Rams coach Sean McVay is learning a little bit more about Sammy Watkins every day. “You can feel his speed and his juice down the field.” Watkins caught several intermediate throws from Jared Goff today and was constantly matched up with Trumaine Johnson.

Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer: http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0689639133773043987-4

Josh Reynolds another intriguing addition to Rams’ revamped receiving corps

VINCENT BONSIGNORE

link: http://www.ocregister.com/2017/08/16/bonsignore-rookie-josh-reynolds-another-intriguing-addition-to-rams-revamped-receiving-corps/

IRVINE — The Rams added a shiny new toy to their offense this week. A big, explosive wide receiver able to stretch a defense, go up in traffic and get the football, or be a Red Zone threat able to turn third-down throws to the corner of the end zone into touchdowns.

And he put a little bit of all of that on display Tuesday when he came up with a handful of big catches that drew “oohs” and “aahs” from fans who made their way to UC Irvine for Rams camp.

Oh wait, you thought we were talking about Sammy Watkins, didn’t you?

Watkins figures to do plenty of that in the weeks ahead as he transitions to the Rams from the Buffalo Bills, who sent him to Los Angeles for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a future second-round pick.

But Tuesday actually belonged to wide receiver Josh Reynolds, the lanky 6-foot-4 playermaker the Rams drafted out of Texas A&M in the fourth round, then waited patiently for the last two weeks for him to finally do his thing.

The delayed reaction was the cause of a nagging quad issue that kept Reynolds on the sideline as the Rams conducted the formative part of training camp. Having to wait out the injury killed him as much as it did his new bosses, who were eager to see their potential new difference-maker work his way into a wide receiver group that has undergone a near-complete makeover from last year.

“Definitely frustration,” Reynolds said of the injury. “But at the end of the day you have to be a professional about it and make sure you’re body is 100 percent before coming back. “Otherwise it can cause major issues.”

That opportunity finally arrived Tuesday, and Reynolds wasted no time making a big impression. And It didn’t take long for people to notice

“He had a great day,” said Rams quarterback Jared Goff. “He made a lot of big plays. Showed some stuff we haven’t seen yet, and it was really good to see. Some stuff downfield – he was obviously fresh – but, good player. Smart. He’s done a good job.”

Reynolds was pleased with his return.

“I felt great,” he said. “Fresh legs, I was moving fast and definitely getting good looks,” he said. “When you’re out, you never feel like you’re getting any better so being able to come back out here and get my techniques is always a great thing.”

And with that, the box into which Goff will reach for tools got even bigger and better. The big get, obviously, is Watkins, who joins rookies Cooper Kupp and Gerald Everett, free agent pickup Robert Woods and second-year holdovers Tyler Higbee, Pharoh Cooper, Mike Thomas and Nelson Spruce in a nearly completely redone wide receiver group.

That doesn’t even account for veteran Tavon Austin, for whom new coach Sean McVay is determined to figure out an optimal role.

Now add Reynolds, who brings the element of size and a broad catch ratio, and the entire Rams receiver dynamic has changed dramatically from last season.

“It’s nice when you have a good complementary group and everybody has something unique about their game,” McVay said. “But you have to also be mindful these guys can all do a little bit of everything as well. You don’t want to be predictable, but you want to put guys in position where they’re doing things that they do best but also be mindful of what the defense is doing and what you’re presenting them. The more versatility you can have at the wide receiver position the more beneficial it’s going to be for our group as a whole.”

It remains to be seen how Reynolds figures into things given how crowded the wide receiver room now is, and with Watkins, Woods, Austin and Kupp slated for the bulk of the playing time.

But he was getting work with the first-team offense in situational 11-on-11 plays Wednesday, so it’s obvious Reynolds is working his way onto McVay’s radar.

“Josh is one of those guys that – he’s got a great stride length, consistently made big plays throughout the course of his career in college and he’s kind of one of those guys that’s deceivingly fast,” McVay said. “I think getting him back out there healthy – he’s continuing to grow. It’s funny, right before he got that injury I was just telling him how much improvement he’s made from the offseason program, so it will be good to get Josh back out there and watch him compete against the Raiders on Saturday.”

Those are attributes typically associated more with premium draft picks rather than a guy taken in the fourth round. But in spite of starting three years for the Aggies and never registering fewer than 51 catches and 840 yards — and going beast mode against Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl with 12 catches for 154 yards and two touchdowns last year — Reynolds took a bit of a tumble on draft day.

