Jared Goff will be Rams’ franchise quarterback — in time

This is the best article IMO on why it might take time.

At the same time, it leaves things out, such as mastering the techniques and timing and vision you need making 3, 5, and 7 step drops from under center, and also recognizing what (more complicated) pro defenses are doing.

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Myles Simmons ‏@MylesASimmons
With RT Rob Havenstein on PUP, Rodger Saffold has been in at RT, Cody Wichmann in at LG. Fisher said they like Saffold’s flexibility.

Myles Simmons ‏@MylesASimmons
Also a note on Pharoh Cooper inside. Hasn’t practiced last couple days with quad issue, but should be back over next few days.

VIDEO: DE William Hayes doesn't see many weaknesses on the Rams, is "real optimistic" for the season pic.twitter.com/h2lrNOmih7

— Joe Curley (@vcsjoecurley) August 4, 2016

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
Williams is big, physical target (needs to work on focus) Thomas is smooth, but maybe a bit of a development player

8to12

I made it to Camp yesterday, but made it home a bit late to post here. I was able to record most of the 11-on-11 plays along with some 7-on-7. I will need to get help from some one on how to convert my iphone video to file that can be posted here.

Things I noticed on 8/02 :

– QB warm-ups ; watched Mannion and Goff play catch first at a 12 yard distance and then at a 25 yard distance. Mannion’s throws are direct, with a tight spiral. Goff’s throws have a little bit more Arc in them and are not as tight. …just something I noticed
– Tavon was back with the group while Pharoh Cooper watched.
– Punt return drills: Tavon and Chase Reynolds were doing something pretty cool….. they would hold a ball in their hands while waiting for the punted ball to arrived. As the punted ball got close, they would tooss the existing ball in the air, catch the punted ball, spin around and then catch the tossed ball. Reynolds was the only one who did it consistently. All the other guys couldn’t even get close.
– Mike Thomas had a good day. He was in with the 2nd team and also got some snaps the 1’s. He caught just about everything thrown to him. He looks like he belongs.
– For anyone that thinks Bradley Marquez may not make the team, a glimpse of this practice would definitely change their mind. He is getting to run with the 2’s and 1’s in 11-on-11 and the guy just makes plays.
– Special teams: Punt team worked on directional punting…. left sideline vs right sideline……. Hecker had a couple of 65 yard kicks that were inpressive.
– Offensive notes: Saw 2 new formations today ; first was 2 TE’s standing a few feet outside of the Tackles, not inline, with a receiver positioned a few feet to their outside shoulder. It looks like a “Bunch” formation with 1 RB. The second was a spread with 4 receivers to the Left side of the formation.
– TE ; Justice Cunningham was targeted a couple of times to day and he made 2 nice catches. Did not see Hemmingway much. They have Higbee running short out routes and seam routes, straight up field.
– Defense ; did not spend much time looking at the Defense, but I did notice that Nic Grigsby (rookie from Pitt) made 2 nice plays in the Passing game breaking up throws.
– not much else to report due to holding the iphone and making video the entire afternoon.
Anyopne that can suggest hoe to get my iphone video uploaded here would be greatly appreciated.

I am now off to see this afternoon’s practice. I will try to just watch and make notes today.

Herzog wrote:

bnw wrote:

Herzog wrote:

Goff told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday that shortly after the Rams picked him, he sought out Titans passer Marcus Mariota for advice. Mariota suggested Goff try an exercise in his downtime: Record himself saying a play call, play it back, diagram the play on a sheet of paper, and then visualize the progression

Man I love this on so many levels. Not going to gush about it…but I am pleased.

Wait till he tries it with the Rams O line and WRs that are last in the league.

not feeling it? I don’t expect much until game 9

Well there’s good reasons to feel that way. I don’t though. I get a different vibe.

The OL is certainly going to be better than last year. IMO that is going to be a solid, deep unit.

THe WRs? My bet is they will be better than last year. And a lot of it last year wasn’t the WRs, it was the qb (Foles). I don’t know HOW good the WRs will be this year, but, yeah I say expect better than last year.

When Bradford came into the league, he had no weapons except Jackson and then just an emerging defense. It all fell apart in 2011. Goff, in contrast, has Gurley and Tavon and a real top caliber defense. He may have more than that, we’ll see.

.

