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  • June 27, 2019 at 11:25 pm in reply to: from Steven Jackson's blog: "A Young Man’s Game" #102435
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    A Leap of Faith

    link: http://www.sj39.com/leap-of-faith/

    I’m only a few years removed from my NFL playing career, but I’m still around the game a lot in my work with NFL Legends. I can say with some certainty that the landscape has changed quite a bit.

    The modern pro football player is a different type of player, and a different type of person than when I came into the league some 15 years ago. These guys have been famous or at least noteworthy for playing football for most of their lives. They’ve been superstars at every level. They’ve had Instagram and Twitter followers since they were in middle school.

    On top of that, the game is faster than it’s ever been. The modern NFL athlete is built differently than I was, and certainly than those that came before me. Linemen on both sides of the ball are more athletic. Linebackers are smaller again. Running backs are shiftier. Athletes in the receiving corps and the secondary are doing things we’ve never seen.

    The game has changed. It’s a different era of athlete.

    So the old way of micromanaging, of telling guys what to do and how to do it, that’s kind of a thing of the past. It’s giving way to guys who are thinking the game and being innovative.

    The Rams were one of the first organizations in the league to take notice of that.

    So I want to give their front office some credit for the direction they took the franchise in two years ago, when they took the leap and brought in an unknown commodity to run the team.

    Nobody knew how hiring Sean McVay was going to turn out.

    Here’s a guy who is not that much older than the players he’s being hired to coach. That was something that was unheard of. And it wouldn’t have worked just anywhere, with any guy.

    As a player, you only have so many years in the NFL. For those guys to buy into someone that was damn near their age, to come together and play hard and coach hard for each other, that’s something.

    To me, what sets McVay apart is how he communicates with his players. He knows how to communicate with guys at their level, and gets them to buy in. Along with that, he takes care of them. That’s so important because when you ask people to buy into something, you’re asking them to trust you. He has earned a lot of trust from those guys. He’s figured out how to get them to buy in.

    I think his closeness in age to them has actually been very beneficial for him, and for those players. He is able to understand these guys on a different level, to talk to them and bond with them through video games and other things. I know he does a ton of walkthroughs in the ballroom, to make guys understand their roles and put them in a position where when they get on the football field, they don’t need to think. They just react.

    And they’re all in-sync when they get on the field. They do a lot of pre-snap motion that allows Jared Goff a good idea of what he’s dealing with. You force a defense to show their cards in how their formation shifts with a man or zone look. Then once he gets that, he knows right away what side of the field the ball is likely going to go to, because there are a lot of combinations being played. If they want to play a soft zone, that’s where Todd Gurley and the running game come in, and make them pay for protecting against the pass.

    The timing of everything they do is impressive. That lets you know they’re a close-knit bunch, that they’re coached up right in their technique and that they’ve each accepted what they have to do on each play. They’re not panicking and reverting back to bad habits. They’re all executing their job the right way.

    It’s why they are where they are and why—regardless of the outcome on Sunday—the future is bright for the Rams.

    June 27, 2019 at 9:18 pm in reply to: tweets & other bits … 6/27 thru 6/30 #102433
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    June 27, 2019 at 7:04 pm in reply to: tweets & other bits … 6/27 thru 6/30 #102432
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    June 27, 2019 at 5:42 pm in reply to: tweets & other bits … 6/27 thru 6/30 #102431
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    June 27, 2019 at 5:28 pm in reply to: tweets & other bits … 6/27 thru 6/30 #102430
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    June 27, 2019 at 5:05 pm in reply to: Donald #102428
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    Ex-NFL standout Chris Long on Aaron Donald: ‘He’s the best football player in the world’

    https://triblive.com/sports/ex-nfl-standout-chris-long-on-aaron-donald-hes-the-best-football-player-in-the-world/

    Chris Long said he knew in summer 2014, before Aaron Donald played one snap with the then-St. Louis Rams, that the former Pitt standout would be as good as he is.

    “I would like to credit myself with being the first person know he was going to be amazing,” Long said with a smile during Part 4 of this week’s “Huddle Up with Gus” podcast. “We used to joke his rookie camp that he was going to be in the Hall of Fame, but I kind of wasn’t joking.”

