*like*

Our offense does not have super-studs. But it has the POTENTIAL for a synergy that would be above average. And that would include the passing game

I think that’s all true.

I don’t know which skill guys are going to step up and do what in this offense, but I would think it would be at least as good as the Carolina game showed they could be.
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Preseason Power Rankings No. 20: St. Louis Rams

Curtis Crabtree
July 13

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/13/preseason-power-rankings-no-20-st-louis-rams/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs

The St. Louis Rams were a trendy pick to possibly make a push for the playoffs last season. A 1-3 start to the season put the Rams in a hole and losing Sam Bradford for the year after seven games was the final nail in the coffin to their playoff aspirations.

But the Rams could take positives out of last year’s performances. Their defense became a nightmare to opposing quarterbacks as Chris Long and Robert Quinn led a scary defensive front and Zac Stacy showed promise as a possible replacement for Steven Jackson.

Unfortunately for St. Louis, they find themselves at the bottom of the best division in the NFL.The Rams added 11 draft picks to their roster as the continue to retool their talent under head coach Jeff Fisher. What are the prospects for the upcoming season? We take a look at the roster below as training camp approaches.

Strengths.

St. Louis may have the best defensive front in all of football. With Chris Long and Robert Quinn combining for 27.5 sacks last season and Michael Brockers and Aaron Donald manning the interior, the Rams will be a handful for any offensive line their square off against. In addition, the Rams still have depth along their front with Kendall Langford, Eugene Sims and William Hayes as rotational players.

James Laurinaitis and Alec Ogletree give the Rams a nice pair of linebackers they can rely on. Also, Jared Cook and Lance Kendricks are a dependable tight end pair.

Greg Zuerlein and Johnny Hekker provide a strong duo of specialists as well for St. Louis.

Weaknesses.

While the Rams defense proved fearsome at times last season, there were still a could problem areas on that side of the ball. Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Will Witherspoon struggled at times at the strong-side linebacker spot. In addition, Darian Stewart and Rodney McLeod had issues at safety after T.J. McDonald suffered a broken leg and was placed on the short-term injured reserve list. Those areas remain question marks heading into training camp.

St. Louis is still lacking a true No. 1 option at receiver and depth in their secondary as well.

Changes.

Cortland Finnegan was released by the Rams over the offseason, which elevated Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson into the presumed starting roles ahead of training camp. Johnson could get pushed for his starting job by rookie Lamarcus Joyner, but Joyner may be best suited in the slot.

First-round selections Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald both should slot into the starting lineup on each side of the ball. Robinson is slated to replace the departed Chris Williams at left guard with Donald supplanting Kendall Langford at defensive tackle.

Camp battles.

Most of the major position battles should come on the defensive side of the ball for the Rams. Jo-Lonn Dunbar and Ray-Ray Armstrong will battle for the third linebacker position, Trumaine Johnson could be pushed by second-round pick Lamarcus Joyner for the starting job opposite Janoris Jenkins at cornerback and Rodney McLeod could be challenged by fourth-round pick Mo Alexander at safety.

On the offensive side of the ball, the receiver position seems to be wide open. Tavon Austin’s role is secure as caught more passes than any other St. Louis receiver last year.. However, the Rams have a gaggle of receiving options behind Austin without much separation between them. Chris Givens likely enters camp as the team’s top option on the perimeter after leading the receiving corps with 569 yards last year. Kenny Britt, Austin Pettis, Stedman Bailey and Brian Quick all will be vying for playing time as well.

In addition, Isaiah Pead and third-round pick Tre Mason will likely battle for the backup role to starter Zac Stacy at running back.

Prospects.

The Rams sit looking up at the best division in football. Seattle and San Francisco met in the NFC Championship game last season and the Arizona Cardinals were playing as well as anyone at the end of the regular season.

St. Louis faces the real possibility of being an improved team but still not seeing much improvement in their overall record.

Sam Bradford is entering the final year of his rookie contract. The Rams could take a bigger leap than anticipated if Bradford can finally take the step forward in proving he can be one of the league’s better signal callers. Bradford was completing nearly 61 percent of his passes and had posted a 14-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio before his season ended due to injury.

The Rams keep taking baby steps in their quest to improve from their decade of futility. However, they’ll need more than baby steps of improvement to run down the teams at the top of their division.

“I think the addition of Kenny Britt will be a huge boost for the Rams offense,” Witherspoon told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday. “I expect him to blossom into a star.”

Well, it would sure come in handy.

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nittany ram wrote:

Well, I don’t consider Bradford a gamble at all. I think this season will finally put an end to the media’s ‘wondering’ about the abilities of Sam Bradford.

