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Bonsignore: Rams are all right with right side of the offensive line stabilized
Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth (77) greets running back Todd Gurley during a June workout at the team’s practice facility at California Lutheran University. (SCNG staff photo)
By VINCENT BONSIGNORE | vbonsignore@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: November 9, 2017 at 3:30 pm | UPDATED: November 9, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Inside the Rams locker room at their practice facility in Thousand Oaks, players are sectioned off by position group. Defensive linemen are an especially loud group. Wide receivers can bring the noise as well.
By sheer numbers, the quietest section belongs the quarterbacks.
But the offensive lineman are easily the most low-key group. Maybe it’s just the thankless, almost tedious and methodical nature of their job. And the anonymity that comes with it.
Last year, the reserved atmosphere for the offensive line seemed appropriate considering the major liability the group became during a disastrous 4-12 season. Yet nobody has more of a right to demand a share of the 2017 spotlight than Andrew Whitworth, Rodger Saffold, John Sullivan, Jamon Brown and Rob Havenstein.
The Rams are averaging a league-high 32.9 points per game – up from 14 last year. Running back Todd Gurley has regained his status as an elite running back with 986 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. And second-year quarterback Jared Goff has silenced his critics by emerging as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL while throwing for 2,030 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Without Whitworth, Saffold, Sullivan, Brown and Havenstein, none of that happens.
“We’re in a good spot right now but the work continues. And we feel we can play better,” is about as far as Sullivan will go.
And good luck getting any self congratulation for a job well done thus far.
"I will at the end of the season, depending on what happens,” Havenstein said. “But even at that, it’s not going to be a ‘me’ thing or an ‘offensive line’ thing. It’s going to be a ‘team’ thing and an ‘offensive’ thing and an offensive thing within the scheme of a team-wide thing.”
“So far this year it’s been good. But obviously there’s a lot of football left to be played. No one knows what’s going to happen.”
As bad as the Rams offensive line was last year, with left tackle Greg Robinson solidifying his bust status and Saffold having to move to fill gaping position holes and injury and ineffectiveness sabotaging center and right guard, they went into training camp confident that the left side of their line would be dramatically better with Whitworth, a perennial Pro Bowler, replacing Robinson and Saffold being permanently slotted at left guard.
That, coupled with Sullivan locking down center, gave the Rams peace of mind on the left side.
Things were much less certain on the right side – or, as Sullivan and others refer to it, the “young side.”
While Havenstein and Brown have solidified their position with effective, consistent play, it wasn’t so long ago the pair was considered among the biggest question marks on offense.
Havenstein was coming off an injury-riddled season and, for a time anyway, was moved to right guard when Robinson was given one-last shot at right tackle. But that plan was scrapped in OTA’s, with Havenstein moving back to tackle and Brown getting the nod – albeit tenuously – at right guard.
Rams coaches continually referred to the right side as a work in progress. Brown and Havenstein understood the situation.
“It’s the NFL. There’s always anxiety,” Havenstein said. “You’ve got to play football to stick around. But I think everyone who’s here right now had a great mentality about it. No one was scared about the competition.”
Brown and Havenstein were drafted together in 2015 and the Rams envisioned them being long-time anchors. As did the two young teammates, perhaps even side by side. But circumstances always got in the way.
Brown battled injuries, including a broken leg that limited him to nine games in 2015 and a broken hand that cost him five games last year. When he was healthy, Rams coaches couldn’t figure out a position for him. In fact, last year he played every line position but center.
Meanwhile, Havenstein missed all of training camp and preseason last year.
“So we never really were able to stick together,” Brown said. “This is the first time we’ve gotten a chance to settle in over a long period, get in sync and develop a chemistry.”
And it shows in their play — Goff has been sacked just 10 times on 244 pass attempts after going down 26 times on 205 attempts last year.
Eight games into the season, whatever anxiety that existed about the right side of the Rams line has vanished.
“Very pleased with those guys,” said Rams head coach Sean McVay. “Certainly there’s always things that we can clean up, but I think you watch their progression, the way that they continue to mature – they’re playing really good football right now. I think they’re getting comfortable, they’re getting a rapport with each other.”
There are more factors in play.
Getting consistent snaps alongside each other has been huge for Havenstein and Brown’s working relationship. The addition of McVay and offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur has meant a better utilization of individual skills and strength. And new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has added a thorough, thoughtful voice that provides an element of high-level teaching with encouragement and allowance for input and feedback.
“Everybody is super detail oriented,” Sullivan said. “And just the dynamic of the room, the way Krom coaches, the amount of input that we’re able to give in terms of what we’re seeing and what we’re feeling. And then he’s able to take that and talk with Sean and make a final decision.”
Brown and Havenstein continually keep a close eye on their veteran teammates for tips. Especially Whitworth and Saffold their left-side tackle and guard counterparts.
“I’ve been very pleased with those guys and want to continue to seem them grow and develop,” McVay said of Brown and Havenstein. “But, just looking at where they are in their career and just kind of projecting moving forward, I feel very good about those two.”
