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  • October 22, 2020 at 3:13 pm in reply to: political tweets #123294
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    October 22, 2020 at 2:51 pm in reply to: tweets (Rams) … 10/22 thru 10/24 #123293
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    October 22, 2020 at 1:49 pm in reply to: tweets (Rams) … 10/22 thru 10/24 #123292
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    Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
    McVay on ILBs: They played tough, but was clear they were having trouble when stretched wide. Adds that some key areas where favorable down and distance tackles were missed are particularly an area that needs to get cleaned up immediately.

    Sosa K@QBsMVP
    The #LARams paid a premium by way of trade to acquire a shutdown cornerback in Jalen Ramsey. They then extended that by paying him huge $. It’s paid off — big time. Per @PFF

    Ramsey ranks 5th in yards per target allowed in his coverage (4.52) among all CB’s with 10+ targets.

    PFF@PFF
    Highest-graded RBs:
    1. Raheem Mostert – 89.1
    2. Darrell Henderson – 86.9
    3. Austin Ekeler – 84.5
    4. Dalvin Cook – 82.2
    5. Alvin Kamara – 81.3

    TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
    Rams linebacker Micah Kiser has cleaned up his missed tackles since Week 1.

    October 22, 2020 at 1:46 pm in reply to: tweets (Rams) … 10/22 thru 10/24 #123291
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    October 22, 2020 at 1:45 pm in reply to: tweets (Rams) … 10/22 thru 10/24 #123290
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    October 22, 2020 at 11:07 am in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123288
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    Rams out to prove Week 6 clunker was a fluke versus Bears

    Lindsey Thiry

    https://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/42155/rams-out-to-prove-week-6-was-a-fluke-versus-bears

    THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Missed tackles. Dropped passes. False starts. Errant kicks.

    The Los Angeles Rams’ second loss of the season, a 24-16 clunker against the San Francisco 49ers, featured every miscue.

    “We had a lot of uncharacteristic things, we had a lot of our players that we count on not come through in some situations that they typically do,” Rams coach Sean McVay said, while also shouldering some of the blame. “It’s a great learning opportunity for us.”

    The Rams are 4-2 overall and 0-1 in the NFC West, far from any need to panic, but they must quickly fix issues that plagued them against their division rival before they take on the Chicago Bears (5-1) at SoFi Stadium on Monday Night Football.

    The offense, which entered Week 6 averaging 27.2 points per game, must return to establishing its dominance on the ground behind a trio of healthy running backs, Darrell Henderson, Cam Akers and Malcolm Brown, while quarterback Jared Goff and wide receiver Cooper Kupp must renew their connection through the air.

    “It was just some uncharacteristic stuff for me,” said Goff, who passed for a season-low 198 yards and had a pass intercepted in the end zone against the 49ers. “Missing guys open there early. It’s something that I’ve never done in my life and don’t expect to ever repeat.”

    However, even when on target, Goff’s receivers performed few favors. Kupp, who has caught 31 passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns, found himself turned around on a throw over the middle, then later dropped a pass in the end zone.

    Even veteran Andrew Whitworth stumbled into multiple mistakes, as the sturdy left tackle twice was penalized for false starts.

    “It’s one of those things that you’ve had a couple games where your execution is not as good as it should be,” said Whitworth, also referring to a Week 3 loss to the Buffalo Bills. “Just all the little details, and for some reason sometimes, you’re just off.”

    The defense, which has been sporadically struck by tackling issues this season, must solve the problem for good while finding a way to pressure Bears quarterback Nick Foles after they were unable to disrupt 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

    “We got punched in the mouth this past week,” said linebacker Micah Kiser, who fell victim to brutal stiff arm from 49ers running back Raheem Mostert. “We’re just ready to get that taste out of our mouth and get back to work. That’s all you can really do.”

    Cooper Kupp and the Rams were off in San Francisco and couldn’t quite catch up to the 49ers, a scenario they can ill-afford to repeat against the Bears. Tony Avelar/AP
    Defensive tackle Aaron Donald leads the NFL with 7.5 sacks, but did not take down Garoppolo, as the 49ers spread the ball quickly to the perimeter.

    “We just wasn’t playing our ball,” Donald said. “We just didn’t play good as a team.”

    Donald has not gone back-to-back weeks without a sack since Weeks 4 and 5 in 2019, and could be extra motivated to take down Foles, who he has yet to sack in his career.