    Long, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, played his first eight seasons with the Rams, including 2014 and ‘15 — Donald’s first two seasons in the NFL. Long was drafted second overall in the 2008 NFL Draft out of Virginia and retired in May with 70 career sacks and 15 forced fumbles.

    He called Donald “the best football player in the world, in my opinion.”

    “I’ve never seen anybody work so hard, who had so much talent and play so violent and play with such tenacity,” he said. “This guy would fight you on the field at the drop of a hat, and I respect that about him, and outworks everybody.

    “I would be the last person in the film room usually at the end of camp, and I would go in there and watch tape once everybody was at home. I started going in there an opening the door and turning the lights on to find my pen or notebook, and he was in there every night.”

    Long said Donald and others who played at Pitt have an “edge.”

    “From Avonte Maddox to Aaron to any of the guys I played with from Pitt, honestly, in their own ways, they have a great edge to them, a good confidence, a good edge, very confident right off the bat, pro ready,” he said. “And not to recruit for Pitt, but these guys are consistently great pros.”

    Long said Donald, a Penn Hills graduate, takes a lot of pride in his roots.

    “He’s a guy who doesn’t forget where he comes from,” he said.

    Donald recently made a seven-figure donation to Pitt, the largest by a football letterman to the program.

    June 27, 2019 at 12:04 am in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102422
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    D’Marco Farr@DMarcoFarr1
    Scariest QB I ever played against and that includes Elway, Favre, Marino, Kelly and Young! I’ll never forget the size of his neck. It made his helmet look too small for his head. And dude was ILB big. First time ever being cussed out by ENTIRE secondary for losing contain.

    June 26, 2019 at 10:57 pm in reply to: post-draft power rankings, projected wins, how Rams look in the division, etc. #102421
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    June 26, 2019 at 5:02 pm in reply to: post-draft power rankings, projected wins, how Rams look in the division, etc. #102414
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    —

    Pro Football Focus ranks Los Angeles Rams’ roster second-best in entire NFL
    It has taken years, but the Rams are now beneficiaries of one of the best rosters in the NFL.

    https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/6/26/18759956/los-angeles-rams-roster-depth-chart-2019-preview-pro-football-focus-espn

    Every year at ESPN, Pro Football Focus ranks every NFL roster broken down by their individual ratings for each player. And every year since they started, it has been a painful process for Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams fans.

    Here’s how things looked the last five years:

    2014: 31st
    2015: 22nd
    2016: 29th
    2017: 31st
    2018: 9th

    These are more retrospective than prospective as they’re grades from the previous season and not projected grades for the season ahead. That can lead to some weird imbalances in the roster overall like say TE Gerald Everett. PFF graded him very low after his rookie season at 46.3; after last year, they’ve got him at a 82.5. Or take former Rams S Lamarcus Joyner. His successful 2017 season had him graded out at 90.3 heading into 2018 as one of the Rams’ highest-graded players.

    There’s also the nature of roster projection. Last year, PFF had former Rams RG Jamon Brown and ILB Ramik Wilson as starters instead of RG Austin Blythe or ILB Cory Littleton (spoiler: this year, they have rookie OL Bobby Evans starting at left guard over OL Joseph Noteboom).

    All that being said, here’s how they see things this year (subscription required) by ranking the Rams to have the second-best roster in the NFL after just the New England Patriots:

    2. Los Angeles Rams

    Biggest strength: Aaron Donald finished each of the past four seasons as the league’s highest-graded interior defender. And last year was Donald’s best season yet, as he earned a monstrous overall grade of 95.0 and recorded a mind-boggling 113 total pressures to lead interior defensive linemen by a handsome margin in both categories. He is a one-man wrecking crew, which will continue in 2019.

    Biggest weakness: It’s tough to find a weakness on the Rams’ loaded defense, but collective run defense is probably it. Sure, they have Donald, but it wouldn’t hurt to get better against the run at other positions. Consider that the Patriots gained 154 rushing yards in the Super Bowl, and forced seven missed tackles. Aside from Donald, only one other Rams front-seven member earned a run-defense grade above 80.0 last season. That was Ndamukong Suh, who has left town.