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
From the keeping it real department: #Rams offense looking pretty good on 1st day in pads

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
Couple of #Rams observations: Goff was really, really good today. Tyler Higbee has a chance to make an impact as a rookie

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
Also, I talked to Duke Williams. He was beyond pissed at himself for the drops on Sunday, and it ate at him all day 1/2

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
2/2 Said he was committed to making an impact Monday and Tuesday and he absolutely did. Really liked how he responded to some adversity

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
3/3 Williams told me the rookie class is super tight and upfront and honest with each other. Seems like there’s accountability 3/4

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
4/4 Also he appreciates Tavon Austin taking him under his wing and showing him the way. My (personal note: Impressed w/Austin’s leadership)

Vincent Bonsignore ‏@DailyNewsVinny
Talked to Higbee too. He and Goff are roommates. He told me they stay up late after meetings quizzing each other/going over classroom info

bnw wrote:

They said the same thing about Sam Bradford.

They tried to build around Bradford. He got injured.

They’re adding Goff to a more developed team: “The one piece that we needed to stabilize our team was QB,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports before Sunday’s practice.

That’s the key…they’re ADDING Goff to what is a more talented team. Goff and Bradford are very different kinds of qb talent btw.

Courts are finally pointing out the racism behind voter ID laws

Laws targeting minority voters are no different today than they were during Jim Crow.

Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/08/03/courts-are-finally-pointing-out-the-racism-behind-voter-id-laws/

Last week, a federal appeals court struck down North Carolina’s omnibus voter suppression law — a law so jam-packed with voting restrictions targeted at poor, minority communities that its moniker was the “monster law.”

The decision was handed down alongside a spate of other federal decisions in the past two weeks blocking voter restrictions and voter ID requirements in Wisconsin, Texas, North Dakota and Kansas. Some of these laws had been rushed through and passed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s devastating 2013 blow to the Voting Rights Act, which for 50 years had protected voters from discriminatory laws like poll taxes, literacy tests and the like.

Congress has refused to do anything to restore the law’s protections, so litigation has remained the only real recourse for advocates trying to stop these voter suppression tactics more and more state legislatures have been adopting. Our organization, the Campaign Legal Center has been fighting the Texas voter ID law in court alongside several civil rights groups. And after tireless years of lawsuits, and millions of dollars shouldered by the victims of discrimination, advocates are finally achieving what they set out to do: Show that today’s cleverly masked voting laws — passed under false pretenses of stopping non-existent in-person voter fraud — are no different than the tactics used during the Jim Crow era to maintain white political power.

In North Carolina, notably, the federal appeals court directly took on the underlying issue in voting rights today. The decision should be required reading for all state legislatures that are targeting black and Hispanic voters with onerous restrictions because of minority voters’ well-known propensity to vote for Democrats. Their goal is to protect their own political power, but the legislators’ method is racial discrimination.

The 4th Circuit, in its decision last week, held that the North Carolina state legislature acted in order to entrench itself and “it did so by targeting voters who, based on race, were unlikely to vote for the majority party. Even if done for partisan ends, that constituted racial discrimination.”

The court called this strategy what it is: racist. The panel wrote that “sing race as a proxy for party may be an effective way to win an election. But intentionally targeting a particular race’s access to the franchise because its members vote for a particular party, in a predictable manner, constitutes discriminatory purpose. This is so even absent any evidence of race-based hatred and despite the obvious political dynamics.”

But outside of the courts, the public discussion around these laws has focused on politics, not race. After all, the partisan motive of the recent wave of voter restrictions is a poorly kept secret. Several legislators, such as Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai and Wisconsin Rep. Glenn Grothman, have slipped from the usual Republican line that voter ID laws are about preventing voter fraud and acknowledged that the goal is to give the GOP an edge on Election Day. But given the demographic patterns of who votes for which party, the easiest way for them to gain that edge is by putting bureaucratic hurdles in place that make it harder for poor and elderly minority voters to cast ballots. Thus, race and politics are necessarily intertwined.

This racial strategy is just barely below the surface of many of these laws — they pick and choosing voting restrictions that benefit whites while harming blacks and other minorities.

In North Carolina, the legislature requested racial data on the use of electoral mechanisms, then restricted all those disproportionately used by blacks, such as early voting, same day registration and out-of-precinct voting. Absentee ballots, disproportionately used by white voters, were exempted from the voter ID requirement. The legislative record actually justified the elimination of one of the two days of Sunday voting because “counties with Sunday voting in 2014 were disproportionately black” and “disproportionately Democratic.”

