Five Takeaways from the Rams’ second preseason game against the Cowboys

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/five-takeaways-from-the-rams-second-preseason-game-against-the-cowboys

COSTLY DEFENSIVE PENALTIES ON GAME-DEFINING DRIVE

Flags against the Rams for a late hit, defensive pass interference and roughing the passer accounted for 34 of the Cowboys’ 72 yards on their go-ahead scoring drive late in the third quarter, with quarterback Cooper Rush connecting with wide receiver Devin Smith from eight yards out for the touchdown.

On a larger scale, the mistakes contributed to 18 total penalties for Los Angeles, six more than it had in its preseason opener at Oakland last weekend.

2) OFFENSE LOOKS SHARPER

Backup quarterback Blake Bortles adjusted well from his first game as a Ram, completing 7 of 11 passes for 62 yards and one touchdown against the Cowboys. Brandon Allen took over for Bortles at the beginning of the first offensive series in the second quarter.

Even when the execution didn’t look as smooth, the Rams adapted mostly well. Allen recovered a botched snap and hit wide receiver Nsimba Webster for a 16-yard gain on 3rd and 6 to keep a late first half drive alive.

Wide receiver Mike Thomas also had a nice showing. After dropping a pass from Bortles on the Rams’ first scoring drive, who overcame a drop by catching his next two passes from Bortles to help set up that scoring opportunity. He finished with two receptions for 23 yards in the loss.

3) DARRELL HENDERSON MORE INVOLVED

Rams coach Sean McVay said the plan was to increase running back Darrell Henderson’s touches, and true to his word he kept Henderson quite busy Saturday evening.

Henderson got the start and rushed six times for 16 yards, both team-highs. He also led all Rams in receiving with six receptions on six targets for 38 yards. While his carries matched what he got in the preseason opener at Oakland, he had five more receptions and targets in the passing game.

Los Angeles got pinned inside the five late in the first half but his carries on that series helped them out of it. His longest reception was a 26-yard gain via Bortles on L.A.’s first offensive series.

4) JOJO NATSON CHIPS IN ON OFFENSE

Los Angeles’ primary return specialist, JoJo Natson caught two passes on two targets for 12 yards and secured the Rams’ lone touchdown of the game.

On special teams, he muffed a punt on a fair catch attempt that was recovered by Dallas at Los Angeles’ 32-yard line, but a missed 52-yard field goal attempt by Cowboys kicker Brett Maher effectively prevented any harm from coming out of it.

In fairness, it was an atypical mistake by Natson, who lost only two fumbles during the 2018 regular season.

4) NATREZ PATRICK SHINES

Signed by the Rams as an undrafted free agent in May, Natrez Patrick was a bright spot at outside linebacker against the Cowboys.

He combined with linebacker Micah Kiser for a sack early in the first quarter, then drew a holding call later that same quarter on the Cowboys’ third offensive series. Patrick also added three total tackles and one quarterback hit.

5) SPECIAL TEAMS CONTRIBUTIONS

Johnny Hekker’s coffin corner punt that set up Dallas at its own 3 should be noted, even though the Cowboys still marched all the way downfield and scored. Greg Zuerlein’s 29-yard field goal attempt gave the Rams the lead with 3:45 left in the second quarter. Special teams also contributed to Maher’s missed field goal. Zuerlein uncharacteristically missed a 56-yarder toward the end of the first half, but it was an otherwise solid day for this unit.

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5 takeaways from Rams’ preseason loss to Cowboys

Cameron DaSilva

5 takeaways from Rams' preseason loss to Cowboys

Cornerback depth is a huge strength

The Rams have one of the best secondaries in the NFL, and further down the depth chart is a crop of young cornerbacks with immense potential. Dont’e Deayon had an interception on Saturday night, Kevin Peterson broke up a pass and Darious Williams broke up two of his own.

