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znModeratorznModeratorSome notes
Both Johnson and Joyner got injured, and that elevated Gaines’ snaps.
33-E.Gaines STL DB 1037 0 0.0% 935 89.0% 102 22.5%
22-T.Johnson STL DB 490 0 0.0% 433 41.2% 57 12.6%
20-L.Joyner STL DB 369 0 0.0% 277 26.4% 92 20.3%
Same thing happened to Long.
91-C.Long STL DL 232 0 0.0% 232 22.1% 0 0.0%
95-W.Hayes STL DL 608 0 0.0% 534 50.8% 74 16.3%
znModeratorFirst happy father’s day to all the fathers out there. And to their fathers too.
This was my father’s day’s card from my daughter.
First, it was a “get well” card that said “sorry to hear about your accident.” (I am of course well and of course there was no accident.)
She then signs it “Happy birthday mom!”
Sweet thing, she knows I’m into misdirection humor and I thought it was really funny.
znModeratorMatt Barrows: Can talent offset 49ers’ offseason tumult?
San Francisco talented but faces tough competition in division after offseason of change
Comparing this season’s roster to the 2014 team
49ers’ offensive line sees more change than any other positionhttp://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/article24986635.html
Eight-and-eight.
That sounds like a weaselly forecast when it comes to the 49ers’ season, the equivalent of your parents insisting they like you and your siblings “the same” (even Scotty) or every Little League team getting a trophy at season’s end no matter how terrible some were.
Eight-and-eight is safe, it doesn’t ruffle feathers, and it goes unnoticed. It’s the tan slacks and navy blue blazer of predictions. It blends. It’s boring.
But how can you take a fierce stance either way when it comes to the 2015 49ers? On one hand, they’ve had to absorb more change this offseason than any other team and competes in a pressure cooker of a division.
On the other, it remains a talented group despite the offseason tumult.
How talented? Here’s a position-by-position analysis of this year’s squad vs. 2014’s, which a year ago was certain it was worthy of Super Bowl but finished 8-8.
Quarterback – The group promises to be the same as it was a season ago – Colin Kaepernick starts, and Blaine Gabbert backs him up. The difference is that Kaepernick spent the offseason working on his weaknesses instead of his abs. (Or judging from recent footage, maybe in addition to his abs).
That alone must be viewed as a gain over last year. As is the case with every NFL team, the season will pivot on the play of the quarterback more than any other player, and Kaepernick seems to be taking the rights steps. Gained.
Offensive line – It’s possible only one starter – Joe Staley – will start the 2015 season in the same spot he ended the 2014 season. The unit has been shaken up like no other, and the new guys either are less experienced or less talented as the players they are replacing. Lost.
Running back – The hope here is that many talented players – from Carlos Hyde to Reggie Bush to Kendall Hunter – can compensate for the loss of a borderline Hall of Famer in Frank Gore.
Something to consider: Can the group duplicate Gore’s consistency and toughness? In 10 seasons, he missed 11 of 168 games because of injury. Hyde already has missed two, and he dealt with a minor calf injury this spring. Lost.
Wide receiver – The 49ers had talent last year, but Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree essentially were clones of each other. With Torrey Smith and Jerome Simpson added and Crabtree subtracted, there’s more diversity, which should make the offense more difficult to defend. Gained.
Tight end – A year ago, Vernon Davis was distracted, injured and underutilized. That Davis is entering his contract year – and thus is motivated – alone puts this position in the “plus” category. The 49ers have seven other players at the position, and the competition ought to forge three good ones, in addition to Davis, for the regular season. Gained.
Defensive line – The situation is similar to the running backs in that the plan is to replace two stalwarts with several, mostly young, players. The difference is that while Gore showed little sign of slowing down last season – his best games came in Weeks 16 and 17 – Justin Smith was starting to break down (although not so much that the 49ers wouldn’t have welcomed him back for another season).
The 49ers will miss his leadership and his and Ray McDonald’s experience, but with Quinton Dial, Tank Carradine and other youngsters finally getting a chance, the loss may not end up being as dramatic as it appears at first blush. Lost.
Inside linebacker – NaVorro Bowman is supremely motivated to return to his pre-injury form, and Michael Wilhoite is more seasoned than he was at this point a year ago. Still, Chris Borland’s sudden retirement means this group is not as deep as it was in 2014. And until Bowman shows he is past his injury, he remains a question mark. Lost.
Outside linebacker – A year ago, Aldon Smith had a nine-game suspension looming while Ahmad Brooks reported to training camp vastly overweight. Brooks appears to be as fit as he’s been in several years, while Smith must become the pass-rushing force he was early in his career to get a new, lucrative contract.
The 49ers used a third-round pick on Eli Harold, while Aaron Lynch is building off a rookie season in which he played 49.1 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. The prospects this year appear far better than they were in 2014. Gained.
Secondary – The 49ers must replace two starting cornerbacks. But one of the presumed starters this year, Tramaine Brock, would have started a year ago had he been healthy.
The unit is buoyed by two smart, sturdy safeties, Eric Reid and Antoine Bethea, who will help the group absorb changes. The secondary is deep with the addition of second-round pick Jaquiski Tartt and with cornerbacks Keith Reaser and Kenneth Acker healthy.
The biggest offseason loss may have been secondary coach Ed Donatell, whose coverages worked brilliantly in San Francisco’s overall scheme and produced 78 interceptions over the past four regular seasons. Still, from a talent standpoint, this is probably a push. Even.
Special teams – The 49ers went with a youth movement last season on their coverage units, which were shaky early and seemed to find their footing only when veteran Bubba Ventrone was re-signed after Week 5.
The team again appears poised to rely on youngsters at key spots. Ventrone retired, Kassim Osgood is unsigned, and Craig Dahl must battle to retain his roster spot. Meanwhile, Bradley Pinion, 21, takes over for Andy Lee, 32, as the team’s punter and holder. Lost.
znModeratorWilliams thinks Rams’ defense has chance to be special
By Jim Thomas
When Rams defensive players returned for the start of the offseason conditioning program in late April, each received an individual tape — an individual report if you will — showing strengths and weaknesses in his play.
“It’s one thing for a coach to talk to all the defense,” coordinator Gregg Williams said. “It’s one thing for a coach to talk just to his position area. But the (position) coaches went the extra mile.”
And produced individual tapes, self-scouting their own players.
“The guys took it to heart and really had a very good spring in the weight room, in the training room and then here on the field,” Williams said. “It’s light years ahead of where we were last year (at this time) because they didn’t know me, I didn’t know them.
“Just from a terminology (standpoint), are we speaking the same language? Do we understand what we really want? It took a little bit of time for all of us to get acclimated last year.”
But now a foundation has been laid. There has been a base of information established for a defense that was among the league’s best over the second half of last season. If nothing else, Williams hopes the familiarity helps the Rams avoid the slow starts defensively that have plagued the team for several seasons under coach Jeff Fisher, predating Williams’ arrival a year ago.
To say that Williams raised the subject of slow starts during the spring would be understatement.
“Why don’t you ask these young gentlemen who play if I have worn them out about that,” Williams said. “Yes, we’ve discussed it.”
Linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar, whose association with Williams dates to time they spent together in New Orleans, can vouch for that.
“We’ve stressed that 10-fold,” Dunbar said. “Gregg mentions it every day. That’s the first thing he says to us every day. … ‘Start fast. Start fast. Start fast.’ So what we need to do is start fast as a defense and start fast as a team.”
The pieces certainly are in place for that to take place this year. Returning from last season are seven of the team’s top nine defensive linemen, the top four linebackers and all 11 of the top defensive backs.
Fortifying that group are the free-agent additions of defensive tackle Nick Fairley, a first-round pick by Detroit, and outside linebacker Akeem Ayers, who won a Super Bowl last season with the New England Patriots.
“He has really fit in quite well here,” Williams said of Fairley. “The thing that’s been really fun for me to watch is the big eyes he had when he came in and saw the talent in that room. He saw, and all of a sudden, ‘Whoa! I’m going to have to compete for any time to get on the field with these guys.’ It’s gonna be fun packaging all those guys up.”
As for Ayers, Williams has some familiarity from the year (2013) they spent together in Tennessee.
“We’ve got to try to adapt some things to his skill set,” Williams said. “Hide the things that he doesn’t do real well but maximize the things that he does do well. And he does some really good things.”
Overall, Williams has tried to eliminate clutter from the defensive playbook — plays and schemes that for whatever reason didn’t fit or didn’t work. But he’s also added a few tricks. Williams said he has 42 packages of personnel alignments and groupings in his playbook — the defense worked on 18 of them this spring.
Familiarity with his staff after a year together has allowed Williams to give them more responsibility on the practice field. Williams isn’t as omnipresent, although it still is hard to miss him.
“The assistants know more about what I want,” Williams said.
Williams has been around the NFL long enough to know what a special defense looks like. He’s had several of them himself over the years at his many stops throughout the league.
Can this be one of them?
“We would hope so,” Williams said. “I would tell you this: I’ve had a chance to be a part of … many special defenses. I’ve been seven different places and at five of those seven places we’ve been top five or best in the world at what we do. This is a talented group.”
But a couple of things have to happen to make the leap from talented to special. One is communication. Miscommunication in the heat of a game can lead to a busted play.
“One play can beat you one way or the other,” Williams said. “But when they are on the same page and you see these guys talking, yeah, there’s a chance for them to be special.”
Another important factor, Williams says, is the passion the players have for success. As he sees it, succeeding at the highest level has to be more important to the players than it is even to the coaches.
“The good teams I’ve ever been on, and some of the greatest defenses I’ve ever been a part of, it was much more important to them than it was to me,” Williams said.
And it’s very important, obviously, to Williams. So much so that each defensive player was handed a report Thursday at the end of organized team activities, comparing where they are now to where they were at the start of the offseason program — on April 20.
“Where they grew, where they didn’t grow,” Williams said.
And what they need to accomplish on their own before the team reconvenes for the start of training camp at the end of July.
It was Williams’ way of saying: Have a nice summer.[
znModeratorThat was great.
znModeratorThe trouble with “discussing” the issue of gun control is in differentiating between the genuine concerns of some over a purported loss of liberty or right from those using that argument as a pretext to a misguided sense of masculinity (both men and women).
I look to the Canadian model (as I mentioned) and I recognize from that model that no one has to view gun regulation as anything even remotely like a “loss of liberty.” Why they choose to, I don’t know, because personally, I never hear arguments about that make any sense to me. I know people DO view it that way, but what I HEAR when I hear it is roughly equivalent in its sense-making as people who claim that the lord dictated that men rule over women.
It’s ideas, and passions, and beliefs.
My apologies on this to bnw but we just speak to each other from across a great divide.
znModeratorThe All-22: Grading Evan Mathis’s 2014 tape with … Evan Mathis
http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/06/19/evan-mathis-contract-eagles-offseason-chip-kelly
This right here is a good read.
It compares a film assessment by an outsider to the player talking about his assignments.
znModeratorDefense Looks for Continuity to Breed Success
By Myles Simmons
For all the changes the Rams have made on one side of the ball, what has stayed the same on the other is worth its share of headlines.
With Gregg Williams back, St. Louis has the same defensive coordinator in consecutive years for the first time since head coach Jeff Fisher took over in 2012. And given how well Williams’ unit finished 2014, there are a number of reasons for optimism heading into the season.
“The continuity is awesome,” defensive end Chris Long said during OTAs. “It’s good to have him anyway, but when you have him two years in a row, the young guys have the opportunity to grow in his scheme — learn the scheme and master it.
“Now we’re not spending so much time trying to catch up in the summer,” Long continued. “We’re playing ball.”
The defensive coordinator himself said on Thursday that the unit is “lightyears” ahead of where it was a year ago because of the familiarity.
“Just from a terminology [standpoint] — are we speaking the same language? Do we understand what we really want? It took a little bit of time for all of us to get acclimated last year,” Williams said. “And now we’re hoping we can start off faster this year because there’s a knowledge base of information that we all know is the same.”
“It’s good because you can build a relationship with somebody and you know how they play, know what they want from you,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said of having Williams back. “You get a lot more comfortable, and I think you play a little bit faster.”
Along with that, Williams said players are now familiar enough in the scheme to make checks and audibles based on what they see from the opposition.
“I’ve given them a lot of tools in their toolbox, but now they understand those tools,” Williams said. “They’ll be making calls out on the field that fit their skill set. They’ll stay in the family of the call, but the call has all kinds of adjustments that fit their skill set. They can do that now because we’ve had all this experience together.”
What the defensive coordinator doesn’t want to do is overwhelm the players by giving them too much to learn and digest. Like he has at each coaching stop, Williams said he’s worked to adapt the Rams’ scheme to best fit the current unit’s strengths.
“We’ve taken [away] some of those things, but then we’ve also added things,” Williams said. “Some of the things we’ve added, they’ve brought to us that they’ve done before in the past. We’ve adapted a couple of things there.”
The defensive coordinator said even the assistant coaches know more about what he expects, and have put in the time to ensure it happens. Williams gave plenty of credit to his defensive staff for assembling individualized video cuts for each of the players to study during OTAs. According to Williams, the clips displayed both strengths and weaknesses to have the best impact on growth and development.
“The coaches went the extra mile,” Williams said.
It helps, too, that the Rams have the vast majority of 2014 defensive contributors still with the club for the upcoming season. Long said having that continuity is awesome.
“It’s something I haven’t experienced a ton around here,” Long said. “We just have to take care of the little things every play and that’s something the continuity will help us do.”
Given how well the defense played down the stretch last year, expectations are high for 2015. And with Williams’ experience in coaching top-flight units, he said there’s a possibility that this defense could turn out to be special.
“We would hope so,” Williams said. “This is a talented group, and in order for us to be that way, there can’t be any miscommunication. One play can beat you one way or another.
“But when they are on the same page,” he continued, “if you see these guys talking — yeah, there’s a chance for them to be special.”
Long agreed with his coordinator’s assessment.
“We’ve sensed that it’s been in the making,” Long said. “We’ve had frustration at times that we weren’t consistent enough. I think that’s something we’re going to harp on — if we are consistently our best we can be as good as we want to be.
