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Davis braces for Legion of Boom
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1a60c163-5ee3-5378-8923-4deea259c25b.html
On the Monopoly board of NFL defenses, young Austin Davis is in the high-rent district. We’re talking Park Place and Boardwalk.
His first exposure to the NFC West started Monday with San Francisco’s second-ranked defense. Six days later, it will be Seattle and its ninth-ranked defense Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
“What else could you really ask for?” Davis said. “As a competitor, you want to go against the best to see how you stack up. I think for this offense, that’s the way we need to look at it. It’s a great challenge and we’ve continually progressed. I think we’re gonna begin to see some results before long.”
As for Seattle, it starts with its vaunted secondary, aka the Legion of Boom. Despite some offseason personnel losses and some injury issues for Seattle this season, Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said: “They’re still booming. They sure are.”
“It’s just a really good group,” Davis said. “They come up and press your receivers, kind of play like ‘man’ on the outside. The linebackers are athletic and fast and move. D-line’s really the same way.”
For two quarters Monday against San Francisco, the results were almost shocking. Davis, making just his fourth NFL start at quarterback, put up two first-quarter touchdowns. The second came on a beautiful play-fake that sucked in basically the entire 49ers defense, leaving tight end Lance Kendricks wide open for a 22-yard touchdown catch.
There may have been more points in the second quarter were it not for an incorrect offensive pass interference call against tight end Jared Cook. The league doesn’t admit officiating mistakes all that often, but on this one vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said referee Craig Wrolstad’s crew blew the call.
So instead of having a first down at the San Francisco 25, the Rams got backed up to their 44 and didn’t score.
As for Davis’ second half? Well, not so impressive. He completed just 10 of 28 throws for 99 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown that accounted for San Francisco’s final seven points.
As has been the case since Davis replaced an injured Shaun Hill at halftime of the season opener against Minnesota, Davis wasn’t shy about pointing out his flaws against the 49ers.
“I’ve got to do a better job of staying in the pocket and trying to find completions,” Davis said. “They were getting a little (pass-rush) push, but they weren’t always getting free.”
The idea is to avoid looking at the pass rush, and keep your eyes on the receivers. It’s something Rams coaches said was one of the major improvements Davis made this offseason and preseason in his game. But he reverted to some bad habits in the second half Monday.
And there was one other thing: “I probably forced a few deep balls when I had some completions underneath,” Davis said. “We got down and I probably forced a few things.”
Davis has quickly shown he isn’t shy about taking deep shots, but he developed too much of a “Mad Bomber” persona in the second half against San Francisco, sometimes flinging deep balls wildly off target.
On the Rams’ first possession of the second quarter, Davis overthrew Stedman Bailey on a deep ball. He had Benny Cunningham and Cook open underneath — one to Davis’ left and one to his right.
Five plays later, a sack for a 1-yard loss could’ve been avoided had Davis chosen to throw underneath.
In the second half, there were at least five times Davis had open receivers underneath but didn’t throw to them. On four of those occasions the result was an incomplete deep pass. On the other, he got sacked.
“It’s something where he’s got to trust what he sees,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s had some success obviously throwing the ball down the field. We always say, ‘A shot called is not (always) a shot taken.’ I think sometimes it can be frustration — you want to make something happen.”
Schottenheimer says some of that patience will come with experience. But as coach Jeff Fisher points out, it’s not like the Rams want to take away Davis’ aggressiveness, either.
“When you get an opportunity to put the ball down the field, you need to do it,” Fisher said. “And he’s done that. Obviously, you saw what he did against Philadelphia (375 passing yards, three touchdowns). So that’s his deal.
“Now, if they take things away and he’s got to go underneath, he’ll go underneath. But putting it up and giving those guys a chance to make a play, that’s part of playing the position.”
With Seattle, the size of many of their defensive backs — particularly Richard Sherman — could make it more difficult for Rams “bigs” Brian Quick and Kenny Britt to win jump balls.
There’s another factor at play here, namely the range of Seattle free safety Earl Thomas. Receivers may look open when Davis releases the ball Sunday, but Thomas has the speed to close quickly, something that could be deceptive for an inexperienced quarterback.
“Absolutely,” Schottenheimer said. “He knows for a fact when we’re throwing anything, he’s got to find Earl. He’s got to see things well in this game ... and find the open guy.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_1a60c163-5ee3-5378-8923-4deea259c25b.html
On the Monopoly board of NFL defenses, young Austin Davis is in the high-rent district. We’re talking Park Place and Boardwalk.