There will be some extremely tough decisions made when final roster cuts come because the Rams have a boatload of talent at cornerback. Peterson, Williams and Deayon are all in consideration for a roster spot, and that’s with David Long assured a position on the 53-man roster.

Young pass rushers are stepping up

A host of edge rushers really stood out against the Cowboys. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, in his first NFL game, drew multiple holding penalties and got a hit on the quarterback, showing the potential that excited the Rams last year in the draft. Natrez Patrick had a sack and a quarterback hit, making three total tackles in the game. His impact was felt on seemingly every snap he played.

Additionally, Landis Durham added his second sack of the preseason while Josh Carraway nearly had a strip-sack late in the game. The performance of these young pass rushers has to make the coaches feel good after there was so much worry about the backups at OLB.

Tough decisions to be made at RB

Todd Gurley, Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson are all essentially guaranteed roster spots. John Kelly and Justin Davis will battle for the fourth position on the depth chart, assuming the Rams go that deep at RB. Kelly made a strong case to be RB4 this season with a strong performance against Dallas, even though his numbers (five rushes, 11 yards) don’t indicate that.

He was shifty in the open field and made multiple defenders miss, proving to be difficult to tackle. If the Rams do keep four running backs, as they’re expected to, Kelly looks like the best choice. Davis’ 22 yards on only five carries are worth noting, too.

Penalties continue to be a major problem

Sean McVay is not going to be happy about the Rams being flagged for 18 penalties. It was a huge issue in the preseason opener, but some leeway was given for first-game jitters and inexperience. There was little excuse for 18 penalties to be called on the Rams in this one.

It was much of the same as last week, too: false starts, holding, illegal touching on a punt. The laundry list of infractions goes on. Fortunately, it’s backups who are committing these fouls, not the starters. But still, it’s not encouraging to see so many penalties in a two-week span. The discipline simply has to be better in the future.

Returner situation remains unsettled

The Rams still don’t have a surefire punt and kick returner. JoJo Natson was expected to be that guy, but he’s dangerously close to losing the job. Nsimba Webster has some nice juice to his game and had a 23-yard kick return, but it’s clear the Rams are trying several players at each spot. Natson muffed a punt, Austin Proehl had one return for zero yards and Alex Bachman showed some speed on his 16-yard scamper.

This position battle will cost a few players their jobs in Los Angeles because all of the guys competing to return kicks and punts are reserves on offense and defense. Webster has a good chance to stick around as the primary return specialist.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by zn.

On the play he broke free at the QB – the one where Rapp ended up making the tackle – Patrick kicked it into another gear, on a dime, to force QB to get ball out of his hands. Little things like that make you go….hmmmm https://t.co/1sxt8TdTnA

— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) August 18, 2019

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69RamFan

Patrick. This kid is starting to impress me….

Two weeks in a row has been looking good…

He is going to give Young, OO and UDFA OLB/Durham some competition for that last two spots…

Plus OO is finally playing and not looking bad either in the first half.

I had the RAMs keeping 5 OLB spots…with Matthews, Fowler and Ebukam all locked in…so two spots open now for four players battling for those position…

Downtown Rams [DTR]@DowntownRams
One thing to be taken away. There are more 53 guys worthy of an NFL roster spot on this team. This cutdown is going to be hard. #Rams will have to be strategic. They have a lot of talent that other teams are going to pounce on.

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bigklein

Granted that tonight there have been lots of bonehead penalties and several disappointing moments, but I have to keep reminding myself that there are, of course, no starters on the field. I don’t recall the last time that the Rams had this kind of depth. Cutting will be very challenging, as will hiding guys on the practice squad. Good problem to have, I guess. At LB alone, Patrick looks very good. Obo and Allen also look good. How great is it to see Obo have an impact, including drawing holds? And Howard could be an interesting tweener.

