Couple of questions for the board “deeper thinkers”...

[Rams43]

Obviously, you consider yourself a “deeper thinker” since you’re reading this. Just kidding, Lol.

Here goes...

Should the Rams move the drafting of a future replacement for Whit a bit higher up their offseason priority list? Reason I pose the question is that Whit seems to have struggled a bit in these last 2 games vs the Saints and Cards. Is Father Time having an effect on our soon-to-be 36 year old LOT? Gulp...

The other one is about our overall O. Early in the season our O seemed unstoppable. Perfect scheming and playcalling. It was carrying Wade’s D. But now? Seems to be a complete role reversal. Now our D and ST seem to be carrying our O. What to do? Thoughts, anyone?

I have a couple of suggestions, fwiw.

More Gurley, Coach! Never reduce Gurley’s running touches. Period. Burns the clock and keeps opposing QB on the sideline.
Fewer trick plays. Why get cute when we have the horses to beat teams straight up with the run and the pass?
More Pharoh, less Tavon. I’m serious. And throw in a run/pass option for Pharoh vs the Eagles, while you’re at it.
Can we please have a few more Watkins targets? If only to determine whether to extend him? Sigh...
Time to unleash Everett. Just do it. You can thank me later.
Might want to focus a bit better on clock management and use of TO’s, as well.

I sure hope that McVay and his O staff do some really serious self scouting this week.

 

[nighttrain]

Woods coming back and the offense will be better and score easier, about the other stuff, i'm counting on McVay and his staff to figure it out, they've done very good so far
train

 

[HeiseNBerg]

More Gurley, Coach! Never reduce Gurley’s running touches. Period. Burns the clock and keeps opposing QB on the sideline.

I'm with you on this one, big time. Gurley is a volume RB. The more touches he gets, the more he gets warmed up. Think back to his rookie year; he did a lot of damage in the game's 4th quarter. Need to get back to that; but I also get that McVay has said on more than one occasion that he gets a feel for the way the game is flowing, and will call plays based on that.

Still....you got a Ferrari in the garage; might be a good idea to take it out on the highway every once in a while and put the pedal to the metal.

 

[FaulkSF]

No more Tavon lining up at HB. Gurley, Brown and Davis only.

I think an OT with potential might not be bad in the third.

I think a lot of it is the red zone play calling and poor clock management. Stop being cute and feed the Gurley train!

On defense this week, we need to plug the middle of the field. Don't let RBs or Wentz scramble outside.

 

[Steve808]

It could be that McVay doesn't want to run Gurley into the ground with too many carries. Lighten his workload and hopefully he will remain fresh coming into the playoff run. I agree that Tavon seems to be ineffective but I believe he still needs to be accounted for by the defense so that might be a part of the plan.

Yes, we need to start grooming for a new LT. If not by draft, perhaps by FA again. Whitworth has done a great job. I hope he's got a few more good years. With the salary cap, some players won't be back next year.

 

[Karate61]

I'm all for picking a future LT high in upcoming draft. Look what a difference this year has been with Whitworth. Lesson Learned!

 

[DaveFan'51]

I sure hope that McVay and his O staff do some really serious self scouting this week.

A) McVay has said time, and time again, they "Self Scout" every week!
B) Each game is approached differently, some times it will be more Pass than Run and vise versa!
C) Sometimes Defense will Win games for you!

This is the nature of a Football Season, Nothing New!

 

[Riverumbbq]

I want the best player available in the draft, just so long as it's an OT, CB, LB, DE or NT. :rimshot:


As far as the O progressing in general, consider how very young this group is, development & chemistry will be the name for this game. They will only get better, and once our TE's really pick up their action, there is no telling how far this offense with McVay's coaching can take us. jmo

 

[den-the-coach]

@Rams43 with the great avatar....As to the future LT, go CB first (if you like someone) and look at LT down the road, 3rd or 4th round and again only if someone is a better option than Darryl Williams or Cornelius Lucas, who the Rams currently have on their roster, who are 24 & 26 respectively.

As to the offense teams not figuring things out, but they more they utilize Gurley, the better the offense. Against the Vikings the Rams got away from using him and they did not play all that well....Seems the more Gurley is involved, the better the offense is.

 

[shovelpass]

I would put LT and C as a priority in the off-season, hopefully Whitworth and Sullivan have another year left to properly "groom" them.

 

[OldSchool]

You let the draft come to you. Draft the bpa at a position of need. Don't draft an OT in the first just because you want one when there is a great CB who fell to you.

That sat it's still one of the top three needs in my book.

 

[Legatron4]

Whitworth has played probably two of the best DEs the last two weeks and only let up a sack to each. I’m not worried about him. But yes, I would draft a replacement next year.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Subject matter in thread titles is underrated. Is this the new thing? Do the mods need to adjust to this ever growing phenomenon?

 

[poLARizing]

I want the best player available in the draft, just so long as it's an OT, CB, LB, DE or NT.