    And finally, there’s special teams, where rookie kicker Samuel Sloman connected on a season-long 42-yard field goal Sunday but otherwise continued to struggle connecting on extra points (15-of-18) and executing strategically placed kickoffs.

    On Tuesday, a day after McVay expressed frustration with Sloman’s development saying, “He’s got to improve,” the Rams signed veteran kicker Kai Forbath from the Bears’ practice squad.

    Forbath last kicked in an NFL game last season, when he appeared in the final three games with the Dallas Cowboys and converted 10 of 10 field goal attempts, including a 50-yarder.

    Despite the underwhelming performance that plagued every phase last Sunday, McVay is continuing to express optimism about the Rams’ capabilities moving forward.

    “The thing that I do genuinely believe is when you look at, ‘Okay, where did we fall short, are these things we’re capable of doing or are we just physically outmatched?'” McVay asked, rhetorically. “No, we’re capable of executing and playing better football, being a cleaner operation.”

    October 22, 2020 at 10:39 am in reply to: NFC West, week 7 #123287
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    October 22, 2020 at 10:20 am in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123286
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    October 22, 2020 at 9:54 am in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123285
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    Are The Chicago Bears Good Or Just Lucky?

    * https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-the-chicago-bears-good-or-just-lucky/

    With one NFL Sunday left in the month of October, the Chicago Bears hold sole possession of first place in the NFC North. They’re 5-1 after six games, and FiveThirtyEight’s Elo-based projections give them an 85 percent chance of making the playoffs. Even if they played .500 football the rest of the way, they would still finish 10-6.

    So why are some observers labeling their success as “fraudulent”?

    The easy answer is they haven’t faced many good teams — and they haven’t won by very much. Their five conquests to date (the Detroit Lions, New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers) have a combined win percentage of .379. Given that the Bears have only outscored their opponents by a total of 128-116, predictive metrics like the Simple Ranking System don’t love them.1 With a weak slate like that, it’s no surprise that opponent-adjusted stats like Football Outsiders’ Defense-adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA) aren’t impressed by their performances so far, either.2

    But winning five of six NFL games is never a complete accident, and there are plenty of concrete football arguments for the Bears being what the scoreboard says they are. They rank seventh in both scoring and yardage defense, thanks to a secondary that’s allowed the lowest completion rate of any team in the NFL. All-Pro edge rusher Khalil Mack has 4.5 sacks as part of a unit that’s tied for 10th-most sacks in the league despite blitzing less often than all but five other teams. They’re an especially good situational defense, allowing the second-lowest third-down conversion rate and lowest red-zone touchdown rate in the league.

    These numbers don’t stack up to those of hallowed Bears defenses like the 2006 and 1985 units. But it’s reasonable to believe the 2020 edition will still be tough to score against for the rest of the regular season — and, likely, the playoffs.

    The obvious problem is on the other side of the ball, where a quarterback combination of Nick Foles and Mitchell Trubisky has made for one of the league’s most anemic passing attacks. The Bears rank 26th in team completion rate and passer rating, and they sit in 30th in both yards per attempt and yards per completion. As good as their situational defense has been, their situational offense has been nearly that bad: They rank 27th in third-down conversion rate and 26th in red-zone touchdown rate. The passing attack has generated just 17.5 expected points, seventh-worst in the league.

    The Great NFL Passing Boom of the 2010s primed football-watching minds to correlate passing success with team success — and if there was an opportunity for defenses to cycle back to ascendance, the rise of do-everything quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson 2.0 seems to have squashed it.

    If the NFL is still a pass-first league, just how badly can Chicago’s quarterbacks perform without killing the team’s postseason hopes? Let’s compare what the Bears have gotten from Foles and Trubisky so far with where the bar seems to be.

    There have been 60 playoff teams over the past five full NFL seasons, and most of them have been very effective through the air. Last year, eight of the NFL’s top 10 passing offenses3 made the playoffs.

