RamBill

Rams coach Jeff Fisher on what trash-talking receiver Kenny Britt brings to the team. Fisher also talks about Brian Quick learning to go full speed at all times.

http://www.rams-news.com/jeff-fisher-on-kenny-britts-trash-talk-thats-just-how-he-is-video-2/

I don’t really agree with some things in this article. Just putting it out there.

—

Stephen A. Smith Suspension Exposes ESPN’s Bigger Problem

By Brian Lowry

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/stephen-smith-suspension-exposes-espn-bigger-problem-013417782.html

ESPN has a problem. It wants to be in the thick of things, to be part of every major debate pertaining to sports. But its commentators and analysts – rooted as they are in trade deadlines and X’s and O’s – can be loose cannons, occasionally getting in over their heads when pressed to address topics that go beyond their areas of expertise.

Stephen A. Smith – suspended for his remarks about domestic violence pertaining to the NFL’s questionable action regarding Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice – is just the latest to engender controversy in one of these scenarios.

First, Smith awkwardly suggested that women can play a role in provoking situations of domestic violence. Then he began apologizing and seeking to clarify those remarks via Twitter. Then he went on air and apologized some more. And then ESPN still opted to discipline him.

But the channel can’t really have it both ways. If the goal is to be provocative – and those participating in these free-for-alls are, inevitably, encouraged to be colorful and bicker – it only stands to reason people are occasionally going to say questionable or offensive things, especially when tackling hot-button political issues.

At this point, it’s hard to keep track of all the flare-ups. There was basketball analyst Chris Broussard expressing his faith-based disapproval of homosexuality in relation to Jason Collins becoming the NBA’s first openly gay player. Rob Parker was suspended for questioning quarterback Robert Griffin III’s “blackness.” Mike Ditka called Jonathan Martin a “baby,” saying he wouldn’t want to coach him, for the bullying accusations that resulted in the NFL acting against Miami Dolphins teammate Richie Incognito. Elsewhere, another former coach, Tony Dungy, created headaches for NBC Sports with his comments about Michael Sam.

And so it goes. Athletes are people, after all, and thus the stories about them can be as ugly and troubling as anything humanity can dredge up. But a channel that obsesses so relentlessly over what city LeBron James calls home is often ill-equipped to do a quick pivot and deal with matters that touch on harassment (workplace or sexual), gay rights or race.

ESPN has taken some steps to bolster its journalistic bona fides, from hiring Keith Olbermann – who, love him or hate him, has a background in covering news that goes well beyond the playing field – to columnist Jason Whitlock. For the most part, though, the network is too often left relying on whoever’s available to cover the story of the moment – a prisoner, like virtually everyone else, of the vagaries of the 24-hour news cycle.

Corporate justice is never dispensed with complete uniformity in these instances, and one can argue till the cows come home about who made comments that merited a suspension and who didn’t.

The bottom line, though, is that if ESPN continues to cover the breadth of sports in all its messy, complicated glory – and expects to do so by featuring people who spend most of their time preoccupied with the minutia of the game – well, let’s just say the PR department should keep several versions of a boilerplate apology on file, just in case.

RamBill

Be warned: Quinn believes he can improve

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/10024/be-warned-quinn-believes-he-can-improve

EARTH CITY, Mo. — Forget for a moment the freakish athleticism. Put aside the elite speed. Don’t acknowledge the explosive ability to transition from quickness to power.

All of those things combine to form the pass rushing terror that is St. Louis Rams defensive end Robert Quinn.

Now consider Quinn just turned 24 in May and members of his coaching staff still believe him to be something of a pass rushing neophyte.

“It’s scary for offensive tackles, not scary for us,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “He’s got a great future ahead of him.”

Quinn’s past and present are none too shabby in their own right. Now entering his fourth season, Quinn’s breakout 2013 caught on as fast as he bends the edge around helpless offensive tackles. By the time Quinn was through destroying offensive game plans, he had 57 tackles, 19 sacks, seven forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Quinn earned first-team All-Pro honors and made his first trip to the Pro Bowl. In about a year, he’s not only landed on various top players lists but found himself near the top. Grantland’s Bill Barnwell ranked Quinn as the seventh-most valuable player in the league in his trade value rankings. ESPN’s Mike Sando and Mel Kiper Jr. placed Quinn second on their list of the 25 best players under 25 years old.