The documents acceptable for proving voters’ identity in North Carolina were the ones disproportionately held by whites, such as driver’s licenses, U.S. passports and veteran and military IDs, and the ones that were left out were the ones often held by poor minority voters, such as student IDs, government employee IDs and public assistance IDs. The Texas voter ID law was designed the same way: There, officials accepted concealed weapon licenses but not student or state employee IDs. The Texas Legislature was repeatedly advised of the likely effect on minority voters but rebuffed nearly all amendments that would have eased its harsh impact.

Because of the strong link between race and party, some defenders of the laws have argued that the restrictions are nothing but “politics as usual” — that they’re not motivated by racial animus and are therefore lawful. For example, 5th Circuit Judge Edith Jones, dissenting in the Texas voter ID decision, wrote: “The law reflects party politics, not racism, and the majority of this court — in their hearts—know this.”

In North Carolina’s legislature, Republican senators vigorously denied that the law was racially discriminatory. But at the same time, they admitted that the bill rolled back voting expansions that, they believed, “Democrats passed to favor themselves.” In other words, Republicans admitted that they wanted to limit how easy it is for people to vote because more access to the ballot box for black voters is bad for GOP candidates. The district court judge in the North Carolina case, who originally upheld the “monster law,” apparently held the same view; his opinion noted that the law largely removed voting expansions passed by Democrats when they controlled the legislature.

Lawmakers often use this “politics, not racism” line in redistricting cases, as well. In the recent past, Republican legislatures have packed black voters at unnecessarily high levels into a few districts, hoping to limit black voters’ impact on the partisan balance in the rest of the state. When challenged, they claim politics made them do it.

In Virginia, a three-judge federal court held that legislators racially gerrymandered Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott’s district, purposefully packing far more blacks into it than necessary. On appeal to the Supreme Court, prominent conservative lawyer Mike Carvin argued repeatedly that the legislators packed black voters for partisan reasons, not racial ones, as if that makes a difference.

But for the hundreds of thousands of black voters harmed by these discriminatory laws, the effect is the same, whether they were singled out as black voters to reduce their power at the ballot box because of direct racial animus or partisan objectives. No doubt many Southern politicians supported Jim Crow before the civil rights movement as much because restrictions on black voters helped them stay in power as because of any personal racism. The intent and the effect is the same: purposeful suppression of black voters’ rights.

On the same day as the North Carolina decision, a Wisconsin federal court echoed this exact point. The court struck down restrictions on in-person absentee voting hours that were aimed specifically at limiting voting access in Milwaukee because of its large black population. The court wrote: “Republicans sought to maintain control of the state government. But the methods that the legislature chose to achieve that result involved suppressing the votes of Milwaukee’s residents, who are disproportionately African American and Latino. . . . [T]hat, too, constitutes race discrimination.”

Exclude minority voters because they tend to vote for one party over another is nothing more than an attempt to remove minority voices from vital policy debates and avoid addressing the political needs and demands of those communities. With this recent wave of court decisions, federal judges, at long last, have signaled a strong message to states: Seeking to target black and other minority voters for exclusion, regardless of motive, is unconstitutional and undemocratic, and it will not be tolerated. In order to survive judicial scrutiny, state legislatures should now understand that they must consider and respond to the needs of our most vulnerable voters when crafting electoral procedures. This should foster more participation in politics at a time when voter apathy is high. That’s good news for our democracy.

In Jared Goff, Rams see a centerpiece for a contender

Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2016/08/01/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams-jeff-fisher/87921544/

IRVINE, Calif. – When Jeff Fisher is done with all his work, when he leaves the temporary and transitional training camp facility the Los Angeles Rams have at the University of California, Irvine, he goes home and sleeps on an air mattress.

The head coach overseeing the franchise’s relocation to Southern California has sacrificed elements of his own move. So when the bed is deflated from the previous night’s sleep, he fires up the air pump and fills it up again.

He doesn’t have the time, he said, to secure fancier accommodations.

“I’m as settled as I possibly could be,” Fisher told USA TODAY Sports Sunday evening after the Rams’ practice. “I’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

At the top of that list is ensuring that quarterback Jared Goff, the No. 1 overall pick, proves them right.