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from: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001042276/article/what-we-learned-from-saturdays-preseason-tilts?campaign=Twitter_atn

In a showdown of squads boasting marquee names, the stars certainly didn’t come out for either team during a prime time outing in Hawaii. Aside from Dak Prescott, the big names on both teams were absent from the playing field for various reasons. With L.A. QB Jared Goff not in action, it was another chance for Blake Bortles to settle in after a ho-hum debut (3 for 8 for 50 yards and a 59.4 rating) with the Rams the week prior. Bortles was solid to the tune of a 7-for-11 night for 62 yards with a 7-yard TD toss and a 108.9 QB rating in the neighborhood of double his previous outing. At one point in the game, Rams coach Sean McVay even checked in to do a little live play-by-play, so just what one can gauge from the reigning NFC champs is arduous. But having a seasoned backup is often an important piece, particularly for a high-octane offense and Bortles showed progress. After Bortles’ exit, Brandon Allen took the reins and went 14-of-21 for 115 yards with a pick. It wasn’t stellar, but it was solid. With Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown absent from play, as well, Darrell Henderson got some more experience, with the rookie running back showing his skills out of the backfield with six catches.

Trump to Denmark: I’ve already sold most of it to my friends Vlad and MbS, but I might offer you a good deal on what’s left . . . https://t.co/Hmn85YVfZU

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 16, 2019

(On if the players back in Los Angeles worked out today)
“They did.”

(On who oversaw the workout)
“We had a couple coaches. (Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach) Eddie Grayer, one of our strength coaches, stayed back to supervise that. Then some of (Senior Director, Sports Medicine and Performance) Reggie’s (Scott) people have stayed back as well. We had a couple people behind, but the nice thing is, when you’ve got the ownership from your players, I think, in a lot of ways, they were kind of run it themselves and that’s what you always want.”

The players who stayed behind still had a work-out/practice. They just ran it themselves.

69RamFan

From the four years of camp I’ve been to since Goff came into the league, he has improved each year… and you can actually see the difference in camp and in games…

This last camp, he was just throwing darts… with ease….

At the Joint Practice against the Raiders… that first meeting, the Raiders defense was in awe… you can actually see some of the reaction on HBO Hard Knocks

It was the same thing in the practice against the Chargers….

The players throughout the league know how good he is…This is why they voted him as number 32 in the top 100…

His stat numbers this year should surpass last years without any problem….

We are going to make another SB run…

#Rams have hit the practice field at the Univerity of Hawaii pic.twitter.com/L249pcW4Uq

— Vincent Bonsignore (@VinnyBonsignore) August 17, 2019

AlbaNY_Ram

In 2016 the Rams travelled 32,072 miles. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2016-nfl-schedule-rams-will-travel-the-most-miles-steelers-the-fewest/

The Rams travelled 29,167 miles in 2017 and around 27,000 miles in 2018. https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/04/22/nfl-los-angeles-rams-schedule-travel-miles-2018/

For the 2019 season the Rams are slated to travel 33,072 miles. However, they are expected to stay on the east coast after the Atlanta game and fly to London from there, saving themselves 3,165 miles. The result is they will travel 29,907 miles in 2019. https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2019/04/18/nfl-rams-schedule-travel-miles-2019/

8 Rams players to watch vs. Cowboys in preseason Week 2 https://t.co/QRJxlUDkHF

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) August 16, 2019

Head Coach Sean McVay, DT Aaron Donald – August 15, 2019

Head Coach Sean McVay

(Opening Remarks)
“Good day today. We’re headed to Hawaii and there’s been a lot of great stuff going on. People from our organization that have really done a lot of work to make this trip happen, to make this game happen that’s a really good reflection and representation of our club. There is going to be a handful of players that we are going to hold back. (Director of Communications) Artis (Twyman) will have those for you guys after this. If you have any questions about specific players, a couple guys will go. The main thing is, our consideration as always what we feel like is in the best interest of the players. For the most part, the guys that will not be participating in that game, to have them make that travel, things of that nature, is in the best interest of those guys. There’s a handful of guys that we’re still continuing to evaluate. This is a big, important game for those guys and that’s why we’re approaching it the way we are.”