“You always have higher expectations for yourself, so did I go in the round I wanted to?” Reynolds said. “No.”

That 115 players were taken before him is a slight point of contention, but Reynolds is already over the disappointment.

He’s happy to be in Los Angeles, and even happier to be part of a young wide receiver group some believe will be a catalyst that pulls the Rams offense into the 21st century.

“We have a whole bunch of talent at receiver,” he said. “Lust a bunch of guys who can do a bunch of different things. A Tavon, who is a speed guy. Robert Woods who can do everything. Sammy is a playmaker and Kupp is a great route-runner. It’s all kinds of guys who can bring all sorts of different elements to the position.”

Rams taking steps to keep Sammy Watkins up and running

Alex Marvez

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/news/sammy-watkins-la-rams-special-nike-shoe-trade-bills-jared-goff-quarterback/1hkg6hovefv8p143p7ojswsrx6?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The Rams are doing what they can to help wide receiver Sammy Watkins put his best foot forward with a new franchise.

Part of that is insuring Watkins has the proper protection while doing the stepping.

Rams general manager Les Snead said Wednesday that the team’s medical staff is working with Watkins and Nike to develop a shoe that provides the best support possible for his surgically repaired left foot.

“The shoe thing is a very big deal,” Snead told co-host Brady Quinn and me on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “There’s a lot of technology, a lot of smart engineers developing shoes for these athletes, especially based on the type of torque and pressure they’re putting on their bones when you go in and out of a break.”

A lengthy list of leg injuries – plus two procedures on his left foot – has contributed to Watkins missing 11 games the past two seasons for the Bills after a strong rookie campaign in 2014. TheMMQB.com website reported earlier this month that Watkins had stopped wearing adidas, which signed him to an endorsement deal as a rookie, and was working with Nike on a new shoe before being traded last week from the Bills to the Rams.

FANTASY SLEEPERS: SN picks one for each team

Snead said the Rams had an internal discussion about Watkins’ injury history before making the trade and “felt comfortable” with the situation after he passed a team physical.

“When he plays, he produces,” Snead said of a game-breaking receiver who has a 16.1-yard average on 153 career receptions. “What can we do based on what we know to put a plan in place to try and limit those injuries going forward?”

Snead, who first became interested in Watkins in May after the Bills decided not to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie contract in 2018, admits the timing of the trade several weeks before the regular season opens isn’t ideal. Los Angeles is now trying to balance working Watkins into its offense without slowing the progress being made by second-year quarterback Jared Goff in learning coach Sean McVay’s new system.

“I know what Sean wants to do is get a feel for Sammy and how he’s learning,” said Snead, who sent a 2018 second-round pick and cornerback E.J. Gaines to Buffalo for Watkins and a sixth-round choice. “He’s been doing great so far but I do think what they will do as we get into plans for games is, ‘Where’s Sammy’s at? How comfortable is he? What can he do? How many plays can we actually give him?’

“If you have a 100-play playbook right now and let’s say game-planning it gets down to 30, maybe Sammy only gets 15 the first week (Sept. 10 vs. the Colts) and works his way up. We’ll feel that out over the next few weeks.”

Watkins is receiving extra tutoring from former Bills wide receiver Robert Woods, who was signed by the Rams as a free agent earlier this year. Watkins is expected to make his preseason debut Saturday when the Rams play at Oakland, which will allow him to work with Goff on timing in a game setting.

MORE: Eric Dickerson says Mannion should start over Goff

“Getting on the same page with the chemistry and rhythm a quarterback has with his receiver, that’s something that’s not going to happen overnight,” Snead said. “I think you see that in basketball when some of these dreams are put together. It takes a little while to get on the same page. But I think for the most part, they do.”

Even if Watkins is healthy, how well he fares and whether a big-money contract looms from the Rams or another interested suitor in free agency in 2018 will be largely dependent on how much improvement Goff can make. Goff lost all seven of his starts last season while completing 54.6 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and seven interceptions.

“With him, it’s as simple as you’ve got to learn (the offense), get through the thinking stage, get through the reacting stage and get to the proactive stage as I like to call it’,” said Snead, who traded six draft picks to land Goff with the No. 1 selection in 2016.

“Jared’s getting there. He’s not there yet. That’s what all of these practices and preseason games are for.”

The same goes for taking a risk on Watkins in hopes of giving Goff a leg up himself.

zn wrote:

The reason the statues go down is the same reason they went up. They went up as tributes to the old confederate south in the era of resisting civil rights. Meaning, they were about white supremacy.