    X factor for 2019: Jared Goff is coming off a great season in which he earned an overall grade of 84.3, ranking eighth among quarterbacks, but struggled mightily in the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. The Rams have an excellent coaching staff, a loaded roster and Super Bowl experience, but they will get only as far as Goff allows them to. The NFL is a quarterback-driven league, and if Goff can continue to improve, the Rams might get back to the big game. Goff’s clean-pocket passing ability ranked third in overall grade in 2018 and is an extremely strong and stable metric for looking at year-to-year production.


    It’s just a damn fine roster overall and one with very few gaps. Yes, two new starters on the line will be a focal point. And the linebacking corps will be one for Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips to have to make the most out of, though that was the case last year and we did just fine sooooooo yeah.

    The bottom line is this is just a different era of Rams football. In years past, especially prior to 2014, it was quite easy to claim the roster was holding the team back from success in the win column. That’s just not the case anymore.The Rams have the talent to win. Last year, they nearly won the whole thing.If anything, the roster won’t be something to hold them back in 2019.

    June 26, 2019 at 5:02 pm in reply to: post-draft power rankings, projected wins, how Rams look in the division, etc. #102413
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    NFL Media’s Gil Brandt: Arguably no team has better long-term personnel vision than Los Angeles Rams
    LA earns high praise from Brandt on his list of the top 10 most talented teams heading into 2019

    https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/6/21/18700945/los-angeles-rams-2019-nfl-season-preview-gil-brandt-most-talented-power-rankings

    Since 2014 — and arguably two seasons before that — the Los Angeles Rams have been known for one thing if nothing else: a talented roster.

    But for years, they couldn’t finish with a winning record. They couldn’t really beat anyone outside the division. But damn it if they didn’t have a roster littered with offensive and defensive talent. Now, the Los Angeles Rams have had the best of both worlds for the last two seasons and it’s likely they will have both for a third season and beyond.

    No surprise then that NFL.com’s Gil Brandt placed the Rams at No. 4 on his top 10 most talented teams heading into 2019 joining the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots:

    Arguably no team in the NFL has better long-term personnel vision than the Rams. As an example: Seeing that the 2019 draft and free-agent classes would be light in receiver and cornerback prospects, they moved aggressively on the trade market in 2018, acquiring receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. Using trades rather than free agency to address these needs also allowed L.A. to collect extra compensatory picks this year.

    The Rams are wicket SMAHT. And more importantly, they’re proactive thinkers instead of reactive thinkers. They’re not playing the hand they have now, they’re preparing to play the hand they might run into down the road.

    Of course, the Rams have done well in the draft (the collection of homegrown talent includes Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp, Rob Havenstein, Joseph Noteboom, Brian Allen and Michael Brockers) and in free agency (the signings of left tackle Andrew Whitworth and receiver Robert Woods couldn’t have gone much better than they did).

    The days of drafting a big name in the first round and then filling the rest of the draft list with random names is over (see: Billy Devaney, Tye Hill, Joe Klopfenstein). Every round is utilized even more so now than with Fisher. I always felt like the Fisher drafts put too much value in future draft picks, stockpiling them as currency for the inevitable apocalyptic event instead of using those picks in the present to better the team in the future.

    The ability of GM Les Snead to work in lockstep with the coaching staff on roster building has helped the team balance salary-cap concerns in such a way that the Rams were able to extend the contracts of stars like Donald and Gurley without hindering their ability to procure talent where needed.

    And they’ve added (signing pass rusher Clay Matthews and safety Eric Weddle and retaining defensive end Dante Fowler) and subtracted (clearing cap space by moving on from linebacker Alec Ogletree last year and linebacker Mark Barron this year) smartly; consider that linebackers are not as critical to defensive coordinator Wade Phillips’ scheme as pass rushers and press corners.

    Since 2017, Snead and Head Coach Sean McVay have proven to be a formidable team. While Snead and Fisher worked well together, too, I felt their relationship was not as good as McVay’s and Snead’s is now. Fisher and Snead seemed to be working for the same goal on two sides of the room, each handling one aspect of the objective. McVay and Snead are in one room taking on each (personnel) problem together.

