DBs hope to come into their own soon---so I say :)

[SteveBrown]

If these guys approach the level anywhere near where they are capable during the playoffs, Rams make the bowl:

35 defensive backs had a PFF grade of 85+ last year. The Rams now have 4 of them in Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, Lamarcus Joyner and John Johnson. Once free agency begins and the trades are official, they'll be the only team with 4.

 

[BonifayRam]

If these guys approach the level anywhere near where they are capable during the playoffs, Rams make the bowl:

35 defensive backs had a PFF grade of 85+ last year. The Rams now have 4 of them in Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, Lamarcus Joyner and John Johnson. Once free agency begins and the trades are official, they'll be the only team with 4.

That was last year where 2 of our corners were playing in different teams defenses. Our two safeties ?? FS Joyner in 2017 started half his games playing the Nickle Corner. There is no where for LJ to go but get better his play has been poor. I see nothing thus far to indicate he is improving. The best play of the four is SS Johnson III, has been in a slight decline in his level of play from where he performed last season as a rookie. I do expect him to play better.

 

[badnews]

That was last year where 2 of our corners were playing in different teams defenses. Our two safeties ?? FS Joyner in 2017 started half his games playing the Nickle Corner. There is no where for LJ to go but get better his play has been poor. I see nothing thus far to indicate he is improving. The best play of the four is SS Johnson III, has been in a slight decline in his level of play from where he performed last season as a rookie. I do expect him to play better.

Joyner is getting better, to my eyes anyways. Everyone in our secondary has seemingly regressed from last season. Not one person in our secondary has looked good since Talibs injury, but I have seen signs of improvement.

I think the combo of playing against great QBs and everybody giving us their best has skewed some of our perspective.

 

[jjab360]

That was last year where 2 of our corners were playing in different teams defenses. Our two safeties ?? FS Joyner in 2017 started half his games playing the Nickle Corner. There is no where for LJ to go but get better his play has been poor. I see nothing thus far to indicate he is improving. The best play of the four is SS Johnson III, has been in a slight decline in his level of play from where he performed last season as a rookie. I do expect him to play better.

Joyner played FS all last year except for some packages iirc. Fisher was the only one who had him playing strictly nickelback.

 

[BonifayRam]

Joyner played FS all last year except for some packages iirc. Fisher was the only one who had him playing strictly nickelback.

My position is LJ was listed as a starter for 12 games last season. He was also listed in 2017 as our starting FS for the entire season too, However as I recall what I observed in 2017 was a heavy duty use of Five & six DB's. CB Troy Hill our 4th corner missed 4 complete gms.

Starting CB Webster missed 7 complete Ram games in 2017. KW also left 2 other gms in the first quarter with injuries. Our Nicke Corner NRC was utiilized & move outside in the KW position in aprrox. 9 gms. One reason Nickell Robey-Coleman was rewarded with a 3 year, $15.7 mil.contract, including $8 million guaranteed, with an average annual salary of $5,225 mil.

Troy Hill was also used at times too on the outside corner. In the first 7 games of the season Cody Davis played the high safety in Nickle & Dime situations. Okay after saying all that question (if you don't mind) where was Joyner lining up when all of this was going on? .........in my opinion LJ played a ton of Nickle & Dime corner snaps many gms in 2017.

I guess I disagree with your use of the word "Some Pakcages". We agree on where Fisher & Williams utilized LJ from 2014 thru 2016 .....Nickle Corner/ Outside Corner/ Dime Corner & Outside Strong Side LB'er post. I had a family member who was a Saints fan visiting yesterday he wanted to watch the game instead of the Bears gm. I was surprised to see Joyner playing the Nicke Back some in the Saints game too.

 

[Merlin]

Joyner should be able to make fast decisions by now in this scheme. Hopefully he will improve with Talib back there helping him or his @$$ will end up on the bench.

 

[RamWoodie]

I already had Johnson pegged to be a breakout on D before the season started. Troy Hill is playing better every week to my eyes. He has to work on his physical play in man to man.

 

[MachS]

I think the combo of playing against great QBs and everybody giving us their best has skewed some of our perspective.

I dont think we can use this as an excuse. We'll be facing great QBs in the playoffs and getting everyone's best. We need our secondary to play well and step up during those games. Thats why we brought them here and they haven't been getting it done.

Talib going down affects the entire group, but that said there's no excuse for the individual play of MP, JJ, or LJ.