“The important thing is trying to impose our will on offenses,” Long added. “I think we don’t have any weaknesses right now, so that’s a wonderful thing.”
znModeratorWell, don’t go to movies when I am PMing you.
Don’t be absurd. The only reason I go to the movies is so you will PM me.
znModeratorThe All-22: Grading Evan Mathis’s 2014 tape with … Evan Mathis
http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/06/19/evan-mathis-contract-eagles-offseason-chip-kelly
When the Eagles released left guard Evan Mathis last week, it wasn’t a huge surprise from a personnel standpoint. Mathis had long been unhappy about his contract, which was set to pay him $5.5 million in 2015 and $6 million in 2016. He had asked to be traded, and the Eagles acquiesced, but there were no takers—or, at least, none offering what Chip Kelly deemed a worthy return. And it’s not an enormous shock that a guard who will turn 34 in November would be cut, but in Mathis’s case, there was a mild uproar given his status as one of the league’s best at his position.
More than anything else, that perception was accelerated by Pro Football Focus’s ratings of Mathis’s work over the last two seasons—he was their No. 1 guard overall and their seventh-ranked player in 2013, and their No. 2 guard (behind Baltimore’s Marshal Yanda) and 59th-ranked player overall in 2014—despite missing seven games with a sprained MCL. PFF’s player rankings have gained a lot of traction in the industry, and for good reason, so there was general agreement that Kelly had gone too far in his quest to recreate the Eagles in his own image.
“Evan Mathis has been a guy PFF has championed for years, right back to his time as a backup guard with the Bengals,” PFF’s Sam Monson told me via email.
“Why? Because he has never done anything other than play excellent football. When he was locked in an unusual rotating position with the Bengals, he consistently out-graded the starter, Nate Livings. When he finally got his shot to start in Philadelphia, he set about playing like the best guard in football.
“Over the past four seasons, he has graded first, first, first and second in the PFF guard rankings. That second overall ranking in 2014 he achieved in nine games after his injury. Over his four seasons with the Eagles, he was downgraded once every 16.4 snaps as a run blocker.
“PFF isn’t the gospel of football, and certain schemes will like Mathis more than others, but the bottom line is that he is consistently one of the best performers in the game in the trenches and despite his age is showing no signs of slowing down.”
A fair enough assessment, but I hadn’t quite seen Mathis’s game that way, at least of late. Based on the tape I watched from last season, which comprised the games against Jacksonville in Week 1, Seattle in Week 14 and Dallas in Weeks 13 and 15, I wondered if Mathis will play at the level PFF presents into the future.
I also asked Bleacher Report’s Mike Tanier, an Eagles expert and an old Football Outsiders colleague of mine. Mike’s evaluation ran more in line with my own:
“Mathis wins as a run blocker when he uses initial quickness to get great positioning on his defender and pin him away from the play. The Eagles’ system helps in this regard: Mathis is usually firing off the ball without a huddle against a defender who had to hustle to get into position. Mathis handles his assignments well on inside zone plays, where he can use his experience to peel off double teams to the second level. In pass protection, he has wily veteran ‘find-a-way’ skills. A defender may beat him off the snap or overpower him, but Mathis will find a way to ride him away from the quarterback. Again, scheme helps here, as the Eagles’ pocket is often rolling, and Mathis can give a pass rusher a wide berth to the right if the quarterback is rolling left.
“Mathis is disciplined and crafty enough to be a stabilizer at guard. There’s a horizon coming where he won’t be able to make up for his lack of brute strength or top athleticism with positioning and orneriness.”
I was writing up my own unvarnished opinion when a funny thing happened.
I tweeted out a preview to this piece on Wednesday, and Mathis contacted me. We started a dialog, and I asked if he would be willing to respond to the five plays presented below with his own thoughts. So, what you’ll see here is my take on those five plays, followed by his responses. Those of us who grind tape all the time, even if we know the player responsibilities and understand the playbook, don’t know the random elements of particular plays unless we’re told.
Mathis asked me to specify that I was digging for negative plays for this piece, which is true. In trying to present a total picture of a player who has earned a reputation for stellar play, I wanted to unearth the less impressive stuff and see if it indicates a larger problem. And while I think there are issues worth addressing, Mathis’s responses do present a different picture.
Here’s the sack Mathis gave up to underrated Jaguars pass rusher Ryan Davis in Week 1. With 13:38 left in the first half, Davis lined up between Mathis and left tackle Jason Peters, and simply rode Mathis’s outside shoulder to quarterback Nick Foles for the takedown. Mathis couldn’t seal the edge and wall Davis off, and that’s what you want an elite guard to do.
Mathis: “I hate giving up sacks and haven’t given up too many in my career. This one was a weird one. The play before, I pulled outside and tried to cut the linebacker but ended up just clipping his knee with my head. I ended up with a killer stinger and noticed my entire left arm was numb when I got in my stance. I set back on Davis and punched but had no power. It caught me by surprise and I didn’t adjust well. I should have grabbed him with my right arm and dug my feet into the ground. I had the doctor working on my neck, shoulder, nerve, etc. after this series and not long after this I tore my MCL off the femur. It was such a fun day.”
The next play came in Week 13 against the Cowboys with 6:09 left in the first quarter. LeSean McCoy gains 19 yards on a really nice pull to the right side, but I had a question about Mathis’s assignment. He headed up to the second level, where Rolando McClain was chasing running back LeSean McCoy, and Mathis went right past McClain, only to recover and block him out. Tight end Brent Celek was blocking safety Barry Church playside at the second level, so I was curious about Mathis’s assignment—this looks like a whiff to people who watch it and don’t know the playbook. Why, in a case like this, does the left guard not simply take McClain out of the play right away?
Mathis: “This is a wide, outside play away from my side and my responsibility is to block McClain. Football is a game of angles. When heading up to linebacker level for an outside play, if I was to run where the linebacker was, I’d likely get out-leveraged and not make the block. Instead, I’m aiming where he’s going to be so that I can meet him there. The backer in this case came downhill too fast likely because he didn’t recognize that it was an outside play. This didn’t mesh with my angle that was expecting him to be running flat outside fast. He makes my job easy due to his poor angle, so I’m able to turn back on him and push him off course a little more — and he has no chance to impact the play.”
This play happened with 10:18 left in the second quarter in the Week 13 Dallas game. There’s an unbalanced line to the left side, with right tackle Lane Johnson between Mathis and Peters. Johnson takes tackle Nick Hayden at the snap. Mathis fires out to the left edge to block Jeremy Mincey, who loses his footing for a second as Peters chips him, and bounces off Mathis’s initial block to take McCoy down for a six-yard loss. It looked like Mathis was talking to Johnson right after the play was over. Was this an assignment issue?
Mathis: “The ball actually is supposed to hit inside of my block. Shady felt the pressure from the opposite defensive tackle, and tried to bounce it outside.”
Teams would frequently run end-tackle stunts against Peters and Mathis on the left side of the line. Against the Cowboys in Week 15 with 2:17 left in the first quarter, Mathis has to double defensive tackle Tyrone Crawford (98) and then peel off to take end Jeremy Mincey inside. Center Jason Kelce is busy dealing with tackle Nick Hayden because right guard Andrew Gardner took linebacker Rolando McClain on a blitz. Mathis looked to be late coming off the peel block on Mincey, and Mincey took Mark Sanchez down for the sack. What was the deal here?
