Demoff wanted to take him to dinner again.

Except this time, on Jan. 10, McVay would dine with team owner Stan Kroenke, at Spago, the famous Beverly Hills bistro. All around, lumps grew in throats.

The Rams’ football folks felt confident in McVay and decided that his age shouldn’t be a hindrance. They weren’t totally convinced Kroenke would share in their optimism, especially given that McVay could pass for a high school student if he shaved his ever-present light beard.

“But the nice thing with Stan is,” Snead said, “Stan is very innovative. He appreciates the young entrepreneurs, people like that in the business world who are bright and making a mark on the planet. So I don’t think it felt like an uphill battle.”

Still, the Rams had a contingency plan. Demoff, after consultation with Snead, decided to invite former Rams running back Marshall Faulk, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, to the dinner.

Faulk served a purpose. Kroenke already had heard Demoff praise McVay, but the front-office folks wanted Kroenke to believe on his own. So, Faulk was a conversation conduit. Demoff and Snead hoped Kroenke would hear McVay and Faulk talk football on a high level, and be impressed.

“They could have hated each other,” Snead said, “but we had an intuition. Marshall is very smart and Sean is very smart. We thought, ‘They’re going to hit it off.’”

It turned out to be a high-risk decision. In an interview with the Rams’ website last January, Faulk said he talked to Snead before the dinner and expressed his concerns. First, McVay would have to sell Faulk.

“I said, ‘Les, I just think it’s hard, when you have a young quarterback, to put a young play-caller or a young head coach in with him. I think that’s a dynamic that could be a disaster,’” Faulk said.

But the dinner went as well. McVay and Faulk connected, as had been hoped, and the night even had something of a comedic, Hollywood feel. Wolfgang Puck, Spago’s owner and executive chef — and a longtime Rams fan — visited the table multiple times during the night and urged Kroenke to hire a new coach, unaware that he was about to get his wish.

“I wanted to say, ‘Hey, man, right here,’” McVay later joked.

Between bites, famous singer Fergie and her husband, equally famous actor Josh Duhamel, visited the Rams’ table and greeted Kroenke.

“You could tell they were fans,” McVay said, “and definitely didn’t know who I was.”

The night ended well, but not as well as McVay had hoped in his most optimistic dreams.

“We had a great dinner,” McVay said. “In my mind, I was thinking, OK, if everything goes great, at the end of the dinner, (Kroenke) is going to shake my hand and say, ‘Hey, do you want to be the head coach?’”

It didn’t happen. The Rams hadn’t booked a flight for McVay out of Los Angeles, so he sat and waited in his hotel room.

“I’d finally let myself get to the point where I was thinking, ‘All right, I think I might get this job,’” McVay said. “Then you don’t hear anything that night. You let your mind wander to a bunch of places. It becomes, ‘Man, you know, if you don’t get it, you’ve got a good job with Washington and it’s not the end of the world.’”

McVay joked that the Rams “kind of kept me there for a couple days and tortured me,” but really, the final machinations were taking place, inside and outside Rams headquarters.

That included another Faulk-Snead phone call, post-dinner, and this time Faulk said he told Snead, “‘I’m a big enough man to tell you when I’m wrong. I think that this could work.’” Faulk also endorsed McVay in a conversation with Kroenke and, if necessary, that probably pushed McVay over the top.

The Rams brought McVay back the day after the dinner, to meet with star defensive player Aaron Donald, head trainer Reggie Scott and Senior Director of Communications Artis Twyman. A few months later, Donald said he’d never been around a coach who could explain both offense and defense like McVay.

Finally, the Rams had no further reason to hesitate. McVay had all the traits they were looking for, and they liked the idea of hiring a young coach who could grow with a young team and “make their names” together.

The Rams even passed on a chance to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who had started the month above McVay on many pundits’ list of head-coaching candidates. Shanahan had an interview scheduled with the Rams on Jan. 6, but it got cancelled because poor weather prevented Rams executives from making their flight to Atlanta. The Rams tentatively rescheduled with Shanahan for Jan. 14, but in the interim, they decided there was no need to look past McVay.

“At the end of the day,” Snead said, “you had a guy really good at what he does, has unbelievable enthusiasm and is a great teacher and a clear communicator. Authentically, you knew that everything he wanted to do would be to make the Rams better. No other motive. That’s a special trait.”