    Here’s where the 2020 Bears stack up against the best, worst and average passing attacks — by adjusted net yards per attempt — from the past five playoff fields:
    Chicago’s passing looks like the worst playoff teams

    Passing stats for the top five and bottom five 2015-19 playoff teams by adjusted net yards per attempt (ANY/Att), plus the 2020 Chicago Bears
    Team Year Comp% TD% Int% Yds/Att ANY/Att
    Bears 2020* 61.3% 5.0% 2.9% 6.0 5.1

    Top 5 teams Year Comp% TD% Int% Yds/Att ANY/Att
    Falcons 2016 69.6% 7.1% 1.3% 9.2 9.0
    Chiefs 2018 66.0 8.6 2.1 8.8 8.9
    Patriots 2016 66.9 5.8 0.4 8.1 8.5
    Chiefs 2019 65.6 5.2 0.9 8.1 8.1
    Saints 2018 73.4 6.4 1.3 8.0 8.1

    Bottom 5 teams Year Comp% TD% Int% Yds/Att ANY/Att
    Panthers 2017 58.5% 4.4% 3.2% 6.6 5.2
    Bills 2017 60.7 3.4 2.1 6.5 5.2
    Broncos 2015 60.7 3.1 3.8 7.0 5.1
    Titans 2017 61.7 2.8 3.4 6.8 5.1
    Texans 2016 59.5 2.6 2.7 5.9 4.5
    Years Comp% TD% Int% Yds/Att ANY/Att
    Average 2015-19 65.1% 5.2% 1.9% 7.6 6.9

    *2020 stats through games of Oct. 18.

    Adjusted net yards per attempt is calculated as (pass yards + 20*(pass TD) – 45*(interceptions thrown) – sack yards)/(passing attempts + sacks). Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

    The Bears are definitely getting more from their passing attack than the worst-throwing recent playoff team, the 2016 Houston Texans. But “more” than Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage were able to contribute to a team that barely won the dire 2016 AFC South is not much.

    In fact, if you drop the Bears’ current passing rate stats in with that field of 60, they would rank near the bottom in almost all of them: completion rate (49th), touchdown rate (34th), interception rate (56th), yards per attempt (60th), passer rating (55th) and adjusted net yards per attempt (58th).

    But unlike the 2016 Texans, the Bears don’t have a productive tailback, let alone two. Lamar Miller and Alfred Blue gained 1,493 yards for those Texans at a 4.06 per-carry rate, leading that season’s eighth-most-prolific rushing attack. With 2020 Bears starter Tarik Cohen already out for the season, second-year back David Montgomery has managed just 305 yards over six games, averaging 3.7 yards a pop. The team’s No. 2 active rusher? Wideout Cordarrelle Patterson, with just 70 yards.

    To stay competitive for the rest of the season — let alone make noise in the playoffs — the Bears will likely have to get better at one of these phases of the game. But if Foles can’t get closer to his top form, Montgomery can’t run more effectively, and the defense can’t find an even higher gear, there’s still one element driving the Bears’ success: fumble luck.

    On defense, the Bears have forced four fumbles and recovered three, while on offense, they’ve recovered all six of their own fumbles. All in all, they’ve picked up 81.8 percent of the balls that have hit the ground in their games so far, the highest rate in the NFL. For comparison, the highest recorded full-season recovery rate since 2003 was the 69.8 percent put up by the 2009 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

    But whether the Bears have been lucky, good or both, it doesn’t change what’s happened. They’re still 5-1, with remaining games against the 1-5 Texans, 2-3 Detroit Lions and 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars — and two games against the 1-5 Vikings. Even if their fumble luck regresses a little, and even if they don’t play significantly better, the Bears’ hot start has given them a nearly 50-50 chance to win the division and a 17 percent shot at a first-round bye.

    Bears fans probably like those odds, even if the numbers lead everyone else to call them frauds.

    October 21, 2020 at 9:11 pm in reply to: political tweets #123283
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    Obama’s gettin in the fray. Fwiw. It’s just a part of it all.

    …

    October 21, 2020 at 9:06 pm in reply to: around the league, week 7 #123282
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    October 21, 2020 at 8:50 pm in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123280
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    October 21, 2020 at 6:13 pm in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123278
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    October 21, 2020 at 5:58 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123277
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    October 21, 2020 at 5:52 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123276
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    merlin

    There were a lot of “almosts” in the Rams’ run plays vs SF. Lot of plays that could have gone for really nice yardage had one guy not whiffed on his assignment. Some of it was technique too IMO, especially on the zone runs with reach blocks. This OL is good enough to sustain a strong run game I believe. The talent is there now, just gotta polish it up and get your two best backs in there for the majority of snaps.

