"Tavon Austin Says Ram's Playbook Like Spanish to Me."

[jrry32]

Rookies are rookies. People need to understand that. Dumbing things down isn't going to make it easier. It takes time to adjust to the pro game.

I know a WR that came into the NFL as a rookie and looked terrible. Had zero impact. Many people were already started to mark him down as a bust after Year 1. I had many conversations with the guy. Got to know him well. I know for a fact he had his playbook down pat in training camp. The guy is intelligent and very well spoken. And even with all of that, he struggled mightily as a rookie. Well, he broke out as a sophomore and the bust talk ended there.

Regardless, I don't think people understand how tough it is to transition as a WR to the pros. It's not just learning your assignments. It's not just learning everybody's assignments. It's not just knowing the route tree. It's not just knowing the audibles. It's not just knowing the sight adjustments and hot reads. It's not just knowing where to split out to and line-up in each formation and play. It's not just knowing verbiage of your offense. No. You have to know all of these things while simultaneously being able to read coverages and know what your QB is thinking. It's overwhelming. Learning the route tree and how to run routes like a pro is extremely difficult by itself. And for every single thing you're thinking on instead of reacting, it's slowing you down on the field and making you less effective.

So when a rookie WR lines up and has to keep up with everything the QB is barking out while knowing all of his assignments on the play for all of the possible options in the route and then once he starts running the route, he's gotta figure out which option he's running, how many steps are in that route, where he should make his break, and how he should make his break. It's a ton of things to think about.

Fans are way too hard on rookies. I've seen a NFL playbook and lets just say it was sobering. I thought I knew a decent amount about football and I felt like a complete idiot after seeing the thing. It WAS like Spanish.

 

[jrry32]

It's what's leaving SB8 on the bench after a poor drive looking at the pictures, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

I also wanted to say, I can't speak to why this happened but my guess is that Bradford was more angry at himself than anyone when that happened. He probably saw something when reviewing the stills of the defensive formation of a play that didn't go well and he recognized something that he had seen on film previously and should have taken advantage of. When you're having a bad night, it gets you real frustrated at yourself which led to that reaction. Kind of like a pitcher that is being shelled kicking the mound.

 

[Username]

I also wanted to say, I can't speak to why this happened but my guess is that Bradford was more angry at himself than anyone when that happened. He probably saw something when reviewing the stills of the defensive formation of a play that didn't go well and he recognized something that he had seen on film previously and should have taken advantage of. When you're having a bad night, it gets you real frustrated at yourself which led to that reaction. Kind of like a pitcher that is being shelled kicking the mound.

Well, he had just missed a wide open Austin Pettis for a TD so I'd imagine that's what it was. You see Tom Brady and Payton Manning make that face on the sidelines every single time they miss one too. I'm not saying @wrstdude , but I love when people bring that up as if "look at them theres leaders of me teams, so sad." Then the same people bitch when he "shows no emotion." He was pissed that he missed a throw, and I'm glad he was.

 

[Blue and Gold]

All if this infor lets us know why Rams switched styles after 4 games, the WRs Austin, and even Cook, to a degree were not up to snuff. WHen Austin did get open early, he was in wrong place or dropped it.