Regime Change in Charlottesville
If you understand why that Civil War statue really went up, the debate over removing it looks a lot different.

ADAM GOODHEART

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/16/regime-change-in-charlottesville-215500

Statues are often among the first casualties of regime change. In July 1776, a mob of patriots attacked a statue of King George III that stood in Lower Manhattan, hacking it up to melt into bullets for the Continental Army.

In April 2003, television networks around the world showed joyous Baghdad citizens toppling a gigantic bronze Saddam Hussein, providing an iconic image of the Iraqi dictator’s fall. (The U.S. military had delivered sledgehammers, rope, a large crane, manpower, the press pool and a great deal of encouragement — a story that didn’t fully come to light until many years later.)

Sometimes the regime change takes a little longer. That’s how we should look at images of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson being lifted through the night sky in Baltimore; of protesters stomping on a Confederate soldier statue in Durham, North Carolina; and of “alt-right” battalions storming Charlottesville to rescue a doomed Lee memorial. It should also shape how we read President Donald Trump’s defiant response to the violence in Charlottesville.

Just like in 1776 and 2003, the regime that’s toppling right now—or at least teetering—is the same one that built the monuments. But that regime isn’t the Confederate States of America, which was already toppled pretty conclusively back at Appomattox in 1865. The statues—like countless others across the South—were erected not under the stars and bars of the Confederacy, but instead under the stars and stripes of the United States.

The current fight is only partly about the true meaning of the Civil War and the deeds or misdeeds of men in gray coats. Those statues went up for other reasons, and the argument today is about why we, as a nation—the reunited U.S.A.—put those monuments up in our public spaces in the first place. Most important now, it’s about why we have let them stay there for so long.

* * *

The statues in Charlottesville and Durham were both installed in the midst of a Confederate monument-building campaign that lasted for decades and took place long after the war it commemorated. In fact, both were unveiled in the very same month: May 1924.

That’s more than coincidental. The Civil War was still not so distant: Any black Southerner over 60 had probably been born a slave. The last veterans were in their 80s and 90s, and their passing loosed a gush of “greatest generation”-style nostalgia in both North and South. Photographs of statue dedications on Confederate Memorial Day (still an official holiday in six Southern states) show white-mustachioed men in fading uniforms, holding ceremonial trowels.

Perhaps equally relevant, though, are period photographs of more chilling celebrations: thousands of white-hooded men marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, and burning crosses at enormous gatherings in both North and South.

In the early 1920s, America was in the grip of a huge revival of the Ku Klux Klan. Its recruits were responding partly to the growing movement for black civil rights, which had been emboldened by the millions of African-Americans who had contributed to the U.S. victory in World War I. Many native-born whites also felt threatened by the immigrants who were once again landing in large waves at Ellis Island—and competing for jobs in the tight postwar labor market. 1924 was the year of the infamous Immigration Act, which almost shut down entry for Jews, Italians, Greeks and other “undesirable” groups, while completely excluding everyone from an “Asiatic Barred Zone.”

The 1920s Klan was itself a kind of Civil War re-enactment. The original organization of white-robed Confederate veterans had lain dormant since the Reconstruction era, but was revived by the Hollywood epic “The Birth of a Nation.” The new Klan was far larger and more pervasive, claiming as many as 5 million members. In Charlottesville, a newspaper reported that the local chapter “numbers among its members many of our able and influential citizens, and it is here to stay.” In Durham, a local “Grand Dragon” made headlines in April 1924 when he spoke before an audience of more than a thousand people in nearby Raleigh. The Grand Dragon—who made no effort to hide his identity under a hood—also happened to be a judge on the North Carolina superior court.

Nationally, too, the Klan was flexing its political muscle, with both of the major parties steeling themselves for controversy at their upcoming presidential nominating conventions. At the Democratic one, in New York, conservatives defeated a platform resolution condemning recent Klan violence, winning by three votes. Hundreds of triumphant delegates joined a vast crowd of hooded celebrants at a cross-burning rally known as “the Klanbake.” This is the context in which one Southern city after another erected statues to the heroes of a war that had ended 60 years earlier.

The springtime dedications of Confederate statues in Charlottesville and Durham weren’t like those rallies: No hooded Klansmen marched. That was part of their implicit appeal. The Confederate nostalgia embodied in the statues offered a soft-serve version of racial domination, one whose public image involved girls in white dresses laying bouquets of flowers, not men in white sheets burning crosses. The hard-liners, robes off, joined the celebrations. So did the moderate, pro-business boosters of the New South, some of whom publicly condemned the Klansmen as “terrorists,” while pointing out that “only” 16 Americans were lynched in 1924, down from 57 in 1922. Dreamy images of Southern sentimentalism set plenty of hearts aflutter among white Northerners, too, and in the national press.