 

[Prime Time]

https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2018/11/25/nfl-los-angeles-rams-aqib-talib-injury-return-2/

Aqib Talib still planning to play Week 13 vs. Lions: 'I'm coming back'
By: Cameron DaSilva

The injury bug bit the Los Angeles Rams hard in the first few weeks of the season. In the first three weeks, Greg Zuerlein, Pharoh Cooper, Mike Thomas and Aqib Talib suffered significant injuries. Marcus Peters also hurt his calf in Week 3, too, but he didn’t miss any time.

Talib has been out since injuring his ankle against the Chargers nine weeks ago, but he’s planning to get back on the field next weekend against the Lions. He provided an update on his health Sunday on “NFL GameDay Morning” and it sounds like he’s ready to play.

“That’s the plan,” Talib said when asked if he’ll play next week. “I’m going to have an eye test on Monday. Coach is going to see how the ankle looks once I’m competing. There’s a difference – drills, competing. It’s a lot different, so I’ll compete on Monday and see how I look. If you ask me, I’m coming back. The coaches, they’re going to be a little smarter than me.”

Rich Eisen flat-out asked Talib: “So we’ll see you next week?”

Talib’s answer was even simpler: “Yeah.”

The Rams can’t wait to get Talib back, either. He’s eligible to return from IR at any moment, it’s just a matter of the team activating him. That’s likely to happen this week assuming all goes according to plan in his “eye test” on Monday, giving the Rams a big boost in the secondary.

Since Talib injured his ankle, Peters has regressed. He hasn’t been able to lock down No. 1 receivers, he’s taken too many gambles on the field and teams have picked on him in coverage.

Troy Hill and Sam Shields haven’t exactly been studs as Talib’s replacements, either, which makes the veterans return even bigger. Expect the secondary to play much better once Talib gets back on the field.

 

[Adi]

Played pretty well when Talib was in there , this guy adds leadership and he will help emensouly.

 

[RamWoodie]

Let me throw this out there:

Joyner, Robey-Coleman, Hill, and Countess are 5' 8", 5' 8", 5' 11", and 5' 10" respectively. Even if all are playing great...their stature is an inviting matchup to offenses. I've seen all of these guys in excellent coverage situations where the bottom line was they were in a size disadvantage. We gotta live with that folks!!!

Remember when the prototypical DB was about 5' 9"? (Recall Ram greats Rod Perry and Pat Thomas). Today I believe it's 6' 0". Ram starters at CB, Peters is 6' 0" and Talib is 6' 1".

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

Here's hoping for a stabilizing domino effect from Aqib's return.

 

[Prime Time]

View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1066838378165878784

 

[BonifayRam]

Let me throw this out there:

Joyner, Robey-Coleman, Hill, and Countess are 5' 8", 5' 8", 5' 11", and 5' 10" respectively. Even if all are playing great...their stature is an inviting matchup to offenses. I've seen all of these guys in excellent coverage situations where the bottom line was they were in a size disadvantage. We gotta live with that folks!!!

Remember when the prototypical DB was about 5' 9"? (Recall Ram greats Rod Perry and Pat Thomas). Today I believe it's 6' 0". Ram starters at CB, Peters is 6' 0" and Talib is 6' 1".

Very Good point!

Soon to be 33 yr old Talib is our tallest & largest DB. Rams need to address the overall lack of length & speed of our DB in this next draft..

 

[badnews]

I dont think we can use this as an excuse. We'll be facing great QBs in the playoffs and getting everyone's best. We need our secondary to play well and step up during those games. Thats why we brought them here and they haven't been getting it done.

Talib going down affects the entire group, but that said there's no excuse for the individual play of MP, JJ, or LJ.

I dont use it as an excuse.
It is what it is. I see a new offensive record being set almost every week.
I am not happy with the play in our secondary, but I see it improving as playoffs approach.
I have no idea why it seems Joyner, Johnson, and Peters are all playing below their own standard selves, but I think it will get better.

In the NFL, things can change quickly, and teams/units/players are frequently not as great or as terrible as it seems.
NRC, Joyner, JJ and Peters have all played better than they currently are for the majority of their careers. Its not like they are all suddenly old.

Yes, we will face good QBs and Offenses in the playoffs.
The ONLY way ANY team this year wins those games is by having an equally great offense.
The problem is we have faced Rogers, Brees, Wilson and Mahomes. Our DBs have struggled this season but its not coincidence that the DBs shitty play has gained our attention more during this stretch!
I mean for fucks sake, NO TEAM in the league has faced a month like that.... and like everybody else against these guys in 2018, it wasnt pretty, but we weathered the storm, while down our best and most experienced leader in the secondary.

So, I expect a bye week of Phillips looking at his group and cleaning things up, and deeper and more experienced unit with Talib, fresher legs for Peters and Co, and the probability that our DBs are more likely to move towards their average level of play than to all consistently, inexplicably regress for a play-off run.

 

[PhillyRam]

Any chance Talib sticks around past next season as a FS? May not have the wheels for CB 2 yrs from now, but if they can afford him, is it worth keeping him as a safety?

 

[Merlin]

I have no idea why it seems Joyner, Johnson, and Peters are all playing below their own standard selves, but I think it will get better.

I think it will get better with Talib's return as well, and mostly that will be our defense being able to take away the WR1 on some snaps, as opposed to WR1 having his way all day long.

Johnson also, being a young player in this scheme, has room of course to improve. He's had some good games, btw, just up and down as F.

But Joyner? Meh. I think he lacks the elite instincts you need in the deep middle. That first TD by the Chiefs demonstrates who he is. Can Talib help him there? God I hope so but very doubtful on that.

Peters has been a straight bust for us in that trade. It is what it is. But Wade will use him where he can to eliminate one of the weapons on at least some snaps. Question with Peters is whether he can improve his eye discipline when Talib is back there. I think that's a stretch tbh, and look for him to draw slower weapons where he can ballhawk a bit without dropping ten yards behind.

 

[BonifayRam]

I think it will get better with Talib's return as well, and mostly that will be our defense being able to take away the WR1 on some snaps, as opposed to WR1 having his way all day long.

Johnson also, being a young player in this scheme, has room of course to improve. He's had some good games, btw, just up and down as F.

But Joyner? Meh. I think he lacks the elite instincts you need in the deep middle. That first TD by the Chiefs demonstrates who he is. Can Talib help him there? God I hope so but very doubtful on that.

Peters has been a straight bust for us in that trade. It is what it is. But Wade will use him where he can to eliminate one of the weapons on at least some snaps. Question with Peters is whether he can improve his eye discipline when Talib is back there. I think that's a stretch tbh, and look for him to draw slower weapons where he can ballhawk a bit without dropping ten yards behind.

When the Marcus Peters trade went down most all of us thought we had just used a good amount of Ram resources to mute our opponents #1 wide out................thus far we know Snead's payment of two draft selections { a 2nd & a 4th} appears to have been too much for what we got in return. However the flip side is Peters cap cost was under 2 million. If we want Peters here next season his contracted cap hit will be over $9 million. How many teams on a regular basis pay $9 mil for a #2 corner? Looking @ that $$$$ figure ....Snead has been on his way to the cleaners all season by Kansas City Chiefs generosity.

All of us know that the Rams have had issues all season long with our secondary. Snead made FIVE major DB signings & trades in the off season:
#1- Franchised FS Joyner for $11.3 million
#2- Signed CB NRC
#3- Traded for CB Talib
#4-Traded for CB Peters
#5- Signed former all pro CB Sam Shields

That 2019 2nd round pick might have helped out Wade in 2019 to secure a young talented starting corner for 4 seasons @ a budget cap cost, who could negate an #1 WR in the future. As it stands now we do not have one. alm:

 

[SteveBrown]

[QUOTE="

All of us know that the Rams have had issues all season long with our secondary. Snead made FIVE major DB signings & trades in the off season:
#1- Franchised FS Joyner for $11.3 million
#2- Signed CB NRC
#3- Traded for CB Talib
#4-Traded for CB Peters
#5- Signed former all pro CB Sam Shields

That 2019 2nd round pick might have helped out Wade in 2019 to secure a young talented starting corner for 4 seasons @ a budget cap cost, who could negate an #1 WR in the future. As it stands now we do not have one. alm:[/QUOTE]

All 5 of those were the right choice, except #4. Joyner wanted a contract, we couldn't agree, we kept him...can't fault that after his 2017. Peters will have to play like a storm to justify ever re-signing him. He really doesn't look very good other than in man off against lower tier QBs. Ya, I know he picked Rivers in the past, but really, against top 15 QBs he looks like near zero.

My biggest surprise is: why not use ROby Coleman 8-10 snaps on the outside. Ya, I know he doesn't have long speed, but it is worth the risk when you are giving up 45, 31 and 51 points the last 3 games.