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Alexander’s first home start will be family affair
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_8d1aa609-8c90-5c47-b646-f0863d77571c.html
For the better part of two seasons, Maurice Alexander’s family and friends have shown up at the Edward Jones Dome wearing their No. 31 shirts and jerseys to watch their hometown hero play for the Rams.
For the most part, they’ve watched him play special teams. There were several times he didn’t even dress as a pregame inactive. And on rare occasions, he’d get a few snaps in playing safety.
That all changes Sunday against the Detroit Lions, when the Eureka High product makes his first home start as an NFL player. He has started once before, replacing an injured T.J. McDonald Nov. 8 at Minnesota.
But with McDonald now out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury that requires surgery, it’s Alexander’s turn. He used to clean up the Dome as a janitor after Rams games. Now, if the Rams introduce their defensive starters in Sunday’s noon kickoff, Alexander will run out the tunnel and onto the field as a starter.
The players don’t usually know whether the offense or defense gets introduced until pregame.
“I need to figure out what I’m gonna do when I come out,” Alexander said, laughing.
Either way, it’s quite a story and quite a journey for the second-year pro, a fourth-round draft pick by the Rams in 2014 out of Utah State.
“One of the beautiful things about our league is you can go in every locker room on Sunday and there’s some kind of a story,” said Brandon Fisher, one of the Rams’ secondary coaches. “But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find one better than Mo’s when he walks out there.”
Suspended by Utah State in 2012 when he punched a teammate after a party, Alexander returned to St. Louis and spent part of that season picking up trash in the stands following Rams games.
That memory still burns bright.
“Every time I go out there I think about that,” Alexander said. “That’s one of the things I’m thankful for. From cleaning there to playing there.”
Alexander has come a long way as a player, not only in terms of learning to play the safety position, but also in terms of learning the game, and learning what it takes to be successful at the game.
“The growth, the development in the last year, he probably exceeds I’d say anybody in that locker room,” Fisher said. “We knew when we brought him in that there was gonna be a little bit of a learning curve just from the positions he’s played in college and the background.
“You really saw the light come on, probably halfway through the season last year. We saw him doing stuff on special teams. He just kept developing on defense.”
And now this.
“His first start at home this weekend. But he’s played a lot of football for us already this year,” Fisher said. “He’s continued to progress and we’re really proud of where he’s ended up.”
Alexander has gotten a little bit of seasoning this year. He was in for a handful of plays at safety against Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. He was in for every defensive play, 72 of them, in the start at Minnesota.
And with injuries to cornerback Janoris Jenkins and McDonald last week against Arizona, Alexander was on the field for 26 defensive plays. His season totals are eight tackles, two sacks, and one quarterback hit.
Those two sacks attest to his pass-rushing skills. He played some defensive end in college, but mainly outside linebacker before finally moving back to safety.
“When we worked him out (before the draft) we saw the overall athlete,” Fisher said. “He’s had success rushing off the edge for us. He can play behind the ball, and play in space. It’s a unique skill-set for a bigger guy. Typically you don’t see that transition, to go from the front of the defense to the back.”
His size (6-1, 220) makes him a pretty big safety. And he runs well. He also fits in well with veteran safeties McDonald and Mark Barron because he has shown flashes of being a big hitter just like them.
“That’s one thing we emphasize,” said the soft-spoken Alexander. “Be physical in the back end. Let ’em feel us. We made up a name for ourselves.”
The members of the secondary call themselves: AGNB. That’s short for All Gas, No Brakes. They’ve got T-shirts and everything.
“Definitely we like to make our presence felt,” Alexander said.
It was hard for Alexander to make his presence felt as a rookie. He was so raw.
“Last year, he couldn’t have a football discussion,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “And when I say this, it’s not any knock on him. But here’s a kid that only played one year as a defensive back in college football.
“One year in his career, from Pop Warner to now. Now he comes in the National Football League and has to play in the secondary. I mean, it was overwhelming.”
Williams can be very demanding as a coach; his personality can be overwhelming. Alexander saw this firsthand.
“Trying to break his spirit on a couple of things, and getting him to be more structured, more accountable, more focused,” Williams said. “He’s done fabulous. He can have a conversation now where I think I’m talking to one of his coaches.”
Alexander isn’t there yet. No one’s calling him the next Ronnie Lott or anything. But the game has slowed to the point where he’s doing more anticipating and less guessing.
“I grew a whole lot from last year to this year,” he says.
So Sunday marks his coming-out-of-the-tunnel party. Against Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Golden Taint, tight ends Brandon Pettigrew and Eric Ebron, and running backs Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick.
