If all goes as planned on O....

[fearsomefour]

The Rams will be running the ball quite a bit. If Robinson and Saffold turn the interior of the Rams line from butter to steel Stacy, Cunningham and Mason will be getting plenty of touches. With a D that can be aggressive and make plays we will be seeing a lot of stacked boxes from other teams.
So, the question becomes how do we attack that sort of D in the passing game?
The Rams used to see this look quite a bit with Jackson when he was the only viable weapon in offense.
How would you attack the stacked box via the pass?
I love our TE group. These guys will have a key roll I think. I think both Kendricks and Harkey could have nice years catching the ball out of running formations.
Do you mix it up and spread it out and pass to set up the run? Or is it Ground Chuck revisited?

 

[Slappy967]

I think our passing game will pick apart stacked boxes with deadly efficiency this year. A dink and dunk pass to Tavon that he turns into a 40+ yard TD, Givens blowing passed a DB and Bradford hitting him with a bomb or an errant wobbly pass that Pettis turns into a Ram first down after a circus catch. Yeah I can see some possibilities.

 

[bbach]

Just think about it though, if Bradford isn't running for his life, he might step into some nice throws. Maybe not so many wobbly errant passes.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Ya know, we truly had the opposite problem at the start of last year. Teams knew we couldn't run for more than three yards with Rich back there. Therefore, they squatted on the intermediate and deep routes forcing the check down. Heck, that's what Seattle did to Denver. Then Seattle hit the soft Denver WR's with a purpose.

We saw last year how the Rams handled a stacked box against our rivals, it was very depressing.

My Answer: I wanna see more rollouts, boot legs, and plenty of PA passes. Get Bradford out of the pocket and make make defenses account for his sneaky athletic ability. We have all the weapons we need, we need continuity and rhythem. Get Sam "The Man" Bradford a comfort zone and watch the rest of the league go to hell trying to stop him and the run-first offense. No one will stop us or know how to. Seattle is soft up the middle of their D, Stacy exposed them early on last year. The infamous "Thousand Yard Stare" will be a common theme for them.

The true goal is to run and wear teams out and manage the clock. Just wait until teams start wearing down in games. Givens and Autin will be like trying to catch lightning.

 

[MFaulk107]

I like that we've said and showed we're going to be a run team. It's going to make our play actions a looot more believable, which will hopefully lead to deep balls and big plays to our recievers.

This may be far fetched(and I haven't seen it from any team in awhile) but a rare flea flicker may throw teams off a good amount. The Rams seem to do "out of the ordinary plays" like that with the WR reverses n such....far fetched I know, just a small thought.

 

[ausmurp]

I hope we do a lot of what Philly did last yr. I think Mason will have a huge yr with screen passes. But Bradford has really sucked at screen passes his entire career so he needs to get better at that.

 

[mr.stlouis]

Something I wanna add, our Red Zone offense may be tremendously improved. Think about it...

-We have some absoulute beasts to road grade a path to the End Zone. Unless the clock is a big factor, usually isn't, that's without question the first thing you have to exoect out of any of our Red Zone opportunities. Stacy Running behind Saffold and Robinson in a short field? Buckle your chin straps...

-We have some serious Red Zone Weapons. Cook needs special attention of which he may not even see most of the year. Pettis is without question one of our best Red Zone threats as it is, it's what he does. His length is a plays a huge factor in a short field and rarely has a drop. Then of course you have Brian Quick who had a couple nice graph last year. He's developing and I think this year he takes a nice jump, along with the rest of the team.

Our Red Zone may actually be a strength for the first time in years. How long has that been? Since the GSOT or post-Warner? Bulger had some nice years, I just can't remember the Red Zone stats from 04 were...

 

[RamsOfCastamere]

I hope we do a lot of what Philly did last yr. I think Mason will have a huge yr with screen passes. But Bradford has really sucked at screen passes his entire career so he needs to get better at that.

We were bad a screens because teams expected us to check it down early, knowing our line couldn't effectively provide proficient protection

 

[TheDYVKX]

Something I wanna add, our Red Zone offense may be tremendously improved. Think about it...

-We have some absoulute beasts to road grade a path to the End Zone. Unless the clock is a big factor, usually isn't, that's without question the first thing you have to exoect out of any of our Red Zone opportunities. Stacy Running behind Saffold and Robinson in a short field? Buckle your chin straps...

-We have some serious Red Zone Weapons. Cook needs special attention of which he may not even see most of the year. Pettis is without question one of our best Red Zone threats as it is, it's what he does. His length is a plays a huge factor in a short field and rarely has a drop. Then of course you have Brian Quick who had a couple nice graph last year. He's developing and I think this year he takes a nice jump, along with the rest of the team.

Our Red Zone may actually be a strength for the first time in years. How long has that been? Since the GSOT or post-Warner? Bulger had some nice years, I just can't remember the Red Zone stats from 04 were...

The last couple seasons under Bradford we were a top 5 red zone team from what I can remember. At least the last half of 2012 until the Carolina game. So it's been a strength for some time under Bradford. But I agree, it's crazy that we actually should be even better at it.

Robinson and Saffold at guard is ridiculous push, because those are 2 of the strongest guys in the NFL now, along with Jake Long who's very powerful in his own right, and Barksdale is a big man himself. If we can't punch it in behind that OL, we have a problem.

 

[mr.stlouis]

The last couple seasons under Bradford we were a top 5 red zone team from what I can remember. At least the last half of 2012 until the Carolina game. So it's been a strength for some time under Bradford. But I agree, it's crazy that we actually should be even better at it.

Robinson and Saffold at guard is ridiculous push, because those are 2 of the strongest guys in the NFL now, along with Jake Long who's very powerful in his own right, and Barksdale is a big man himself. If we can't punch it in behind that OL, we have a problem.

Dang, seems we've been bad for a while in the Red Zone. Maybe I'm going back to the Spags era with the crazy amount of FG's we kicked. Hard to beleive that was only a few years ago...

 

[Ramrasta]

If we are running effectively and they stack the box then we could go for some WR screens or quick slants but it doesn't mean we abandon the run. A stacked box does not mean they are stopping our running game indefinitely. We could change it up with pitch plays or drawl plays. Ultimately, I want us to call a teams bluff on these stacked boxes because a lot of times they are just for show. We are a running team and Stacy can bowl a few guys over up the middle so their is no need to shy away from running just because the defense devotes more defenders in an ATTEMPT to stop it. Just have to be creative and keep them guessing. With two fully capable backs, we could line up in several different sets or even run Tavon.

 

[LesBaker]

Something I wanna add, our Red Zone offense may be tremendously improved. Think about it...

-We have some absoulute beasts to road grade a path to the End Zone. Unless the clock is a big factor, usually isn't, that's without question the first thing you have to exoect out of any of our Red Zone opportunities. Stacy Running behind Saffold and Robinson in a short field? Buckle your chin straps...

-We have some serious Red Zone Weapons. Cook needs special attention of which he may not even see most of the year. Pettis is without question one of our best Red Zone threats as it is, it's what he does. His length is a plays a huge factor in a short field and rarely has a drop. Then of course you have Brian Quick who had a couple nice graph last year. He's developing and I think this year he takes a nice jump, along with the rest of the team.

Our Red Zone may actually be a strength for the first time in years. How long has that been? Since the GSOT or post-Warner? Bulger had some nice years, I just can't remember the Red Zone stats from 04 were...

With Warner under center the Rams were record breaking in the red zone. After that not so much, in fact it was the problem with the Rams after Warner was let go. I called it many years ago I said that Wilkins was going to break the record for FG's because of how badly Bulger performed in the red zone.

Martz did the Carolina Curl Up and went fetal in the playoffs rememebr? It was IMO because he didn't trust Bulger in the red zone and so rather than trying to run a couple of plays to win he kicked the FG to tie. Then went on to lose the game. several trips to the red zone, all figgies I think.

Your point is a good one, and red zone play is what seperates good teams from bad ones. They have an O that gets the TD's not FG's and/or a D that doesn't allow TD's only FG's. If memory serves it was one of the very big factors in how the late great Hank Stram came up with his way of predicting winners for the SB. And he only picked one wrong in the many years he did it, the Bills "wide right" loss. He was the only guy in the world that picked the Patriots straight up v. the Rams in that dreaded SB.

 

[Dodgersrf]

If we're running the ball well, play action will be tough to stop.

 

[den-the-coach]

For all the talk about the need for Bradford and the offense to step up if the Rams want to compete in the NFC west, the biggest difference last year was points allowed by the defense. The Rams secondary is the real reason they couldn't compete last year. If Joyner and the other draftees help close that gap, the Rams will be competitive.

To help bring home the point, the Rams scored only 69 less points than Seattle and only 58 less than SF with a backup QB in 9/16 games. On the other hand the defense gave up 133 more points than Seattle. With a healthy Bradford the offensive point difference would very likely have been even less.

With new DC Williams and the new talent on defense, the Rams may be closer than many imagine because it was quite obvious last season that Tim Walton was over his head.

 

[mr.stlouis]

With Warner under center the Rams were record breaking in the red zone. After that not so much, in fact it was the problem with the Rams after Warner was let go. I called it many years ago I said that Wilkins was going to break the record for FG's because of how badly Bulger performed in the red zone.

Martz did the Carolina Curl Up and went fetal in the playoffs rememebr? It was IMO because he didn't trust Bulger in the red zone and so rather than trying to run a couple of plays to win he kicked the FG to tie. Then went on to lose the game. several trips to the red zone, all figgies I think.

Your point is a good one, and red zone play is what seperates good teams from bad ones. They have an O that gets the TD's not FG's and/or a D that doesn't allow TD's only FG's. If memory serves it was one of the very big factors in how the late great Hank Stram came up with his way of predicting winners for the SB. And he only picked one wrong in the many years he did it, the Bills "wide right" loss. He was the only guy in the world that picked the Patriots straight up v. the Rams in that dreaded SB.

I do remember the Carolina game. I was really young and basically chalked it up to Wilkins missing a 51 yarder by a few inches in OT. If Wilkins makes that kick, Martz is not going for it is a lost memory. That's just football, man. I just wish CAR would have beat the darn Ceatoriots.

That's what I thought, though, we haven't had a dominant offense since Warner. I think our time is finally here, though. We win it all this or/AND next year if we can finally stay healthy. Our team is that good.

 

[Dodgersrf]

For all the talk about the need for Bradford and the offense to step up if the Rams want to compete in the NFC west, the biggest difference last year was points allowed by the defense. The Rams secondary is the real reason they couldn't compete last year. If Joyner and the other draftees help close that gap, the Rams will be competitive.

To help bring home the point, the Rams scored only 69 less points than Seattle and only 58 less than SF with a backup QB in 9/16 games. On the other hand the defense gave up 133 more points than Seattle. With a healthy Bradford the offensive point difference would very likely have been even less.

With new DC Williams and the new talent on defense, the Rams may be closer than many imagine because it was quite obvious last season that Tim Walton was over his head.

Uggh.
It was so frustrating last year watching our corners 5 yds off the los .it felt like every play underneath was for a first down.

Walton definitely was not the answer.

I want our corners jamming the receivers and knocking them off their routes.

 

[AnarchyRam]

Kenny brit, quick and givens are crucial to our passing games prowess next year. Also, brit and quick can be excellent run blockers on the outside. Better than cook lol not saying much.

 

[AnarchyRam]

Oh, and GREG WILLIAMS will be our best addition hands-down.

 

[Rams and Gators]

For all the talk about the need for Bradford and the offense to step up if the Rams want to compete in the NFC west, the biggest difference last year was points allowed by the defense. The Rams secondary is the real reason they couldn't compete last year. If Joyner and the other draftees help close that gap, the Rams will be competitive.

To help bring home the point, the Rams scored only 69 less points than Seattle and only 58 less than SF with a backup QB in 9/16 games. On the other hand the defense gave up 133 more points than Seattle. With a healthy Bradford the offensive point difference would very likely have been even less.

With new DC Williams and the new talent on defense, the Rams may be closer than many imagine because it was quite obvious last season that Tim Walton was over his head.

Our D was awful the first 4 games, truly awful.

The last 12 games it conceded:
20, 13, 23, 14, 28 (21), 8, 21, 23 (16), 30 (21), 16, 13, 20, (drives starting in our defensive red zone excluded in brackets).

If we don't give the opposition a defensive TD, or give them a drive starting in our defensive red zone (unlikely but there should at least be less with Sam than Clemens) and not improve at all we'd have the 4th best scoring D, 2 points worse than the 49ers and 43 points worse than Seattle. The good news is we should be improved.

 

[fearsomefour]

Ya know, we truly had the opposite problem at the start of last year. Teams knew we couldn't run for more than three yards with Rich back there. Therefore, they squatted on the intermediate and deep routes forcing the check down. Heck, that's what Seattle did to Denver. Then Seattle hit the soft Denver WR's with a purpose.

We saw last year how the Rams handled a stacked box against our rivals, it was very depressing.

My Answer: I wanna see more rollouts, boot legs, and plenty of PA passes. Get Bradford out of the pocket and make make defenses account for his sneaky athletic ability. We have all the weapons we need, we need continuity and rhythem. Get Sam "The Man" Bradford a comfort zone and watch the rest of the league go to hell trying to stop him and the run-first offense. No one will stop us or know how to. Seattle is soft up the middle of their D, Stacy exposed them early on last year. The infamous "Thousand Yard Stare" will be a common theme for them.

The true goal is to run and wear teams out and manage the clock. Just wait until teams start wearing down in games. Givens and Autin will be like trying to catch lightning.

Good point about the Rams being a pass first team to start the year.
I don't care for rollouts as an O staple.
I remember film of the home game vs SF with their D just sitting on all the routes. They knew the depths ect.
Bradford not forcing the ball has saved many a pic. Being able to run a play action on first down after pounding the ball.... Most receivers should have some room in that situation.