Rams News Recap: August 1

[RamBill]

Rams Take to the Dome as Part of FanFest –PD
The Rams’ work day takes place in the Edward Jones Dome Saturday afternoon — not Rams Park. And for the rookies and some first-year players, it will be a nice little field trip.

Aeneas Williams Trade Highlighted Defensive Overhaul in 2001–PD
In the spring of 2001, the number “471” on the greaseboard in the Rams’ draft room said it all. That’s how many points the Rams had allowed the previous season. Not only was it an NFL high for the 2000 campaign, at the time it was the seventh-highest total in league history.

Rams Coach Jeff Fisher: “We’re going to be run-oriented” –Video

Kenny Britt On Team Transition and Getting Ready for the Season –Video

Rams Rookie Aaron Donald Out to Prove He’s More Than Meets The Eye –SI.com
Before the NFL draft in early May, Rams defensive line coach Mike Waufle hatched a plan. As St. Louis looked to beef up its already top-level unit, Waufle perused his options.

Rams DE William Hayes Working Back From Surgeries –Wagoner
Although you’d hardly know it based on how he’s performed since he started playing for the St. Louis Rams in 2012, but defensive end William Hayes has been hurt.

Rams Camp Report: Day 7 –Wagoner
The Rams shed the pads Friday after a pair of practices with them on and the result was the opposite of what happened Thursday night.

Rookie Diary: Aaron Hill is Pumped for Rams’ Dome Practice –PD
Aaron Hill was a three-sport standout at Lutheran St. Charles High who walked on at the University of Minnesota, where he started three seasons and helped the Golden Gophers earn trips to bowl games in 2012 and 2013.

Jason La Canfora & Jim Thomas & Nick Wagoner Post Practice Tweets: Aug. 1

Gregg Williams: “They’ve taken another step” –Video

Rams Coach Jeff Fisher: “We’re in good shape right now” –Video

Rams OT Jake Long Right On Schedule –Wagoner
In the first four full-squad practices of the St. Louis Rams training camp, it’s been normal to see left tackle Jake Long hover near the huddle as the first-team offense takes its repetitions.

Long’s Return to Practice is Good News for the Rams –Latsch
Rams left tackle Jake Long took a significant step forward in his return from the knee injury that ended his 2013 season when he took some reps during the team’s evening practice on Thursday.

Morning Ram-blings: Ram Tracking –Wagoner
As technology continues to take us to places that allow a better understanding of how the world works, it’s also finding ways to better study the work done by professional athletes.

Rams’ Offense Starting to Gain Traction –Wagoner
For those watching the opening days of St. Louis Rams training camp, there was little doubt which side of the ball was controlling the action.

Herm Edwards: If You “Don’t Like Scary Movies or Competitive Violence” Don’t Watch the Rams –Radio Interview

Young: How Robert Quinn Can Build on 2013 Season –Radio Interview

Casey Phillips One-on-Two with Chris Long & Tavon Austin –Video

Rams OT Jake Long: “We can be an exciting offense” –Video

 

[RamBill]

Morning Ram-blings: Value of youth?
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/10108/morning-ram-blings-value-of-youth

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams have been the youngest team in the league for two seasons in a row. They very well could hold that title again this year.

And in each of those seasons, much of that young talent has had ample opportunity to gain experience through playing time. The team's hope is that having "experienced youth" will pay off in the form of consistent winning.

But earlier this week, the fine folks at sister site fivethirtyeight.com took a closer look at what youth can do for a football team exactly. While the sample size of the study which combined information from the aforementioned site as well as Football Outsiders isn't all that extensive, the conclusions drawn from it appear to put a limit on correlation between age and winning.

In other words, just because the Rams are young and appear to be teeming with potential doesn't mean that production is going to pan out. That's not groundbreaking information, as players in this league succeed or fail for many different reasons, but it's worth noting when evaluating where this franchise is headed.

Only the results on the field will tell us whether the youth movement in St. Louis will bear fruit.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of Friday's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... We began the day with a small departure from the normal schedule with the news that offensive tackle Jake Long has begun taking repetitions with the first-team offense. ... In the Ram-blings, we started the day with a look at the league's efforts to add player tracking to get more details statistics on speed, player movement, and more. ... Next, we caught up on how the offense is benefiting from the addition of pads and starting to get traction in practices. ... From there, we examined the offseason of surgeries for defensive end William Hayes and his efforts to return to action. ... Finally, we closed the work week with Friday's camp report.

Elsewhere:

Our team of 32 reporters offered 32 early observations on each team's highest-drafted rookie.

Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch returned to the fold but apparently was hoping to cash in further before he did.

At stltoday.com, Jim Thomas offers his take on Long's return.

Thomas also caught up with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams.

Joe Lyons examines the early work of cornerback Brandon McGee as he enters his second season.