Mathis: “Peters wasn’t doubling with me on the snap, he set and read the stunt and tried to bang it back. I was just late on this one and ended up with poor angle on Mincey, who did a great job coming around fast and strong.”
The last play under scrutiny came with 4:48 left in the first quarter of the Eagles’ Week 14 game against the Seahawks. Here, LeSean McCoy takes the handoff and makes a jump cut to the right side, but defensive tackle Tony McDaniel throws Mathis to the ground, and McCoy is stopped for a short gain. I was aghast at the fact that a top-tier guard could be thrown down like that, but Mathis advised me to look at the bigger picture.
Mathis: “It’s fourth-and-1, so I’m trying to get my head inside and get a strong initial push. He’s able to shed me and get the assist, but he didn’t get any penetration and has no upfield momentum. Now we’re first-and-goal on the 3.
So, where does Evan Mathis fit in today’s NFL? It’s my opinion that teams with a zone-blocking system with a lot of slide protection and combo blocks could benefit from his quickness and ability to hit blocks at the second level. I’m less sure about the future of his power game given what I saw, but the subject of this tape piece made it very clear to me that his 2015 tape will tell a different story. He’s earnest and motivated, and whether he gets the money he desires or not, I have little doubt regarding his future effort.
“My body of work was limited last year due to the injury,” Mathis concluded. “I’m very much ready to come back strong for an entire season and have my best year yet. I’ll listen to the age talk when I lose a step.”
And that’s where we’ll leave it—until the season begins, and Mathis gets a chance to prove his point with a new team.
When the Eagles released left guard Evan Mathis last week, it wasn’t a huge surprise from a personnel standpoint. Mathis had long been unhappy about his contract, which was set to pay him $5.5 million in 2015 and $6 million in 2016. He had asked to be traded, and the Eagles acquiesced, but there were no takers—or, at least, none offering what Chip Kelly deemed a worthy return. And it’s not an enormous shock that a guard who will turn 34 in November would be cut, but in Mathis’s case, there was a mild uproar given his status as one of the league’s best at his position.
znModerator…
This is from January. I don’t know what more recent inquiries would say. It’s just the first detailed account I found after a quick search. I will add more when I get a chance.…
Fact Tank – Our Lives in Numbers
A public opinion trend that matters: Priorities for gun policyLast month, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that a question about gun policy we have been asking since 1993 had passed a key milestone: For the first time in more than two decades, a higher percentage (52%) said it was more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns than to control gun ownership (46%).
The survey question has drawn criticism from gun control advocates and some experts on gun violence, who called it simplistic, misleading and even biased. They say that forcing respondents to choose between polar positions – “gun control” or “gun rights” – assumes that all regulations on gun sales infringe on gun owners’ rights.
Opinion on Controlling Gun Ownership vs. Protecting Gun Rights: 1993-2014
Here’s the full wording of the question: “What do you think is more important – to protect the right of Americans to own guns or to control gun ownership?”
This question presents respondents with simple, stark alternatives: When the issue of guns is raised, do you find yourself more on the side of protecting gun rights or controlling gun ownership? There is no indication that people have any difficulty answering this question or are ambivalent about the topic. In fact, when asked a follow-up about the strength of their opinion, 81% of those who said it is more important to control gun ownership felt strongly about that position; 91% of those who said it is more important to protect gun rights felt strongly.
How a person answers this question doesn’t presuppose how they might feel about any specific gun policy. In fact, it is not intended to measure opinion about proposals to restrict gun sales, to limit the ability of dangerous individuals to obtain guns or to put stricter background checks on gun purchases – all of which the Pew Research Center has asked about in recent surveys.
Rather, it is a gauge of broad sentiment over time on an important topic. In this regard, it is similar to “gut check” measures on other topics, such as, “Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal or not?”, whether homosexuality should be accepted or discouraged by society, or whether abortion should be legal or illegal in all or most cases.
None of these questions fully capture the nuances of public attitudes on these complex subjects. For instance, the widely cited trend on marijuana legalization, which dates back more than 40 years, does not specify the purposes for which marijuana might be made legal – recreational use, medicinal use or both? Yet each of these questions – on marijuana, homosexuality, abortion and guns – enables us to measure long-term change in the overall climate of public opinion and, equally important, how views among demographic and partisan groups have changed over time.
Broad Public Backing for Many Gun Policy Proposals
Because no single question can possibly paint a full picture of opinion on an issue, the Pew Research Center covers public policy from multiple angles. On gun policy, we have conducted polls exploring attitudes about a number of proposals, including stricter background checks on gun purchases, preventing people with mental illness from purchasing guns and establishing a federal database to track gun sales. Our January 2013 survey found that many of these proposals drew extensive public support (see “In Gun Control Debate, Several Options Draw Majority Support,” Jan. 14, 2013).
Other recent polls have looked at the differing perspectives of gun owners and non-gun owners and the potential impact of stricter gun laws in a number of areas, including whether such laws would reduce the number of deaths in mass shootings. Even after the Senate defeated a background checks bill in 2013, we found that 81% favored making private gun sales and sales at gun shows subject to background checks (see “Broad Support for Renewed Background Checks Bill, Skepticism About Its Chances,” May 23, 2013).
The Pew Research Center’s public opinion research, including our surveys on gun policy, is part of its broader mission as a nonpartisan research institution that studies the issues of the day. The Center does not take policy positions and does not engage in issue advocacy. It shares its research with the public to generate a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue and supports sound decision-making.
Changing Attitudes on Gun Policy
Examining trends over time is invaluable to understanding public opinion and is a core component of the Pew Research Center’s work. The question about gun control and gun rights was first asked in December 1993, a time when former President Clinton’s gun proposals – and his attempt to curb the power and influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) – drew broad public support. In that survey, 57% said it was more important to control gun ownership while just 34% said it was more important to protect gun rights
On 11 occasions between 1993 and 2008 (the question was not asked 1994-1998), majorities consistently said it was more important to control gun ownership than to protect the right of Americans to own guns. Since 2009, however, opinion has been more evenly divided. In April 2009, 49% prioritized controlling gun ownership – down 11 points from just a year earlier – while 45% prioritized protecting gun rights.
Opinion was little changed over the next three years. But in December 2012, shortly after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., a higher share said it was more important to control gun ownership than to protect gun rights (49% vs. 42%). By May 2013, opinion was, once again, divided (50% said it was more important to control gun ownership, 48% said it was more important to protect gun rights). And last month, by a six-point margin (52% to 46%) more prioritized gun rights than gun control.
Support for Assault Weapons Ban, Handguns Ban Has Slipped Since 1990s
The broad shift in views on this question has been mirrored in other trend measures on gun policy. For example, in October 2014 Gallup found that 47% said laws covering the sale of firearms should be “more strict,” down from 58% in December 2012. From 2000-2008, majorities typically favored making laws covering the sale of firearms more strict; support for stricter gun laws fell in 2009, increased after the Newtown shooting, and has declined since then.
