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[/quote]CoachO
Today' theme: Intensity and Execution
THe offense dialed up both in the 11 on 11 portion of practice today, after things got heated on a couple of occasions earlier in practice.
Early on, during the 1 on 1 passing drills, two key combatants squared off, and the fur started flying. With Danny Amendola paired against Janoris Jenkins, he took exception to the bump and run coverage that ended with him being pushed to the ground by Jenkins. He immmediately popped up and the two exchanged a couple of shots, with Amendola ripping Jenkin's helmet off. It went on for a few seconds before being broken up by teammates and Fisher finally walking over and telling them both to cool it.
It carried over the the 7 on 7 portion. At one point, the contact was intense, and Finnegan took a shot at Amendola, as if to send a message. "you mess with one of us, you mess with us all"!
But payback can be sweet, and comes in many forms! In the 11 on 11, the offense was as sharp as they have been at any point in camp. The ball RARELY hit the ground, Whether it was by design or not, Amendola was the star. Running mostly intermediate crossing routes, he torched the secondary catching as many as 6 passes running away from the CB.
The offense as a whole, ran tons of these today, with all 3 units focussing on these types of crossing routes pushing the ball down field.
Not particpating: Fletcher, Laws, Scott, Jarrett, Alexander.
Limited Participation: Gibson took part in drill work thru the 7 on 7's. Did not particiate in any 11 on 11 stuff.
Back in action: Mikell Stewart and WELLS
- Wells took the majority of reps with the first unit during the 11 on 11 work. Also, this was the first time that Turner took the reps with the second unit. Which IMO, is a good sign that Wells is back to stay.
-McIntosh worked in with the first Defense today, taking reg reps in the base 4-3 for the first time. ALternated with Haggan.
-Dahl got the majority of the reps with the 1's, with Stewart alternating in
- Offense also spent a fair amount of time working on the screen game, incuding installing and running very weel the "shovel pass". All 3 units ran it at some point during the 11 on 11
-the worked on punt coverage towards the end of practice, with Hekker kicking out of his endzone, and gradually working his way down the field. Lots of situational kicking, ending with trying to pin it inside the 20! The kid can really boom it when he hits it. One kick travelled 65 yrd in the air.
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From what they have said up to this point, I don;t see Turner getting ANY reps at G in the near future. If it happens at all, IMO, it will happen AFTER the start the season. I am the one who first talked to Hammer about that being an option, and still agree it makes the most sense.
But with Wells back, I think they believe that Ojinnaka is capable of doing the job. My biggest issue with him, is he seems to miss a lot of assignments, especially when pulling and leading thru the hole. He tends to block the wrong guy. Physically, he does the job. It's the mental stuff that still needs improvement.
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The FB spot continues to be Miller getting ALL the frist unit reps. Mughelli looks like the better pure FB, especially in terms of lead blocking. But they do use Miller in many different ways out of the backfield. He is used quite a bit in the passing game, both as a blocker in the backfield, but also as a receiver as a checkdown.
I know I am in the minority here, but I think they BOTH make the team, with Mughelli eventually being the guy who gets the traditional snaps as a lead blocker. But Miller is just too valuable on special teams to not be here.
If that means they only keep 3 TEs, maybe. But based on how BOTH FBs have a role on this team, it wouldn't shock me at all. seriously doubt they would keep a 4th TE who is primarily a receiver. (McNeil). If they do indeed keep a 4th, I can see someone like Harkey being that guy. He has been impressive, and a pleasant surprise with his ability to catch the ball.
But I still feel that they will be able to get more out of Miller than a 4th TE.
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Hayes is quietly going about his business, and looks like a nice addition. Gordy continues to take his turn with the 2's. He doesn't look like he has lost anything from his pleasant surprise last year. He is aggressive and does a good job in coverage.
Hoomanawanui is steadily showing he's back from the injury. He continues to catch everything that is thrown to him. His biggest issue is finding the reps with the 1's.
Murphy has his moments, but still struggles in pure coverage. He takes rep with the 2's, but not all of them. Johnson and Murphy seem to share those reps, with Gordy getting his share on the other side.
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They have been working on this "30 Nickel" package since the second week of camp. And the one thing that has stood out to me, was that COLE has been in this package from the start. Now that McIntosh was getting reps in this package, he was actually taking Dunbar's spot.
I think they consider Cole to be their best "cover" LB, much the same way that Chamberlain fit that role with the previous staff.
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According to Fisher in his comments after practice yesterday, Stewart "needs to get reps" and they will try to get him "caught up". But unless he dramatically improves his tackling, don't be surprised to see Dahl still ahead of him.
