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2 hours ago • BY JIM THOMAS
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... f6878.html
The Rams got a piece of the Rok during Monday's practice. Rookie offensive guard Rokevious "Rok" Watkins took part in his first individual drills of training camp, his first steps back on the practice field since reporting overweight and out of shape last week.
Until Monday, Watkins participated only in stretching and conditioning work during last week’s three-day rookie camp and Sunday’s first full-squad practice. The fifth-round draft choice from South Carolina, who is expected to compete for the starting job at left guard, performed individual drills with the offensive line Monday. But he then left the field for still more conditioning work in the indoor facility. So he has yet to participate in 11-on-11, or "team" drills.
"We’re working him back in," coach Jeff Fisher said. "He’s doing a lot inside."
Once again, C Scott Wells (knee) and WR Danario Alexander (hamstring) did not practice. DT Michael Brockers, who got his foot stepped on during Sunday’s practice, was full-go on Monday.
* * *Day 2
Two days into training camp, Fisher likes what he sees so far.
"We got a lot more in," Fisher said.
In terms of installment, this is the third time since the start of the spring practice period that the Rams are installing the playbook.
"We had a couple very competitive periods without pads," Fisher said. "We’ve practiced very well without pads. We saw some young guys make some plays. Saw some DBs finishing plays, so it was a good day."
Once again, the team practiced for just over two hours. It was about 10 degrees cooler Monday than for Sunday’s opening session of training camp, with temperatures in the mid 80s under overcast skies and intermittent light rain.
With a much smaller crowd of spectators (593) watching than on Sunday’s opening day, Fisher thought the team maintained its energy level on Day 2.
"Yeah. This team’s going to be consistent with that," he said. "They like practicing and they like the challenges. They know what’s ahead. Nothing’s coming as surprises to them from the standpoint of they know what the schedule is, they know what the installation is, they know when the day off is."
And last but not least: "They know better than to pace themselves because we don’t have a lot of reps to go around," Fisher said.
The team has one more practice without pads on Tuesday, then the Rams are allowed to practice in pads. Fisher said they will do so for Wednesday’s special teams practice, which is closed to the public, and Thursday’s full squad practice.
"Clearly the defense has the advantage right now any time you go team periods without pads because it’s hard for the offense to anchor," Fisher said. "Once pads go on it starts to even out a little bit."
* * *1s vs. 1s
The starting offense has routinely been working against the first-team defense in practice, something that was a rarity for many of Fisher’s predecessors during Rams training camp. But Fisher said that won’t be the case throughout camp.
"We’ll adjust," he said. "There’ll be days when we go 1s against 2s, or (in) some specific drills for that matter. Two-minute drills, or a live goal-line type thing, we usually go 1s against 2s to mix it up.
"You like to vary it. If your first offense goes against the second defense, the second defense now’s getting a little better look and so you get to evaluate ‘em against better talent. And vice versa."
* * *3 observations
1.) WR Brian Quick was more sure-handed and more effective Monday in practice. So far the second-round pick from Appalachian State looks like he’s determined to get himself ready to play and contribute as soon as possible.
2.) Here’s how the Rams, particularly offensive line coach Paul Boudreau are dealing with false starts in practice: You jump offside, you get pulled out of the lineup. It happened Sunday to left tackle Rodger Saffold and it happened Monday to right tackle Jason Smith. They were yanked immediately.
3.) In the nickel, the Rams have been using Bradley Fletcher at cornerback moving Cortland Finnegan inside to cover the slot receiver, with Janoris Jenkins at the other corner.
* * *Catch of the day
Early in practice during one-on-one work, Finnegan batted a deep ball intended for Danny Amendola and then came up with an interception to the delight of the crowd.
* * *Depth chart alert?
Craig Dahl worked with the starters Sunday at one of the safety spots along side Quintin Mikell. But it was Darian Stewart with the starters Monday (alongside Mikell) on Monday. Dahl and Stewart battled each other throughout training camp last year, and the same could be true this camp.