And while there are few long-term trends of opinion regarding individual gun policies, surveys have found a decrease in support for some of these proposals. An April 2013 ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 56% favored a nationwide ban on assault weapons, down from 80% two decades earlier. Gallup found that support for banning the possession of handguns fell 16 points between 1993 and 2014.
Growing Partisanship
As noted, one advantage of any long-term trend question is the ability to measure how views have changed among different groups. In the case of marijuana legalization, age is a major factor in changing attitudes. On priorities for gun policy, growing partisanship has been responsible for much of the shift in opinion.
Dramatic Shift in Republicans’ Priorities for Gun Policy; Democrats’ Views Much More Stable
In the 1993 survey, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were divided over whether it is more important to control gun ownership or protect gun rights (47% each). As recently as 2007, 48% of Republicans and GOP leaners said it was more important to control gun ownership, while 47% said it was more important to protect gun rights.
Since 2007, Republican attitudes have undergone a dramatic change: The share of Republicans saying it is more important to protect gun rights has increased by 28 points to 75%. By contrast, Democratic opinion has remained much more stable. In December, about twice as many Democrats and Democratic leaners said it was more important to control gun ownership (65%) than to protect gun rights (31%).
znModeratorNever mind. It was time-sensitive, and it doesn’t matter anymore.
I gots to know. At least tell me what it was.
I was at a movie, I missed it. Sry.
znModeratorYou have a pm.
PMs are being screwy. I don’t see it. Email me at zackneruda@gmail.com.
znModeratorIt is too wide to show up optimally, but you can click on view image for a larger version and I wanted the entire line of text to show. Your version does show the numbers better.
Oh I didn’t get that. The image doesn’t click for me for some reason. Either way it’s all here in one form or another for whoever’s interested.
znModeratorReggie White was an LDE who shifted to DT on certain plays, but he certainly wasn’t a DT until the final years of his career.
To call Reggie White a DT, especially in the first 5 years of his career just isn’t correct.
Granted.
Sites like that, you always have to weave in your own corrections.
znModeratorAg there was a visibility issue with that pic. So I try again (doing only the top 20).
Note 2 Rams in the top 10.
Also, though… they didn’t start recording sacks as a stat, as we know, until 1982. Another figure who might be on an expanded list is Larry Brooks. In his 2nd season, 1973, he had 9 sacks. However, of course, we don’t know how many other DTs had before 82, so, you can’t really rank him.
June 19, 2015 at 8:06 am in reply to: the 2015 D: articles & vids on McCleod, Ogletree, Ayers, Gaines, Hayes, Fairley #26578znModeratorRams notes: McLeod excited about defense’s potential
By Joe Lyons
Signed as an undrafted free agent from the University of Virginia in May 2012, safety Rodney McLeod has made steady progress with the Rams.
As a rookie, he quickly established himself as a playmaker on special teams, leading the team with 16 tackles and catching a 21-yard pass from rookie punter Johnny Hekker in the Rams’ 24-24 tie in San Francisco.
In 2013, McLeod started 16 games at free safety and was third on the squad with 87 tackles. In addition, he picked off two passes, recovered two fumbles and had five pass defenses. On special teams, he made three tackles and forced a fumble that Daren Bates returned for a touchdown.
He made 16 more starts a year ago while recording a career-best 96 tackles to go along with two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and six pass defenses.
“Every year, he just steps it up a huge notch,” Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said. “He gets the game. Moves very well. I thought he played really well last year. He misjudged a couple deep balls, but everybody does that. But I thought he was really active, knew what do and run-supported very well.”
The Rams tendered McLeod, a restricted free agent, at a second-round level, guaranteeing the 24-year-old $2.365 million this season and assuring the club a second-round draft pick if he had received an outside offer that the team elected not to match.
“It meant a lot, honestly,” McLeod said. “It’s nice to see they appreciate the work I’ve put in the last three seasons. It’s a blessing. But I really don’t think it’ll change me or my approach. I’m still hungry and motivated and working to do whatever I can got get this team back to the Super Bowl.”
McLeod joins 2012 draft choices Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson and Mark Barron as the veteran players in a young and versatile group of defensive backs with the Rams. And it’s a role he takes seriously.
“Anything I can do to help, I’m more then willing,” the 5-foot-10, 195-pounder said. “As (defensive coordinator Gregg Williams) likes to say, there are no true starters because of all the different packages we use. Guys are out there competing, getting their hands on the ball and making plays. By pushing each other, everybody stays sharp.”
McLeod adapted quickly to Williams’ system and feels even more comfortable now.
“Each year, you just have a better idea what to expect,’’ the fourth-year pro said. “I’d like to make more plays and I’m watching film of the Pro Bowl safeties, seeing if there’s anything I can do to improve my game. As a group, our main goal is starting fast this year. If we can do that, I feel like the sky’s the limit.’’
ALEXANDER WITH THE STARTERS
With veterans T.J. McDonald and Barron slowed by injury, safety Maurice Alexander, the second-year pro from Eureka High, has been working in OTAs with the starters.
“It’s definitely exciting to be out there and getting a chance with the No. 1s,” said Alexander, 24, a fourth-round draft pick from Utah State. “Last year was tough for me, mainly because of injuries, but Coach Williams did a great job of keeping me ready mentally. Then, once I got healthy at midseason, I was able to do some good things and finish the season on a high note.”
After dressing for just one of the team’s first nine games, Alexander was a regular on special teams for the final seven games of the season. He finished sixth on the squad with seven special-teams tackles.
“Obviously, special teams is a big part of my role here,” he said. “Wherever they need me, I’m there. But being out there with the starters, it’s a great learning opportunity for me and I’m trying to take advantage of every rep.”
Williams is excited about the progress Alexander has made.
“If you want to talk about a guy that’s drastically different than last year, it’s Maurice,’’ the coach said. “He could hardly speak what we’re doing last year. He’d only played one season in college as a DB and now he’s in the NFL as a DB. Holy Cow, he was lost, but we knew he was talented. He’s had a great spring because he’s gotten more reps — next man up — because T.J. and Mark haven’t had as many.
“We’ve got a ton of stuff to do with three safeties and Maurice is now vying for get some of those shots, too.’’
znModeratorQuantum particles can vibrate in time. imo
Yeah. I learned that a couple of years from now.
znModeratorYes they are. All things are fine.
Got it.
What did you mean though by “beware the Ides of March”?
A little late for that, eh?
znModeratorReplied to pm.
PMs are screwed up again. I haven’t gotten it yet. Sigh.
znModeratorFor Rams’ Williams, familiarity breeds defensive improvement
Elisabeth Meinecke
FOX Sports MidwestST. LOUIS — As the Rams wrap up OTAs this week, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has already identified several signs that could bode well for his defensive unit heading into 2015 NFL regular season.
First, there was familiarity. This is Williams’ second season with the club, which meant less time spent hashing out basics such as terminology. As a result, he feels the unit is “light years” ahead of where it was at the same time last year.
“It took a little bit of time for all of us to get acclimated last year and now we’re hoping we can start off fast — faster this year because there’s a knowledge, a base of information that we all know is the same,” Williams says.