    After reading Brandt’s take on how well McVay and Snead are driving the bus, I hope this somewhat eases the “sky is falling” outlook some may have concerning the potential extension for QB Jared Goff. But if it doesn’t, I hope it further sends you into madness and causes you to spew the absolute garbage takes on Twitter. It’s just baseball on TV right now, so I am completely bored.

    June 26, 2019 at 3:25 pm in reply to: what happened in the superbowl & how the Rams R adjusting #102408
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    Albert Breer,from: https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/06/24/jameis-winston-marcus-mariota-2019-season-contract-year

    A few weeks back, in this space, Jared Goff explained to us how the Rams were working on becoming more adaptable offensively—and a staffer there gave me a pretty good example of how that’s worked a little while back. Because the Rams spend their spring trying to master their own offense, they aren’t pushing up against what their defense might call. So the offensive calls going in this spring routinely put Goff and the offense in a spot where they have to react post-snap. If the call in is ideal against zone rather than the man defense Goff is seeing? Or if one built to beat a two-high safety look meets a single-high safety after the snap? That’s where Goff and the offense have to adapt. And as I’ve heard, Goff’s done a better job this spring in more quickly getting to his second read, then to his third read or checkdown. Which is how you improve against defenses that show you something different from what you saw on tape, which is what the Rams were up against in the Super Bowl.

    —

    Goff has been working on reacting post-snap this offseason

    Jared Goff has been working on reacting post-snap this offseason

    Jared Goff has made incredible strides the past couple of seasons. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback has gone from looking lost as a rookie, to making the Pro Bowl each of the last two seasons. His transformation even culminated in a Super Bowl run as a 24-year-old last season.

    But Goff would be the first to tell you that his development isn’t complete, and he still has a lot of things to work on. The Goff-Sean McVay partnership has worked wonders so far, but the duo isn’t letting the success go to their heads. Goff indicated earlier this offseason that he was working on getting through his progressions a little quicker during OTAs, and now we have more confirmation that’s been an area of focus.

    In his recent MMQB column for Sports Illustrated, Albert Breer broke down what exactly Goff has been working on during OTAs and minicamp. Breer writes that “the Rams spend their spring trying to master their own offense,” and that “the offensive calls going in this spring routinely put Goff and the offense in a spot where they have to react post-snap.”

    This means Goff is focusing on improving at adapting to what the defense calls, and going through his progressions rapidly with little time to react to what he’s seeing.

    It seems to be paying off so far, as Breer has been told that “Goff’s done a better job this spring in more quickly getting to his second read, then to his third read or checkdown.” Ever since Goff started to break out, his success has been diminished by detractors who credit McVay for most of the Rams’ success.

    The criticism has never been very fair, but it’s also true that Goff’s game isn’t perfect. He struggled at times under pressure last year, like during the Bears and Eagles games, and wasn’t always prepared when things broke down. Clearly he’s making it a point of emphasis this offseason, and it sounds like it’s working. Breer writes that the Rams are calling plays in practice that purposefully won’t line up well with what the defense is showing, forcing Goff to react after the snap and get out of his comfort zone on his first read.

    Although Goff more or less did all he could to extinguish the ‘system quarterback’ label once and for all last season, doubts have persisted. If Goff can get even better at playing off-script and adjusting on the fly, he should put all those doubts to rest permanently in 2019.

    June 26, 2019 at 3:14 pm in reply to: Best cheese for grilled cheese sandwich? #102404
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    wv wrote:

    Sometimes i like fresh tomato slices on my grilled cheese. Sometimes i like more than one kind of cheese on them.

    Promise me soup and grilled cheese for life, and i would probly vote for Trump.

    w
    v

    What kinda soup. It matters.

    One of the advantages of living near Portland ME, besides short summers and having to use a snow blower to get out of the driveway several times a year, is the concentration of big time foodie culture in the area and the virtually endless list of good places to eat. Sometimes I look up the daily specials of a few places on line, and plan my route to work or on errands depending on who has what soup that day.