What Confederate monuments offered, by framing their purpose as a familiar lionization of war heroes, was a kind of white supremacism that everyone could rally around. (In a few communities, organizers went so far as to recruit a few handpicked African-Americans to march at the back of the parade.) It also laid claim to a history that didn’t belong to the new immigrants: If the Civil War was truly America’s defining moment, what did it mean if your family hadn’t been there?

But the monument builders’ vision wasn’t backward-looking and parochial—quite the opposite. It was to build a triumphant American future on the ideas that had been defeated in the war. At the Charlottesville statue’s dedication, one of the two keynote speakers extolled Lee as “the idol of every Southern heart—aye, of every human heart, North and South, East and West.” Gazing up at a Confederate flag that flew nearby, he hailed it as “that starry flag of the world’s heart and hope, that shall yet float in universal triumph over land and sea.” The other keynoter called Lee “an ideal of a whole land” who “symbolized the future.”

Those two speakers weren’t Grand Dragons of the KKK: They were the presidents of Washington and Lee University and the University of Virginia. Both institutions barred African-Americans. And not only were Charlottesville’s public schools segregated in 1924, the town didn’t even have a high school for black citizens: Authorities considered a ninth-grade education sufficient.

Monuments mark public spaces like dogs mark trees: This place is ours, they say. It is no accident that the Durham statue, like so many others in county seats across the South, was installed in front of the courthouse—a place where sentences were decreed. Such sentences weren’t always handed down by judges and juries. Throughout the long, awful saga of mass lynchings in America, mobs treated courthouse lawns as ideal places to make public statements. In front of a Texas courthouse in May 1922, a crowd of whites tied a young black man to a stake and burned him alive.

Even Southern leaders who condemned such barbarity made it clear that they weren’t speaking up for black civil rights. After a 1919 lynching not far from Durham, the governor of North Carolina admonished citizens: “All the power and all the processes of the law are in the hands of white men, and yet this mob savagely denied to a helpless negro prisoner the right to stand before a white judge and a white jury and receive a white man’s justice.”

That was the power structure that the monument builders expected to endure. When one of the Charlottesville speakers closed his address with an image of the statue’s enduring place among future generations—“here it shall stand during the ages at the center of their lives”—he wasn’t talking about the 1860s. He was talking about us.

* * *

When has America not faced a critical moment in its history of racial strife? Practically every year out of the past 400 can be tagged with one dismal milestone or another. The citizens of Baltimore installed their monuments in 1887 (blacks barred from major league baseball), 1903 (new Jim Crow laws and voting disenfranchisement across the South), 1917 (white mobs in East St. Louis kill 40 African-Americans, launching a six-year nationwide spree of race riots), 1948 (Strom Thurmond’s “Dixiecrats” leave the Democratic Party and nominate him for president).

White dominion has hardly vanished in 21st-century America. Just look at a roster of corporate CEOs, or Trump appointees, or congressional leadership in both parties. Every year still has its dismal milestones. Yet for the past half-century or so, each year has brought happier milestones as well, most notably 2008, with the election of an African- American president.

As the nation grows browner and browner, the fantasy of white supremacist unanimity—the dream that placed those marble Confederates across the South—seems increasingly far-fetched. The justice dispensed in American courthouses and prisons is still a long way from race-blind: When black defendants stand before white judges, as they usually do, they often receive disproportionately harsh sentences. But today, sometimes, white defendants stand before black judges, too, a scenario that would have been unthinkable in 1924.

Trump’s presidency is a kind of rearguard action for an America that used to be; his whole campaign promised a “greater,” whiter America that looks a lot like 1924. The right-wing extremists’ chant in Charlottesville, “You will not replace us,” captures his entire political message in five words. So it should be no surprise when he reflexively defends Confederate monuments and suggests that Lee and Jackson are no different from Washington and Jefferson—ignoring the fact that two of those built the nation, and the other two fought to rip it apart.

Nor is it so surprising that anti-racism activists, seeking to keep the momentum rolling in the face of major setbacks, should try to gain ground by toppling the surviving monuments of white supremacy.

The statues have stayed up for so long because, like so many other features of our everyday landscape, they became so familiar that we hardly even noticed they were there. Some might say the same thing happened with white supremacy: pervasive, familiar, and—at least to many whites—invisible.