He also points out that, because of the familiarity, the players are able to take more ownership when they step onto the field.
“Listen to them to do a lot of the checking and (audibles),” he says. “I’ve given them a lot of tools in their toolbox, but now they understand those tools. And they’ll be making calls out on the field that fit their skillset. They’ll stay in the family of the call, but the call has all kinds of adjustments that they can do that fits their skillset. They can do that now because we’ve had all this experience together.”
Overall during OTAs, the defense tried out 18 different packages, although according to Williams, that’s less than half of the playbook he’s culled over his years in the league (though he doesn’t use all of them).
“We play a lot of different people, you know, whoever dresses on Sunday or dresses on game day, there’s going to be a package for those guys. They just don’t all play special teams,” he says. “And you see that we have 42 ways to add up to 11. When I say that, we have 42 words that (say these) 11 guys travel out there.”
Williams also said that, in an effort to help each player improve, the defensive coaching staff went the extra mile this offseason to make individual reports for every player on what they were doing well and what they needed to work on.
James Laurinaitis, Jo-Lonn Dunbar, Erin Shannon, Chris Long, William Hayes“Each player got a video cut-up of some things that we talked about — strengths, weaknesses, that was on tape, that we can see,” Williams said. “The fact that we have some things on tape now, that we could talk about, and there’s more of an understanding. There’s also more of a buy-in when a coach talks to you individually.”
It’s a buy-in the team will need to compete in the NFC West, which already features a Seattle Seahawks defensive unit that ranked first overall in the NFL last season. The Rams have plenty of talent and, after stuttering last year, rebounded to finish 17th in the league in overall defense. Still, with names such as Chris Long, Aaron Donald, James Laurinaitis and Robert Quinn, the ceiling is likely much higher.
In the end, Williams sees the potential for this defense to become something special.
“When they are on the same page, and you see these guys talking, yeah, there’s a chance for them to be special, but we’ve also got to get the opponent to cooperate, too,” Williams says. “This is a talented group, and in order for us to be that way, there can’t be any miscommunication. One play can beat you.”
znModerator(On how much is able to dig deeper into what he likes to do now that he’s entering into his second season with the defense)
“All that stuff is true, but also, ‘How do I not put too much clutter in what they’re thinking about?’ I take a lot of pride in adapting scheme to every team I go to. Every team I’ve gone to, I change the scheme based upon the skillset of the guys that are playing, not what I like calling. It’s what they can do. So, obviously because of understanding what they can do and what they like to do…and the other thing to is you talk to those guys here this offseason, is listen to them take ownership. Listen to them do a lot of the checking and audibling. I’ve given them a lot of tools in their toolbox, but now they understand those tools and they’ll be making calls out on the field that fits their skillset. They’ll stay in the family of the call, but the call has all kinds of adjustments that they can do that fits their skillset. They can do that now because we’ve had all this experience together.”
I’ve heard that’s a good thing. If true.Wonder how that syncs up with the start of last year? Low sack count, etc?
I think he did not do that last year the way he promised he would. I think he was still adjusting by the time the season started. I think he’s kind of a MCD style coordinator and didn’t really feel out what his guys could do. He no doubt thought he did, but he didn’t.
I think there are a lot of reasons why, but, it goes to him.
My own (quick, short hand) view of what happened with the sacks is this. The opposition was getting the ball out fast and paying special attention to Quinn. Among other things, adding Donald and then playing the safeties differently changed that. The biggest result of all that was the Denver game.
znModeratorWhat messes up race discussions a lot, it seems to me—and Mack gets at it very well I think—is the false idea of symmetry.
Race things are not symmetrical. Very good example: saying you’re proud of being white does not have the same meaning as saying you’re proud of being black.
Passing is a different experience too, as Mack makes abundantly clear.
It’s the same with gender, though in different ways. There’s no real or valid “men need to stand up and defend their rights” statement that makes the same kind of sense, at all, as a woman saying the same thing about women.
znModeratorRams Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams – June 18, 2015
(On what he got out of the offseason program)
“The guys really came back with a ‘work hard attitude’ and really I couldn’t have asked for them to come back with a more challenging attitude than what they did. One of the things we wanted to do is improve off of how we finished the year. I thought the assistant coaches did a great job on how they took, from a self-scouting point of view, and made a lot of individual reports for each guy. When they first came in the door those things were set and ready for them. The guys took it to heart and really had a very good spring in the weight room, in the training room and then here on the field. It’s light years on where we were last year because they didn’t know me and I didn’t know them. Just from a terminology, are we speaking the same language? Do we understand what we really want? It took a little bit of time for all of us to get acclimated last year. Now we’re hoping we can start off faster this year because there’s a knowledge, a base of information that we all know is the same. The other thing is, and I’ve said this before to you guys, ‘When will it ever be more important to them than to us?’ The good teams that I’ve ever been on and some of the greatest defenses I’ve ever been a part of, it was much more important to them than it was to me. These guys have kind of taken ownership in that, so it’s been fun. We’ve had a good spring here in the OTAs, the nine OTAs. Offensively, they’ve cooperated. I thought there was some really good things our offense was doing to challenge us and I didn’t think any of our guys backed off any of that. (Head Coach) Jeff (Fisher) does a really good job on how he takes care of our players as far as how we build them physically and how we build them mentally. So, we’ve had a very good offseason. This is a good time for them to get away now and start working on their own. Looking forward to training camp once we start back up.”(On if each defensive player received a self-evaluation tape from the coaches)
“Each player got a video cut-up of some things that we talked about – strengths, weaknesses – that was on tape that we could see. We all learn, is it verbally, audibly, visually, walking – how do we learn? And the fact that we have some things on tape now that we could talk about, and there’s more of an understanding. There’s also more of a buy-in when a coach talks to you individually. It’s one thing for a coach to talk to all the defense. It’s one thing for a coach to talk to just to his position area. But the coaches went the extra mile, each one of the assistants that work for me, and went to an individual report on an individual player because not all players are the same. If anybody here thinks that Michael Brockers and Aaron Donald play the position the same way, they don’t. But yet they play the same position, but their technique, the way they play is different. So how do we go about impacting growth and development on each individual guy and I thought our coaches did a really good job of that. But more importantly, it was fun for me to see the players buy into that and then they finished today. Today there was another report that was handed to each and every one of them on what they listened to on Day 1 of the offseason and now as they finished the offseason – where they grew, where they didn’t grow and before they come back to training camp. So, it’s been really good.”(On how much is able to dig deeper into what he likes to do now that he’s entering into his second season with the defense)
“All that stuff is true, but also, ‘How do I not put too much clutter in what they’re thinking about?’ I take a lot of pride in adapting scheme to every team I go to. Every team I’ve gone to, I change the scheme based upon the skillset of the guys that are playing, not what I like calling. It’s what they can do. So, obviously because of understanding what they can do and what they like to do…and the other thing to is you talk to those guys here this offseason, is listen to them take ownership. Listen to them do a lot of the checking and audibling. I’ve given them a lot of tools in their toolbox, but now they understand those tools and they’ll be making calls out on the field that fits their skillset. They’ll stay in the family of the call, but the call has all kinds of adjustments that they can do that fits their skillset. They can do that now because we’ve had all this experience together.”(On if he’s taken out things that don’t work or ‘clutter’ now that he has a better understanding of the defense’s skillset)