But the scary part of Quinn’s age isn’t the number itself so much as the potential for continued growth that accompanies it.

Put simply, Quinn can and will get better. For proof, one needs only to see his growth as a run defender in 2013. While his pass rushing abilities have never been a question mark, his struggles against the run often resulted in a rotation which took him out of the mix on obvious running downs.

Quinn clearly improved in that regard in 2013, coming up with 26 run stuffs (solo tackles on plays considered an offensive failure) according to Pro Football Focus.

That’s also the area of his game Quinn still sees in need of most improvement. Quinn spent his offseason working on a little bit of everything. He says he added strength and made it a point to work on increasing leverage and hand usage.

“(I want to) be more stout in the run,” Quinn said. “I’m a smaller end so they might attack me a little more, so I constantly want to push myself to be the best complete player I can be and try to take any weakness out of my game.”

While Quinn’s ability to stop the run is important, let’s be real here, it’s his ability to get after quarterbacks that will earn him a mega payday. For the record, the Rams have him under control for less than $10 million total over the next two seasons, but don’t be surprised if the Rams start extension talks with him next offseason.

When that time comes, however, there’s a very real chance Quinn will have done nothing but increase his standing as the league’s best 4-3 defensive end.

Quinn’s speed off the edge and agility to bend around tackles is so jarring that he often beats offensive tackles by simply running around them. But there are ways he can better use his hands to disengage blockers, and he’d like to add more counter moves to his arsenal.

Sack King

A breakdown of Robert Quinn’s 19 sacks in the St. Louis Rams’ 2013 season.

Sacks by quarter
First 6
Second 6
Third 2
Fourth 5
Sacks by point differential
Tied games 4
Rams trailing by 0-9 points 5
Rams trailing by 10+ points 1
Rams leading by 0-9 points 2
Rams leading by 10+ points 7

“Pass rushing is an art and you can get better at it,” Fisher said. “You can anticipate, you can get better with counter moves, get better on each opponent. He’s taking a lot of time, studying, and I think he knows how to approach each opponent week in and week out, he understands the system very well. One would think he’d probably have better numbers than he did last year.”

Improving upon 2013 will be tough but if he can do it, Quinn has a chance to approach Michael Strahan’s season sack record of 22.5.

One way that could be possible is for the Rams to more consistently build a lead in games. Nine of Quinn’s sacks came with the Rams leading and four more came in tied games in 2013.

On the rare occasions when the Rams held a double-digit advantage, Quinn was at his best. Six of his final eight sacks came with the Rams leading by at least 10.

And though Quinn figures to draw more attention from blockers, the Rams have plenty of other linemen more than capable of generating pressure and a defensive coordinator in Gregg Williams who can create it with blitzes if necessary.

Fellow end William Hayes, who is part of that defensive line depth, doesn’t believe additional attention will affect Quinn. He’s just too much to handle.

“Rob’s not just cool with what he had last year,” Hayes said. “Rob wants to be the best. Rob’s the best football player I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m saying at any position. He does stuff I’ve never seen. He’s special.”

In discussing his goals for 2014, Quinn has played coy. He offered a resounding “maybe” when first asked if he was targeting Strahan’s record. After asking if he could plead the fifth when asked again, Quinn acknowledged that it’s at least crossed his mind.

“I’m sure any D-lineman or anybody coming for sacks wants to take down that record but you’ve got to go one sack at a time,” Quinn said. “I’ve got a lot of work to do to better myself.”

For those who stand in his way, it’s a terrifying idea. What makes it worse is that it’s true.

Stephen A. Smith Suspension Exposes ESPN’s Bigger Problem

By Brian Lowry

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/stephen-smith-suspension-exposes-espn-bigger-problem-013417782.html

ESPN has a problem. It wants to be in the thick of things, to be part of every major debate pertaining to sports. But its commentators and analysts – rooted as they are in trade deadlines and X’s and O’s – can be loose cannons, occasionally getting in over their heads when pressed to address topics that go beyond their areas of expertise.

Stephen A. Smith – suspended for his remarks about domestic violence pertaining to the NFL’s questionable action regarding Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice – is just the latest to engender controversy in one of these scenarios.

First, Smith awkwardly suggested that women can play a role in provoking situations of domestic violence. Then he began apologizing and seeking to clarify those remarks via Twitter. Then he went on air and apologized some more. And then ESPN still opted to discipline him.