[www.ocregister.com]
Rams tackle Andrew Whitworth (77) greets running back Todd Gurley during a June workout at the team’s practice facility at California Lutheran University. (SCNG staff photo)
By VINCENT BONSIGNORE | vbonsignore@scng.com | Daily News
PUBLISHED: November 9, 2017 at 3:30 pm | UPDATED: November 9, 2017 at 4:51 pm
Inside the Rams locker room at their practice facility in Thousand Oaks, players are sectioned off by position group. Defensive linemen are an especially loud group. Wide receivers can bring the noise as well.
By sheer numbers, the quietest section belongs the quarterbacks.
But the offensive lineman are easily the most low-key group. Maybe it’s just the thankless, almost tedious and methodical nature of their job. And the anonymity that comes with it.
Last year, the reserved atmosphere for the offensive line seemed appropriate considering the major liability the group became during a disastrous 4-12 season. Yet nobody has more of a right to demand a share of the 2017 spotlight than Andrew Whitworth, Rodger Saffold, John Sullivan, Jamon Brown and Rob Havenstein.
The Rams are averaging a league-high 32.9 points per game – up from 14 last year. Running back Todd Gurley has regained his status as an elite running back with 986 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. And second-year quarterback Jared Goff has silenced his critics by emerging as one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL while throwing for 2,030 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Without Whitworth, Saffold, Sullivan, Brown and Havenstein, none of that happens.
“We’re in a good spot right now but the work continues. And we feel we can play better,” is about as far as Sullivan will go.
And good luck getting any self congratulation for a job well done thus far.
"I will at the end of the season, depending on what happens,” Havenstein said. “But even at that, it’s not going to be a ‘me’ thing or an ‘offensive line’ thing. It’s going to be a ‘team’ thing and an ‘offensive’ thing and an offensive thing within the scheme of a team-wide thing.”
“So far this year it’s been good. But obviously there’s a lot of football left to be played. No one knows what’s going to happen.”
As bad as the Rams offensive line was last year, with left tackle Greg Robinson solidifying his bust status and Saffold having to move to fill gaping position holes and injury and ineffectiveness sabotaging center and right guard, they went into training camp confident that the left side of their line would be dramatically better with Whitworth, a perennial Pro Bowler, replacing Robinson and Saffold being permanently slotted at left guard.
That, coupled with Sullivan locking down center, gave the Rams peace of mind on the left side.
Things were much less certain on the right side – or, as Sullivan and others refer to it, the “young side.”
While Havenstein and Brown have solidified their position with effective, consistent play, it wasn’t so long ago the pair was considered among the biggest question marks on offense.
Havenstein was coming off an injury-riddled season and, for a time anyway, was moved to right guard when Robinson was given one-last shot at right tackle. But that plan was scrapped in OTA’s, with Havenstein moving back to tackle and Brown getting the nod – albeit tenuously – at right guard.
Rams coaches continually referred to the right side as a work in progress. Brown and Havenstein understood the situation.
“It’s the NFL. There’s always anxiety,” Havenstein said. “You’ve got to play football to stick around. But I think everyone who’s here right now had a great mentality about it. No one was scared about the competition.”
Brown and Havenstein were drafted together in 2015 and the Rams envisioned them being long-time anchors. As did the two young teammates, perhaps even side by side. But circumstances always got in the way.
Brown battled injuries, including a broken leg that limited him to nine games in 2015 and a broken hand that cost him five games last year. When he was healthy, Rams coaches couldn’t figure out a position for him. In fact, last year he played every line position but center.
Meanwhile, Havenstein missed all of training camp and preseason last year.
“So we never really were able to stick together,” Brown said. “This is the first time we’ve gotten a chance to settle in over a long period, get in sync and develop a chemistry.”
And it shows in their play — Goff has been sacked just 10 times on 244 pass attempts after going down 26 times on 205 attempts last year.
Eight games into the season, whatever anxiety that existed about the right side of the Rams line has vanished.
“Very pleased with those guys,” said Rams head coach Sean McVay. “Certainly there’s always things that we can clean up, but I think you watch their progression, the way that they continue to mature – they’re playing really good football right now. I think they’re getting comfortable, they’re getting a rapport with each other.”
There are more factors in play.
Getting consistent snaps alongside each other has been huge for Havenstein and Brown’s working relationship. The addition of McVay and offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur has meant a better utilization of individual skills and strength. And new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer has added a thorough, thoughtful voice that provides an element of high-level teaching with encouragement and allowance for input and feedback.
“Everybody is super detail oriented,” Sullivan said. “And just the dynamic of the room, the way Krom coaches, the amount of input that we’re able to give in terms of what we’re seeing and what we’re feeling. And then he’s able to take that and talk with Sean and make a final decision.”
Brown and Havenstein continually keep a close eye on their veteran teammates for tips. Especially Whitworth and Saffold their left-side tackle and guard counterparts.
“I’ve been very pleased with those guys and want to continue to seem them grow and develop,” McVay said of Brown and Havenstein. “But, just looking at where they are in their career and just kind of projecting moving forward, I feel very good about those two.”
[www.ocregister.com]