“We do that every year. We’ve taken some of those things, but we’ve also added things. Some of those things we’ve added, they’ve brought to us that they’ve done before in the past. We’ve adapted a couple of things there. But, how do we manage personnel? Our personnel has changed a little bit from last year. How do we manage packages? We play a lot of different people. Whoever dresses on Sunday or dresses on gamedays, there’s going to be a package for those guys. They don’t just all just play special teams. You see that we have 42 ways to add up to 11. When I say that, we have 42 words that this 11 guys travel out there. Well, we just did 18 of them here this spring. So, 18 of them are from different packages. When I say that people want to say, ‘Oh, is that a 3-4 package? Is that a 4-3 package? Is that a nickel package?’ No, it’s more than that. It’s all kinds of things because guys are buying in now, so there’s a package for that guy’s skillset.”(On if he has 42 packages in his playbook, 18 of which he’s used in practice during the spring)
“We don’t use all of them. But as coaches we spend so much time, poor time, in meetings on what we’re going to name something. I’ve got a bible on what we’re going to name it. I’ve been through this before so many times for 30 something years is that now that all those names are tagged and we don’t have to argue about what we’re going to name it. No, this is what we’re going to name it and we move on.”(On if he’s had debates with coaches throughout his career on what he’s going to name plays)
“Yeah. We have debates about all of a sudden we invent a new blitz, we need invent a new call then al of a sudden we’ll agree, ‘Yeah, we like that. Let’s do it. What are we going to name it?’ So we take, I don’t know how long it’s going to take before we name it, so now we don’t do that anymore. It’s all good because I’ve got all those things from years past. It’s fun to see the coaches buy into all that stuff. The coaches have done a very good job. I’ve been really pleased with the assistants on the development. They’ve done a lot more. Even in the practices that you guys have been around and have seen me, you’ve seen me do less because they can do more. The assistants know more about what I want.”(On if he’s spoken to the team about the slow starts they’ve encountered the last few years)
“Oh yeah. In fact, don’t take the quote from me. Why don’t you ask these young gentlemen who play if I’ve worn them out about that. That would be good, getting a quote from them. Yes, we’ve discussed it.”(On the defense finishing strong last year with the exception of the Giants game)
“In that Giants game there were five plays that I didn’t sleep very well on. They still bother me because they were simple plays and plays that we had seen before but we just didn’t play them very well. We were on a roll.”(On if he feels this defense can be a special one)
“We would hope so. I would tell you this: I’ve had a chance to be a part of several, many special defenses. I’ve been seven different places and five of those seven places where we’ve been top five or best in the world at what we do. This is a talented group. In order for us to be that way, there can’t be any miscommunication. One play can beat you one way or the other. When you see these guys, from coaching, I always take it personal. If they make a mistake, it’s because they don’t know, why don’t they know? It’s because evidently I didn’t get it to them right. But when they are on the same page and you see these guys talking, yeah. There’s a chance for them to be special. But we’ve also got to get the opponents to cooperate, too. We’ve got a pretty tough schedule. I don’t think there’s any simple schedules in the National Football League. Our schedule’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be fun to see these guys start out and hopefully start faster than we have in the past.”(On LB Akeem Ayers)
“He’s good. He’s been very good and he fit back in very quickly. For me, I was with him in Tennessee down there that one year. There’s some real similarities in the verbiage from there to here because that coach down there (Jerry Gray) was one of my protégés. They were already doing some of that similar stuff. But I really do believe that it was good for him to go see Bill Belichick. It was really good for him to go and witness that style, that demeanor, that focus and what they do and the success that he got from it. He’s come back here and he’s fit in very well. I think (LB) Jo-Lonn (Dunbar) has had – and he’s been with me for so long that they tease him about being my stepson and that he lives at my house and he has to go through that all the time – but, competition makes us all better. We’ll have packages for all of those guys to play. Not only Akeem but Jo-Lonn. Not only Jo-Lonn but (LB) Daren Bates and all those guys are going to have packages. But Akeem has fit in very well and we’ve got to try to adapt some things to his skill set. Hide the things that he doesn’t do real well but maximize the things that he does do well and he does some really good things.”(On the versatility that Ayers brings)
“It’s very good. I think that’s one of the things that I think Coach Belichick and I both look at is the more you can do, the better you are. You can’t have excuses when you have injuries during the season. You’ve got to be able to move people around, bring the next best guy up, and when you can play more than one position, we always look for our guys to play more than one position. It’s better. It helps you be more versatile. He can do all those things and he has done those things.”(On DT Nick Fairley)
“Nick has fit in really well here. I knew quite a bit about him. Coach Fisher knew quite a bit about him from the Auburn connections that they had there. He played for some people up in Detroit that were in my coaching tree also. I knew quite a bit about him and he has really fit in very well here. The thing that has been really fun for me to watch is the big eyes that he had when he came in and saw the talent in that room. He saw all of the sudden, ‘Whoa. I’m going to have to compete for any time to get on the field with these guys,’ and he has done a remarkable job. It’s going to be fun packaging those guys up. We just don’t play four guys or three guys on defense. We try to have as much of a 50-50 split or 45-55 split of a ballgame keeping those guys fresh and he’ll fit in good for us.”(On the play of the secondary this offseason)
“Very good, very good spring. Even to the point where guys who have not taken as many reps, if you see how close we keep them involved and playing the game when they’re not on the field, with T.J. (McDonald) and Mark Barron, you see them having to focus in and do things, but it’s been great for Maurice (Alexander). If you want to talk about a guy that’s drastically different from last year, he could hardly even speak what we were doing last year. He’d only played one year in college as a DB. Now all of the sudden he’s in the NFL as a DB? Holy cow. So he was lost, but he was talented. Now, he’s had a great spring just because he’s gotten more reps – next man up – because T.J. and Mark haven’t had as many. But, both of those guys will be back. It’s going to be fun. You all saw us last year maximize a lot on those three safety packages that we use. We have a ton of stuff to do – and three safeties – if we need to do that. Not if we, when we do that. Maurice now has vied for his time to get some of those shots, too.”znModeratorHi. You have a pm.
You have some ideas on how that 6 or so could be used. Practice squad, room for injury replacements, and maybe some other things. What are the other possibilities? I just think it would be nice if they were out there again.
znModeratorRams’ Tavon Austin aiming to shed bust label in 2015
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Two years into a thus-far disappointing NFL career, St. Louis Rams receiver Tavon Austin has heard the whispers. For Austin, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, one word rises above the rest: bust.
Entering his third season, Austin says he has made it a point to block out what others have to say but he hasn’t been able to completely avoid the criticism. It’s part of why Austin views this season as critically important to his NFL future.
“I think it’s real big to be honest just because of how the media say I’m a bust and all of that stuff,” Austin said. “I really don’t pay too much attention to it but I know one thing about it is when I’m focused, I’m focused. It’s going to be a different story this year and we’ll see what happens when we get to the end of the year.”