    I will break out the ole AK47 and use it to cut in line when a good place has Lentil soup that day.

    For the national security people who might still be monitoring this board, the AK47 bit was a joke. It’s a hyperbolic metaphor comically amping up the while idea of intensity of purpose. Have a nice day.

    …

    June 26, 2019 at 2:52 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102402
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    from Ranking the 2019 NFL Wide Receivers
    https://newarena.com/nfl/ranking-the-2019-nfl-wide-receivers/?ll=2&amxt=1pg_mob_3&utm_campaign=fb_cw_NFL_32WRs_inf&utm_source=fb_ae&utm_medium=football_pro&utm_term=adset&fbclid=IwAR3OL7hwMf_PoCmLqJ6TeQ5gwoP8SutiUmWBwLgSVUebDiPsTI6vpmdeelA

    …
    18. Cooper Kupp — Los Angeles Rams
    Many believe that Kupp’s knee injury was a big reason for why the Rams lost the Super Bowl a season ago. The Eastern Washington product has tremendous hands, and also has an uncanny ability to pick up first downs when needed. Kupp has the talent of a No. 2 receiver — though the pecking order in Los Angeles has him registered as the league’s top No. 3 option.

    …

    15. Brandin Cooks — Los Angeles Rams

    Cooks was an integral member of last year’s explosive Rams’ offense. He’s utilized in a number of ways — whether in the slot, on the perimeter, on jet sweeps, or even on bubble screens. This sort of versatility is accentuated by Cooks’ lightning-quick agility. Barring injury, he’s a lock to rack up another 1,000-yard year.

    June 26, 2019 at 12:45 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102398
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    June 26, 2019 at 2:25 am in reply to: OL talk #102389
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    Demby a critical piece for depth on Rams offensive line

    https://www.therams.com/news/demby-a-critical-piece-for-depth-on-rams-offensive-line

    Last year, the Rams drafted a few offensive linemen – two of whom are now projected to start when Los Angeles opens up the season against Carolina.

    You’re probably plenty familiar with left guard Joseph Noteboom and center Brian Allen by now, based on the coverage they’ve received throughout the course of the offseason on their progress in becoming starters.

    But Los Angeles selected another player along the offensive line in that draft class: Jamil Demby.

    A sixth-round pick out of Maine in 2018, Demby initially trained at both guard and tackle during Los Angeles’ offseason program last year. But then just before the Week 1 contest against the Raiders, L.A. cut Demby to make room for defensive tackle Aaron Donald on the active roster.

    Perhaps a bit unexpectedly, the Lions claimed Demby off waivers and off he headed to Detroit.

    But in December, the Rams brought him back, signing Demby off the Lions’ practice squad. Demby was inactive for the contests through the remainder of the regular season and the playoff run, but still gained valuable experience in the Rams’ system.

    During that time, Noteboom and Allen were Los Angeles’ primary backups along the OL. Now, Demby is likely slotted for that role. And run game coordinator/offensive line coach Aaron Kromer sees Demby’s journey between the two teams last year as helpful for the 22 year old’s development.

    “[W]e both appreciate each other more from that separation and coming back and that has allowed us to grow at a faster rate,” Kromer said during the offseason program.

    How so?

    Jamil has played four or five spots — actually, he’s getting reps at all five spots at this point, so we feel strongly about what we’ve seen from him in this offseason,” Kromer said. “Obviously it’s games that are more important than practices with no pads, but we feel really good about him.”

    As a rookie, Demby cross-trained at guard and tackle, so center is a newer position for him. But providing that kind of versatility would make him a true “sixth man” along the offensive line for L.A.

    The Rams have been quite fortunate over the last two years that no starter on the offensive line has missed a start due to injury. So having a player like Demby who can play each of the five spots can be a real asset to the club’s depth for the upcoming season.

    June 26, 2019 at 12:06 am in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102388
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    Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
    the #Rams are poised to become L.A.’s next big thing. The question is, will it be enough to significantly expand a fan base that one recent study ranked at the bottom of the #NFL. What do you think, Rams fans?