Ironically, today’s white supremacist defense of Confederate monuments—and the president’s support—will likely hasten their demise. When neo-Nazis with torches rally around old statues, they highlight precisely the thing their sponsors in the 1920s were trying to veil with history. Suddenly those statues are no longer invisible features of the American landscape. Literally or figuratively, they’re silhouetted against a backdrop of flames.

Less extreme nationalists who defend the statues—including Trump—are likewise doing themselves no favors. If they’re arguing for the inherent superiority of “Western civilization” and the purity of America’s democratic heritage, do they really want to take selfies alongside guys who led a massive pro-slavery insurrection against the United States, killing three quarters of a million people in the process?

If toppling Confederate statues is indeed part of a long, super-slow-motion regime change, that’s reason for optimism, no matter what the president says. Will the removals in Baltimore, Durham and Charlottesville ultimately look like the one in Baghdad, which didn’t deliver what it promised? Or will it resemble the hacking-up of King George, which heralded a lasting, if still imperfect, revolution? Maybe it’s too soon to say. But my money’s still on 1776.

Goff to Watkins in the red zone. #ramscamp pic.twitter.com/qpHJ1XmEO1

— Andy (@thedukeROD) August 16, 2017

==

Andy‏ @thedukeROD
Nice crisp pass from Goff to Watkins in 11v11. Against Troy Hill. Turned on jets after the catch. #ramscamp

Malcom Brown hit in backfield with the 1s. #ramscamp

Goff misses Josh Reynolds on a dig route. Pressure coming. #ramscamp

Harkey just caught a pass with the threes. He’s gone, in my opinion. Just too much talent elsewhere. #ramscamp

Gurley hit in the backfield. Again. #ramscamp

Late throw by Goff picked off by Tru. Intended for Sammy. #ramscamp

Nice quick out from Mannion to P. Cooper. #ramscamp

Nice throw to Cooper Kupp from Goff. #ramscamp pic.twitter.com/on5HY9HGGO

— Andy (@thedukeROD) August 16, 2017

Nice pass from Goff to Sammy in 7v7s. He is noticeably faster than other receivers. Except Tavon. 😳#ramscamp

Mannion to Hemingway for what would have been a TD in 7v7. #ramscamp

Nice out route to Higbee in red zone. Pass from Goff. #ramscamp

Goff to Kupp in red zone. Just a quick slant. Joyner in tight coverage. Kupp caught it anyway. Held on. Oohs from crowd. #ramscamp

Mannion’s hard count draws D offsides. #ramscamp

False start by Everett with the 1s. #ramscamp

Goff with a surprising 25-30 yd. scamper with D in man coverage. Good recognition. Must’ve forgotten about Richard Sherman hit. #ramscamp

Cooper Kupp with rare drop while squatting on zone D. 😳 I’m always surprised when he drops it. #ramscamp

A SHORT ONE PLUS SOME FOLLOW-UP

==

— Elvis 8/15, from the RFU board

Weather was great, defense still winning, Goff with a couple picks but some really nice throws too. Watkins was on the field but rarely targeted, did lots of drills though. His hands are unreal. One of the few times he was thrown to, Davis picked it off, pretty sure it was a route miscomunication thing. Mike Thomas and Reynolds are starting to figure in big. Everett keeps getting better. Reynolds with a nice TD go route on a perfect throw from Goff in 7 on 7’s, gonna be hella interesting how it all shakes out when it comes time to make cuts. McVay seemed even more intensely involved with the details of the passing game than usual today…

===

— OCRamRef68 8/15

I was at practice again today and Goff may have thrown 2 INTs but he also threw 10 touchdowns between 1-1, 7-7, 11-11. He had an up and down day. One pick was on a long throw. Just a great play by Johnson. The other one was a bad decision. He also connected on a long TD to Josh Reynolds and drove the team 60 yards and hit Everett on a fade route for a TD.

On Goff. I would expect a player drafted in the top 5 of the draft to be a top 10 player in this league and lead his team to the playoffs year in and year out. I think he can develop into that guy, but the key word is develop. I don’t think he’s going to be a top 10 QB this year. He needs time and experience. I think it would be unrealistic to think he would be this year. I think the coaching staff will be smart with him and put him in positions to have success. He has all the tools. From a physical standpoint he can make all the throws. He has good pocket awareness and is a little more athletic than people give him credit for. But he needs to be more consistent. You see the flashes, but we need to see them on a more consistent basis. That only comes from time and experience.