Yeah it’s interesting to see how a different analysis sees the same issue.

http://theramshuddle.com/topic/s-i-offseason-report-card-rams-2/
Will that ascension happen in 2014? Well, it could, if Bradford picks up where he left off last season pre-injury and all that youth matures.

Even if the process takes another year, though, this is all headed in the right direction. This current offseason only tossed more coal into the fire.

One say, Bradford and all his issues = a gamble. The other (quoted here) says, Bradford just needs to pick up where he left off.

If I were to be a complete homer about this, my interpretation is–one guy (Burke, the “just needs to keep it up” guy) saw more Rams games than the other guy (Lande) did.

,,

Hello TSRF. We worried about you. How did you finally find us? I had no email, and so on. I didn’t know this thread was still on the Rams board though so I am going to move it to the Board Policies and Issues board.

Here’s a good thread to join in the festiveness of all this–moving, finding people again…

http://theramshuddle.com/topic/ever-wandering-lost-tribe-of-ram-fans/

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wv wrote:

Then i think its only fair if i bring in other positions. For example
i would argue that “Running RBs” get tackled less
than stationary pocket RBs.

Think about that algebra, right there.

w
v

Look, now you’re just running circles around me. You said you would only do that when I defended fumblers.

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wv wrote:

Well, i’m not even sure i would agree that there is one
category we could call ‘running QB.’

Ya know. There’s Staubach. And Kaepernik. And Tarkenton.
And Russell Wilson. And Steve Young. And Montana. And Rothlisberger.
And Cam Newton. And Randall Cunningham. Troy Aikman. And RG3. And even Andrew Luck.

I’m not sure, but i think there are different categories QBs in that group.

w
v

Well, when you get down into the details…that’s true. But I’m fine for now with the simple difference in 2 categories.

I think it’s roughly true that there’s a style of qb who uses his legs as a part of his game–to run or to scramble or to both–and then pocket passers who have varying degrees of lesser mobility.

So for example Bradford is more mobile than Warner but as long as I’m relying on rough categories, I put them both on the “pure pocket passer” side.

So Bradford v. Newton in its own different way amounts to the same as Warner v. McNair.

wv wrote:

Well for me, the statement “running qbs get sacked more” is perplexing.
I’m not sure what that ‘means’ to you.

I mean, would Roger Staubach have been a better QB
if he had stayed in the pocket all the time?
Would Elway or Steve Young have been better
without running ability? Would Russell Wilson be
better if he had no running ability?
Would Rothlisberger be more or less
dangerous if he had no running ability?

Obviously the ability to run is a ‘good thing’.

So, I’m not sure what your meta-point is here.

Steve Young, John Elway, Joe Montana,
Ben Rothlisberger, Roger Staubach…Ya know.
There’s running-quarterbacks, and there’s
running quarterbacks.

Some of the Running-QBs are just bad QBs.

w
v

Sometimes, I will just bite off small pieces and given em a good chew. Like, if this were science, I would have just carbon dated a fossil. Doing that isn’t a commentary on the nature of human existence.

So, I’m not thinking about the general category of “the running/mobile qb” or judging the type in general or downgrading them.

I was just kicking around the idea that running qbs get sacked more. The context of that is, debates over the years with guys who say they get sacked LESS. For example, last fall, I had debates with some guys who said that because he was more mobile, Clemens got sacked less than SB. Actually he got sacked at a higher rate. Whenever this kind of thing comes up, in fact, I say the same thing–the r/m qb gets sacked more, not less.

So it just occurred to me to ask, have I ever actually seen that quantified? I looked. No one had done it, not that I saw in a fast search. So, I just went ahead and did it.

So I haven’t even climbed the ladder yet up to the more complicated issue of comparing them.

I think all I showed is that in terms of sack percentages, the pocket passer tends to do better.

But someone could easily say, yeah, well, but, there are other advantages to having a r/m qb that balance that. And I would probably go…sure.

I doubt Johnson is even remotely in the cards for the Rams. He would be about about an 11 M cap hit, and that’s just for this year. Rams can’t afford a 11 M cap hit without heavy roster reduction.

http://overthecap.com/cap.php?Name=Andre%20Johnson&Position=WR&Team=Texans

Originally these articles went up because there were some questions about whether Wms could sustain a defense, or if he burned players out.

In 2003, before he got there, the Washington D was ranked 25th. While he was there they were ranked as follows:

2004: 3rd
2005: 9th
2006: 31st
2007: 8th

All the above articles try to figure out what happened in 2006. The story gets muddied because one player at least turned against him and complained, though anonymoustly. The player was assumed to be Adam Archuletta.

It was a variety of things, but I don’t think the articles support the “players burn out on him” narrative. The most dramatic thing I could see was that he changed personnel between 05 and 06 and made a lot of poor choices with the replacements. There’s other stuff there too but that to me looked like a key thing.