(On DT Aaron Donald mentioning he’s going to Hawaii and if QB Jared Goff will also be going)
“(DT) Aaron (Donald) is going. He (QB Jared Goff) will not be. Anybody else we’ll have Artis be able to clarify for you.”

(On where he feels the starters are at this point of training camp)
“I think you feel good. It’s always a tough dynamic. The fortunate thing for us is that we’ve had four great days of practice against another opponent and then we’ve really been able to ramp it up this week. We’re getting a lot of good-on-good work, our guys are positively pushing each other and getting some different things where because it’s happened so early in camp where we had four practices and then that fifth was the practice against the (Los Angeles) Chargers, the monotony of going against one another never truly set in. There’s still a great back-and-forth competitive balance. We’ve got smart players that love the game and just listening to whether it be Jared and (S Eric) Weddle talk and our receivers with the DBs, the O-line and D-line, there’s a lot of good things that are going on with guys that love football, that are positively – in a very competitive way – making each other better. I think the challenge for us is with the way that we’re approaching the preseason, with a lot of the players that we know have played significant amount of snaps in this league, how do we continue to maintain and keep our edge over the next couple weeks so that we truly do peak when we get to Carolina.”

(On what is happening at the defensive tackle position with DT Sebastian Joseph-Day, DT Greg Gaines and DT Tanzel Smart)
“I think it’s really sorting itself out. That’s something that we’re closely monitoring and evaluating. I think (Defensive Line) Coach (Eric) Henderson and (Assistant Defensive Line) Coach (Thad) Bogardus are doing a really nice job with that group as a whole. But those three in particular, I think (DT) Sebastian (Joseph-Day) has been a really big-time bright spot for us going back to the offseason. He’s picked up where he left off in training camp. (DT) Greg Gaines continues to gain confidence and understanding of what we’re trying to get done, playing more and more comfortable within the framework of the system. (DT) Tanzel Smart is one of those guys that can play the nose (tackle position), he can play the three technique. His versatility, his dependability is extremely valuable to us. Those are three guys that have definitely made a name for themselves and we’re closely looking at to see what kind of role they shape and carve out for themselves come regular season.”

(On mentioning CB David Long Jr. as a potential sixth cornerback spot and what is influencing that decision)
“I think he is just getting better and better. He was a great man coverage corner at Michigan where there was a lot of emphasis on just kind of matching up. You can see he has great short-space quicks, lateral agility all those types of things. He’s getting more and more comfortable. Really conscientious, smart football player he’s got good ball skills. I think he’s just getting more comfortable within the framework of the scheme. Really, we don’t have a finite number in terms of the number of corners. Really, we are just trying to find the best 53-players that we can. We do have some good depth at that cornerback spot with some veteran players and then, some younger guys that have done a lot of good things and (CB) David (Long Jr.) is certainly one of those players that is ascending.”

(On If there is a message to the guys staying back on getting work done while they are here and If the team will practice on Sunday)
“Yes, we will. They have a plan that they are going to follow. They will come in and get something in on Friday, which is tomorrow. Those guys will have a plan were they will come in. We have some people staying back. Whether they are injured or whether they are going to get some work in, we do have a specific plan. Because we get back on Sunday, those guys not having, kind of the jet lag of the six-hours there, six-hours back, standing on their feet things like that. That will enable us to do somethings with that group on Sunday that we wouldn’t be able to do or otherwise.”

(On if RB Justin Davis will play this game)
“Yes, he’s supposed to play.”

(On what he hopes to see from RB Justin Davis)
“The same things that we really liked about him. I think he is an explosive player. I think you want to just see him compete consistently, whatever phase of the offense he is asked to do. I think you want to see him show what makes him a unique player – that explosiveness, the ability to create with the ball in his hands, take great care of it. I think when he’s got his opportunities, especially in some of these preseason games, you can help but say, man you feel that speed, he flashes on the screen. That’s what we are hoping to see from (RB) Justin (Davis) with his opportunities he gets on Saturday.”