    But still, the #Rams aren’t anywhere near where they hope to be, should be and can be. Obviously moving twice within 21 years and piling up a bunch of consecutive non-winning seasons just before the second move doesn’t help.

    There’s really nowhere to go but up. I think they’ve made great strides the last two years. And getting into their new stadium will help. Still, getting new fans on board, invested, engaged and committed is challenging. And it takes time.

    June 25, 2019 at 4:50 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102383
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    June 25, 2019 at 1:31 pm in reply to: Gurley's trainer: All-Pro has an 'arthritic component to his knee' #102380
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    from The NFL’s 20 biggest outlier contracts, and why a fullback reigns again

    Bill Barnwell

    https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27031059/the-nfl-20-biggest-outlier-contracts-why-fullback-reigns-again

    …

    10. Todd Gurley II, RB, Los Angeles Rams

    Three-year compensation: $40 million
    Percent above average: 40.8

    What a difference a few weeks make. Gurley was a borderline MVP candidate in 2017 and continued to produce like a superstar for most of 2018, only to miss time in December with a knee injury. C.J. Anderson came off the street to excel in Gurley’s absence, then looked like the better back during the postseason. Reports after the offseason have suggested that Gurley is dealing with arthritis in his knee, which was surgically repaired in college. The Rams then used a third-round pick on Memphis back Darrell Henderson while suggesting that they plan to use more two-back sets in 2019, getting Sean McVay away from the 11 personnel he used on virtually every snap between 2017 and 2018.

    The case for paying Gurley was built around the idea that he was a uniquely gifted back who could both shoulder one of the league’s largest workloads while remaining extremely efficient. Both arguments seem shaky at best as we head into 2019. The Rams reset the running back market when they paid him last July, as the previous leader for three-year cash flow on an active extension was LeSean McCoy at $27.3 million. Even now, Gurley and Le’Veon Bell are way ahead of the running back pack by virtually every contractual measure.

    What makes this even more difficult is that the Rams didn’t need to do this. As I mentioned last July when Gurley signed his deal, the Georgia product still had a year left on his original rookie deal. The Rams could have picked up a fifth-year option for 2019 and would have also been able to franchise him on a relatively modest number for 2020. My best estimate is that the Rams would have been able to go year-to-year with Gurley and paid him somewhere around $24 million without having to commit on a long-term deal.

    Instead, the Rams virtually guaranteed Gurley $40 million over three years by signing him to an extension. That’s an enormous bet that the guy we saw in 2017 was going to continue to play at that same level for years to come. The Rams theoretically ran the risk of upsetting Gurley by not handing him a deal at the first opportunity, as Washington did with Kirk Cousins, but this is the same organization that waited until Aaron Donald finished the fourth year of his rookie deal before handing out an extension. Neither Cousins nor Donald was dealing with an arthritic knee or playing at a position with significant attrition rates. It’s too early to write off Gurley — he was living up to expectations as recently as November of last season — but it’s hard to believe that the Rams would do this deal again if they had the chance.

    June 25, 2019 at 1:30 pm in reply to: Donald #102379
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    from The NFL’s 20 biggest outlier contracts, and why a fullback reigns again

    Bill Barnwell

    https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27031059/the-nfl-20-biggest-outlier-contracts-why-fullback-reigns-again

    …
    2. Aaron Donald, DT, Los Angeles Rams
    Three-year compensation: $67 million
    Percent above average: 70.3

    How many players win Defensive Player of the Year and then have a significantly better season the following year? Donald claimed the award for the first time in 2017 after racking up 11 sacks, 15 tackles for loss and 27 knockdowns in 14 games. That’s a career season for most defensive tackles, and the Rams rewarded Donald by handing their former first-round pick a six-year, $135 million extension last August.

    Donald followed up a season where, again, he was regarded as the best defensive player in football by nearly doubling his sack total from the prior year. He finished with 20.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and 41 knockdowns, leading the league in all three categories.

