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Strauss: How Rams fare in preseason means very little
• Joe Strauss
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c048c11f-d681-5cd1-97fc-3f9908825e91.html
Please, don’t call Friday night’s presentation at the Edward Jones Dome “exhibition football.” When you pay full price for a ticket it’s proper etiquette to call it “preseason.”
Sam Bradford will be on hand, back from last season’s shredded knee. The question is whether he’ll even be in pads since the Rams quarterback is among almost a dozen A-teamers out or highly doubtful to play against the New Orleans Saints, who just to make it fair won’t suit up QB Drew Brees (oblique). Give Rams coach Jeff Fisher credit. Even within this high-arousal summer at Earth City, ‘coach Fish’ has made clear tonight is for back-ups, younger players and avoiding injuries.
Fisher described his intended approach as “somewhat basic,” which is like saying it gets “somewhat humid” following a late-afternoon August downpour in Mound City.
Trivia Time: Identify the most notable conversation piece from last year’s exhibi... uh, preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns. Extra credit goes to anyone who remembers the Browns won 27-19.
The obvious answer remains broadcaster Bernie Kosar’s bizarre screed against Rams backup quarterback Kellen Clemens and the Rams’ receiving corps.
“Bernie’s got his issues; they’re well-documented,” Fisher responded afterward.
The Browns looked good, the Rams shoddy that August Thursday night. Travis Benjamin returned a punt 91 yards for a score. The Rams trailed 17-0 and made it a one-possession game only due to a late touchdown. Right tackle Roger Saffold suffered a left shoulder injury that became more serious than any statistic.
The Browns, however, were the team that finished the season with seven consecutive losses. By now someone surely has reminded Bernie the Rams won four games with Clemens under center.
The New Orleans media has had a lay-up storyline for tonight: a reunion with former bad-boy defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is out of Roger Goodell’s penalty box, on the Rams’ sideline and presumably ready to unleash every blitz package known to man against 33-year-old Saints backup Luke McCown and his seconds. (Not buying that one. Now if this was a regular-season tilt...)
The Rams no longer require outrage, manufactured or otherwise, to make this preseason something more than four weeks of tedium.
Folks beyond The 314, 636 and 618 think a winning record, perhaps even a playoff berth, attainable for Fisher’s third team.
The defense promises pass-rush sizzle — and potential soft spots in the secondary, a holdover concern from last summer.
Even with its advance billing as a ground-and-pound bunch, the offense has to be better with a healthy Bradford and a maturing group of receivers.
Few of those assumptions have anything to do with Friday night. Bradford should be joined on the sidelines by three starting linemen, including Saffold. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins is out, as is running back Isaiah Pead. Michael Brockers and iron man James Laurenaitis probably won’t play. Perhaps fans will get reacquainted with seventh-round draft pick Michael Sam, who should receive significant time in a budding competition with undrafted free agent Ethan Westbrooks.
The NFL doesn’t lend itself to advanced metrics as much as Major League Baseball. Divining blocking and coverage assignments from tape can be a challenge. There is no convenient Wins Above Replacement shorthand. Football is what Rams general manager Les Snead habitually calls “the ultimate team sport” while baseball is overwhelmingly an individual sport disguised as a team game.
That said, some in Earth City believe breakaways by skill-position players project, which makes a competition between incumbent feature back Zac Stacy, Bennie Cunningham and third-round draftee Tre Mason a fascinating study.
The Rams are going to pound the ball a lot this summer because they’re going to run it a lot once the games count.
Fisher insisted last August that a rash of penalties was a byproduct of playing guys who were gone by Week 1. Well, the tendency lingered into September and October, especially on special teams. Still at a talent deficit within the division, the Rams need to be rough and tumble without being free and easy with penalties.
Discipline counts.
Let’s see how Fisher prioritizes a holdover receiving corps. Chris Givens is no longer listed as a starter. Kenny Britt has been a camp sensation. Stedman Bailey has commanded attention but won’t be eligible until Week 5.
And if Kosar had issues with Clemens, what would he say about this year’s backup, Shaun Hill, who hasn’t thrown a total 15 regular-season passes the last three seasons?
The promise here is to neither hold the Rams’ preseason record against them nor to hoist it as confirmation of a pending breakout.
Who will ever forget local media stampeding to the blue-and-gold bandwagon in 2011 after an undefeated preseason compounded 2010’s 7-9 mirage?
Who has forgotten the Rams then waiting until Oct. 30 for their inaugural regular-season win within a 2-14 crash landing?
One is encouraged to judge the happiness of Bradford’s feet, the quickness of rookie interior pass rusher Aaron Donald or Greg Robinson’s adjustments in pass protection. Holding one’s breath for health is entirely appropriate. But let’s wait until September to go on full tilt.
Then again, it’s only 15 days until the Rams return to Cleveland, where Manziel-mania awaits. Tilt away.