On a side note. I referee Division 1 Basketball. i work 6 conferences on the west coast including the Pac 12. We have talented young officials break in to our level all the time. It’s funny because we always talk about going through the process and allowing these young officials to develop. There is no substitute for experience. We talk about the need to “see plays”. It’s amazing to see the difference between year 1 and year 3 after these guys have had a chance to work some games, make some mistakes and grow from their experiences. Jared Goff needs to “see more plays”, make some mistakes and grow from his experiences. I think he will. After losing for 15 years its hard to preach patience ,but we have no choice.

===

—The Professor 8/15

There were a number of times the D got into the backfield today. Barwin had a speed rush around the RT that would have been a sack. There were a few other times the D beat the #1s, however, the bigger issues were when the 2s were in. In those cases, most of the pressure that I noted was on the left side of the line or up the middle. On the third play of 11 on 11s, pressure came through the left side (not sure if LT’s or LG’s fault), but Aaron Green was no help in the backfield and seemed to be lost on trying to pick up the rusher. Later on when the 2s were on the field, there were back to back plays that would have been sacks coming from the left side (play does not stop so there still were throws). Later on in that set of plays, Mannion stepped up nicely to avoid the pressure that again was coming from the left side. On a different play in that set there was a completion to Reynolds on a play that there was pressure from the right, on yet a different play there would have been sack coming straight up the middle by DT #70 Salyes, a rookie out of Ohio (not Ohio State). I don’t know anything about him, but he also would have had one of the sacks with the pressure coming from the left side of the line.

So overall this is good news for the D, but a bit scary about the O-line backups.

The Professor camp report 8/15, Day 14

Comments on Practice for Tuesday the 15th

Please note that I left my paper to take notes on in my car so all my notes were on the white space of my roster. In trying to decode things I may have some of this out of order.

First, today’s practice seemed to be only the 1s and 2s when they went to WRs/DBs, 7 on 7 or 11 on 11. Those further down the roster only practiced when the team split into position groups.

In regard to the wide receivers, Watkins, Reynolds, and Thomas were all playing and neither Austin nor Spruce were dressed. This led to big changes in who ran with the 1s and 2s. Last week the 1s were Woods, Kupp, and Cooper and the 2s were Spruce, McRoberts, and Shippen. Today, after the first two three and out drives, the 1s were Woods, Kupp, and Watkins and the 2s were Cooper, Thomas, and Reynolds. Sometimes Cooper ran with the 1s, and McRoberts got some playing time with the 2s. In terms of the TEs, Higbee ran with the 1s, Everett with the 2s (some with the 1s), and Hemmingway got some playing time. Harkey was on the field a lot with the 2s as well. Outside of special teams I did not see Shippen or Shakeir Ryan get any playing time (both fielded punts along with Kupp at the start of practice). The three new WRs not named Sammy (Justin Thomas, Canon, and Gemany did not get any practice time either.
It seems that Woods, Kupp, Watkins, and Cooper are solid for making the roster (and being active for games). The next tier is Reynolds and Thomas. I am interested in seeing where Tavon Austin and Spruce fit when/if healthy. Some people have liked McRoberts’ performance in camp when he was running with 2s. However, that was prior to Watkins and with Tavon, Thomas and Reynolds not playing. With three of those now practicing, McRoberts has probably dropped to 8th/9th (not sure if he is ahead or behind Spruce). Now Thomas is a special case and does not initially count toward the 53 so Spruce/McRoberts may still be battling for a short term 7th spot (until Thomas is back).

Here is a Watkins update. He started off practice fielding throws from Mannion. In the first two sets (one with the 1s, one with the 2s), Watkins ran with the 1s. From then on, he ran with the 1s. He was moved around a lot. The two positions he seemed to get the most playing time was split wide on the right side (sometimes isolated – the other WRs/TEs on the left), or in the slot on the left. Cooper was often on the same side of the field as Watkins. He displayed nice hands in drills and had some nice moves in 7 on 7 and 11 on 11.

One of the times he was isolated on the right side, he juked the defender at the line and any pass with a little arc would have been a TD. I was watching from the other end zone stands and yelled deep to Watkins (the only time I yelled anything), but Goff did not look his way and threw to the left side of the field. A few plays earlier, Watkins was in slot on the left side of the field and Goff went to him with a quick short pass that was almost picked as the defender jumped the route. I wonder if that play was in Goff’s head in any way (why he did not look Watkins way), or the fact that he had three options on the left side drew his attention that way. Later on in practice, Goff led Watkins too much when heading toward the left sideline, Watkins tried to one hand it, got his right hand on it, tipped it up and batted it again, before he had a chance to catch it a third time, he was out of bounds (he did not snare it out of bounds). In a later set with Goff he caught a quick out to the right that would have gone for about 20 yards. Goff did air it out once to Watkins but overthrew him in the end zone. Watkins had two defenders running with him on that pass.