***

DT Aaron Donald

(On if he’s especially happy today)
“I’m always happy.”

(On if he’s making the trip to Hawaii)
“Yep.”

(On if he’s been to Hawaii before)
“Yeah.”

(On if it was for vacation or for the Pro Bowl)
“Vacation, Pro Bowl. Yep, I’ve been there before.”

(On his impressions of Hawaii after visiting)
“It’s beautiful out there. It’s a good time.”

(On if he’s going to Hawaii because he wants to be there)
“I’m just going to go out there to support the guys, got some stuff going on out there. Just be there, help the young guys and, at the same time, some business out there.”

(On how he feels at this point of training camp)
“I feel good.”

(On if he’s in football shape)
“For sure. I just feel like you’re knocking the rust off as far as working moves and things coming clean. It just feels good to get things going, get everything rolling. I think we had two great practices yesterday and on Tuesday. We’re just working, getting some good reps and getting ready for football.”

(On how DT Sebastian Joseph-Day performed against Oakland)
“I think he played good. I think the whole d-line played good, actually. There were some hiccups here and there, but overall I thought they were working their techniques, doing what they needed to do in the run game and even started getting a little better as far as the game went on as far as pass rush and then opening up things. Watching them on the sideline and then watching them as a group on film, I thought they did pretty good. You’re always going to say there’s room for improvement, but overall I thought they played solid.”

(On if there is any secret on how he gets his videos of his footwork to go viral and how does he get his feet going so fast)
“Dwayne Brown ‘Two-Tenths’, my trainer I’ve been working with since high school. I’ve just been training with that guy and working a lot of foot work, training like a ‘DB” (defensive back) over the past years just help me work on my feet, the speed of my feet, athleticism, I give that to my trainer Dwayne.”

(On if he has a reaction when he plays his viral workout videos)
“To me it was nothing special, just working, just going over the beds. You made it go viral (laughs).”

(On if the coaching staff talked to him when they were thinking about hiring Defensive Line Coach Eric Henderson and how does it sit with him)
“When coach (Head Coach) (Sean) McVay talked to him, hired him, he reached out to me and told me about him. He pretty much told me I’m going to like him a lot. He said, his mind is toward football, his techniques is drills he’s going to be teaching us. At the time you’re like ok. Actually being here and working with him, getting to talk to him about football, learning his mindset toward things and the technique he’s teaching us, he’s definitely going to take our game to another level. I’m excited to work with him. Being out there working curtaining things that I need to work on for myself. Learning from him, and him teaching me is just going to take my game to that next level. I’m just excited to be here and work with him now. Like I said, watching film and stuff he’s been teaching me has been showing, and it’s just going to make me that much of a better football player.”

(On if he can see stuff showing up hiring Defensive Line Coach Eric Henderson has taught him)
“Absolutely, one-hundred percent.”

from: https://www.therams.com/news/quotes-notes-eric-weddle-aiding-jared-goff-development

“They’ve been great. Weddle in particular, just finding his dialogue throughout practice and throughout the week, trying to get a better understanding of what they’re doing, then I’ll ask him what he sees.”
– QB Jared Goff

Veteran additions to Los Angeles’ defense this offseason, LB Clay Matthews and especially S Eric Weddle are also proving to be a valuable resource on the other side of the ball, contributing to Goff’s development.
According to Goff, the conversations with Weddle are a regular occurrence, happening as often as in between plays during practice.
Goff said Weddle has been a critical component to his growth as a quarterback, allowing him to gain a better understanding of defenses and what they’re trying to do.

“You could just see how fast he’s playing, his ability to negotiate those traffic situations.”

Not bad for your first NFL game, rook! 💪

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 13, 2019