RamView, August 7, 2011
Scrimmage Report from
Lindenwood University
Good thing the lockout didn't last longer, because one
week into preseason 2011, the Rams' old defense is well ahead of the
team's new offense. One area of the offense was very encouraging, but
Josh McDaniels' latest project is still currently in the beta phase.
* QB: At last year's scrimmage, Sam Bradford threw
the ball all over the place and raised the excitement level in Rams
Nation. At this year's, in a new offense, he dumped off to Danny
Amendola almost all day. His first or second pass was picked off by
Chris Chamberlain. He held the ball too long a lot of the time and
likely would have taken several sacks. The passes to Amendola were
pretty ones, and on simulated third downs, so that was heartening to
see. The highlight of the day offensively was – hold on to your
hats – the red zone offense. Bradford opened the red zone drill by
striping one to Billy Bajema down the seam for a 20-yard TD. He hit
Brandon Gibson for one, I believe Mike Sims-Walker was credited with
one, and Lance Kendricks got all alone in the corner of the end zone
for another. Bradford and the red zone offense were something like
6-for-8 for the day. A.J. Feeley doesn't look comfortable in this
system at all. He looked very indecisive, held the ball forever even
compared to what Bradford was doing, and ended up making some
nasty-looking throwaways. He did hit Sims-Walker for a TD on the last
play of the final 2:00 drill. Thaddeus Lewis mostly handed off when
he was in, but he did throw a pick-six in the drill where the offense
is backed up on their own goal line. In fact, that three-yard-line
offense was a disaster with Lewis at the helm; besides the pick-six,
they would have lost a blown snap, and they nearly gave up a safety
on a run play. Taylor Potts got maybe a couple of reps, just missed
connections with Joe West on a short go route that had TD written all
over it. The passing game at the moment appears to have sack written
all over it, but, provided they can eventually get Bradford inside
the enemy 20 in one piece, the red zone performance is something nice
for them to hang their helmets on.
* RB: Don't have
a lot on the running game, which hopefully isn't a surprise for a
practice that wasn't full-contact. Steven Jackson got very limited
work. Cadillac Williams had a 12-yard run off right tackle but also
got stuffed on that side. Jerious Norwood showed some nice cutback
ability, but he also actually limped onto the field at the start of
festivities and had to have his knee numbed on the sideline before he
ever got going. Norwood's a tantalizing talent; I just hope he makes
it to at least the bye week in one piece. Keith Toston unfortunately
didn't show much of anything. Practice today focused largely on the
passing game, with a lot of shotgun formations, 4-WR formations, and
very little throwing to the backs, so today was a slow day for this
unit.
* Receivers: If
Danny Amendola's used as much this season as he was today, draft him
first in your fantasy league, he's going to have 1,000 catches. Such
nice hands, though, and he does such a good job getting himself open
on the short middle routes, McDaniels is going to have a lot of work
for him. Maybe not this much, but a lot. Fairly quiet day for the
rest of the receivers. Brandon Gibson made a diving TD catch in the
back of the end zone but that may have been his only catch. Mike
Sims-Walker had a couple of catch-and-run TDs, including a long one
from Feeley to close out the scrimmage. But like his season with the
Jagwires last year, he was completely erased and unable to get any
separation other times. Austin Pettis disappointed. He got alligator
arms on the first ball thrown to him (with James Butler coiled to
strike) and dropped another. Despite the solid camp he's been having,
I don't remember a ball coming Mardy Gilyard's way. Joe West has
“flashed” in both practices I've been to, if you're looking for
this year's possible Dominique Curry. Billy Bajema was the #2
receiving star, with a couple of nice catches running straight up the
seam, one for a TD. It's tantalizing to think about Rams TEs making
hay with those plays this year, though I wasn't envisioning Bajema as
that guy. Nice hands, though. Rookie Lance Kendricks had a short TD
catch and also a carry out of fullback position. Receivers struggled
to get open throughout the scrimmage, but one thing to note is that a
bunch were sidelined with injuries: Danario Alexander, Donnie Avery,
Greg Salas, Jalil Carter, Michael Hoomanawanui, Fendi Onobun, and I
suspect Dominique Curry. Improving health here would give the passing
game a boost.
* Offensive line: Pretty rough day up front. The
offensive line had a good, er, bad, half-dozen false starts, and some
holding penalties, and who knows how many sacks they would have given
up. A good, er, bad, ten or twelve times, a Rams QB would have gotten
whacked, at a minimum. C.J. Ah You came in unblocked on Bradford two
or three times, which leads me to think assignments are getting
missed. Rodger Saffold had trouble with Robert Quinn's speed.
First-string offense having difficulty getting second-string defense
blocked doesn't look good. I wouldn't declare red alert or start
looking for windows to jump out of, though. Remember how rough the
line looked the first preseason game last year? They settled down
after that. I think it's also fair to say the problem today was as
much on the QBs holding the ball longer as it was on getting and
keeping people blocked. And there were some nice moments. They showed
they're going to run behind Harvey Dahl, like on Cadillac's 12-yard
run. That by itself is something to look forward to. Saffold didn't
appear to have a lot of trouble with Quinn on running plays. They got
a double blitz picked up nicely right at the end of scrimmage. With
fingers crossed, I'll say the line just needs more practice time
together, and they'll cut down on these mental mistakes. Let's see
how they look in another week.