For both Austin and the Rams’ sake, the hope is that in 2015 Austin will drastically change the narrative of his career to this point. When the Rams traded up to take him at No. 8, they envisioned him becoming the type of dangerous Swiss Army Knife capable of dissecting opponents as a receiver, running back and punt returner.
As it’s turned out, the bulk of Austin’s production has mainly come as a returner, which makes trading up and spending the No. 8 overall pick a costly proposition for a special-teamer. As a receiver, Austin has 71 catches for 660 yards and four touchdowns in his first two seasons. Those numbers dipped to 31 receptions for 242 yards and zero touchdowns last season.
In the meantime, the Rams converted Austin into more of a running back under then offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. He had 36 carries for 224 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in 2014, though Schottenheimer’s insistence on running him between the tackles on a consistent basis left many scratching their heads.
Which is why some view Schottenheimer’s departure and the subsequent promotion of Frank Cignetti Jr. to coordinator as a glimmer of hope that Austin can deliver on his pre-draft promise.
Cignetti said Tuesday that Austin looks poised for a breakthrough.
“Tavon Austin’s had a great offseason,” Cignetti said. “Tremendous. It starts in the classroom. He’s learning, he’s paying attention. He’s bringing it to the practice field. You can just see it from his route running. What a difference. His effort, his attention to details. Every day out here, the guy’s made plays. Tavon’s had a great offseason and he’ll continue that into training camp.”
In a Rams offense that figures to be power-run heavy, the obvious question is where Austin fits into the scheme.
Skeptics might say that a 5-foot-8, 176-pound receiver in a run-heavy offense is the football equivalent of forcing a square peg in a round hole. Optimists might view Austin as the ideal complement to that offensive approach, capable of taking jet sweeps and short passes the distance to give the offense another look.
Cignetti wants to get Austin back to basics.
“Tavon Austin’s a wide receiver,” Cignetti said. “I wouldn’t say he’s a change-of-pace guy. He’s a guy you can put out there every down and the defense has to recognize, ‘Hey, Tavon’s on the field.’ So, whether it’s running down-the-field routes, intermediate routes, short routes or manipulating his touches, the defense always has to be aware of where is Tavon Austin.”
Austin’s lack of production to this point doesn’t solely fall on lack of creativity, either. By his own admission, he’s struggled to pick up the playbook and the nuances of route running. During organized team activities, Austin has been sharper than in the past, showing a newfound knack for making plays in traffic. Of course, he’s flashed in practice in the past and it hasn’t translated to the field.
Much like the rest of the offense, the proof will be in the production.
“Coach Cignetti has got a good scheme, good plan for me, going to try to get the ball in my hands as much as possible,” Austin said. “But in this league, you have got to be patient. Even if it comes to me blocking somebody or catching a deep ball, I’m definitely up for the challenge and hopefully I can touch the ball a little more this year.”
znModeratorYes. With a stipend for living expenses.
znModeratorJune 17, 2015 at 11:38 pm in reply to: the 2015 D: articles & vids on McCleod, Ogletree, Ayers, Gaines, Hayes, Fairley #26525znModeratorAyers calls Rams a good fit for him
By Jim Thomas
Akeem Ayers spent half of his 2014 season with the Tennessee Titans, a team that would finish 2-14.
Following a late October trade, he spent the rest of the season with a team that went on to win the Super Bowl — the New England Patriots.
“So I’ve been from the bottom to the top,” said Ayers, the Rams’ new starting outside linebacker. “I really have a good view on how a team does it right. How it looks, how they prepare, and how they work.”
He plans to bring some of that understanding and advice to St. Louis — not to mention the Patriots’ gaudy Super Bowl XLIX championship ring he picked up Sunday at festivities in Foxborough, Mass.
“I think that’s some good motivation, somebody who you’re playing with who just recently won a Super Bowl and a young guy,” said Ayers, who turns 26 next month. “I think everybody would love to see (the ring) and just get some motivation.”
As coach Jeff Fisher sees it, all that will come in time. Right now, Fisher’s more interested in seeing sacks and tackles from Ayers than Super Bowl bling.
“I don’t think he’s gonna stand up and say anything about it now,” Fisher said. “But we’re all happy for anyone that comes in the building that’s had that (Super Bowl) experience. I think in time it would be beneficial, but we’ll let him choose that time.”
If nothing else, Ayers’ experience in 2014, when he went from being unwanted and unused by one of the league’s worst teams to being a valuable role player with the eventual NFL champions, showed how small the margin is between winning and losing at this level.
“Everybody has the talent,” Ayers said. “It’s just the teams who put the extra work in. I think it’s more of the film study and just having a smart team. When you have a smart team and you have a team that plays with a lot of confidence, that’s the biggest thing.”
Drafted in the second round (No. 39 overall) by the Titans out of UCLA in 2011, Ayers played in all 48 games with 43 starts during his first three seasons in Tennessee. But a coaching staff change after the ’13 season and patellar tendon operations on both knees doomed him in Tennessee last season.
Ayers wasn’t able to participate in practice until the start of training camp, so new coach Ken Whisenhunt and his staff really didn’t know first-hand what Ayers could do.
“New defensive coaching staff,” Ayers said. “New scheme — we switched to a 3-4 that year. I pretty much had a late start, and I guess they didn’t have time to wait. But it ended up working out.”
Ayers played in only two of the Titans’ first seven games before the trade last Oct. 21 that sent him to New England.
“I was excited just to get out of there period, honestly,” Ayers said. “I’d seen where it was going early on, and I requested a trade early on in the season.”
At the time he was traded to New England, Ayers was not only back to full health but back in football shape. He clicked almost immediately with the Patriots, registering sacks in three of his first four games there. He appeared in all nine regular-season games for New England, including four starts, and finished with four sacks and an interception.
Ayers became expendable this offseason when the Patriots signed Jaball Sheard in free agency, but he’s thankful for the opportunity that revived his career in New England.
“It was great,” Ayers said. “I learned a lot in my short time there.”
St. Louis was his one and only visit in free agency, and he ended up signing a two-year deal that includes $2.75 million in guaranteed money and can max out at $9.2 million if all incentives are met.
“After I came here, it really was a no-brainer for me,” Ayers said. “I feel like this defense is something I can thrive in.”
His position coach with the Rams, Frank Bush, was his linebackers coach in Tennessee in 2011 and ’12. And Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was a senior defensive assistant for the Titans in 2013. That familiarity helped Ayers make his decision.
“(Bush) really helped me make that jump from my first year to my second year,” Ayers said.
In that 2012 season, Bush registered career highs in tackles (104) and sacks (six), while also coming up with an interception and eight pass breakups.
Ayers is expected to start ahead of Jo-Lonn Dunbar at strong side linebacker, adding yet another talented pass-rusher to the group.
“Akeem in Tennessee played behind the (line) and he rushed and he did everything,” Fisher said. “Then at New England he primarily was a rusher. Did some dropping (in coverage) but was primarily a rusher.
“He’s got the ability, and as you know, in our defense our linebackers are blitzers and they rush. So he’s got the ability to do both. He’s a big man and he runs well. He’s smart and he strong, so I think he fits.”
And he’s got the ring to show he’s won at the highest level.
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