But the channel can’t really have it both ways. If the goal is to be provocative – and those participating in these free-for-alls are, inevitably, encouraged to be colorful and bicker – it only stands to reason people are occasionally going to say questionable or offensive things, especially when tackling hot-button political issues.

At this point, it’s hard to keep track of all the flare-ups. There was basketball analyst Chris Broussard expressing his faith-based disapproval of homosexuality in relation to Jason Collins becoming the NBA’s first openly gay player. Rob Parker was suspended for questioning quarterback Robert Griffin III’s “blackness.” Mike Ditka called Jonathan Martin a “baby,” saying he wouldn’t want to coach him, for the bullying accusations that resulted in the NFL acting against Miami Dolphins teammate Richie Incognito. Elsewhere, another former coach, Tony Dungy, created headaches for NBC Sports with his comments about Michael Sam.

And so it goes. Athletes are people, after all, and thus the stories about them can be as ugly and troubling as anything humanity can dredge up. But a channel that obsesses so relentlessly over what city LeBron James calls home is often ill-equipped to do a quick pivot and deal with matters that touch on harassment (workplace or sexual), gay rights or race.

ESPN has taken some steps to bolster its journalistic bona fides, from hiring Keith Olbermann – who, love him or hate him, has a background in covering news that goes well beyond the playing field – to columnist Jason Whitlock. For the most part, though, the network is too often left relying on whoever’s available to cover the story of the moment – a prisoner, like virtually everyone else, of the vagaries of the 24-hour news cycle.

Corporate justice is never dispensed with complete uniformity in these instances, and one can argue till the cows come home about who made comments that merited a suspension and who didn’t.

The bottom line, though, is that if ESPN continues to cover the breadth of sports in all its messy, complicated glory – and expects to do so by featuring people who spend most of their time preoccupied with the minutia of the game – well, let’s just say the PR department should keep several versions of a boilerplate apology on file, just in case.

That was a good one.

Hayes played hurt the last 2 seasons.

And it’s impossible to not admire his spirit.

“I want to get in the postseason,” Hayes said. “That’s what it’s all about. I’m a team guy. I don’t care about accolades. If that was the case, I could have went somewhere and been the starter.

You know I always thought the thing with Quick was mentality. You could see that hangdog demeanor when he made mistakes in games. I suppose I thought confidence can’t be coached but then one of Fisher’s abilities is giving players confidence. I was not high on adding Britt but sometimes strange things happen.

If this carries over it will be huge.

Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher – July 29, 2014

(On what impressed him the most about the first day of practice in pads)
“Today was the first time we had everybody in pads. Yesterday, we had a special teams practice with pads and the young guys kind of got use to it, but today was really what we expected. They love to practice, they protect each other, no issues except we made a lot of big plays on both sides of the ball today. It’s good to see them. Tomorrow’s the break, they get the day off, they get to recover and then we’ll have three solid days in Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

(On WR Kenny Britt’s chatter and what he thinks it does for the energy in practice)
“That’s just how he is. He has fun with it and they all have fun with it. I’ve reminded him that if you spin the ball in front of an opponent after you score a touchdown you’re kicking off at the 15 yard-line and so we’re not going to do that anymore. But he’s very emotional, he loves playing the game, he feels good and he’s making a lot of plays for us.”

(On if Britt is having a positive impact on WR Brian Quick)
“Yeah you can see. One thing about Kenny is that Kenny may make a mistake as far as an incorrect route here and there, but he does it going full speed. And Brian early on in his career if he wasn’t sure, he wasn’t quite at full speed. I think Brian’s learned just to go. Good things happen when you’re running hard.”

(On DE Michael Sam’s first day in pads with the full squad)
“Well, he was in the pads yesterday with special teams, but he competed with the rest of them. I haven’t seen the pass rush but it looked like he held his own in the team periods.”

(On how Sam has been fitting in)
“He’s been doing a great job. We’re treating him just like all the other rookies in the rookie class.”

(On what Sam needs to do to make the team)
“No different than the rest of the rookie class. They have to be competitive, they have to make plays, they have to improve throughout camp. You have to see them do things in preseason games.”

(On DE Robert Quinn’s room to develop)
“Yeah, he really thinks he does. He thinks he can get better, he’s working at it. The plays that he made last year at critical times in ball games were very, very impressive if you go back through the end of the games, the end of halves, the two-minute things. Yeah he feels like he can get better, we’re doing everything we can to help him get better.”