• Joe Strauss
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c048c11f-d681-5cd1-97fc-3f9908825e91.html
Please, don’t call Friday night’s presentation at the Edward Jones Dome “exhibition football.” When you pay full price for a ticket it’s proper etiquette to call it “preseason.”
Sam Bradford will be on hand, back from last season’s shredded knee. The question is whether he’ll even be in pads since the Rams quarterback is among almost a dozen A-teamers out or highly doubtful to play against the New Orleans Saints, who just to make it fair won’t suit up QB Drew Brees (oblique). Give Rams coach Jeff Fisher credit. Even within this high-arousal summer at Earth City, ‘coach Fish’ has made clear tonight is for back-ups, younger players and avoiding injuries.
Fisher described his intended approach as “somewhat basic,” which is like saying it gets “somewhat humid” following a late-afternoon August downpour in Mound City.
Trivia Time: Identify the most notable conversation piece from last year’s exhibi... uh, preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns. Extra credit goes to anyone who remembers the Browns won 27-19.
The obvious answer remains broadcaster Bernie Kosar’s bizarre screed against Rams backup quarterback Kellen Clemens and the Rams’ receiving corps.
“Bernie’s got his issues; they’re well-documented,” Fisher responded afterward.
The Browns looked good, the Rams shoddy that August Thursday night. Travis Benjamin returned a punt 91 yards for a score. The Rams trailed 17-0 and made it a one-possession game only due to a late touchdown. Right tackle Roger Saffold suffered a left shoulder injury that became more serious than any statistic.
The Browns, however, were the team that finished the season with seven consecutive losses. By now someone surely has reminded Bernie the Rams won four games with Clemens under center.
The New Orleans media has had a lay-up storyline for tonight: a reunion with former bad-boy defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who is out of Roger Goodell’s penalty box, on the Rams’ sideline and presumably ready to unleash every blitz package known to man against 33-year-old Saints backup Luke McCown and his seconds. (Not buying that one. Now if this was a regular-season tilt...)
The Rams no longer require outrage, manufactured or otherwise, to make this preseason something more than four weeks of tedium.
Folks beyond The 314, 636 and 618 think a winning record, perhaps even a playoff berth, attainable for Fisher’s third team.
The defense promises pass-rush sizzle — and potential soft spots in the secondary, a holdover concern from last summer.
Even with its advance billing as a ground-and-pound bunch, the offense has to be better with a healthy Bradford and a maturing group of receivers.
Few of those assumptions have anything to do with Friday night. Bradford should be joined on the sidelines by three starting linemen, including Saffold. Cornerback Janoris Jenkins is out, as is running back Isaiah Pead. Michael Brockers and iron man James Laurenaitis probably won’t play. Perhaps fans will get reacquainted with seventh-round draft pick Michael Sam, who should receive significant time in a budding competition with undrafted free agent Ethan Westbrooks.
The NFL doesn’t lend itself to advanced metrics as much as Major League Baseball. Divining blocking and coverage assignments from tape can be a challenge. There is no convenient Wins Above Replacement shorthand. Football is what Rams general manager Les Snead habitually calls “the ultimate team sport” while baseball is overwhelmingly an individual sport disguised as a team game.
That said, some in Earth City believe breakaways by skill-position players project, which makes a competition between incumbent feature back Zac Stacy, Bennie Cunningham and third-round draftee Tre Mason a fascinating study.
The Rams are going to pound the ball a lot this summer because they’re going to run it a lot once the games count.
Fisher insisted last August that a rash of penalties was a byproduct of playing guys who were gone by Week 1. Well, the tendency lingered into September and October, especially on special teams. Still at a talent deficit within the division, the Rams need to be rough and tumble without being free and easy with penalties.
Discipline counts.
Let’s see how Fisher prioritizes a holdover receiving corps. Chris Givens is no longer listed as a starter. Kenny Britt has been a camp sensation. Stedman Bailey has commanded attention but won’t be eligible until Week 5.
And if Kosar had issues with Clemens, what would he say about this year’s backup, Shaun Hill, who hasn’t thrown a total 15 regular-season passes the last three seasons?
The promise here is to neither hold the Rams’ preseason record against them nor to hoist it as confirmation of a pending breakout.
Who will ever forget local media stampeding to the blue-and-gold bandwagon in 2011 after an undefeated preseason compounded 2010’s 7-9 mirage?
Who has forgotten the Rams then waiting until Oct. 30 for their inaugural regular-season win within a 2-14 crash landing?
One is encouraged to judge the happiness of Bradford’s feet, the quickness of rookie interior pass rusher Aaron Donald or Greg Robinson’s adjustments in pass protection. Holding one’s breath for health is entirely appropriate. But let’s wait until September to go on full tilt.
Then again, it’s only 15 days until the Rams return to Cleveland, where Manziel-mania awaits. Tilt away.
