Some of BGs observations and notes: Preseason Game 1

[biggame1190]

First and and foremost while we did see some negatives in this game, I am not overly concerned about most of the mistakes. Its preseason. A time to be bland in gameplan and work out the kinks.

- I saw the same old Isaiah Pead. The same old mentally flawed and fumble prone RB. How many chances will this kid get at KR??? Every game he has been there he is CLUELESS and HESITANT about taking the ball out or kneeling. I do not care what he did in the Senoir bowl as returner, he is NOT a returner in the NFL. I still think Pead has potential as RB but he has lost some points this night. Pead remains on my bad list until he shows he can manup and be smarter... I will say this though, Pead had a very good block in pass pro on the 3rd down Austin drop.

- Same old Pettis. The guy who does not have great separation skills because lack of explosion and will HAVE TO make acrobatic body stretching catches in the NFL to make a true impact against starting caliber CBs. This time. Drop.

- Sam looked flawless. Really had a game of perfection and continues to show he has an elite deep ball. His 3 incompletions came on drops by WRs and RBs. The drops by Pettis and Austin were really great throws that need to be caught. Same old song in Sam's head. "Another drop! What can I do?". Hopefully we see few drops in the regular season. Sam is in season form and like last season, I trust his accuracy and judgement. Go #8!

- Austin Davis played better than some seem to believe. The Oline was having issues when he was in and it hurt his chances to succeed. I thought he made some good plays and some that didn't happen because of other players problems...Such as drops by Nick Johnson and Brian Quick (Paging #83 BTW???)

- Greg The Leg is back and in full throttle

- Rookies looked like Rookies. Ogletree and McDonald did make some tackles, but they both gave up most of the big plays to the Browns 1st team Offense. Tree was drafted to help out in pass coverage and he left a lot of yards on the field today. Not truly concerned though, rookies are rookies. Let the steaks marinate.

- A lot of the Rams starting D looked ready to go. JL, Dunbar, Finn, Stew, ect looked in season form!

- Chris Givens continues to show why I was so high on him coming out of Wake. Will he be a true #1 WR? Im not sure, but I am certain he will be the best starting outside WR we had since Torry and Isaac. While his TD and deep catch were great plays from him and Sam, my favorite play was his 3rd down catch in the 1st quarter on Joe Haden...Who is IMO a top 10 CB in this league. That was impressive to see.

- DRich ran hard and looks ready to go. He had the drop on a progression pass from Sam but he made me forget that with his play. Unlike Pead there is no hesitation in DRich's game, he has one gear and that is "GO!".

- Cody Davis looked pretty good out there to me. May have a good chance to make the squad

- Ray Ray Armstrong had a up and down game but looked very tenacious and seemed to have a good motor. Impressed with what I saw from him

- 3rd year WR and 26 year old Raymond Radway has made headway on the 6th WR spot with Helmick out and Nick Johnson dropping passes. But still ALOT of time to play out

 

[albefree69]

Good post biggame! As I didn't get to see the game I'm very thankful that you and others are posting some great info. :notworthy:

Good to hear that Austin Davis played better than his stats showed.

What did you think of the O-line's performance? Especially Barksdale and Jones?

 

[bskrilla]

First and and foremost while we did see some negatives in this game, I am not overly concerned about most of the mistakes. Its preseason. A time to be bland in gameplan and work out the kinks.

- I saw the same old Isaiah Pead. The same old mentally flawed and fumble prone RB. How many chances will this kid get at KR??? Every game he has been there he is CLUELESS and HESITANT about taking the ball out or kneeling. I do not care what he did in the Senoir bowl as returner, he is NOT a returner in the NFL. I still think Pead has potential as RB but he has lost some points this night. Pead remains on my bad list until he shows he can manup and be smarter... I will say this though, Pead had a very good block in pass pro on the 3rd down Austin drop.

- Same old Pettis. The guy who does not have great separation skills because lack of explosion and will HAVE TO make acrobatic body stretching catches in the NFL to make a true impact against starting caliber CBs. This time. Drop.

