Camp Report - 7/25/13

[CoachO]

Well, its finally here!!! The initial Camp report for the 2013 Season.

Just a few of my observations from today:

Camp Report 7/25/13
Largest crowd of any training camp practice ever. Perfect weather only helped.

Players not participating: Lance Kendricks; Matt Daniels; Jemelle Cudjo ; Barrett Jones; Braden Brown

Special Teams to start off Practice:
Fielding punts: Tavon Austin; Isaiah Pead: Nick Johnson; Demetrius Fields; Chase Reynolds; Andre Martin

Kickoff Returns:
Isaiah Pead; Nick Johnson; Demetrius Fields; Andrew Helmic; Raymond Radway (NO GIVENS; NO AUSTIN)

Spent the first 20 minutes on Kickoff Coverage:
1st Unit Kickoff Team…..
T. Johnson Hull McDonald McLeod McNeill Zuerlein Pointer Harkey Sims Stewart Giaordano
2nd Unit:
Reynolds J. Williams Steeples Cunningham Bates Baer Armstrong McGee Bailey Ogletree C. Davis

Offensive Line:
1st Unit: Long C. Williams Wells Dahl Saffold
2nd Unit: Barksdale S. Smith Barnes Washington Nsekhe

7 on 7 Passing Drills:

Started out with “12” personnel (single back/ double TE) set
McNeill Cook (both lined up as "in line TE's)
Pettis Givens (split out on opposite sides of formation)
Richardson

Next play came out in Trips:
Givens Pettis Austin
Cook (on opposite side of the formation)
Pead

• Just a couple of examples of the formations they used. But make no mistake about it, while they took a couple deep shots with Givens and later Bailey, the MAJORITY of the focus of the offense was 3-step, quick hitting stuff.

• Quite a concerted effort to work Cook in the seam, and on stuff over the middle. Givens and Janoris Jenkins went at it a couple of times, with Givens not necessarily liking the tight coverage all that much. He did beat him on a deep pass only to drop it while falling in the back corner of the endzone.

• Another highlight of the 7 on 7 session, was Austin getting behind Finnegan and Bradford hitting him in stride before the safety could get there. Lined up in the slot, alongside Cook, who ran a post route, taking the safety with him. This is EXACTLY the problem that these two will cause. There is no way the safety can cover both.

• When they went to the 3 WR sets, it was interesting that Stewart more often than not was the deep safety, with McDonald in the box. McDonald impressed me with his anticipation and closing speed in the flats. Closed on Austin on a sideline route near the LOS.

• One other thing that stood out was Ogletree. He has definitely added size, but his range in coverage is incredible. Again, his closing speed on backs out of the backfield is impressive. In nickel situations, Ogletree and Laurinaitis stayed on the field. (no surprise) with Finnegan sliding inside as the nickel CB. T. Johnson and Jenkins on the outside.

• One other observation: Witherspoon and Jabara Williams were the 2nd Unit LBs in the Nickel. I mention this because it means Dunbar is working with the 3’s in this package. McGee and Steeples were running with the 2nd unit at CB, with Pointer as the nickel CB. McLeod and Giordano at the Safeties.
11 on 11

• Richardson and Pead alternated reps throughout most of practice.

• Stacy and Ganaway shared reps with the 2nd unit. Stacy tripped going thru the hole and fumbled on one of his early carries. Not exactly the way you want to make an early impression.

• More than not, Givens and Pettis were getting 1st unit reps, with Quick and Bailey subbing in.
Lots of different personnel groupings, mainly a byproduct of just rotating the WRs on virtually every play.

• Harkey was used as H-back (in place of Kendricks) and lined up in the FB position more than once. Again, this is a change over McNeill being used in that spot a lot last year.

Player observations:

Pead… IMO, looks a little thicker this year. Lower body has developed. Still shows excellent hands out of the backfield. And has the burst.

Andrew Helmick (local kid out of Lindenwood Univ) had a very impressive practice. Caught EVERYTHING thrown at him, including a sliding catch in the seam for what was about a 18-20 yrd reception from A. Davis.

It’s really nice to see them break the huddle and Bradford not be the tallest player on the field. Jake Long is the real deal. Scott Wells notwithstanding, when Harvey Dahl is the “smallest” guy on your Oline, it speaks volumes on what they have done to build this unit.

Brandon Washington is a LARGE MAN!!!! He is one to keep an eye on.

Cody Davis and Rashard Hall working with the 3’s at Safety. Ray Ray Armstrong with the 3’s at OLB.

 

[RustyRay]

Thanks so much for the post Coach..these reports are like gold.

 

[-X-]

Next play came out in Trips:
Givens Pettis Austin
Cook (on opposite side of the formation)
Pead

Damn I like the sound of that. :nana:

 

[sostl]

thanks for the report

ill be there Saturday

 

[CoachO]

Next play came out in Trips:
Givens Pettis Austin
Cook (on opposite side of the formation)
Pead

Damn I like the sound of that. :nana:

They did use a lot of different looks in terms of formations. But as I mentioned. While taking shots on a few designed calls, MOST of the day was quick "get it out on time" type of throws.

As I have sort of intimated, the "scheme" doesn't look all that different, but it definitely has a different feel to it. There is no mistaking the upgrade in speed, and the mismatches that can be created.

On the "big play" to Austin, it was a direct result of he and Cook lining up side by side in the slot, with Pettis on the outside. Both Austin and Cook attacked the seam, with Cook breaking to the post and Austin beating Finnegan straight down the seam. The safety (Stewart) was in no mans land. He went with Cook ( he had no choice) which left Austin alone. Bradford hit him in stride (about 25 yrds downfield, and he was gone)

 

[-X-]

They did use a lot of different looks in terms of formations. But as I mentioned. While taking shots on a few designed calls, MOST of the day was quick "get it out on time" type of throws.