After practice ends, some players stay and practice some go to an assigned for signing autographs. The players who sign autographs while still on the playing field tend to be those trying to make the squad. Interestingly when I was leaving one player was signing autographs in the end zone in the area between the two fields on the opposite side of where the players go to leave the field. It turns out it was Watkins and he was signing for kids who were there from a boys and girls club.

Training Camp Report: Top Takeaways from Day 14

Kristen Lago

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Training-Camp-Report-Top-Takeaways-from-Day-14/e5167e35-7cab-4fba-8424-e936b10bdb6f

The team was back in full pads during Day 14 of training camp in a high intensity practice session. Today marked the team’s last full-padded practice of training camp before the team travels to Oakland to face the Raiders in Week 2 of the preseason.

The two hour practice was full of energy on both sides of the ball and featured new wide receiver Sammy Watkins being worked in with the first and second team offenses, after observing the majority of yesterday’s session. Here’s everything you need to know from Day 14 of Rams Camp:

TOP TAKEAWAYS

1. Watkins taking more reps at receiver

Watkins, who was traded to the Rams from the Bills just five days ago, saw a lot more action in his second practice on Tuesday. The receiver took a lot of reps during the individual drills, recording an impressive deep catch from quarterback Jared Goff in the offense-only section.

While Watkins begins to familiarize himself with the Rams’ playbook, McVay says he will be slowly worked into the offense during the rest of the preseason. But McVay did mention that he was “pleased” with the receiver’s progress thus far.

“He’s picking things up fairly quickly,” McVay said. “It’s a tough time to come in, in terms of where we’re at in the installation because pretty much everything is in. We’ve gotten all of our situations, so we’re going a little bit faster than you’d be accustomed to earlier on. But, I thought he picked things up well.”

During the one-on-ones session, Watkins had a nice catch in the end zone, reaching over cornerback Troy Hill for the touchdown. He also had a couple of solid grabs in the team’s 11-on-11 drills on passes from Goff and Sean Mannion. As the next two days of practice unfold, we should see him targeted more in the full team drills and situational work.

.@JaredGoff16 ➡️ @sammywatkins! #RamsCamp pic.twitter.com/O2HsznOWlz

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 15, 2017

“He was able to make some nice catches and you can see the movement,” McVay said. “And once he continues to get more and more comfortable, I think you’ll see him be able to play even faster.”

2. Rookie report

One rookie who had a standout day at practice was wide receiver Josh Reynolds. The Rams drafted the former Texas A&M standout in the fourth round of this year’s draft, but has been kept off the field for the majority of training camp due to a quad injury.

After returning to camp late last week, Reynolds was flying all over the field in today’s session. The receiver was targeted heavily and recorded a slew of catches even in heavy coverage situations. In this afternoon’s 7-on-7 drills, Reynolds ran straight downfield before cutting up the middle to grab a perfectly-timed ball from Goff. Later in the team’s 11-on-11 work, the receiver had back-to-back catches on quick corner routes from Mannion, grabbing onto both balls in traffic.

Though the Rams’ offense currently has 12 receivers on its active roster, including newly-signed Watkins, Reynolds did a good job today proving himself worthy of a 53-man roster spot. After practice, McVay told reporters that Reynolds “was continuing to grow” and was excited to see him take the field on Saturday.

“He looked good. He was able to track some balls down the field,” McVay said. “Josh is one of those guys that — he’s got a great stride length, consistently made big plays throughout the course of his career in college and he’s kind of one of those guys that’s deceivingly fast. So it will be good to get Josh back out there and watch him compete.”

3. Goff bounces back

Goff once again had an up and down practice, throwing two interceptions after being picked off three times on Monday. The first came from rookie safety John Johnsonduring 11-on-11, when Johnson lept over wide receiver Pharoh Cooper make the pick. In the same set of drills, Goff was intercepted again — this time by safety Cody Davis on a deflected pass to Watkins.

While Goff was up-and-down throughout 11-on-11 session, the quarterback seemed virtually unfazed, bouncing back to drive the offense downfield during situational drills. After two completed passes to tight end Tyler Higbee, Goff threw a beautiful ball downfield right over the head of the defender to tight end Gerald Everett for the touchdown.

