DR RAMS's Game RAMblings.

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

DR RAM

Rams Lifer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
12,111
Name
Rambeau
- The Rams secondary was like a leaking boat in the Bering Sea. With no Darian Stewart, the awful play of Craig Dahl and Quinten Mikell, the only glimmer of hope is rookie, Rodney McLeod. The Cowboys picked on Janoris Jenkins. What in the hell has happened to Mikell? Based on his play so far in the preseason, he shouldn't make the squad. Craig Dahl is outplaying him. The tackling in the secondary was horrible. Let's hope that the first 2 preseason games are more indicative than this game of how our team will tackle. It was a bad week to trade Josh Gordy, and to stop drinking, etc.

- The interior defensive line looks pretty good, and compared to the last few seasons, the position has seen a major upgrade. Brockers was fantastic today, and has improved every week. Langford is as good as advertised, and Cudjo looks like a real solid backup. Conrath is improving.

- There is a big drop-off in quality of defensive ends after Quinn and Long. Gholston may have a shot of making the team. He didn't do much, but he was double teamed on every passing down that he was in. Sims needs to get back, he is our only depth there. I didn't see much from Hays today, except for a tired, heavy legged player.

- Linebacker play has been just OK. Rocky seems to have won the strong-side backer spot. Dunbar has shown some real flashes, he got to the QB in a hiccup. JL needs to play more physical. Brown looks like a special teams demon, but he missed a huge tackle on the QB that could have given the Rams a chance to win the game. Opportunities missed.

- QB play. Sam got mauled, again, a few times. One was courtesy Richardson who also had another false start. I seriously think the Bradford may have had a mild concussion on his last couple of series. He didn't look right, and there were a couple mis-alignments and poor throws. There were also several drops, it seemed like deja vu from last season. Clemens started out horribly, particularly when he looked straight at an unblocked rusher, and Austin Powers style with a steam roller coming at him, he just seemed to yell, "Noooooooooooooo," for about 10 seconds before he got sacked. Clemens bounced back and led a TD drive culminating on a very nice TD throw to Austin Pettis. Speaking of Austin....Austin Davis looked spectacular again. He has great pocket awareness, and brilliant savvy. He has to be on this team. If Sam gets hurt, he looks like he could be a guy that takes the reigns and never gives them back.

- I'm excited about SJ39, because I think he is truly ready to play this season, at the start of this season. Pead finally had a couple really good KO returns. I think he will take at least one to the house this year, and later in the game, he seemed to find his legs. He had some real nice inside runs. Richardson, what can I say. He looks like a real steal. Player comparison, easy for me...Chris Johnson, just a tad slower maybe. This kid at under 2 bills, is moving the pile almost every time. He may have lined up wrong a couple of times, or this was the period that I thought Sam may have had a concussion.

- For the tight ends, it looks like dark-horse Mike McNeil will make the team. He was running with the 1's. Kendricks had a couple catches and a couple drops...as usual. Hoomanawanui played a nice game, and had a great catch in traffic. Cory Harkey had some nice blocks and a good 1st down catch on the sideline, making sure he kept both feet in. I have no idea who or how many TE's make this club. It's a battle.

- For the WR's, nobody is really stepping up. The Rams staff is not giving the rookies an opportunity to get reps with the 1's. Pettis had a couple drops, again, then nabbed a really tough catch in the end zone. Gibson was back, but was limited. He caught the first pass, a really nice slant throw from Sam. Given didn't get any tries. Quick got crushed on the first throw to him, and i thought he cracked a couple ribs. Turns out he got punched in the jejunum. Quick came back in, and just ran past his defender on a 9 route for a 39 yard completion from Clemens. Amendola caught a pass, got upended, and fumbled it. Salas, still running with the 3's, had an almost spectacular one handed TD catch. The call was reversed.

- On the offensive line, and I haven't studied it yet, but Barry Richardson had a bad game. He false started, and gave up a crushing sack to his starting QB. Ojinnaka also gave up a sack, and played poorly at LT. As I said previously, unfortunately, Valdez is the second best LT. Pray that Saffold, who had another solid game, doesn't get hurt. For those keeping score, the sack that did come from his side, wouldn't have been credited to Saffold. It was on Sam Bradford, holding the ball way too long. Wells seemed to play OK. Rok Watkins had a couple ridiculous blocks, and IMO, he is going to be a star. He had a couple blocks where I jumped out of my seat. Why he hasn't been given the chance to work with 1's...I just don't know. This game was the perfect opportunity. Smith, other than missing another backside block, appeared to play well. By my eye, he certainly played better than Richardson today. More on that later. Long relieved Smith, and promptly almost got Clemens killed. Have I mentioned that we have no depth a the tackle position?

- Special teams were spectacular. Young GZ is a freak. Two 50+ filed goals...this kid is a weapon. His 55-yarder looked easy distance wise. Hekker looks pretty good too. He also has a cannon for a leg. Pead had a couple very good returns, better than most last year for us. Kick and punt coverage was swarming and constant. McLeod made a great open field tackle. Miller continues to make plays on special teams. Matt Daniels looked exceptional on a risky punt fake run from our own territory.

That's it for now.
 

bluecoconuts

Legend
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
13,073
Good break down, look forward to more on the O-Line.

I hope that Smith can take that RT spot back, I just don't like Richardson there. I hope that Dahl comes back too, and soon. What I'd like to see game 4 is Saffold-Rok-Wells-Dahl-Smith... I doubt it though, but I get the feeling that (well minus Smith) is what we'll see next year. We need to protect Bradford though, it was way too early. The defense giving up plays in the middle and Jenkins getting beat, I can live with. Stuff like that will be fixed by scheming and practice. The poor tackling, and drops were not good though. The protection, or lack there of, on Sam... That was really bad, just... Ugh.

Didn't like that Quick/Givens didn't get time with the 1's. Also didn't like that they only used Jackson for pass protection. It totally gave away our offense and what we were going to do. Eventually they started to pass a bit with Richardson in, but if they can't pass protect then they can't really play, can they?
 

Iron Lion

Starter
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
565
DR RAM said:
Clemens started out horribly, particularly when he looked straight at an unblocked rusher, and Austin Powers style with a steam roller coming at him, he just seemed to yell, "Noooooooooooooo," for about 10 seconds before he got sacked.

:cheese: Lol, nice visual.

All I can say is that my Lions need some of Bradford's painkillers after today.
 

Ramhusker

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Messages
13,665
Name
Bo Bowen
Thanks Doc. I was hoping I wasn't the only one noticing how horrible Mikell looked. I think I can run that fast, really. I was shocked.

Why did SJ not play tonight? I never heard anybody say during the Cowboy broadcast on NFL Network.

Bradford just looked awful. Is he buying into the critics calling him the worst QB in the league? Concussion? could be, he sure looked out of it kinda like last season, the ol deer in the headlights.

Tackling? What the fuk? They looked like first day of camp or something. And why in the world were the Cowboy WRs so damn open? I really have faith that if the 1s would of stayed in the entire game, we could of held them to just under 700 yards. Honest.

Janoris Jenkins was really up and down. You can tell he is going to be an elite player as he matures but he's gonna get burned a lot. He learned from getting stiff-armed by Murray by fighting it off the next time and making a great tackle.

RB Richardson impressed with a pretty great effort. He's a keeper. Pead just doesn't seem to have adjusted to the NFL yet. He's plenty quick and made some good returns but from the line of scrimmage, he seems to get punished.

GZ is definitely a weapon. I'm duly impressed. Yes, special teams look great with our rookie kickers.

Austin Davis? If he keeps it up, he could cause a QB controversy. I know that sounds crazy but if Bradford doesn't get more consistent, wait for the clamoring to begin because you know it will come.

Where's Zn? Your 3rd down % was something to bear watching tonight. Did they ever stop Dallas on 3rd down? WOW!

Dress rehearsal tonight? I hope not. Lord, I hope not. I couldn't help but think those collars looked more like toilet seats around their necks tonight.

Let's shake it off because it didn't count but it sure left a bad image in my head.

No injuries I hope?
 

raised_fisT

Hall of Fame
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Messages
3,502
"Clemens started out horribly, particularly when he looked straight at an unblocked rusher, and Austin Powers style with a steam roller coming at him, he just seemed to yell, "Noooooooooooooo," for about 10 seconds before he got sacked."
:lmao: LOL!!!


"Austin Davis looked spectacular again. He has great pocket awareness, and brilliant savvy. He has to be on this team. If Sam gets hurt, he looks like he could be a guy that takes the reigns and never gives them back."

WOW. Maybe Sam is taking things lightly cuz its the preseason, but Davis was the best QB out there for the Rams tonight. He looked spry and made things happen as they were saying during the broadcast. I need Sam to get a little bit of an edge to him. IMO he's too much of a Charlie Brown out there... just going thru the motions at times and not being aggressive enough.

ATTN Mr. Bradford--- We need less of the going 3 and out, hanging your head as you walk to the sidelines with that "whoa is me" look on your face....and more "move bitch, get out the way" make a play out of nothing and talk some smack to the defense as you get that TD or first down.

Special Teams played well. Lindholm with the blown XP though. Didn't he miss a FG last game too? Poor guy.

D. Rich making a case for RB2. I'm liking him A LOT.

Austin Davis looks like a 12 year old, but damn his game is grown.

Watching some of those missed tackles tonight I had the Benny Hill music playing in my head.
 

Faceplant

Still celebrating Superbowl LVI
Rams On Demand Sponsor
2023 ROD Pick'em Champion
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
9,597
raised_fisT said:
"Clemens started out horribly, particularly when he looked straight at an unblocked rusher, and Austin Powers style with a steam roller coming at him, he just seemed to yell, "Noooooooooooooo," for about 10 seconds before he got sacked."
:lmao: LOL!!!


"Austin Davis looked spectacular again. He has great pocket awareness, and brilliant savvy. He has to be on this team. If Sam gets hurt, he looks like he could be a guy that takes the reigns and never gives them back."

WOW. Maybe Sam is taking things lightly cuz its the preseason, but Davis was the best QB out there for the Rams tonight. He looked spry and made things happen as they were saying during the broadcast. I need Sam to get a little bit of an edge to him. IMO he's too much of a Charlie Brown out there... just going thru the motions at times and not being aggressive enough.

ATTN Mr. Bradford--- We need less of the going 3 and out, hanging your head as you walk to the sidelines with that "whoa is me" look on your face....and more "move bitch, get out the way" make a play out of nothing and talk some smack to the defense as you get that TD or first down.

Special Teams played well. Lindholm with the blown XP though. Didn't he miss a FG last game too? Poor guy.

D. Rich making a case for RB2. I'm liking him A LOT.

Austin Davis looks like a 12 year old, but damn his game is grown.

Watching some of those missed tackles tonight I had the Benny Hill music playing in my head.

Charlie Brown, haha. Perfect! Austin Davis has already won me over. Here is hoping that Fisher can look past draft status and give thid kid a chance. Some players are just born with "it". Davis has that fire in him....which is something I have never seen from Sam. Tonights game was super depressing....especially watching our starting QB look like a scared rookie.....again.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
I think it would paint a markedly different picture if we saw Davis out there against the 1's, and Bradford in the 4th quarter against the 3's. I mean, I like Davis too and all, but I've seen guys like Cleo Lemon and Sage Rosenfels rip the preseason a new one in years past - to the tune of QB ratings in the 100's.

And I know Bradford is supposed to be looking better, what with his being a *veteran* and all (26 starts), but let's not forget he's got 4/5ths of a new line out there and a different crop of receivers ALL trying to get in sync while executing a vanilla scheme against a team that took the third game VERY seriously.
 

RamsSince1969

Ram It, Do You Know How To Ram It, Ram It
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
3,546
If we all here on this site, the site that has given nothing but the highest regard for Sam (he walks on water, can't do nothing wrong, ankle is the problen, o-coordinator is problem, o-line is problem, receivers are the problem, new offense playbook is the problem) are seeing what the critics are seeing, it may be time for us to say admit that maybe Sam is not the answer. He may be another Chris Miller. Pro-bowl 1 year, banged up and inconsistient the rest of his career. It happens. Sam has been killed back there and it may be too late to fix the damage. I want him to succeed, he's a great guy. Please step up Sam and prove us all wrong. This would be a horrible bust again for this franchise.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
RamsSince1969 said:
If we all here on this site, the site that has given nothing but the highest regard for Sam (he walks on water, can't do nothing wrong, ankle is the problen, o-coordinator is problem, o-line is problem, receivers are the problem, new offense playbook is the problem) are seeing what the critics are seeing, it may be time for us to say admit that maybe Sam is not the answer.
Nah, I'm not willing to do that. Not yet. 26 starts does not a career make, and a preseason performance in which there was very little in the way of game-planning doesn't tell me anything. Even last week against K.C., I didn't assign Bradford Royalty Status. And if he rips Baltimore apart next week, I'm not going to put much into that either. Preseason always provides us with a roller-coaster of false impressions. Wow, he sucks! Wow, he's great! I'm not getting on that ride after the past couple of preseasons - no way no how.

Could Bradford have done better in this game? Sure. Watch Fisher's presser though. Watch him make the excuses for Sam and tell us the protection has to be better up front, and that when you don't gameplan against Ryan's defensive wrinkles, you're gonna get these kinds of results.

Nothing against how you're looking at it, 69. I'm just not ready to throw in the towel yet.
 

OUSamFan

UDFA
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
10
Several of Sam's incompletions hit the receivers in the hands, but were not caught. Some of those were in crowds or they were hit, but in the NFL, they are supposed to be caught and held onto. One big miss, (and I forget which receiver), that Sam threw outside and the receive returned in, based on the look on Sam's face, the receiver ran the wrong route. Sam and Steve Smith were clearly not on the same page. I don't now if Smith got held up at the line of scrimmage, or is just not as fast in games as in practice, but both throws to him, were about five yards in front of him.
 

RamsSince1969

Ram It, Do You Know How To Ram It, Ram It
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
3,546
X said:
RamsSince1969 said:
If we all here on this site, the site that has given nothing but the highest regard for Sam (he walks on water, can't do nothing wrong, ankle is the problen, o-coordinator is problem, o-line is problem, receivers are the problem, new offense playbook is the problem) are seeing what the critics are seeing, it may be time for us to say admit that maybe Sam is not the answer.
Nah, I'm not willing to do that. Not yet. 26 starts does not a career make, and a preseason performance in which there was very little in the way of game-planning doesn't tell me anything. Even last week against K.C., I didn't assign Bradford Royalty Status. And if he rips Baltimore apart next week, I'm not going to put much into that either. Preseason always provides us with a roller-coaster of false impressions. Wow, he sucks! Wow, he's great! I'm not getting on that ride after the past couple of preseasons - no way no how.

Could Bradford have done better in this game? Sure. Watch Fisher's presser though. Watch him make the excuses for Sam and tell us the protection has to be better up front, and that when you don't gameplan against Ryan's defensive wrinkles, you're gonna get these kinds of results.

Nothing against how you're looking at it, 69. I'm just not ready to throw in the towel yet.


X, I got ya man. We can't throw in the towel. He can't be a bust. It can't happen. If those guys are dropping passes, running crap routes, missing blocking assignments, and the QB is getting his bell rung, Sam is going to look like a deer in the headlights. Still, what would Arron Rogers look like on this team? Would he look this bad? Would this surrounding team ruin him, make him near the bottom of the rankings? Or, would he find a way to make his throws a little more accurate, demand more from his teammates and have them rise to a higher level of success? I would love to hear what they are saying in the locker room after he leaves the room. I don't know if they have his back anymore. Or, are some of these teammates a bunch of clowns that have no business being on this team and should hit the bricks. Just make the darn plays guys. Man, we need to turn the corner and get better and stop being the doormat. I think this team has the pieces to be respectable, maybe even good, they just underachieve. You can feel my pain! Ha! Ah, my Rams, what's a fan gotta do to get the team to 500%? 8 and 8 is all I'm asking! Go make me proud!
 

libertadrocks

Hall of Fame
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
2,224
X is on point with his opinion IMO.

Austin Davis has looked good so far, but keep in mind he is facing guys that wont be in the NFL a year from now. There are always guys that light up the preseason and look like franchise QBs.

I am no where close to anointing Davis as anything other than a NFL caliber back up. Im hopeful he can end up being a guy like Charlie Whitehurst, Matt Cassel, Matt Flynn etc that we can trade away for draft picks.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
RamsSince1969 said:
X said:
RamsSince1969 said:
If we all here on this site, the site that has given nothing but the highest regard for Sam (he walks on water, can't do nothing wrong, ankle is the problen, o-coordinator is problem, o-line is problem, receivers are the problem, new offense playbook is the problem) are seeing what the critics are seeing, it may be time for us to say admit that maybe Sam is not the answer.
Nah, I'm not willing to do that. Not yet. 26 starts does not a career make, and a preseason performance in which there was very little in the way of game-planning doesn't tell me anything. Even last week against K.C., I didn't assign Bradford Royalty Status. And if he rips Baltimore apart next week, I'm not going to put much into that either. Preseason always provides us with a roller-coaster of false impressions. Wow, he sucks! Wow, he's great! I'm not getting on that ride after the past couple of preseasons - no way no how.

Could Bradford have done better in this game? Sure. Watch Fisher's presser though. Watch him make the excuses for Sam and tell us the protection has to be better up front, and that when you don't gameplan against Ryan's defensive wrinkles, you're gonna get these kinds of results.

Nothing against how you're looking at it, 69. I'm just not ready to throw in the towel yet.


X, I got ya man. We can't throw in the towel. He can't be a bust. It can't happen. If those guys are dropping passes, running crap routes, missing blocking assignments, and the QB is getting his bell rung, Sam is going to look like a deer in the headlights. Still, what would Arron Rogers look like on this team? Would he look this bad? Would this surrounding team ruin him, make him near the bottom of the rankings? Or, would he find a way to make his throws a little more accurate, demand more from his teammates and have them rise to a higher level of success? I would love to hear what they are saying in the locker room after he leaves the room. I don't know if they have his back anymore. Or, are some of these teammates a bunch of clowns that have no business being on this team and should hit the bricks. Just make the darn plays guys. Man, we need to turn the corner and get better and stop being the doormat. I think this team has the pieces to be respectable, maybe even good, they just underachieve. You can feel my pain! Ha! Ah, my Rams, what's a fan gotta do to get the team to 500%? 8 and 8 is all I'm asking! Go make me proud!
That's an oft-used question that I think deserves a closer look. I'm talking about the Aaron Rodgers comparison of course. If you're asking me if we could pluck Rodgers off of the Packers right now and place him in last night's game and see better results, I can't answer that. Chances are no; we wouldn't. He doesn't know these receivers, he doesn't know the playbook, and he doesn't have any magic powers that prevent him from being sacked in a collapsed pocket. He also doesn't have his receivers - he has ours.

Rodgers also has 7 years on the same team with Joe Philbin as his coordinator for the past 5 years. The Packers, not surprisingly, promoted Clements to OC after Philbin went to Miami, so there's STILL no system change over there for that lucky sumbitch. Lucky? Maybe that's not the right word. Benefactor of smart Organizational management is probably a better phrase. Do I think that Rodgers would fare better than Bradford if HE was drafted in 2010 and thrust into the same set of circumstances?

Two words. No, make that four words. Hell to the no.

But of course that's just my opinion. I actually have no idea how he would fare if he was a Ram. I'm just of the opinion that it takes more than being a good QB to succeed in the NFL. Take Brees for example. He's another accomplished QB who lights up scoreboards like a pinball machine. Do you know how he did in his first 2 dozen starts? Not so good. Bradford's had 26 starts in this league on a team that has lost 65 of its last 80 games. 26. In Brees' first 27 games, he had an average QB rating of 72.2 and threw 27 TDs to 32 interceptions. In San Diego. It wasn't until Brees' third year that he began to separate himself from the also-rans. In that same vein, I'm willing to let Bradford start a regular season game to see if he's improving. But at the same time, I'm also painfully aware that he's in his third system, has 3 new offensive linemen, and a bunch of receivers that he has very little chemistry with - outside of Amendola and Gibson. I expect him to improve and maybe even start to separate later in the season. Right out of the gates though, he's gonna need some time to reap the benefits of this coaching staff. This whole team needs to start playing like a team and not just 22 guys doing their own thing. That's gonna take some time, and I'm sure Fisher & Company know this.

I might be a bit of an apologist, and that doesn't bother me. But I'm also a closet realist. If Bradford has even slightly favorable conditions and he doesn't begin to show me that he's a playoff caliber QB, then I won't be hesitant to point it out. I just think it's a little too early, and his conditions have been WAY less than ripe up to this point in his "career." Let's see how it plays out this season before we try to make any sweeping assumptions about his worth as an NFL QB.

Thass all.
 

Angry Ram

Captain RAmerica Original Rammer
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
17,846
libertadrocks said:
X is on point with his opinion IMO.

Austin Davis has looked good so far, but keep in mind he is facing guys that wont be in the NFL a year from now. There are always guys that light up the preseason and look like franchise QBs.

I am no where close to anointing Davis as anything other than a NFL caliber back up. Im hopeful he can end up being a guy like Charlie Whitehurst, Matt Cassel, Matt Flynn etc that we can trade away for draft picks.

A year? Try next week. Or even tomorrow (Monday).

If we're basin Sam's play b/c of the Dallas game, that isn't fair. It was easy to see that this game was all about gettin Pead/Richardson as many touches as possible.

There was bad protection, I hope Smith gets the starting RT spot (but on the positive, the rest of the line wasn't bad, considering Dahl wasn't in and Wells' 1st live action). There were also many drops.

I just can't see that this is gonna be the same bland offense during the reg. season.

As for Davis, this dude looks like a less erratic version of Clemens. He's a gamer, and I woudn't mind cuttin Clemens to keep him. But, he needs to be on the roster. Last year (and 2005, 2008, 2009) that the Rams need QBs.
 

libertadrocks

Hall of Fame
Joined
Jun 24, 2010
Messages
2,224
Angry Ram said:
As for Davis, this dude looks like a less erratic version of Clemens. He's a gamer, and I woudn't mind cuttin Clemens to keep him. But, he needs to be on the roster. Last year (and 2005, 2008, 2009) that the Rams need QBs.

Agreed.

It wont happen but I would be in favor of keeping Davis, losing Clemens, and using the spot vacated by Clemons for a guy like Laws/Salas or using it to sign a recently cut OT prospect.
 

DR RAM

Rams Lifer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
12,111
Name
Rambeau
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #16
I truly didn't mean to create a shit storm. I agree that Bradford is QB1, but I am happy for the find that Davis appears to be. To me there is no controversy. To help illustrate Bradford's night, on the drive that we didn't score that everyone is bitching about, Sam threw 3 potential TD passes....3. One to Pettis (drop), one to Richardson (drop), and one to Smith (PI).

It reminds me of last year, Sam throws a perfect ball on 3rd down and it gets dropped, but people only remember that the drive stalled. Sam did throw some bad balls yesterday too. Bradford and Smith don't seem to be on the same page, but hell, even Amendola dropped a ball that was thrown in a perfect position for him.

Currently, defense and the offensive line are my biggest concerns, they both are still showing major growing pains.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
DR RAM said:
I truly didn't mean to create a shit storm. I agree that Bradford is QB1, but I am happy for the find that Davis appears to be. To me there is no controversy. To help illustrate Bradford's night, on the drive that we didn't score that everyone is bitching about, Sam threw 3 potential TD passes....3. One to Pettis (drop), one to Richardson (drop), and one to Smith (PI).

It reminds me of last year, Sam throws a perfect ball on 3rd down and it gets dropped, but people only remember that the drive stalled. Sam did throw some bad balls yesterday too. Bradford and Smith don't seem to be on the same page, but hell, even Amendola dropped a ball that was thrown in a perfect position for him.

Currently, defense and the offensive line are my biggest concerns, they both are still showing major growing pains.
Nah, you didn't cause a shit storm. It's just a discussion, and I'm glad you mentioned the potential TDs that were lost. The one to Pettis would have been a difficult grab, but certainly not impossible. I'm not worried that much about this game because the Cowboys wanted to have this be the typical 3rd preseason game that sets the tone for the season. The Rams ... not so much. Absolutely could have been better, and there were many breakdowns on both O & D that need to be cleaned up.

I'm not worried about Bradford right now. If he felt, in any way, that this game meant ANYTHING to the team or to him, then he would have been much more upset than he was. The dude was smiling. He knows where he is, he knows where he needs to be, and he knows what's being held back. It's all irie wit him rite now mon.

Also, did anyone happen to notice that Rivers had a really shitty game against these same Cowboys? 2 ints, no TD's, and a 57 QB rating. Meanwhile, the Chargers' savior, Charlie Whitehurst, came in and lit them up to the tune of 2 TD's, no ints, and a 132 QB rating in the same game. Does anyone think that there is a "Promote Whitehurst to starter" movement in San Diego right now?
 

DR RAM

Rams Lifer
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Messages
12,111
Name
Rambeau
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #18
X said:
DR RAM said:
I truly didn't mean to create a shit storm. I agree that Bradford is QB1, but I am happy for the find that Davis appears to be. To me there is no controversy. To help illustrate Bradford's night, on the drive that we didn't score that everyone is bitching about, Sam threw 3 potential TD passes....3. One to Pettis (drop), one to Richardson (drop), and one to Smith (PI).

It reminds me of last year, Sam throws a perfect ball on 3rd down and it gets dropped, but people only remember that the drive stalled. Sam did throw some bad balls yesterday too. Bradford and Smith don't seem to be on the same page, but hell, even Amendola dropped a ball that was thrown in a perfect position for him.

Currently, defense and the offensive line are my biggest concerns, they both are still showing major growing pains.
Nah, you didn't cause a shit storm. It's just a discussion, and I'm glad you mentioned the potential TDs that were lost. The one to Pettis would have been a difficult grab, but certainly not impossible. I'm not worried that much about this game because the Cowboys wanted to have this be the typical 3rd preseason game that sets the tone for the season. The Rams ... not so much. Absolutely could have been better, and there were many breakdowns on both O & D that need to be cleaned up.

I'm not worried about Bradford right now. If he felt, in any way, that this game meant ANYTHING to the team or to him, then he would have been much more upset than he was. The dude was smiling. He knows where he is, he knows where he needs to be, and he knows what's being held back. It's all irie wit him rite now mon.

Also, did anyone happen to notice that Rivers had a really shitty game against these same Cowboys? 2 ints, no TD's, and a 57 QB rating. Meanwhile, the Chargers' savior, Charlie Whitehurst, came in and lit them up to the tune of 2 TD's, no ints, and a 132 QB rating in the same game. Does anyone think that there is a "Promote Whitehurst to starter" movement in San Diego right now?

The only thing that bothers me...I can easily deal with everything else, are the 2 things that I saw a mile away. I don't see any improvement, and they are damning things.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
DR RAM said:
The only thing that bothers me...I can easily deal with everything else, are the 2 things that I saw a mile away. I don't see any improvement, and they are damning things.
Go on ...
 

cfin5256

Rookie
Joined
Aug 23, 2010
Messages
104
X said:
RamsSince1969 said:
X said:
RamsSince1969 said:
If we all here on this site, the site that has given nothing but the highest regard for Sam (he walks on water, can't do nothing wrong, ankle is the problen, o-coordinator is problem, o-line is problem, receivers are the problem, new offense playbook is the problem) are seeing what the critics are seeing, it may be time for us to say admit that maybe Sam is not the answer.
Nah, I'm not willing to do that. Not yet. 26 starts does not a career make, and a preseason performance in which there was very little in the way of game-planning doesn't tell me anything. Even last week against K.C., I didn't assign Bradford Royalty Status. And if he rips Baltimore apart next week, I'm not going to put much into that either. Preseason always provides us with a roller-coaster of false impressions. Wow, he sucks! Wow, he's great! I'm not getting on that ride after the past couple of preseasons - no way no how.

Could Bradford have done better in this game? Sure. Watch Fisher's presser though. Watch him make the excuses for Sam and tell us the protection has to be better up front, and that when you don't gameplan against Ryan's defensive wrinkles, you're gonna get these kinds of results.

Nothing against how you're looking at it, 69. I'm just not ready to throw in the towel yet.


X, I got ya man. We can't throw in the towel. He can't be a bust. It can't happen. If those guys are dropping passes, running crap routes, missing blocking assignments, and the QB is getting his bell rung, Sam is going to look like a deer in the headlights. Still, what would Arron Rogers look like on this team? Would he look this bad? Would this surrounding team ruin him, make him near the bottom of the rankings? Or, would he find a way to make his throws a little more accurate, demand more from his teammates and have them rise to a higher level of success? I would love to hear what they are saying in the locker room after he leaves the room. I don't know if they have his back anymore. Or, are some of these teammates a bunch of clowns that have no business being on this team and should hit the bricks. Just make the darn plays guys. Man, we need to turn the corner and get better and stop being the doormat. I think this team has the pieces to be respectable, maybe even good, they just underachieve. You can feel my pain! Ha! Ah, my Rams, what's a fan gotta do to get the team to 500%? 8 and 8 is all I'm asking! Go make me proud!
That's an oft-used question that I think deserves a closer look. I'm talking about the Aaron Rodgers comparison of course. If you're asking me if we could pluck Rodgers off of the Packers right now and place him in last night's game and see better results, I can't answer that. Chances are no; we wouldn't. He doesn't know these receivers, he doesn't know the playbook, and he doesn't have any magic powers that prevent him from being sacked in a collapsed pocket. He also doesn't have his receivers - he has ours.

Rodgers also has 7 years on the same team with Joe Philbin as his coordinator for the past 5 years. The Packers, not surprisingly, promoted Clements to OC after Philbin went to Miami, so there's STILL no system change over there for that lucky sumbitch. Lucky? Maybe that's not the right word. Benefactor of smart Organizational management is probably a better phrase. Do I think that Rodgers would fare better than Bradford if HE was drafted in 2010 and thrust into the same set of circumstances?

Two words. No, make that four words. Hell to the no.

But of course that's just my opinion. I actually have no idea how he would fare if he was a Ram. I'm just of the opinion that it takes more than being a good QB to succeed in the NFL. Take Brees for example. He's another accomplished QB who lights up scoreboards like a pinball machine. Do you know how he did in his first 2 dozen starts? Not so good. Bradford's had 26 starts in this league on a team that has lost 65 of its last 80 games. 26. In Brees' first 27 games, he had an average QB rating of 72.2 and threw 27 TDs to 32 interceptions. In San Diego. It wasn't until Brees' third year that he began to separate himself from the also-rans. In that same vein, I'm willing to let Bradford start a regular season game to see if he's improving. But at the same time, I'm also painfully aware that he's in his third system, has 3 new offensive linemen, and a bunch of receivers that he has very little chemistry with - outside of Amendola and Gibson. I expect him to improve and maybe even start to separate later in the season. Right out of the gates though, he's gonna need some time to reap the benefits of this coaching staff. This whole team needs to start playing like a team and not just 22 guys doing their own thing. That's gonna take some time, and I'm sure Fisher & Company know this.

I might be a bit of an apologist, and that doesn't bother me. But I'm also a closet realist. If Bradford has even slightly favorable conditions and he doesn't begin to show me that he's a playoff caliber QB, then I won't be hesitant to point it out. I just think it's a little too early, and his conditions have been WAY less than ripe up to this point in his "career." Let's see how it plays out this season before we try to make any sweeping assumptions about his worth as an NFL QB.

Thass all.

Are you by chance x 2.0 on another site? Because that guy is holding a posting clinic on Bradford haters. :)