His first exposure to the NFC West started Monday with San Francisco’s second-ranked defense. Six days later, it will be Seattle and its ninth-ranked defense Sunday at the Edward Jones Dome.
“What else could you really ask for?” Davis said. “As a competitor, you want to go against the best to see how you stack up. I think for this offense, that’s the way we need to look at it. It’s a great challenge and we’ve continually progressed. I think we’re gonna begin to see some results before long.”
As for Seattle, it starts with its vaunted secondary, aka the Legion of Boom. Despite some offseason personnel losses and some injury issues for Seattle this season, Rams offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said: “They’re still booming. They sure are.”
“It’s just a really good group,” Davis said. “They come up and press your receivers, kind of play like ‘man’ on the outside. The linebackers are athletic and fast and move. D-line’s really the same way.”
For two quarters Monday against San Francisco, the results were almost shocking. Davis, making just his fourth NFL start at quarterback, put up two first-quarter touchdowns. The second came on a beautiful play-fake that sucked in basically the entire 49ers defense, leaving tight end Lance Kendricks wide open for a 22-yard touchdown catch.
There may have been more points in the second quarter were it not for an incorrect offensive pass interference call against tight end Jared Cook. The league doesn’t admit officiating mistakes all that often, but on this one vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said referee Craig Wrolstad’s crew blew the call.
So instead of having a first down at the San Francisco 25, the Rams got backed up to their 44 and didn’t score.
As for Davis’ second half? Well, not so impressive. He completed just 10 of 28 throws for 99 yards and had an interception returned for a touchdown that accounted for San Francisco’s final seven points.
As has been the case since Davis replaced an injured Shaun Hill at halftime of the season opener against Minnesota, Davis wasn’t shy about pointing out his flaws against the 49ers.
“I’ve got to do a better job of staying in the pocket and trying to find completions,” Davis said. “They were getting a little (pass-rush) push, but they weren’t always getting free.”
The idea is to avoid looking at the pass rush, and keep your eyes on the receivers. It’s something Rams coaches said was one of the major improvements Davis made this offseason and preseason in his game. But he reverted to some bad habits in the second half Monday.
And there was one other thing: “I probably forced a few deep balls when I had some completions underneath,” Davis said. “We got down and I probably forced a few things.”
Davis has quickly shown he isn’t shy about taking deep shots, but he developed too much of a “Mad Bomber” persona in the second half against San Francisco, sometimes flinging deep balls wildly off target.
On the Rams’ first possession of the second quarter, Davis overthrew Stedman Bailey on a deep ball. He had Benny Cunningham and Cook open underneath — one to Davis’ left and one to his right.
Five plays later, a sack for a 1-yard loss could’ve been avoided had Davis chosen to throw underneath.
In the second half, there were at least five times Davis had open receivers underneath but didn’t throw to them. On four of those occasions the result was an incomplete deep pass. On the other, he got sacked.
“It’s something where he’s got to trust what he sees,” Schottenheimer said. “He’s had some success obviously throwing the ball down the field. We always say, ‘A shot called is not (always) a shot taken.’ I think sometimes it can be frustration — you want to make something happen.”
Schottenheimer says some of that patience will come with experience. But as coach Jeff Fisher points out, it’s not like the Rams want to take away Davis’ aggressiveness, either.
“When you get an opportunity to put the ball down the field, you need to do it,” Fisher said. “And he’s done that. Obviously, you saw what he did against Philadelphia (375 passing yards, three touchdowns). So that’s his deal.
“Now, if they take things away and he’s got to go underneath, he’ll go underneath. But putting it up and giving those guys a chance to make a play, that’s part of playing the position.”
With Seattle, the size of many of their defensive backs — particularly Richard Sherman — could make it more difficult for Rams “bigs” Brian Quick and Kenny Britt to win jump balls.
There’s another factor at play here, namely the range of Seattle free safety Earl Thomas. Receivers may look open when Davis releases the ball Sunday, but Thomas has the speed to close quickly, something that could be deceptive for an inexperienced quarterback.
“Absolutely,” Schottenheimer said. “He knows for a fact when we’re throwing anything, he’s got to find Earl. He’s got to see things well in this game ... and find the open guy.”