Fisher and Rams general manager Les Snead shipped a haul of draft picks (Nos. 15, 43, 45, 76 in 2016 and first- and third-round selections in 2017) to the Tennessee Titans for the rights to pick the passer of their choosing. Now, the job security of both men rests in Goff’s selection – and his eventual appointment as the team’s starter.

“The one piece that we needed to stabilize our team was QB,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports before Sunday’s practice. “It’s a risk, I agree, but this was the time. It was one we needed to take.”

The way they see it, Fisher and Snead have amassed a solid group of young talent. They have beaten teams like the perennial powerhouse Seattle Seahawks, Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, and have posted a winning record in one of the toughest divisions in football in two of four seasons.

But they lacked consistency – something they think they can now get.

“What I like is that we have proven we can be competitive,” Snead said. “Now they’re tired being competitive. It’s time to go be contenders. We’re in that phase now. And then the next phase will be winning playoff games.

“We felt that when you look at the 30,000-foot view, yes, with all the pieces we gave up (in the trade for the No. 1 pick), we could have added good-to-very-good football players. But maybe we would still be doing the same thing – competing, but not quite contending – because of the instability at QB.”

In that hypothetical, that’s probably the best-case scenario.

With a 27-36-1 record in their four-year tenure with the Rams, Snead and Fisher knew they needed to produce more victories. Drafting a franchise quarterback, they believed, was the quickest way to do that.

That’s why in the days after the Rams completed the trade with the Titans, they rapidly set up workouts with both Goff and eventual No. 2 pick Carson Wentz. The Rams needed to do their homework. And the more and more they heard about Goff, the more they felt at ease with the decision to take him.

“We thought the guy was one of the best passers of the football that has come out in a while,” Snead said.

Goff told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday that shortly after the Rams picked him, he sought out Titans passer Marcus Mariota for advice. Mariota suggested Goff try an exercise in his downtime: Record himself saying a play call, play it back, diagram the play on a sheet of paper, and then visualize the progression.

It’s something Goff says is already sharpening his understanding of the offense.

“We were aware of those things before we took him,” Fisher said. “We were aware that he was going to do the extra. He has always done that. He was always very, very competitive and committed. Those things don’t surprise us at all.”

Added Snead: “That’s how greatness is built.”

That’s why Fisher and Snead are at peace.

Practice Report 8/2 – Offense Finds a Rhythm in Pads

Myles Simmons

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Practice-Report-82—Offense-Finds-a-Rhythm-in-Pads/0e575fc9-103e-4e8f-849d-d8f2e2a56815

The Rams took another step in their preparation for the 2016 season, going through their first full practice with pads.

Monday’s special teams-only session gave a little taste of what was to come, but Los Angeles had a spirited practice in front of another nice crowd on Tuesday — this time with popping pads.

While head coach Jeff Fisher put the club in a number of different situations, the offense seemed to get the better of the defense in just about all of them on this particular day.

“As you see, we added another phase. We moved into the red zone today and the offense made a lot of plays, a lot of good throws, a lot of good catches,” Fisher said. “We had a lot of good work in the special teams period and got a lot of work just throwing the ball into tight areas in the red zone, which is hard. I thought all of the quarterbacks did a nice job today.”

Indeed, whether it was in two-on-one drills with QBs and wideouts vs. cornerbacks, 7-on-7, or 11-on-11 the offense was consistent in making plays.

“Everybody was just playing sound football today,” wide receiver Tavon Austin said. “Everybody did what they were supposed to do — nobody was extra. Our energy level was up.”

“I think we just came out and competed and we had guys knowing their responsibilities. I think we worked with good tempo,” quarterback Case Keenum said. “It was a good day for us — a good day to build on. I think we set the bar and I want to get better tomorrow.”

Keenum and wide receiver Kenny Britt connected on a number of passes, displaying their running chemistry that dates back to last season. Britt caught a pass of at least 25 yards from Keenum in each of the Rams’ final four games, two of which went for touchdowns.

“Obviously, you feed off of good plays — great plays. I think they like it when you throw them touchdowns. I like it when they catch touchdowns and get open,” Keenum said. “So I think that sort of stuff builds camaraderie and … chemistry between receivers and quarterbacks.”