- Sam looked flawless. Really had a game of perfection and continues to show he has an elite deep ball. His 3 incompletions came on drops by WRs and RBs. The drops by Pettis and Austin were really great throws that need to be caught. Same old song in Sam's head. "Another drop! What can I do?". Hopefully we see few drops in the regular season. Sam is in season form and like last season, I trust his accuracy and judgement. Go #8!

- Austin Davis played better than some seem to believe. The Oline was having issues when he was in and it hurt his chances to succeed. I thought he made some good plays and some that didn't happen because of other players problems...Such as drops by Nick Johnson and Brian Quick (Paging #83 BTW???)

- Greg The Leg is back and in full throttle

- Rookies looked like Rookies. Ogletree and McDonald did make some tackles, but they both gave up most of the big plays to the Browns 1st team Offense. Tree was drafted to help out in pass coverage and he left a lot of yards on the field today. Not truly concerned though, rookies are rookies. Let the steaks marinate.

- A lot of the Rams starting D looked ready to go. JL, Dunbar, Finn, Stew, ect looked in season form!

- Chris Givens continues to show why I was so high on him coming out of Wake. Will he be a true #1 WR? Im not sure, but I am certain he will be the best starting outside WR we had since Torry and Isaac. While his TD and deep catch were great plays from him and Sam, my favorite play was his 3rd down catch in the 1st quarter on Joe Haden...Who is IMO a top 10 CB in this league. That was impressive to see.

- DRich ran hard and looks ready to go. He had the drop on a progression pass from Sam but he made me forget that with his play. Unlike Pead there is no hesitation in DRich's game, he has one gear and that is "GO!".

- Cody Davis looked pretty good out there to me. May have a good chance to make the squad

- Ray Ray Armstrong had a up and down game but looked very tenacious and seemed to have a good motor. Impressed with what I saw from him

- 3rd year WR and 26 year old Raymond Radway has made headway on the 6th WR spot with Helmick out and Nick Johnson dropping passes. But still ALOT of time to play out

I have to disagree with you on this.

First, that fumble was a good rip by the defender. Obviously you want him to be able to hold on to it, but he had the ball in the right spot, and I'm not convinced ANY of our RB's hold onto the ball there. He bounced back with a few good runs after that where he was decisive. He also pass-blocked very well.

As for KR. I'm not convinced he should be returning kicks either, mainly because I feel like there are better options on the team, but the play you are talking about where he couldn't decide whether to bring it out or not wasn't on him. He fully planned to bring it out and was getting up to speed when Reynolds turns around and tells him to kneel it. It caught him off guard so he hesitated a couple times. Reynolds shouldn't have told him to kneel it. As far as i understand, during preseason, coaches direct returners to bring out everything because you don't learn anything about your return team by kneeling the ball.

You're also the only person I've seen who was down on Quick in this game. I thought he played well other than that one drop.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I saw the same old Isaiah Pead. The same old mentally flawed and fumble prone RB.

This part will not sit well with some people, but; it's accurate. And... it's in Pead's court to change.

How long until the light comes "on"?

Me personally; I think he's going to be fine... but I'm tired of making excuses for him.

 

[biggame1190]

Good post biggame! As I didn't get to see the game I'm very thankful that you and others are posting some great info. :notworthy:

Good to hear that Austin Davis played better than his stats showed.

What did you think of the O-line's performance? Especially Barksdale and Jones?

Thought the 1st string Oline played adequate. Barksdale played ok and Jones saw reps against the backups and did not look bad enough to notice. Hopefully Saffold comes back soon because that was unfortunate. Some pressure got to Sam but it wasn't too bad. Would like to see better push in the interior but the Oline was not bad in terms of 1st stringers.

 

[RamzFanz]

Pead was fine. No one keeps the ball with that tomahawk chop and he was told to kneel it at the last second. I'm not a Pead fan at all and I was impressed..

 

[Dagonet]

Good overall analysis BG. Hopefully Pead will be okay, but I have my doubts on him. I most sincerely want him to prove me wrong. I did think Quick had a pretty decent game though. He looks to be making progress from last year for sure. Maybe I'm being too lenient on him? I did like what I saw out of Radaway, and he's become one of my underdogs to make the team.

Good thread and a good read. It's nice to read these from others on here to catch things I missed while watching for one, and seeing other Ram fans opinions. Thanks.