As far as the O progressing in general, consider how very young this group is, development & chemistry will be the name for this game. They will only get better, and once our TE's really pick up their action, there is no telling how far this offense with McVay's coaching can take us. jmo

I would lean towards getting the best "trench" guy available. Did you guys catch the Pac12 Conference Championship game. That DL from Stanford, Harrison Phillips is really good; unblockable and former heavyweight wrestler.

http://www.gostanford.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=11695

 

[Seth Griffith]

Draft BPA next year ad look at FA LT's are available that don't break the bank. If there is a stud LT available when we draft next year (maybe...maybe not by the time we draft) take a long hard look.

Feed Everett 3-5 targets a game in the seam/red zone and get the game experience he needs. He has shown his capabilities, let's get him more game experience touches.

For the love of g*d, please stop handing the ball off to Tavon. He's not an NFL HB and my blood pressure rises every time I see him lined up as HB. Try throwing him a few screens/quick slants/quick outs to get him in a little space to operate...Coach him to run north as south!!!!

Make sure Gurley is fed his 15-20 carries and 2-4 screen/seam routes every...dayum...game. Please Coach...

As far as the other mouths to feed, I rank them like this. (as of now with Woods being out) 1. Watkins 2. Kupp 3. Cooper 4. Thomas 5. Reynolds (shoot, that's a lot to mouths to feed...great problem)

 

[Ram65]

https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/stats...IVE+LINE&opp=0&sort=3&qualified=1&sortOrder=0

Whitworth isn't going to be perfect and not many LT's are. Four sack and not many penalties. At this point I would look more on the defensive side of the ball as priorities. It's hard to find a good/above average LT and can take a couple years to develop fully. Right now Whitworth is still playing above average. Of course I don't have the grades to look at. Goff looks secure back in the pocket so that's a plus. Havenstein has been a little less secure. Adding a LT/RT to compete is good if you can find one but, I'm not sure Rams have the draft capital to spend in 2018.

More Gurley, Coach! Never reduce Gurley’s running touches. Period. Burns the clock and keeps opposing QB on the sideline.

Last week I thought Gurley should have had more carries in the second half. The Saints D seemed to be wearing down. McVay wanted to throw more last week going in and it did work for the most part. Gurley gets a good run like near the Rams endzone this week. He comes up a yard short of a first down. They give him the ball again and he loses a yard or two making third down. Good runs followed by negative runs. They just aren't consistent. The first was inside the second was outside. Maybe they have to commit more but, McVay likes to pass more. Teams are seeing the Rams on video now and are learning tendencies. I don't if this week is a good idea to run more against the best run defense in the NFL.

I didn't see trick plays this week. It is good every now and then to keep the D honest.
Everett had a TD and more targets so I see him progressing.

I would like to see better clock management.

 

[fearsomefour]

Mynfirst draft priorities would be CB and LT in that order.
No second round pick makes that tougher.

 

[leoram]

Shoot me for suggesting this, but if Whit gets hurt or falls off, I’d prefer Saffold over any rookie at LT. Guards are cheaper and easier to find in later rounds. Let’s hope we are a couple years away from that scenario. The DE’s that have beaten Whit have beaten everyone from time to time.

I believe much depends on what happens with A Donald. He is the most irreplaceable player on the team but will eat a lot of cap space. Fortunately, Goff will be relatively cheap for a few more years.

As for McVay’s playcalling and clock management, he is unpredictable and unafraid to fail. Many things that don’t work actually make the ones that do work happen sometimes. I guess I lack the hubris to assume I could do better than the guy that turned this offense from historically awful to somewhere at the top so quickly. Furthermore, he’s turned clock management basically over to Bones so I guess I’d ask which decisions you think need improvement because the couple I remember McVay has already acknowledged.

Finally, while I hate when Austin is used as a traditional tailback, the combination of Brown still not ready and that Austin has been used less and less as the year progresses, it’s tough to phase him out and still let him feel like a valuable part of the team. It’s a fine line

 

[BeefJurky]

They need to fill in for Whitworth and Sullivan but in my opinion left tackle can wait until the draft after this coming one. This coming draft we need C, CB and LB.
And LT if we get a BPA situation.

 

[Merlin]

@Rams43 with the great avatar....As to the future LT, go CB first (if you like someone) and look at LT down the road, 3rd or 4th round and again only if someone is a better option than Darryl Williams or Cornelius Lucas, who the Rams currently have on their roster, who are 24 & 26 respectively.

As to the offense teams not figuring things out, but they more they utilize Gurley, the better the offense. Against the Vikings the Rams got away from using him and they did not play all that well....Seems the more Gurley is involved, the better the offense is.

Agreed.

Best place to get a LT is the upper half of the first round, so I don't feel like it's wise to reach for a second tier guy in the latter half of the first round when you have starting and impact quality at other positions of need like CB or maybe rush OLB.

It's predictable, of course, for fans to say we need to draft LT asap, given that Big Whit is 36. But then again, that's the thinking that made him available to us in the first place. Cincinnati is wishing right now they had him under that contract.

It probably comes down to who's there when we pick in round 1. If a LT somehow ends up there at our pick then I'm sure the Rams would take him. Just seems unlikely and we also have other big needs on defense.