As I have sort of intimated, the "scheme" doesn't look all that different, but it definitely has a different feel to it. There is no mistaking the upgrade in speed, and the mismatches that can be created.

On the "big play" to Austin, it was a direct result of he and Cook lining up side by side in the slot, with Pettis on the outside. Both Austin and Cook attacked the seam, with Cook breaking to the post and Austin beating Finnegan straight down the seam. The safety (Stewart) was in no mans land. He went with Cook ( he had no choice) which left Austin alone. Bradford hit him in stride (about 25 yrds downfield, and he was gone)

I sort of expected them to work on getting the ball out in a hurry so that the guys with all the athleticism can do their thing, but I do like the sound of trips with all that speed and with Cook isolated on the other side. I heard about them doubling Cook and Austin up on a route and it caused problems before today as well. I hope they don't overuse that thing, because it sounds absolutely deadly.

 

[catcheryea]

Wow, this is awesome. Thanks Coach! I heard that Brandon McGee looked really good and was giving Quick, who also looked more comfortable, a pretty good run for his money. I was just wondering who was matching up with Cook on most plays, especially if it was McDonald or Ogletree, and how that guy looked in coverage. Also, how much better does it look like Brockers got? We've all got high hopes for him so improvement is the key right now.

I also heard that Hekker ran some 7 on 7. That must have been pretty awesome to watch.

 

[jrry32]

Appreciate this!

 

[FRO]

Great work CoachO. I will be there Saturday, maybe we will cross paths.

I get a feeling that LG is Williams to lose, I know it's hard to evaluate OGs, but what if anything did you see out of him?

Does the offense look improved?

Glad to hear Ogletree look good. He was a guy I really wanted. Great talent.

 

[CoachO]

Wow, this is awesome. Thanks Coach! I heard that Brandon McGee looked really good and was giving Quick, who also looked more comfortable, a pretty good run for his money. I was just wondering who was matching up with Cook on most plays, especially if it was McDonald or Ogletree, and how that guy looked in coverage. Also, how much better does it look like Brockers got? We've all got high hopes for him so improvement is the key right now.

I also heard that Hekker ran some 7 on 7. That must have been pretty awesome to watch.

Hekker was running the 7 on 7 drill with the rookies AFTER practice. This is something that Fisher does. They let the "3s" and rookies get extra reps while everyone else is done with practice. Hekker took a few of the reps, and eventually gave way to Tim Jenkins. There were reports earlier that Jenkins was going thru a little bit of a "tired" arm, in that he was the ONLY QB throwing while the rookies went thru their workouts earlier in the week.

Brandon McGee was matched up with Quick. I did notice that Quick was using his size against him, and in much the same way he scored against SF, used his strength to get separation on a few plays.

 

[DR RAM]

Excellent report CoachO, just to add a tidbit, Washington was one of the players that received a text from Coach Fisher, asking him to report with the rookies to get extra work in. They probably knew Rok was coming in heavy.

 

[CoachO]

Excellent report CoachO, just to add a tidbit, Washington was one of the players that received a text from Coach Fisher, asking him to report with the rookies to get extra work in. They probably knew Rok was coming in heavy.

Obviously, he was one of the guys we picked up AFTER training camp last year, so this is my first chance to see him. The dude is big. He looks like the guy they WISHED Watkins would have reported as.

The other LARGE BODY out there is Nsekhe. NEedless to say, the days of undersized o-linemen getting pushed around are a thing of the past.

Like I said, when Harvey Dahl is the smallest of your starting lineup, (not counting Wells)well, its gonna be a fun year.

 

[DR RAM]

Excellent report CoachO, just to add a tidbit, Washington was one of the players that received a text from Coach Fisher, asking him to report with the rookies to get extra work in. They probably knew Rok was coming in heavy.

Obviously, he was one of the guys we picked up AFTER training camp last year, so this is my first chance to see him. The dude is big. He looks like the guy they WISHED Watkins would have reported as.

The other LARGE BODY out there is Nsekhe. NEedless to say, the days of undersized o-linemen getting pushed around are a thing of the past.

Like I said, when Harvey Dahl is the smallest of your starting lineup, (not counting Wells)well, its gonna be a fun year.

Can't wait to hear more from you about the line. Seems like most (not all) of the guys there have little knowledge, or interest in the line. If you can, sneak a couple peeks at Saffold, and let me know how his mechanics and fluidity look from the right side.

Can't wait to see these big guys in the preseason.

Thanks.

 

[Username]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfslY_AvhLw[/youtube]

 

[Angry Ram]

Cool...thanks for this. Gotta take these w/ grains of salt but gives you an idea of what's going on. Good job!

 

[kurtfaulk]

Bra
ndon McGee was matched up with Quick. I did notice that Quick was using his size against him, and in much the same way he scored against SF, used his strength to get separation on a few plays.

Yes. That's what I like to hear. Now when he can do it continually against the 1sts I can get really excited.

.

 

[nighttrain]

Thanks so much for the post Coach..these reports are like gold.

I'd like to second this, great report
thanks
train

 

[Selassie I]

Great stuff CoachO !

Thanks so much... anxiously waiting for the next one.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I like the way you laid out the start of this report. Well done! Easy read. Informative.

I'm going to comment on the size of the oline; it's certainly nice to see the Rams approach to adding size there. I mean, obviously we need to maintain the athleticism... and it appears we have.