from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2019/08/28/rams-aaron-donald-much-better-practice-2019/

Aaron Donald thinks he could have his best season ever this year and from what he’s seen in practice and the preseason, he believes the Rams look much better than the past two years….He was asked on ESPN’s “First Take” why he thinks the Rams will improve in 2019.

“You live and you learn from mistakes last year. I feel like the ups and downs we had made us that much of a stronger team and obviously, going to the Super Bowl and falling short, if that doesn’t light a fire under you, I don’t know what will. I feel like everybody’s got a different type of mindset having that experience and going through what we went through last year and adding pieces to the defense like Weddle and Clay. What I’ve been seeing at practice, I just feel like we’re looking much better than what I’ve seen last year and the past year, so I’m excited about the upcoming season.”

ProFootballTalk@ProFootballTalk
The Cowboys are deep on the offensive line. They’re deep on the defensive line. Cowboys getting calls from teams interested in Dallas’ offensive, defensive linemen, and a trade could happen in the coming days

Mark Dominik@MarkdominikNFL
Fair or not…The biggest decision GMs are making for the 4th preseason game is how much playtime/exposure do I give a young player that I want on my practice squad.

Dane Brugler@dpbrugler
Marshall [Faulk] is…the most unpleasant former athlete I’ve ever worked with. Not much surprises me with him.

Kurt Warner@kurt13warner
I really like Jared and love where he is at going into year 4… want to see him grow in terms of making quicker [ reads? decisions? ] and getting ball out effectively in quick game.

===

ME: I amended the grammar there with the bracket. He dropped a word (happens on twitter). I’m guessing, but I figure it’s something like what I put there.

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
#LARams head coach Sean McVay said, barring a change in the next 48 hours, DT Sebastian Joseph-Day will not play in the preseason finale against the Texans in Houston.

“He’s had a good camp, he’s kind of established himself as somebody that we’re counting on.”

—

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
Rams held their final practice of the preseason today. It was a full pads workout, that included some scrimmage portions. Todd Gurley participated in some individual work, Sean McVay said.

Daniel Jeremiah@MoveTheSticks
There are more quality QBs than LTs in the NFL right now.

RamsNewsNow@RamsNewsNow
Aqib Talib not ‘fully back’ from hamstring tweak but will be ready for Week 1

==

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001044543/article/2019-nfl-season-award-predictions-mahomeswentz-mvp-race?campaign=Twitter_atn

Defensive Player of the Year
1. Aaron Donald (12 votes: Bergman, Bhanpuri, Brandt, Chadiha, Davis, Grant, Jones-Drew, O’Hara, Rank, Schein, Thomas, Trotter)
T-2. Myles Garrett (5 votes: Cersosimo, Dameshek, Filice, Gbajabiamila, Sessler)
T-2. Khalil Mack (5 votes: Blair, Casserly, Hall, Jones, Mariucci)
4. Bradley Chubb (3 votes: Baldinger, Battista, Parr)
T-5. Stephon Gilmore (1 vote: Rosenthal)
T-5. Darius Leonard (1 vote: Carr)
T-5. Von Miller (1 vote: Patra)
T-5. Bobby Wagner (1 vote: Reece)

Why Jim Trotter chose Aaron Donald: History is not on Donald’s side, as no player has ever won the award three straight seasons (Lawrence Taylor and J.J. Watt are the only others to take it in back-to-back years). But Donald is a transcendent talent, and transcendent talents have been known to do transcendent things.

from The 10 greatest uniforms in NFL history

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/the-10-greatest-uniforms-in-nfl-history-from-dolphins-throwbacks-to-classic-packers-and-an-old-school-no-1/

3. Los Angeles Rams – The royal and yellow

The Rams’ return to blue and yellow is the best thing that has happened to the NFL’s uniform landscape in a long time. The navy and gold that they wore in St. Louis didn’t quite bring the same pop as the old school color scheme, and the revival of these unis seemed to help inject some life into the franchise as they moved back to Los Angeles.

For as eye-popping and electric as the Chargers’ Color Rush jerseys are, the Rams’ old school blue and yellow is better — thanks in large part to the horn design in the helmet and on the jerseys. It’s just a very cool and unique look that works so well, even if it’s slightly bothersome that the helmet blue doesn’t match the jersey blue.

In fact, the home uniform is so enjoyable overall that we’ve all been willing to put up with the rest of their uniform set being a complete inconsistent mess since the move. The team will look to rectify that mess with a new set in 2020, but let’s hope the home look stays similar because it’s hard to imagine them doing much better.

Typical Twitter argument pic.twitter.com/nPS23rvdqP

— Carl Gustav (@CaptYonah) August 26, 2019

Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – August 26, 2019

(On if everyone other than the players requiring surgery will practice on Monday)
“As far as I know, everybody’s good to go. We just had a good walk-thru right there and other than the guys that we talked about that were injured as a result of playing in the game the other night, we’re pretty healthy. I think (T) Bobby Evans we’ll be smart with, with the bone bruise that we talked about. He would be the only guy outside of the players that are going to require surgery that will be out today.”

(On CB Aqib Talib’s status)
“We’re building him (CB Aqib Talib) back in. He’s done some stuff. To say that he’s fully back in it – we’re not at that point yet, but he worked out before the game. He’s feeling good and we anticipate him resuming truly full participation at some point this week. He’s been a participant and just hasn’t been a full participant yet.”

(On if there is progress on contract extensions for QB Jared Goff and CB Marcus Peters)
“I think right now we’ve been so busy just kind of handling training camp, things like that. Those are two very important players to us as we move forward this season. That’s kind of where we’re at right now with that.”