Keenum also had some nice throws to Austin and Brian Quick, showing good command of the first unit.

But rookie Jared Goff had a strong day with the second unit, too, displaying many of the traits that induced L.A. to trade up to No. 1 for him.

“I thought he did well. He made some really good throws — a couple, the balls should have been caught,” Fisher said. “I thought he was making really good decisions. We had a little bit of noise the last period, so they had to focus in the huddle and I thought he took charge of it. He’s progressing well.”

Fellow rookie Mike Thomas was on the receiving end of a good number of Goff’s passes, and did well to reel in the vast majority of them. But the Cal product’s best throw of the day may have been when he uncorked a ball down the right seam to undrafted WR Nelson Spruce, who ran it in for a touchdown. Spruce is another player receiver who always seems to catch the ball when it’s in his orbit.

With so many receivers competing for a roster spot, Austin described the vibe in the position’s room as competitive, but in the best way possible.

“One thing I like about all of us — all of us look at it like we’re brothers,” Austin said. “Nobody is ever hating on each other. We’re always motivating the next person — especially me. I’m always motivating the next person to get better, because that’s only going to up my game.”

And so while the offense looked sharp on Tuesday, Fisher said the unit better come with it on Wednesday.

“I’m expecting the defense to answer a little bit tomorrow,” the head coach said. “The offense is probably going to need to strap it up a little bit tomorrow. It was a good day overall.”

EXTRA POINTS

— Rookie wide receiver Pharoh Cooper has not practiced for the last couple of days, but Fisher said he should return to the practice field soon. 


“He’s got a little thing going in his quad,” Fisher said. “You push through it, it may be two weeks, [but] if you back him off, it might be a couple days. That’s what we’ve got going there. He’ll be fine.”

— After a back injury prematurely ended Robert Quinn’s 2015 season, the defensive end spent most of OTAs doing rehab work on the side. He did participate in some parts of individual drills for the D-line, but did not venture into the 11-on-11 sessions.

Now Quinn has been getting some snaps during team drills — but not too many.

“That was not an easy thing that he went through last year,” Fisher said. “A lot of hard work during the offseason, step-by-step-by-step to where we are right now.

“He’s 100 percent, but it doesn’t make sense – when you have a racehorse like that, you have got to watch him,” Fisher continued. “We’re going to watch him, his reps aren’t, probably aren’t up, to where he normally would be, but he’ll get there. It just makes sense just to protect him.”

Fisher added Quinn will likely see some snaps in preseason games. But, as it is every year with proven veterans such as Quinn, even if he’s in, he won’t play too much.

— After a tough practice on Sunday, wide receiver Duke Williams has put together a nice two-practice string over the last two days. Fisher said Williams has done a lot of work since the offseason program to get to this point.

“Duke came in, knew he had a once in a lifetime opportunity based on some of the things that happened in his history,” the head coach said. “We gave him that opportunity and he took advantage of it. Went off in the summer and came back, took a lot of weight off and he’s doing well.”

— Finally, the Rams signed two wide receivers to boost depth at the position — Austin Hill and David Richards. Both wideouts played their college ball at Arizona.

Will Goff lighten the workload for Gurley?

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-training-camps/0ap3000000679089/Will-Jared-Goff-

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Goff: I’m learning every day

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-training-camps/0ap3000000679135/Jared-Goff-I-m-

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter
The two teams the Rams discussed a potential Nick Foles trade with before the draft were Buffalo and Dallas, which now needs a backup QB.

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Cowboys backup QB breaks ankle in practice

http://www.theredzone.org/BlogDescription/tabid/61/EntryId/57738/Cowboys-backup-QB-breaks-ankle-in-practice/Default.aspx

Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback Kellen Moore was carted off the field at practice today.

Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said the preliminary diagnosis was Moore suffered a broken right leg/ankle, Todd Archer of ESPN Dallas reports. He was unsure of the timeframe involved in a recovery or if Moore would need surgery.

Warner on Donald: ‘This guy is a rocket coming off the ball’

NFL Media’s Andrew Siciliano and Kurt Warner break down the impact Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has on opposing offenses and what to watch from him in 2016.

http://www.therams.com/videos/videos/Warner-on-Donald-This-guy-is-a-rocket-coming-off-the-ball/3f12af4f-5e8a-4df1-9cbe-4bbbbc2f72a1