    October 21, 2020 at 4:26 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123274
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    from PFF: Ranking all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks after Week 6

    https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-ranking-all-32-starting-quarterbacks-after-week-6-2020-season

    11. Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams
    Change: Up 6

    Goff is a very environment-dependent quarterback, but we shouldn’t dismiss how well he does play when the environmental conditions allow him to. Through six weeks, he has the No. 6 PFF passing grade (84.3) and No. 5 overall mark (85.3) and has just three turnover-worthy plays, the same number as Aaron Rodgers had in only one game against Tampa Bay. Goff’s offensive line has improved, so he is better able to deliver the ball to Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, and while he hasn’t been as aggressive as in the past, he has been impressively efficient, with the Rams ranking sixth in the league in EPA per play on offense.

    October 21, 2020 at 3:44 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123272
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    TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
    Optimism for development of Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Samson Ebukam is all but faded with Okoronkwo going on IR and Ebukam’s playing time dwindling

    DOWNTOWN RAMS [DTR]@DowntownRams
    #Rams DC Brandon Staley is having a great year

    – 19 PPG Allowed (5th)
    – 109 Rushing YDs Allowed Per Game (11th)
    – 209.5 Passing YDs Allowed Per Game (4th)
    – 318.5 Total YDs Allowed Per Game (4th)
    – 4.3 3rd DN Conv Per Game (4th)
    – 2.7 4th QTR Points Allowed Per Game (1st)

    Sosa K@QBsMVP
    The #LARams paid a premium by way of trade to acquire a shutdown cornerback in Jalen Ramsey. They then extended that by paying him huge $. It’s paid off — big time. Per
    @PFF
    :

    Ramsey ranks 5th in yards per target allowed in his coverage (4.52) among all CB’s with 10+ targets.

    NFL Stats@NFL_Stats
    Most tackles for loss this season:

    Vince Williams – 10
    TJ Watt – 10
    Aaron Donald – 9

    October 21, 2020 at 3:35 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123271
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    October 21, 2020 at 1:16 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123269
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    aeneas1

    PFF RANKINGS THRU WEEK 6

    October 21, 2020 at 10:32 am in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123264
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    Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
    Darrell Henderson is facing loaded boxes more than most running backs, yet he’s still thriving.

    According to Next Gen Stats, Henderson has run against eight-plus defenders in the box 27.78% of the time. That’s the fourth-highest rate in the NFL…. For comparison, Todd Gurley faced loaded boxes only 7.81% of the time in 2018 and 16.85% in 2017 – both third-lowest in the league.

    TurfShowTimes@TurfShowTimes
    Rams expect A’Shawn Robinson to practice this week

    October 21, 2020 at 6:12 am in reply to: stories about racism & what it is #123261
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    October 20, 2020 at 7:48 pm in reply to: Rams sign kicker Kai Forbath #123258
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    Sosa K@QBsMVP
    Plenty of Rams coaches have experience with Kai Forbath. McVay, Joe Barry, Forbath, etc were all in Washington from 2012-2015.

    During that time Forbath went 69/82 from FG attempts (84.1%) and 124/127 on XP attempts (97.6%). But, XP’s were shorter back then — if you recall.

    Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
    The Rams are bringing in kicking competition for Samuel Sloman in what feels like a motivational move – by signing Kai Forbath.

    Here’s some more context on what I mean by that “motivation” comment. The Rams would obviously like the kid they drafted to win the permanent job – that has been clear since initial cuts. If he can’t, he can’t.

    What will be interesting to see is how the competition re-starts at kicker. Forbath is a more veteran option, but a journeyman for a reason. I am not certain Samuel Sloman has lost the job just yet (they did not announce a release) – and really hard to hold a simple workout to

    light a fire under a guy in these COVID times with all the protocols – so feels like this was the next level in motivational tactics. What I assume this move really means is the kicking competition has been re-opened.

    (Normally, you’d hold a Tuesday workout if a guy was struggling to show him he is on thin ice. Kicker mind games! Not as easy to do that this year.)

    October 20, 2020 at 5:39 pm in reply to: political tweets #123251
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    October 20, 2020 at 5:32 pm in reply to: power rankings week 7 #123250
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    BTHRams@BTH_Rams
    Week 7 power ranking roundup:

    ESPN: 10th (7th last week)
    NFL: 9th (8th)
    Yahoo!: 10th (8th)
    CBS Sports: 11th (10th)
    Pro Football Talk: 11th (9th)
    The Touchdown Wire: 10th (7th)
    SI: 9th (5th)
    USA Today: 20th (3rd)

    October 20, 2020 at 5:19 pm in reply to: press and others review the 9ers game #123249
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    69RamFan

    The OL is playing outstanding,,,

    Against the 9ers….