“We ask Mo to do quite a bit, and so he’s gonna get his shots at defending all of them,” Fisher said. “He’s got a great challenge on his plate.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_8d1aa609-8c90-5c47-b646-f0863d77571c.html
For the better part of two seasons, Maurice Alexander’s family and friends have shown up at the Edward Jones Dome wearing their No. 31 shirts and jerseys to watch their hometown hero play for the Rams.
For the most part, they’ve watched him play special teams. There were several times he didn’t even dress as a pregame inactive. And on rare occasions, he’d get a few snaps in playing safety.
That all changes Sunday against the Detroit Lions, when the Eureka High product makes his first home start as an NFL player. He has started once before, replacing an injured T.J. McDonald Nov. 8 at Minnesota.
But with McDonald now out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury that requires surgery, it’s Alexander’s turn. He used to clean up the Dome as a janitor after Rams games. Now, if the Rams introduce their defensive starters in Sunday’s noon kickoff, Alexander will run out the tunnel and onto the field as a starter.
The players don’t usually know whether the offense or defense gets introduced until pregame.
“I need to figure out what I’m gonna do when I come out,” Alexander said, laughing.
Either way, it’s quite a story and quite a journey for the second-year pro, a fourth-round draft pick by the Rams in 2014 out of Utah State.
“One of the beautiful things about our league is you can go in every locker room on Sunday and there’s some kind of a story,” said Brandon Fisher, one of the Rams’ secondary coaches. “But I think you’d be hard-pressed to find one better than Mo’s when he walks out there.”
Suspended by Utah State in 2012 when he punched a teammate after a party, Alexander returned to St. Louis and spent part of that season picking up trash in the stands following Rams games.
That memory still burns bright.
“Every time I go out there I think about that,” Alexander said. “That’s one of the things I’m thankful for. From cleaning there to playing there.”
Alexander has come a long way as a player, not only in terms of learning to play the safety position, but also in terms of learning the game, and learning what it takes to be successful at the game.
“The growth, the development in the last year, he probably exceeds I’d say anybody in that locker room,” Fisher said. “We knew when we brought him in that there was gonna be a little bit of a learning curve just from the positions he’s played in college and the background.
“You really saw the light come on, probably halfway through the season last year. We saw him doing stuff on special teams. He just kept developing on defense.”
And now this.
“His first start at home this weekend. But he’s played a lot of football for us already this year,” Fisher said. “He’s continued to progress and we’re really proud of where he’s ended up.”
Alexander has gotten a little bit of seasoning this year. He was in for a handful of plays at safety against Cleveland, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. He was in for every defensive play, 72 of them, in the start at Minnesota.
And with injuries to cornerback Janoris Jenkins and McDonald last week against Arizona, Alexander was on the field for 26 defensive plays. His season totals are eight tackles, two sacks, and one quarterback hit.
Those two sacks attest to his pass-rushing skills. He played some defensive end in college, but mainly outside linebacker before finally moving back to safety.
“When we worked him out (before the draft) we saw the overall athlete,” Fisher said. “He’s had success rushing off the edge for us. He can play behind the ball, and play in space. It’s a unique skill-set for a bigger guy. Typically you don’t see that transition, to go from the front of the defense to the back.”
His size (6-1, 220) makes him a pretty big safety. And he runs well. He also fits in well with veteran safeties McDonald and Mark Barron because he has shown flashes of being a big hitter just like them.
“That’s one thing we emphasize,” said the soft-spoken Alexander. “Be physical in the back end. Let ’em feel us. We made up a name for ourselves.”
The members of the secondary call themselves: AGNB. That’s short for All Gas, No Brakes. They’ve got T-shirts and everything.
“Definitely we like to make our presence felt,” Alexander said.
It was hard for Alexander to make his presence felt as a rookie. He was so raw.
“Last year, he couldn’t have a football discussion,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “And when I say this, it’s not any knock on him. But here’s a kid that only played one year as a defensive back in college football.
“One year in his career, from Pop Warner to now. Now he comes in the National Football League and has to play in the secondary. I mean, it was overwhelming.”
Williams can be very demanding as a coach; his personality can be overwhelming. Alexander saw this firsthand.
“Trying to break his spirit on a couple of things, and getting him to be more structured, more accountable, more focused,” Williams said. “He’s done fabulous. He can have a conversation now where I think I’m talking to one of his coaches.”
Alexander isn’t there yet. No one’s calling him the next Ronnie Lott or anything. But the game has slowed to the point where he’s doing more anticipating and less guessing.
“I grew a whole lot from last year to this year,” he says.
So Sunday marks his coming-out-of-the-tunnel party. Against Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Golden Taint, tight ends Brandon Pettigrew and Eric Ebron, and running backs Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick.
“We ask Mo to do quite a bit, and so he’s gonna get his shots at defending all of them,” Fisher said. “He’s got a great challenge on his plate.”