On Thursday, Jan. 12, less than 48 hours after the Kroenke dinner, McVay accepted a five-year contract and, 12 days short of his 31st birthday, became the youngest coach in NFL history.

Now, one year since the initial meeting, McVay has the Rams to an 11-5 record, an NFC West title and their first playoff appearance in 13 years.

McVay said he hasn’t returned to Spago but might during the offseason. Maybe he will sample a Kroenke-owned wine label that is offered at the restaurant.

It would be fitting if Kroenke joined again. A year ago, Rams executives felt they had to sell Kroenke on McVay. This time, they could celebrate a decision that now seems quite wise.

“I’m sure he started off the dinner with, ‘Why?’” Demoff said shortly after the hiring. “By the end, it was, ‘Why not?’”

Experience be damned: Rams believe they’re seasoned enough

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/37206/experience-be-damned-rams-believe-theyre-seasoned-enough

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Among the 12 teams that have moved on, the Los Angeles Rams are by far the most inexperienced in the playoff environment that awaits them. Some consider that a notable disadvantage, but not Jared Goff.

“More than anything, it’s a big game,” Goff said. “I think that’s what it boils down to, and I think we do have experience in that stuff.”

Goff mentioned road games against the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans, and home games against the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints, all of which took place within the final seven weeks of the Rams’ 11-5 regular season.

“We’ve had a bunch of big games against top teams this year,” Goff said. “I think that experience will translate mostly to this game.”

The Rams host the Atlanta Falcons, the reigning NFC champs, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, with kickoff set for 5:15 p.m. PT on NBC. The Falcons (10-6) have 36 players on their active roster that have combined to play in 143 playoff games, according to research from the Elias Sports Bureau. The Rams have six players combining for 21 games — 296 fewer than the New England Patriots.

The Rams’ quarterback, Goff, is 23 years old.

Their head coach, Sean McVay, is 31.

“There’s a lot of value in experience,” McVay said. “You try to learn from the experiences that you do have and not try to repeat the same mistakes twice.”

But McVay doesn’t necessarily believe his team lacks that experience. He actually thinks his group is battle-tested. He brought up how the Rams traveled more miles than anybody in the NFL. How they followed every loss with a win, sometimes emphatically. And how they faced a daunting schedule through the second half, yet still finished with the sport’s third-highest point differential.

“For a younger team,” McVay said, “we’ve demonstrated a maturity.”

The Rams sprinkled some experience to their roster over the offseason but still entered as the NFL’s second-youngest team. Three of their starters — left tackle Andrew Whitworth, outside linebacker Connor Barwin and center John Sullivan — have been to the playoffs. The other three with playoff experience — running back Lance Dunbar, tackle Cornelius Lucas and tight end Derek Carrier — are reserves who probably won’t factor into Saturday’s outcome.

Whitworth, 36, has been to the playoffs six times with the Cincinnati Bengals, but lost each game.

“I’m 0-fer,” Whitworth said, “so I don’t have much experience for winning. I don’t know if that really gives me value.”

But Whitworth doesn’t believe the Rams need it. He agreed with Goff’s theory that the important regular-season games were enough, drawing on his own experiences.

“Truth is, the big games throughout the season are what prepared us for the opportunity to go to the playoffs,” Whitworth said. “Some of those years we were beat up, some of those years we lost games in the last second. It’s not that we didn’t play well or perform well; we just got beat. I think it’s hard to win in the playoffs. Everybody’s good. But those big games throughout the year, those big tests, prepare you.”

The Rams won in Dallas and in Jacksonville early in the season. They traveled all the way to London and smoked the Arizona Cardinals by a 33-0 score. They faced a red-hot Vikings team at U.S. Bank Stadium, probably the NFL’s loudest venue, and were tied 7-7 entering the fourth quarter. They played a home game with more than half their building cheering for the first-place Eagles and led with four minutes remaining. They traveled to Seattle and handed the Seahawks their worst home loss in 20 years, then traveled to Tennessee to face a desperate Titans team and clinched the division.

Playoff experience?

“We would like to have more,” Rams outside linebacker Robert Quinn said, “but we have a lot of football experience.”

“Honestly, I think that that’s really not an excuse for us,” Whitworth added. “I think we just need to go out and execute and play well.”