    He won Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, and the two-time winners of this award usually need to keep their summers free for a trip to Ohio five years after they retire. The full list of players to win DPOY two or more times includes Joe Greene, Ray Lewis, Mike Singletary, Bruce Smith, Lawrence Taylor, J.J. Watt and Reggie White. That’s six inner-circle Hall of Famers and a seventh, Watt, who will also be an immediate inductee when eligible. Donald is in rare company. As bad as the Gurley deal looks one year later, the Rams probably consider Donald’s deal to be a bargain, even given that he’s the second-highest-paid player in the league by this metric.

    June 25, 2019 at 11:41 am in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102377
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    June 25, 2019 at 11:40 am in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102376
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    June 25, 2019 at 11:37 am in reply to: Marshmallow test reconsidered #102375
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    Zooey wrote:
    zn wrote:

    For those kids, self-control alone couldn’t overcome economic and social disadvantages.

    Of course not.

    They just have to work hard, and stop sucking off the nanny state.

    F’in parasites.

    June 25, 2019 at 11:25 am in reply to: Donald #102374
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    June 25, 2019 at 10:17 am in reply to: Marshmallow test reconsidered #102372
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    wv wrote:

    marshmallow test fails:https://getpocket.com/explore/item/why-rich-kids-are-so-good-at-the-marshmallow-test?utm_source=pocket-newtab

    The marshmallow test is one of the most famous pieces of social-science research: Put a marshmallow in front of a child, tell her that she can have a second one if she can go 15 minutes without eating the first one, and then leave the room. Whether she’s patient enough to double her payout is supposedly indicative of a willpower that will pay dividends down the line, at school and eventually at work. Passing the test is, to many, a promising signal of future success.

    But a new study has cast the whole concept into doubt. The researchers—NYU’s Tyler Watts and UC Irvine’s Greg Duncan and Hoanan Quan—restaged the classic marshmallow test, which was developed by the Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel in the 1960s. Mischel and his colleagues administered the test and then tracked how children went on to fare later in life. They described the results in a 1990 study, which suggested that delayed gratification had huge benefits, including on such measures as standardized test scores.

    Watts and his colleagues were skeptical of that finding. The original results were based on studies that included fewer than 90 children—all enrolled in a preschool on Stanford’s campus. In restaging the experiment, Watts and his colleagues thus adjusted the experimental design in important ways: The researchers used a sample that was much larger—more than 900 children—and also more representative of the general population in terms of race, ethnicity, and parents’ education. The researchers also, when analyzing their test’s results, controlled for certain factors—such as the income of a child’s household—that might explain children’s ability to delay gratification and their long-term success.

    Ultimately, the new study finds limited support for the idea that being able to delay gratification leads to better outcomes. Instead, it suggests that the capacity to hold out for a second marshmallow is shaped in large part by a child’s social and economic background—and, in turn, that that background, not the ability to delay gratification, is what’s behind kids’ long-term success.
    …

    This new paper found that among kids whose mothers had a college degree, those who waited for a second marshmallow did no better in the long run—in terms of standardized test scores and mothers’ reports of their children’s behavior—than those who dug right in. Similarly, among kids whose mothers did not have college degrees, those who waited did no better than those who gave in to temptation, once other factors like household income and the child’s home environment at age 3 (evaluated according to a standard research measure that notes, for instance, the number of books that researchers observed in the home and how responsive mothers were to their children in the researchers’ presence) were taken into account. For those kids, self-control alone couldn’t overcome economic and social disadvantages.

    June 24, 2019 at 6:55 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102365
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    ==

    Downtown Rams [DTR]@DowntownRams
    We’ll take Jared Goff…

    You know, the quarterback that led his team to a go-ahead touchdown in under two minutes in the best regular season game last season and led his team down the field in the NFC Championship game on the road.

    Yes, that Jared Goff.

    June 24, 2019 at 6:30 pm in reply to: Rams training camp schedule #102364
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    June 24, 2019 at 2:20 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102359
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    June 24, 2019 at 1:58 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102358
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    June 24, 2019 at 1:55 pm in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102355
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    June 24, 2019 at 11:27 am in reply to: tweets … 6/24 thru 6/26 #102351
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    Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
    The Rams haven’t announced their training camp schedule yet. The last two years, they revealed it on 6/22, so news should be coming soon

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