* Defensive line/LB: Aficionados
of defense had a lot to cheer today, as the Rams D played an
hour-long game of can-you-top-this. Robert Quinn showed off his
speed, and also showed he could pressure the QB with power rush. He
rotated with George Selvie, playing mostly with the 2s, but they
spelled James Hall with the 1s late in scrimmage. Fred Robbins
stormed up the middle untouched for a sack and he batted down a pass.
C.J. Ah You got two or three clean runs at Bradford from his inside
rushing position. We can hope he's that elusive all season, but I
think that was more a case of the o-line missing assignments. And can
we call Darell Dorell Scott the surprise of camp already? He
continues to play with the starters – Justin Bannan and Daniel Muir
were the 2s – and in the drill where the offense is on its own
3-yard line, he burst through, met Keith Toston in the hole and
dropped him for a loss in the finest play he's made as a pro. I had a
tough time viewing the left side of the d-line, but Chris Long
pressured well whenever I saw him. I'm having a hard time getting
used to that 91 jersey, though. Kenneth Charles recovered a blown
snap at the offense's 3-yard line. Linebacking today was terrific, as
I salivate at the possibility that this is the best linebacking crew
the Rams have had in St. Louis. James Laurinaitis was great against
the run, covered the tight end well and had a near-safety, I think
stuffing Cadillac, in the 3-yard line drill. Na'il Diggs made a fine
play to blow up a Cadillac outside run for a big loss. Brady Poppinga
made a couple of nice pass defenses, one in the end zone, and that
looks like a pitch battle between him and Diggs for the starting Sam
position. Chamberlain had the early interception, and another
7th-rounder, rookie Jabara Williams, had a standout afternoon. He
broke up one pass and intercepted a deflection for a pick-six in the
3-yard-line drill, which the D pretty much dominated. The D pretty
much dominated the afternoon. I can't begin to tell how many players
would have had sacks, or at least hits on the QB. Long, Quinn twice
for sure, Robbins, I think Bannan, Justin King on a blitz, and Ah You
several times. The Rams showed dominating defense with many different
playmakers today. Who ya gonna block? Let's hope something like this
progresses on into the regular season.
* Secondary: Half
the receivers sitting out may have had something to do with it, but
the Rams secondary looked as impressive today as any time I can
remember. I like me some Al Harris, who started with Bradley
Fletcher, with Ron Bartell sitting the scrimmage out. He wasn't
perfect against Mike Sims-Walker, but had I not seen him in #31 in
warmups, I would have guessed he wore #10, he was inside that jersey
so often. Manned up against MSW, Harris usually had him blanketed,
and showed ability to cover back-shoulder throws and timing routes
that this secondary just hasn't had. He had a certain pick-six late
in scrimmage after perfectly jumping a Feeley pass, but he blew the
catch. The question, as I've seen posed in other forums, is whether
Harris makes a little too much contact. Justin King seems to be
picking up tips from Harris, breaking up a middle pass with a
well-timed grab. Fletcher looked excellent on the left side and broke
up an attempted TD pass to West. Darian Stewart broke up a deep pass
for Gibson, and even Dionte Dinkins got in on the act, though I'm not
sure he did it intentionally. He tipped up a pass from Lewis in the
3-yard drill – well, the ball hit him, at least – and it bounced
to Jabara Williams for a pick-six. They also killed one of the
first-string's 2:00 drives with an INT, iirc. If Harris is for real,
Fletcher continues to ascend to lockdown-corner status (which he
shows every sign of doing), and they get Bartell back healthy...
well, wow.
* Special teams: Saw Donnie Jones up close before
scrimmage started, and I didn't realize what a big dude he is. No
wonder he's jacking 50- and 60-yard punts all the time, like today.
Josh Brown could have had a better day. He made most of his kicks,
which you'd expect, but he miffed a 37-yard attempt to keep the first
string scoreless in the 2:00 drill. Todd Carter earned
strictly-camp-leg status by blowing half of the FG attempts he tried.
* Strategery: No gadget plays, but the offensive
plays practiced were of the very wide-open variety, with plenty of
4-WR sets and shotgun. The defense appeared to blitz only a little,
which makes their dominance today even more impressive. Anybody who's
been injured this preseason was held out of practice. Bartell, David
Vobora, Kenneth Sims, all the receivers I mentioned earlier, etc. In
a particularly lucky bit of timing, I crossed paths with a couple of coaches exiting the coaches' box on my way out of
the stadium, and they were bemoaning that the ball wasn't getting out
quickly enough. So again, the offensive line may not have looked
good, but a lot of the problem at the moment lies with the QBs.
* Cheers: Oy, what an awful time of day to hold a
practice. It was 97 at the end of practice, which was probably also
the humidity. RamView was almost a RamPuddle by the end of the day.
Either the temps or the time kept the crowd at Lindenwood down
compared to past years, but I'd guess a still-respectable
4,500-5,000. But let's have this sucker in the evening again next
year, please. Or else Lindenwood is going to have to consider
installing sweat gutters in their stadium.
* What's next?: Time for some real action, next
Saturday night in the Dome against the Colts. It may be too early to
pass any judgments on the team, but with Peyton Manning out for Indy,
you'd sure hate the defense to look bad against Curtis Painter. The
more important issue I'll be more interested/afraid to see play out
is how well the new offense will function against opponents allowed
to hit Bradford. The Colts no doubt won't be doing much
game-planning, but they've seen the McDaniels offense plenty of times
in the past. It'll be a good August test, which the Ram offense now
has a week to cram for.
-- Mike
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