    They kept Goff upright… and opened up holes for our RBs…

    The only mistake that our OL made during that game, was two False starts by Whit and one holding call on Edwards, but he got saved on that series as we scored on that drive….. but they still protected Goff by only giving up 0 sacks and only two QB hits…

    The bad in that game, was Goff was off target on one play to Kupp and two drops by Kupp one being a major drop for a TD… Plus Goff had to throw several balls away because no one got open…

    In which it was a bad game plan from McVay’s play calling…

    I was expecting McVay to draw up better plays against the 9ers…
    The 9ers was playing cover 3 most of the time with eight in the box…

    I think McVay called the wrong game right off the bat….
    in using the passing game right off the first drive…

    But in the second half, he started to call the right game, in running the ball…
    But it was too late to start running the ball, when we let the 9ers score 21 points…
    and gave them the clock game…

    As far as points being down this year,,, thats ok with me,,, because we are running the ball more,,, and gaining the clock time, playing more of a balance game…

    The key is that we need to have our defense play a lot better…

    I was viewing the game tape last night, but I only went over the offensive side of the ball on passing protection the first half of the game…

    Just from passing plays… it seemed to me that McVay never used any crossing routes using picks or bunch formation using any picks with his WR to get them open….

    The 9ers seemed to cover Reynolds on most plays one on one and he couldn’t breakaway… his only main catch was the TD where he used his height… but out on the open field,,, he couldn’t get any separation…

    Just not a good game plan on play calling by McVay… IMO

    October 20, 2020 at 3:59 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123244
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    PFF LA Rams@PFF_Rams
    Josh Reynolds is proving himself to be a reliable 3rd option for Jared Goff this season

    He’s seen 14 catchable balls in 2020 and hasn’t dropped a single one

    Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
    Sean McVay shared an update on A’Shawn Robinson, who will begin practicing this week

    His Rams debut is on the horizon

    Rams Wire@TheRamsWire
    Rams officially place Ogbonnia Okoronkwo on IR

    J.B. Long@JB_Long
    Tuesday dose of optimism for you: LA has rushed for 811 yard through six games.

    The last two @RamsNFL teams with 800+ through six reached the Super Bowl (1999 & 2018).

    BTHRams@BTH_Rams
    Starting to turn toward Week 7, one of the great narratives is that you’ve two teams who have quite a bit of evidence of “paper tiger” criticisms between the Rams beating up on the NFC East and Chicago winning their first three games by 12 total points over DET, NYG & ATL.

    October 20, 2020 at 3:33 pm in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123240
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    from https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-week-6-pff-team-of-the-week-key-takeaways-player-awards-and-more

    PFF DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
    CB Jason Verrett, San Francisco 49ers

    Verrett has had one of the most unfortunate starts to an NFL career that the world has ever seen. He showed some promise in a limited rookie campaign in 2014 with the Chargers, earning an 85.1 PFF grade on 223 coverage snaps, then came out in Year 2 and was the league’s second-highest-graded corner. He then played in just four games in that next season due to a torn ACL and would go on to play just 67 snaps from 2017 to 2019 due to injuries. We have finally gotten a healthy Verrett these last few weeks and last night against the Rams, he looked like his 2015 self. The cornerback produced a 94.0 PFF grade for the game. He did not allow a single catch on his three targets in coverage, recorded an interception and forced two incompletions.

    October 20, 2020 at 10:09 am in reply to: tweets … 10/19 thru 10/21 #123232
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    Field Yates@FieldYates
    Total wins by division so far:

    NFC West: 16
    AFC North: 15
    NFC North: 12
    AFC South/AFC West/NFC South: 11
    AFC East: 10

    NFC East: 5

    October 20, 2020 at 10:06 am in reply to: press sets up the Bears game #123231
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    October 20, 2020 at 10:04 am in reply to: power rankings week 7 #123230
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    from Touchdown Wire: https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/nfl-power-rankings-week-6-steelers-seahawks-buccaneers-chiefs/

    …

    Rams: 10th

    How much do you trust the Los Angeles Rams right now?

    After a lackluster performance on Sunday night, in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Rams fell to 4-2. Still a very good record, but look at those four wins. They came against the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Football Team, and the Dallas Cowboys back in Week 1.

    They have feasted on the worst division in football.

    But the two occasions where they had to step outside the comfort zone of the NFC East? A loss to the Buffalo Bills and now a loss to the 49ers.

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