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Shane Gray provides special Rams commentaries on 101sports.com. For live updates and analysis throughout the game, follow him on Twitter @ShaneGmoSTLRams.
Rams Will Be Vanilla in Their Approach
As head coach Jeff Fisher mentioned earlier this week, the St. Louis Rams will serve up the type of largely vanilla attack that one would expect in an exhibition opener on the road against the Cleveland Browns tonight. Much of the offense and defensive playbook will be kept tightly under wraps.
“We’re just going to carry some basic things into the game. We have to prepare for their defensive front out of fairness to our guys and the quarterbacks, so we’ll do that and then try to keep things pretty simple and just play.”
With that in mind, it is important to remember that – if things go awry – very little in the way of game-planning was performed.
In addition, the results of these games offer little to nothing in helping to accurately project what teams will or will not succeed or fail this fall. Case in point: We have watched Super Bowl teams come out of the preseason without a win, and we have seen some horrible teams – like the 2011 Rams – go undefeated in preseason play.
Whether the result of the game is a win, a loss or a draw, it’s best to avoid connecting dots from a team’s preseason performance to its coming regular-season record. Last season, for example, some fans overreacted to the exhibition defeat at Indianapolis. With almost all things preseason, it is best to handle the good and the bad with a grain of salt … or maybe the entire shaker.
First Look at Rookies and Free-Agent Acquisitions
Every year, one of my favorite aspects of the Rams’ first preseason game is getting a chance to watch rookies and free-agent acquisitions for the first time in live game action.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.101sports.com/2013/08/08/rams-at-browns-preseason-primer-what-to-watch-in-the-exhibition-opener/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.101sports.com/2013/08/08/ram ... on-opener/</a>
Rams Will Be Vanilla in Their Approach
As head coach Jeff Fisher mentioned earlier this week, the St. Louis Rams will serve up the type of largely vanilla attack that one would expect in an exhibition opener on the road against the Cleveland Browns tonight. Much of the offense and defensive playbook will be kept tightly under wraps.
“We’re just going to carry some basic things into the game. We have to prepare for their defensive front out of fairness to our guys and the quarterbacks, so we’ll do that and then try to keep things pretty simple and just play.”
With that in mind, it is important to remember that – if things go awry – very little in the way of game-planning was performed.
In addition, the results of these games offer little to nothing in helping to accurately project what teams will or will not succeed or fail this fall. Case in point: We have watched Super Bowl teams come out of the preseason without a win, and we have seen some horrible teams – like the 2011 Rams – go undefeated in preseason play.
Whether the result of the game is a win, a loss or a draw, it’s best to avoid connecting dots from a team’s preseason performance to its coming regular-season record. Last season, for example, some fans overreacted to the exhibition defeat at Indianapolis. With almost all things preseason, it is best to handle the good and the bad with a grain of salt … or maybe the entire shaker.
First Look at Rookies and Free-Agent Acquisitions
Every year, one of my favorite aspects of the Rams’ first preseason game is getting a chance to watch rookies and free-agent acquisitions for the first time in live game action.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.101sports.com/2013/08/08/rams-at-browns-preseason-primer-what-to-watch-in-the-exhibition-opener/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.101sports.com/2013/08/08/ram ... on-opener/</a>