And as I mentioned earlier, food for thought, is Mikell being the odd man out, with Dahl at SS, and Stewart at FS. It could happen. Dahl would make a better SS than FS, and in this scheme, which has distinct differences in those positions, whereas Spags system really didn't differentiate between the two, it would make sense for him to use his "skill set" as a "in the box" kinda Safety.
If you watch the game Saturday, it was Mikell who was "exposed" in coverage, not Dahl, and given the "hybrid TEs" that are now in vogue, Mikell is definitely out-sized in many cases.
I don't think that Dahl is GREAT option at FS, but with the focus on better tackling from this defense as a whole, I am not surprised that he is getting his shot.
RevFarrakhan
Snapshots From Camp - August 21
LINK to photos: http://www.realramsfans.com/viewtopic.php?t=70458
Sorry I couldn't get out to a few more practices but I had to travel for work for about 10 straight days; if you think you're unhappy, go talk to my wife...
- A lot of time spent on flats, arcs, and screens today. At least two if not three scrimmage segments fully devoted to them on both sides of the ball; not just the offense executing them, but the defense drilling to read and react to them.
- The throws continue to be a little shaky across the QB corps. There was a point where Bradford had missed three fairly basic throws in a row, and the crowd became uneasy.
- Johnny Hekker is now the sole punter in camp, and he has one helluva leg, but he needs to work on his consistency just a bit still.
- If I were Brandon Gibson, I wouldn't spend too much time hanging around Dead Man Walking Danario. Especially because I may not realize that my head coach is watching everything going on with the WR corps while I'm not looking.
- I wouldn't be surprised at all if Daryl Richardson ends up bumping Isaiah Pead down a rung at some point over the next year. This kid just might be special.
- Could someone please step up and claim that other outside receiver spot with Smith?
- Even if our new, improved corners mature into strong starters over the next few years, and I think they could, I still think we may be a safety short of a great secondary.
Rams Get Animated in Tuesday Practice
nickwagoner
August 21, 2012
http://blog.stlouisrams.com/2012/08/21/rams-get-animated-in-tuesday-practice/
- The Rams just wrapped up their Tuesday practice and things got a little heated in what was an otherwise run of the mill practice.
- Let’s hit injuries first:
- Those who did not participate at all: WR Danario Alexander, DT Trevor Laws, DE Jamaar Jarrett, DT Darell Scott and CB Bradley Fletcher.
- Both WR Brandon Gibson and S Craig Dahl, who are battling some hamstring soreness, practiced during the opening parts of the workout but were dialed back for most of the team stuff.
- C Scott Wells made it through his first practice fine Monday but with the pads coming on Tuesday, his role was dialed back as well. Coach Jeff Fisher said he’s still got a chance to play but he wants to see how he comes through this week of practice first.
- On to the happenings on the field:
- The Rams worked some very specific things today, even in special teams but we can’t get into much detail of that here per the rules.
- The Washington University football team was in attendance today and its presence certainly made for a more interesting atmosphere as there were a couple of skirmishes between WR Danny Amendola and CB Janoris Jenkins. It certainly didn’t get out of hand but words were exchanged on multiple occasions and got to the point that after beating Jenkins on a crossing route, Amendola finished the run and tossed the ball into the stands.
- The heated exchange certainly seemed to fire up Amendola, who was, as usual, all over the field on Tuesday.
- One interesting note from the one on one pass rush drills, which are usually offensive linemen vs. defensive linemen: LB Sammy Brown joined the defense today. Remember, Brown is best known for his pass rush skills and it makes sense that the Rams might want to nurture that skill and give him a chance to develop it in this preseason.
- Much of the talk in this camp when it comes to quarterbacks has been on starter Sam Bradford and rookie Austin Davis but Kellen Clemens has seemed to respond to the challenge in the past few days. He had some strong throws on Tuesday, none better than the dart he fired on the run across his body to TE Deangelo Peterson for a big gain. And while Clemens has struggled to complete passes on a consistent basis in his career, he is 12-of-16 (75 percent) in the preseason so far.
- DE Eugene Sims seemed to get banged up during the practice and had to depart. The extent of that is unknown.
- Another strong day for WR Greg Salas, who actually got some work with the first team. With Gibson limited, it seemed the Rams really wanted to get a look at different guys with the first group today. A returning Brian Quick and fellow rookie Chris Givens, included.
- With Dahl out, rookie Rodney McLeod got many of the reps next to Quintin Mikell, who also returned to practice Tuesday.
- With Wells not in team drills, Robert Turner took his usual place in the middle of the line.
- K Greg “Young GZ” Zuerlein gets most of the attention for his booming leg – and rightfully so – but punter Johnny Hekker had a heck of a day. He really boomed some and had excellent angle on the kicks toward the sidelines as well.
- Tomorrow is the final open practice of this training camp. It’s at 3:30 and free. Hope you can make it out.
- As always, thanks for reading.