MVA - Most Valuable Assistant

[thirteen28]

I'm nominating Kevin Carberry.

He came in, and without us bringing in anyone from the outside, turned this OL from a weakness into a serious strength of this team. Yes, you can credit Stafford some for line calls and such, but only up to the point that it doesn't take anything away from what they and Carberry have accomplished. Brian Allen went from the 1.0 probable bust version to the 2.0 nasty version that took a glaring weakness and made it into a strength. Rob Havenstein used to be thought more of as a run blocker and is now rated as the number 1 in pass block win rate. Edwards, Corbett and Whitworth are playing well, and when Whitworth had to sit last week, nobody even noticed 'Boom in there because there was no dropoff (yes, it was the Texans, but they are still an NFL team).

When you look at the team in terms of units, no other unit has made such a dramatic improvement in play, and when you combine that with the better QB play, we have an offense now that is, at minimum, 2018 level and could (and probably will) exceed that level by season's end, especially when you consider they are still working out some kinks.

Based on the results we have seen, this hire is a slam dunk.

 

[Kupped]

I’m going to agree while disagreeing.

He’s absolutely an upgrade.

The Oline wasn’t a weakness last year.

 

[Merlin]

Great topic. Henderson deserves some love too he's got the OLBs and the down linemen this year and both units are producing.

Also Shula doing a great job with Jones so far and we also saw a spike in Young's play this year.

I was thinking Phillips Jr would be in this conversation with Harris starting to show by now but they moved Harris over to Yarbs and hopefully just focusing on the wideout role will give him a better chance to get out there down the stretch.

Yarbs of course does a great job and can't mention Kupp & Stafford without him being in that mix.

 

[shovelpass]

Credit goes to the lineman themselves too. They all put in a lot of work in the off-season. I think they all worked out together.

 

[Merlin]

Credit goes to the lineman themselves too. They all put in a lot of work in the off-season. I think they all worked out together.

Sure but we tend to give that cred often and freely in most threads. How often do we talk about the coaches.

 

[shovelpass]

Sure but we tend to give that cred often and freely in most threads. How often do we talk about the coaches.

Absolutely, and I'm not trying to discredit the work Carberry has done at all. I was just pointing out that the oline specifically took to bettering themselves, they all look physically different even Noteboom. It's a great combination that has yielded great results.

I think that Yarber and Henderson have both done excellent jobs with their squads, and I bet other front offices will be looking their way this off-season.

 

[thirteen28]

The Oline wasn’t a weakness last year.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. While they weren't horrible, they were mediocre, and even if you put this year's Stafford behind that line, the offense is still a noticeable step down from what we have this year. A lot of people focus on the QB play last year, but if you look at times like that second Seattle game (where Goff shit the bed), the Rams also had a first and goal at the 2, ran the ball 4 times, and couldn't get it in. The next week against the Cardinals, we had a similar goal-to-go situation, and couldn't get it in, and finished the game without an offensive TD.

They were mediocre and inconsistent, now they are a very good model of consistency.

 

[Kupped]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. While they weren't horrible, they were mediocre, and even if you put this year's Stafford behind that line, the offense is still a noticeable step down from what we have this year. A lot of people focus on the QB play last year, but if you look at times like that second Seattle game (where Goff shit the bed), the Rams also had a first and goal at the 2, ran the ball 4 times, and couldn't get it in. The next week against the Cardinals, we had a similar goal-to-go situation, and couldn't get it in, and finished the game without an offensive TD.

They were mediocre and inconsistent, now they are a very good model of consistency.

If you put Stafford behind that line but add back Akers, Mundt and Everett… who knows?

The line “problems” were way overblown. They were good. Not great, but good.

 

[Kupped]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one. While they weren't horrible, they were mediocre, and even if you put this year's Stafford behind that line, the offense is still a noticeable step down from what we have this year. A lot of people focus on the QB play last year, but if you look at times like that second Seattle game (where Goff shit the bed), the Rams also had a first and goal at the 2, ran the ball 4 times, and couldn't get it in. The next week against the Cardinals, we had a similar goal-to-go situation, and couldn't get it in, and finished the game without an offensive TD.

They were mediocre and inconsistent, now they are a very good model of consistency.

Oh.. I forgot to address short yardage stuff. They haven’t dominated in that scenario at all this year.

 

[1maGoh]

Oh.. I forgot to address short yardage stuff. They haven’t dominated in that scenario at all this year.

Big facts. I still think they were sub par last year, with most of that on Blythe, but they definitely haven't dominated short yardage this year.

 

[rdlkgliders]

Interestingly if you Watch Geno Smith or Jameis Winston compared to Wuss or Brees and how they often Jameis & Geno struggle with reads you realize why Stafford & Brady are so successful.
The greatest asset an Oline can have is a QB who reads pre snap efficiently and post snap effectively and quickly. If you add pocket awareness you do wonders for an Oline and offense's success.
In terms of Carberry he has indeed done a tremendous job and our Oline has been a pleasant surprise to many of us

 

[CoachAllred]

Great topic. Henderson deserves some love too he's got the OLBs and the down linemen this year and both units are producing.

Also Shula doing a great job with Jones so far and we also saw a spike in Young's play this year.

I was thinking Phillips Jr would be in this conversation with Harris starting to show by now but they moved Harris over to Yarbs and hopefully just focusing on the wideout role will give him a better chance to get out there down the stretch.

Yarbs of course does a great job and can't mention Kupp & Stafford without him being in that mix.

Not really replying to your post, just got a question.
I know at times we have done well with our running game,
but how do you feel about our run blocking at the moment, especially
our ability to get second level consistently.

Maybe it's because we are unable to run much 12. It just seems
we were doing a better job second level last year.
Maybe I'm nuts, definitely not ruling that out.
Just curious as to what you're seeing.

 

[Kupped]

Big facts. I still think they were sub par last year, with most of that on Blythe, but they definitely have dominated short yardage this year.

Have dominated? Or have not?
They’re averaging almost half a yard less per carry this year.

 

[1maGoh]

Have dominated? Or have not?
They’re averaging almost half a yard less per carry this year.

Sorry, thought that said haven't. My bad. Thanks for the heads up. Got to it in time to fix it.

 

[NJRamsFan]

Oh.. I forgot to address short yardage stuff. They haven’t dominated in that scenario at all this year.

Just wanted to say you’ve been a great addition to this board and I’m glad you ended up here.

 

[Kupped]

Just wanted to say you’ve been a great addition to this board and I’m glad you ended up here.

Gracias!
Enjoy your posts as well.

 

[Mackeyser]

Yeah... I see it as

1) Carberry
2) Yarber
3) Henderson

And all of those are pretty close together. Each can point to multiple players that they've positively impacted and that's fantastic.

 

[Faceplant]

Shhhhhhh...

We don't need any additions to the McVay coaching tree....

 

[Merlin]

Not really replying to your post, just got a question.
I know at times we have done well with our running game,
but how do you feel about our run blocking at the moment, especially
our ability to get second level consistently.

Maybe it's because we are unable to run much 12. It just seems
we were doing a better job second level last year.
Maybe I'm nuts, definitely not ruling that out.
Just curious as to what you're seeing.

I think our run game is above average and with the right back for the situation we can depend on it which it's been a while for me to say that. Also I don't sweat the 12 stuff because I expect our OL can win vs most fronts even if you go 4 wide. We have a good OL this year no doubt in my mind, question is can they get us past the physical teams like the two we have ahead on the schedule.

Where we are not up with the best running teams is our RB room. Henderson has been a good all around back for us thus far but he doesn't do anything exceptionally well. He's not really explosive. I mean he can go when he gets a seam but he doesn't stand out among his peers in that. He's good in the pattern but not great, his ability to come down with the ball is kind of iffy if there's a guy on him it seems. He can be stopped by one tackler too which bugs me. But I'm that poster who has stupidly high expectations with RBs I guess because, well, we have been spoiled with great ones.

I was hoping Michel would be in there by now rounding out this group by just mashing but he's been dinged up. So he's shown flashes of giving us a guy who can go against physical fronts but we'll see. I do think if he can stay healthy he should get on a roll behind this line because they move dudes up front and Michel by himself is instinctive and tough to bring down.

I also think there are a few things working against the run game being featured. We were mashing a bit early vs the Cards but then fell behind and didn't get that chance to really feature it so that demonstrates that the defense is important in this. Also McVay generally doesn't want to feature the run game. The only times he's done that are the Dallas playoff game and games where he's killing the clock to preserve the lead. And now he's got Stafford who can do that move the chains mode when he needs to. So I look at our run game like a bit of a sleeping Giant, where I think it could end up being really good but we're not sure if maybe it's Sleeping Beauty and we won't find out for sure until the playoffs.