The Rams’ defense has made it tough for Goff in the passing game over the last few practices, but McVay was quick to praise his quarterback’s ability to respond in the face of turnovers.

“At some point you’re going to turn the football over — it’s an occupational hazard as a quarterback,” McVay said. “The one thing you do appreciate about him is that when mistakes occur you don’t sense that he’s phased by it. He’s able to take it for what it is and then try to correct it moving forward.”

“When you make good decisions with the football, get the ball into your playmakers hands,” he added, “you give yourself your chance to play efficient football offensively and specifically through the pass game.”

FIELD-LEVEL OBSERVATIONS

During the special teams portion of practice wide receivers Cooper Kupp, Shakeir Ryan, and Brandon Shippen took reps as punt returners.
Cornerback Dominique Hatfield recorded the first interception of the day picking off quarterback Dan Orlovsky in one-on-ones.
In the same session, wide receiver Robert Woods put the moves on cornerback Mike Jordan, juking the defender for a touchdown play.
Defensive tackle Tanzel Smart continued to prove his worth as a solid rotational option on the D-line. During team drills, he had a would-be sack on Mannion, getting past the offensive line quickly to blitz the quarterback.
Cornerback Aarion Penton grabbed the last interception of the day, picking off a tipped pass from Mannion to tight end Temarrick Hemmingway.
PARTICIPATION REPORT

Wide receiver Tavon Austin will remain sidelined for the rest of the week. McVay said that the staff is hoping Austin will “be able to compete in some of the preseason games,” but getting him ready for the season opener against the Colts is the priority.

“In the meantime, like we’ve talked about, we’ll control what we can control and that’s him doing a great job with his rehab, staying up on it in the classroom,” McVay said. “And when that time comes that Director of Sports Medicine and Performance Reggie Scott and our training staff decide that he’s ready to go, we’ll be excited to have Tavon back out there.”

Outside linebackers Samson Ebukam and Ejuan Price, cornerbacks Kayvon Webster and Nickell Robey-Coleman, as well as wide receiver Nelson Spruce did not participate in today’s practice. Veteran linebacker Robert Quinn was limited in the afternoon session.

PRESS POINTS

After practice linebacker Alec Ogletree discussed what he thought of the defense’s performance against the Cowboys last week. Catch up on his best points from Day 14 of Rams Camp:

ALEC OGLETREE:

On what he thought of the defense as a whole in the preseason opener: “It was definitely good to get back to football again, especially against another team. I was really pleased with how we performed for the first time going out there as a group. The first game is just about, mainly getting the jitters out and just kind of going out there and doing what you’ve been doing all camp, just against another team. We definitely have a lot to work on, but I thought we got off to a good start on Saturday

McVay did not use the word “mindful” once in this presser.

Something must be wrong.

They’re keeping it to themselves, and putting up a front, but…something must be terribly terribly wrong.

.

Myles Simmons @MylesASimmons
Ah ha, this is the fade Everett caught I was talking about earlier. He’s had a nice last couple days at practice.

[ie. he’s talking about this —>]

.@lightningstrk12 gettin' 🆙 #RamsCamp pic.twitter.com/8ayAxIh45M

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 16, 2017

Zooey wrote:

You got a great big blank there.

Fixed it.

Thanks.

Joe Curley‏ @vcsjoecurley

CB Mike Jordan didn’t allow a catch on 4 targets. Had him for 3 pass breakups (although w/o coaches film in preseason tough to make out

Kevin Davis, Thompson, Robey-Coleman, Hill, Joyner and Christian (sneaky good game) all made third-down tackles that ended drives.

I had the Rams for 18 total QB pressures on 41 pass attempts (44 percent). Price (4), Bryant (3) Smart (2.5), Fox (2.5) were the leaders.

Justin Davis had an amazing boom/bust game not just running. Had some good pass pro. Also had a hold flag on pass pro.

Kupp and McRoberts had the only drops. Cooper had a poor decision to take deep opening kickoff out of end zone.

No OL allowed more than one run stuff. TEs really struggled run blocking.

Murphy allowed two sacks (also a run stuff and had a hold on a run) Wichmann allowed a QB hit and a hurry. No one else more than 1 pressure.

Rams OL allowed pressure on 9 of 31 (29%) passes on Saturday. Starters allowed none on 4.

wv wrote:

Lee Camp of redacted tonight, witnessed the car-murder: