Blue Boy 2012: Fan Fest & Scrimmage(?) Report
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I had already driven down from Milwaukee to Indianapolis for a college reunion, so I got up extra early on Saturday and drove to St Louis to watch the scrimmage.
I got into the area around 9:30 in the morning, a few hours ahead of the planned “Fan Fest”. (I use the term “Fan Fest” loosely; I have attended the Eagles version and have seen televised highlights of the both the Packers and Bears fan celebrations.)
I caught up with the venerable Racetech who said he had tickets that would allow us to get on the field and we headed over to the Eddie Jones Dome to check out the festivities.
Admittedly this is the Rams first attempt at one of these “Fan Fests” and it showed. Not nearly as polished as the other teams that have been putting these things on for years. Basically, season ticket holders were allowed to come out on the field and / or tour the locker room. Got to admit it, the turf looks like so much shag carpeting – though with a nice plush feel to it. (Fortunately, we managed to make it through without tearing any MCL’s or ACl’s.)
Other “festivities” included: Picture opportunities with cheerleaders, watching little kids try to kick a field (none did…) the aforementioned locker room tours. (We didn’t go.) OK, I admit it: Racetech and I did stand in line to get an up-close look at the NFL Replay booth. Got a nice explanation of how things work…
After making the appropriate pit stop and grabbing some food, we headed to our seats on the visitor’s side of the field.
Given that it was the beginning of a new coaching regime, it was a rainy Saturday with not much else to do and that admission was free it was rather a shame that the crowd was probably no more than about 4 thousand people total.
I attended 3 of the last 4 of these scrimmages. (They didn’t have one last year because of the strike.) And they have always been pretty well attended – especially at Lindwood University.
Cheers! Woody’s in the house. As promised practice started promptly at 12:00 with a “pep talk” to the fans from new GM Les Snead. Les was in full weekend Rams casual-mode: team visor, football jersey and at least 3 days of stubble on his face. With his long(-ish) blonde hair he reminded me of a young Woody Harrelson – though the long hair made him look less Woody Boyd and more Hay Abernathy from the Hunger Games…
Good speech, tried to get the crowd into it. Wants to get our home field advantage back – circa the GSOT-years. To do that, they need us, the fans, to do our part. I’m good with that. The highlight of his speech was his Jeff Fisher quote that “… nobody told me we couldn’t go out an win a championship this year.” That one really got the crowd pumped.
Let’s get this party started… After that the players started to trickle in: kickers first, then return specialists. Applause from the crowd as each of the fan favorites hit the field: 16-Amendola, then Coach Fish early on.
The QB’s including 8-Bradford showed up around 1:00.
39-Jackson decked out in his nice gold gloves got the biggest applause when he arrived during the one-on-one end zone passing drills.
And there was one final wave of applause when the starting defense made its way out the tunnel.
Scrimmage? Scrimmage? We don’t need no stink’n scrimmage… I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised. I came expecting a scrimmage – including full pad contact. What I got was a glorified practice.
Yes, there was stretching and warming up and all kind of drills – pretty much the same ones they run at any normal practice. Got no problem with that. (Heck, they only started hitting on Wednesday and the QB’s have only been throwing short route until they get their arms stretched out…)
You had to be a season ticket holder to get on the field. From what I could tell, that was pretty much everyone that was in the dome. If that’s the case then, they were pretty much preaching to the choir if you were looking to excite the fan base. My guess is that most everyone there has already seen an NFL practice before… Nothing new to see here. Oh, well.
And yes, there was scrimmaging… but of course the QB’s wear the ‘red shirt’ which prohibits them from getting hit and running backs get the two-handed touch treatment when they carry the ball. No one’s getting hurt on this guy’s watch… (Special shout-out to CB Trumaine 22-Johnson who, in addition to being the only player to come away with an INT, was the only guy to actually put a hit on a running back – Chase 34-Reynolds, after a nice 5-yard gain.)
There were all kinds of drills including:
• Kick-off or punt receiving drills… this one was especially good since the returners attempted to catch the 2nd (and later the 3rd) kicked ball while already carrying the 1st kicked ball in their hands.
• Gunner drills… they worked on specific technique repetitions like I had not seen under previous coaching staffs.
• Kick-off fielding and blocking wall drills… more technique repetitions based on kick location and return direction.
• QB drop-back drills… standard stuff including proper roll-out technique.
• Standard one-on-one pass rush drills… appeared to be lots more individual technique coaching on both sides of the ball.
• WR pass route footwork technique drills… individual repetitions for both right-side and left-side cuts. (Haven’t seen this one in the past. The rookies did not do this one as well as the vets…)
Of course, they also had their normal 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, as well as, the standard drop-back drills for both DB’s and LB’s… nothing new on any of these.
The highlights… In the past I have made available spreadsheets cataloguing every play of the past scrimmages that I attended. I did so again, but since this was nothing more than a practice and they really haven’t been hitting until the last few days I really didn’t see how relevant that would be.
I will provide you with some data though…
End Zone 1-on-1 passing drill… for most of these 8-Bradford was the QB
11 vs 21… incomplete, but good move to get open by WR (11)
16 vs 31… catch / TD, well defended, but good throw to beat DB (31)
12 vs 32… catch / no TD, both played well
83 vs 23… catch (OOB), nice throw / nice catch (83) on fade, but hip out of bounds
15 vs 21… incomplete, almost INTercepted (21) / maybe PI (21)
18 vs 31… incomplete, high pass on fade, good defense DB (31)
14 vs 32… incomplete / dropped pass, beat DB (32) cleanly
87 vs 38… incomplete, fade well defended by DB [38]
16 vs 31… incomplete / dropped pass, (16) open receiver
83 vs 21… incomplete / dropped and defended pass, crossing pattern dropped but well defended (21)
13 vs 27… catch / TD, quick slant beat DB (27) badly, nice pass
15 vs 33… incomplete / OOB, both played fade pass well, but out of bounds
18 vs 32… incomplete / dropped and defended, fade pattern dropped but well defended (32)
11 vs 38… catch / TD, 11 go and stop pattern beat defender [38] badly
16 vs 31… catch / TD, nice flat pattern (16) and move to get into the end zone
87 vs 21… incomplete, well defended (21)
Note: You’ll have to check out a roster to find out who some of those number correlate to…
Scrimmage Highlights:
When they got to the scrimmage part, things got a little ragged. The announcer kept announcing the situation they were intending to practice – things like: 4 minute drill: the defense has 3:30 to get the ball back… Of course this tended not to translate into anything we fans could easily follow on the field. Since there was no “live tackling” (think more along the lines of “2-handed touch”) it was hard for the line officials to determine where the ball was spotted. When they did they finally did spot the ball, this information did not make it up to the scoreboard, so you had to really pay attention to follow along.
Right off the bat we got our first highlight… On the aforementioned
“4 minute drill: the defense has 3:30 to get the ball back” situation. On the first 2 downs, they handed off to 39-Jackson for first +3 and then +2 yards. On 3rd down 8-Bradford rolled out right and snapped a quick throw to 89-McNeill in the right flat. Good news was they completed the pass; bad news was it was a 4-yard gain – short of the 1st down. There was some mild applause from the crowd for the first completion of the scrimmage (or maybe the crowd was astute enough to realize that the defense had completed its goal). At this point the offense huddled up again – perhaps anticipating they would continue the drive. The Fish though jumped into the middle of the huddle and proceeded to provide them some “animated instruction,” probably along the lines that you have to know where the 1st down marker is… and then shushed them off the field. My guess is we are putting a premium on doing the little things like getting 1st downs this year.
In the next series (10-Clemens at QB) 24-Pead carried the ball twice: gained +1 yard, then lost –1 yard. On 3rd down 10-Clemons would have been sacked (92-Sims?).
After that they started
“The Brandon Gibson Show”… It was a “3-minute drill: the offense has 2 timeouts to score a TD”. 39-Jacskon didn’t gain much running the ball: +2 yards on 2 carries. Somewhere in there 11-Gibson had a +20?-yard gain (versus 21-Jenkins) and then had a crowd-pleasing +30 yard gain later in the drive (also, versus 21-Jenkins) – of course it would have been more impressive if not for the fact that 94-Quinn(?) exploded past the OT and tapped the QB (8-Bradford) resulting in him being credited with a sack on the play…
On the next series, 24-Pead +5 yards in 2 plays as the feature back. 83-Quick dropped a catchable +15-yard out pattern from 10-Clemons. Nice defensive play later in the series by 38-Grody.
After that we started to get some 34-Chase Reynolds (+5 yard gain) and the previously mentioned 22-Johnson pop.
Later they practiced nearer the
goal line plays … A nice +6 yard gain to 16-Amendola. Then an end zone fade pass to 11-Gibson – the one ball he didn’t catch all day… The offense did put it in 3 times: twice by 39-Jackson – once on an off tackle left play, the other time on an inside hand-off up the middle (hard to tell precisely the holes they were going through…) One of the nicest plays of the day was 8-Bradford’s goal line TD pass to 89-McNeill. On the play 8-Bradford appeared to take a quick 5-step drop; first looked right, then found 89-Mcneill running a drag pattern (right to left); he found him open with a trailing defender for the TD. Nice play.
The back-ups again – this time they took some shots at the end zone... 10-Clemens tried to hit 18-Pettis on a fade pattern that was very well defended by 32-Fletcher. 24-Pead then ran a nice wheel pass where he got behind the defender – which he proceeded to drop. There were a couple more running plays – both to 24-Pead – where he got little or no gain – these were sandwiched around a would-be sack, that was an incomplete pass in the back of the end zone (10-Clemons to 82-Mulligan).
Then they let 9-Davis QB get in a few plays… Some more 34-Reynolds (2 runs: +7 yards total). 9-Davis had a nice TD pass: he rolled out right and found 46-Harkey on an out pattern in the end zone for a TD.
After that we got the
“Greg ‘the Leg’ Zuerlein show”. You can read the details about that somewhere else. All I’ll say is that if he can kick like that in a real game, we really have something here… I would add that even on the long ones that he hit on, there was still plenty of leg on those kicks to have been good from at least +5 to maybe +10 more yards out. Let’s hope he’s a keeper…
After that we got some
more mid-field scrimmaging…
The starters were in again. On the first play 39-Jackson carries for +3 yards. This next part was good: they had 8-Bradford varying his cadence – harkening back to 2010 his rookie season. When he does it the first time he almost got the defense to jump. The second time he did get them to jump (bad boy, 94-Quinn). Thank you, sir. May I have another…
The very next play was the nicest play of the day: 8-Bradford in the shotgun(?). Looks one direction, then comes back and finds 11-Gibson down the sideline (didn’t see the pattern). 8-Bradford throws the ball about 30 yards which 11-Gibson goes up and gets versus the defender (21-Jenkins again) who had pretty good coverage… very nice play on everyone’s part.
After that 39-Jackson’s day was done. In comes 24-Pead. 8-Bradford threw him a nice pass out in the flat – and of course, another drop. (BTW: Racetech and I both commented that on this day 24-Pead reminded us of another Ram who wore 24, the immortal Trung Canidate. Ouch!)
Ugly play alert! As memorable as the 11-Gibson catch listed above was, this one was equally memorable but for all the wrong reasons… Lets hope they mothball this one: 8-Bradford goes into motion right and they have 16-Amendola lined-up as our “wildcat” back. Of course, 16-Amendola and 24-Pead fumble the exchange. Note to ‘the Fish’: BTW, that season you took off – you know, the one they ‘deleted’ – I’m pretty sure the league has caught up with that whole ‘wildcat’ thing by now. (I will say this though: in warm-ups 16-Amendola did demonstrate that he can throw a pretty accurate deep ball…)
Then they brought in 10-Clemens and the back-up receivers again. There was a nice sideline route by 13-Givens that 10-Clemons overthrew (33-Pointer defending, nice coverage…) 24-Pead had a nice draw play for +5 yards. Good play. There was also an out pattern to 83-Quick that he slipped on resulting in an incompletion. And finally a slant pattern to 13-Givens that was well defended by 33-Pointer again.
For the next series they dropped down another level with 9-Davis at QB again… (
Camp arm alert! Where are you 5-Branstater?) He only got 3 plays: One was a short +5-yard slant to 87-Salas that he took for at least +10 more yards… That was the good play. The not so good play was the over throw to (#–I didn’t catch the receiver’s name) that 22-Johnson INTercepted.
Then we got another situational drill… This time it was
2-minute drill: the offense has 1 timeout.
8-Bradford at QB, mostly out of the shotgun. Started with two +5 yard passes to 89-McNeill for a 1st down. Then a nice comeback route to 12-Smith for about +10 yards. 89-McNeill then found another hole in the zone defense for +8 yards. On 2nd down he overthrew a medium distance pass to 12-Smith which was well defended by 32-Fletcher. On 3rd down 39-Jackson ran off-tackle for the 1st down, keeping the drive alive. On the next play 8-Bradford is pressured; he moves out of the pocket and throws the ball away. Good decision making…
On the very next play, 8-Bradford throws the ball on a line (a bit high), which 11-Gibson goes up and gets against the defender who ran himself out of bounds (#–I didn’t catch the defender’s name). The catch was reminiscent of the types of big plays Mark Clayton and Brandon Lloyd could make to keep drives alive… very nice play by 11-Gibson.
On 1st and goal from the 3-yard line, 8-Bradford then finds 87-Salas open on a short slant pattern for the TD.
By that time we were nearing the end of practice. They took out the starters and brought in the scrubs. There were a couple more pass attempts to 87-Salas, neither of which were complete. More 34-Chase Reynolds and by then I realized the starters were done and I decided to stop taking notes… When practice was over we didn’t stick around to watch the kids and collectors get player autographs and so we high-tailed it out of there.
Player Comments…
11-Gibson… Nice game. But I seem to recall he had a nice preseason last year. Remember the 83-yard TD on the 1st play from scrimmage versus the Chiefs?
8-Bradford… Looked more like the 2010 Bradford than the 2011 version. Was making quick decisions on the short passes. Nice use of cadence and a good throwaway decision. Things looked tough on 7-on-7 end zone drills; hard to find open receivers and noticeably did not move around much – even without a pass rush. They have not practiced the longer (medium- to long- passes yet) so it’s hard to comment on those. The key for 8-Bradford is how he performs under pressure in real game situations; wearing the “red shirt” in a glorified scrimmage is not a good measuring tool… Overall though, a good performance.
16-Amendola… On this day, the startering unit on the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11’s was 16/12/11/89/39. (No rookies need apply.) 16-Amendola was good in the drills, but only 1 pass attempt (a catch) in the scrimmage plays. Still curious to see if he can play on the outside.
87-Salas… Everything he caught was on short passes and he did that well. Less successful on the longer plays, though he did not have 8-Bradford throwing to him most times…
18-Pettis… Literally the only thing they throw his way were fade passes. Little success completing plays today.
12-Smith… I was impressed. Along with 16-Amendola the only receiver on the team with a real resume. Very polished. I could see him making the team, but at the expense of whom?
13-Givens… Did not look good in the individual receiver drills compared to the others. Maybe fast, but a little clumsy in his footwork. The speed is there. Need to see what he can do running routes and using his hands. Did not catch much outside of the 1-on-1 drills. A rookie performance – no more, no less…
83-Quick… Another rookie. Showed better footwork than 13-Givens – especially for a man of his size. Willingly goes up for the ball. Again, like 18-Pettis they only threw him routes where he was asked to go up for the ball. Make him a receiver that runs normal routes first, THEN teach him to use his body in jump-ball situations. Good receivers can do everything…
39-Jackson… Our best offensive player. Didn’t show anything, didn’t need to show anything.
24-Pead… Lots of drops. Lots. Wasn’t particularly effective on running plays on this day. Small guy, too. If you are going to be a 3rd down back you better be able to pass block and catch the ball consistently. My guess is he is going to be more of a 2nd down back and 39-Jackson will be in there on 3rd down.
34-Reynolds… Cannon fodder. Another undrafted white guy for fans to root for…
4-Zuerlein… Any kicker who’s nickname is “the Leg” says it all.
6-Hekker… Nice kicker. In warm-ups showed really good directional skills. Nice height, too. Could not tell about his distance though…
94-Quinn… Quick as a cat off the line. The question is can he finish. I think he will get lots of QB pressures, but I wonder if he will bag a lot of sacks. He makes our o-linemen look bad, but that against our o-linemen – and most of those were back-ups.
91-Long… Thanks for extending. Didn’t see much and didn’t have anything to prove.
10-Clemons… Very inaccurate. I repeat: very inaccurate. But to his credit knows the offense pretty well and moves around in the pocket the best of any of our QB’s. Especially noticeable on scrimmage plays and drills near the goal line.
21-Jenkins… Raw. Got beat quite a few times but was always in the area of the receiver. He’s a rookie and he’s learning.
32-Fletcher… Plays without any brace. Shows good technique, plays good defense. Starter in the nickel. In the plays I observed, couldn’t tell he had been hurt. (Small sample size.) Good defender.
23-Murphy… Didn’t see much. 2 years behind. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of him in preseason.
38-Grody… Looked better than 23-Murphy. Makes mistakes, but makes plays, too.
Conclusion: As I said: it was a glorified practice. No real conclusions can be drawn yet. No Saffold. No Wells. News guys at LG. Heck, new guys all over the place. Lots of rookies. Racetech noted we’ve probably turned over nearly 2/3rd’s of the 2011 roster. Looking forward to the real games.
Enjoy,
BB