(On if he is preparing for the Carolina Panthers as the team ends the preseason)
“It’s a little bit of that, and then it’s also focusing on continuing to establish our identity, some of the things we want to do offensively, defensively and on special teams. We’ll start to tailor and trim our focus towards the Panthers as we get closer and closer. We’re kind of still in the mode of, ‘Alright, let’s really get good with the finer details,’ and then we have some different things on both sides of the football that I think we would anticipate utilizing against Carolina, but to say that we’ve truly put ourselves in the game plan mode for them, that wouldn’t be accurate yet. There is a little bit of eyes looking towards them coming to a theatre near you.”

(On LB Dakota Allen being in the middle of everything during the preseason games)
“He’s done a great job. He certainly has made his presence felt and I think you feel what a physical football player he is, the instincts. Made a lot of good plays in the run game and then he showed up the other night in some other opportunities that he had coverage-wise. Been really pleased with him, it’s been good to just have him out there healthy and get a chance to compete. You see some of the things that we like so much. He’s definitely making a case for himself.”

(On DL John Franklin-Myers getting a chance to play)
“I thought it was his best. I thought he did a really nice job. He had a sack in our four-man, rush where we’re playing three-deep behind that. It thought he was able to push the pocket consistently, played physical against he run. I thought both (DL) John Franklin(-Myers) and I thought (DE) Morgan Fox was outstanding. I think from the interior defensive line, those two guys and then (DT) Tanzel Smart continued to show up consistently. Really, it was good to see John out there, feeling healthy, feeling ready to go. I thought also that was Morgan Fox’s best performance of the preseason as well.”

(On the short week and his philosophy of not playing starters in the preseason)
“You never like to see guys get injured. Like I said, there is a lot of merit to playing in these games, where you’re actually playing real football. You have the ability to play tackle football. For quarterbacks to get rushed, for running backs to get tackled to the ground, but that was the decision that we felt like was best. You never want to see guys get injured, whether it be our team or anybody else, that’s always the worst parts about it. But where we’re at, we feel good. We’re healthy, unfortunately we had some injuries that were sustained that other night in that action, but that’s part of the game. You always want to try to keep players as healthy as possible, especially going into Week 1. For the most part, I think we’re in a pretty good place.”

(On how much roster evaluation goes into games versus practice)
“It’s really all of it. We use all of the ways we are trying to evaluate guys in those competitive situations to really try to project who are the best 53 (players). Certainly, there are some positions that I think you have a better chance to evaluate in the live action. But, we try to do as good of a job as we can creating those competitive scenarios, situations, but it is all part of the evaluation process. Even how they handle themselves in meetings, how they retain information, how they handle the above-the-neck walk-thrus, that’s a big part of what we do. So, everything that these guys are asked to do, they are being evaluated in that phase and really trying to carve out a role for themselves. Whether it be establishing themselves as a starter on offense or defense or starter in some of our special teams phases, it’s all part of the process. I think it’s a little bit easier depending upon the certain positions, to say, ‘all right, you can put a little bit more weight on one or the other’, but it is all a collaboration of all those.”

(On if LB Travin Howard can play safety in addition to linebacker)
“He’s a guy that has the athleticism you would think just based on the way he moves around. He’s been exclusively a linebacker playing at that inside spot. Some of the things that we ask those guys to do, when we get into our dime-personnel defense, he’s doing lot of the things that we ask of some of our underneath defenders that are playing from the secondary position. I thought he did a great job. We mention Dakota Allen, but you also recognize (LB Travin Howard) ‘T-Howard’ a lot the other night. Pass to the flat, you can just feel him uncoil on that, playing the quarters as a zone-match two player, he did a really nice job the other night. That was one of the things (General Manager) Les (Snead) and his group and our coaches like so much about him – was the athleticism, the speed and the ability to go sideline to sideline. I think he’s showing that. But haven’t done that with him, but I wouldn’t ever, say never, I guess.”

🗣 NEVER LET THE BALL HIT THE GROUND! @brandincooks | #LARams pic.twitter.com/QcVBE6Jg5N

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 26, 2019

Would you like to see Travin Howard (@TravinTheGreat) murder a man? pic.twitter.com/vokxK7v6OP

— Sosa K (@QBsMVP) August 26, 2019

How it looks now (still too early).

Right now this defense looks:

1. DEEP. As deep as I have ever seen a Rams defense. In fact it’s a little freaky to see. For example, Allen, Patrick, Obo, Howard, and even Durham have all shown something. That’s 3 rookies and 2 2nd year guys. When was the last time the Rams had 5 (!) new bright spots at LB showing things early like this. I don’t think I have ever seen it.

2. Smart at the top. Weddle, Talib, Matthews, Donald, all dedicated leaders and versatile and smart. It looks like there;s a lot of teaching going on.

3. Well coached. Wade is cooking up all sorts of mad scientist ways to use subpackages and to take advantage of the all the gold he has among the DBs.

This really promises to be something.

Atlantic Ram

I am loving this preseason.

I have zero interest in the starters playing and love seeing the position battles and players trying to make the team or get good film out there. And I like all of the Rams QBs for the first time I can remember.

I think 4 preseason games are perfect and I hope they don’t change anything. I don’t get the “games are boring” sentiment. Just the opposite for me.

CNN in the same hour:

Warren's 1st in the new Monmouth poll & had a huge crowd of 15k

Bernie's in the top 3, but the poll could be an outlier & crowd sizes don't matter

REMINDER: Bernie won the poll, has the most volunteers, donors, $, & diverse support & easily beats Trump.

— Pat the Berner🌹 (@PatTheBerner) August 26, 2019