Will Rams Set the Century's Standard in 2013? 101 ESPN

[ShaneG]

Looks like the Rams just need serious production from their DT's to challenge that record.
Here's the distribution...

84 Bears

DE - 29
DT - 22.5
SS/FS - 8.5
LB - 12

---

2012 Rams
(PFR, NFL.com, ESPN & Yahoo all have the Rams with 51 sacks)

DE - 32
DT - 7
LB - 7
S - 3
CB - 2

Good call. Even with 15 from Long and Quinn (big jump) we need serious help elsewhere.


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One area expect enhanced sack production is at DT.

Langford was switching from 3-4 end to 4-3 DT and should be improved. Brockers -- of course -- was a rookie was also slowed by injury. He too should rack up more sacks/pressures/hurries.

 

[ShaneG]

X answered:
It is scheme.

And don't call me Shirley.

So if that was scheme then what was the reason for it? Lack of quality players at the LB and Safety positions? Or does he just not like to use his DBs that way?

BTW, my whole body is still twitching from not answering that the way I wanted too. :balling:

I loved Leslie Nelson, by the way. What a great comedian.

Anyway, part of it was scheme and part of it was lack of confidence in deep coverage by safeties. Dahl obviously struggled and Mikell was more of a box safety/strong safety who has lost speed and quickness in coverage. In addition, the older SLB's last year (McIntosh and Haggan) didn't have the speed that Ogletree will have to help with pressure.

 

[ShaneG]

(Hope each of you greatly enjoy the full read here):

Of course we will.

I also wouldn't be surprised if TJ registers more than the 3 sacks provided by Mikell. Hard to say because he's a rook of course but I have my suspicions.

Thank you my friend.

As for T.J., he has legit sack potential... but going beyond 3 sacks at safety would be pretty impressive. Mikell had 3 last year and Stewart had 3 in 2011. I could see both T.J. and Stewart getting 2 or 3 each.

 

[ShaneG]

Another aspect of this is the effect of an improved offense and having a lead at the end of games.

Great point and agree fully, particularly if they are aggressive defensively after doing so. We know playing ahead REALLY HELPS the D line at home, when the crowd gets going and the front four can get a jump on their blockers and QBs have trouble at line of scrimmage.

 

[ShaneG]

BonifayRam giving his abridged version of the D:
We really have no ideal just how good this defense and this defensive line can be. Fisher suffered some numerous big injury setbacks early in TC & pre-season especially in the interior of the DL.

#1-Vet DT Trevor Laws seemed to come up lame early with a bad knee and never helped this young DL out from the moment of his signing. TL went on IR and never saw the field.

#2-DT Matt Conrath injured his knee early and never saw any action until the 9th game due to that knee so his entire rookie yr he was unhealthy. But Fisher like tall big interior DL'ers & Conrath's 6-7 290 plus frame long long arms could be a pleasnt surprise this season inside.

#3-DT Fishers First round pick rookie DT Michael Brockers was carted from the sideline to the locker room after sustaining a bad high right ankle injury in the preseason finale. Ravens OT Ramon Harewood landed on the side of Brockers' ankle. I saw this Raven fall & hit was no accident. This was the biggest early blow to this DL. Brokers would miss starting 4 games and it took him till the bye to get healthy enough to hold his point of attack. Rams were forced to sign released Bills Kellen Heard who is nothing close to a healthy Brockers. IMO Brockers has the look of a future all pro DT in the NFL & we have not see anything close to what he is going to be in 2013 if he remains healthy.

Now besides this injuries Ram top DL signing Kendall Langford played defensive end in Miami's 3-4, Kendall Langford was having issues with the transition to a three-technique tackle. main thing was his height being over 6-6 the smaller OG's/OC's were highly effective getting underneath Langford's pads & Kendall was slow to learn that he needed to refrain from coming out of his stance high. It took him most of the 2012 season to finally get comfortable staying low. In camp it was heard often where DLC Mike Waufle was highly vocal in & on Kendall's issues in that area. Kendall is only 27 yrs old & should also show some serious improvement this season over 2012. Langford was the main veteran cog early in the season he was always on the field due to the injuries mentioned above but he only had one tack in the Ram first three games! It should also be said he went down midway through the second half of the Bears game with a shoulder injury that nagged him for many weeks but he started every game.

Then there was practice squad Jermelle Cudjo a short green DT who had early issue against the run...considered a early release by Fisher in 2012. Cudjo had never shown much for Spags in 2010 and was IR's with a bad back in 2011. Jermelle Cudjo benefited greatly from all the above negative happenings in the interior DL. Cudjo came into camp with massive upper body size and his lower half was not far behind. Sporting a remade frame this once discarded DT who has never started or saw much any NFL action and who was always known & wrote about about being far far from being high-ceiling player moved into starting DT for four games for Brockers. Cudjo became a very solid third DT in the rotation the rest of the season Rams really only carried 3 DT's active for the entire 2012 season speaking very high of what DLC Waufle thinks of Cudjo. Rams resigned this UDFA early this season & I see much bigger things coming from this low ceiling DT.

Fisher seemed very happy with this current 2013 cadre of Brockers-Langford-Cudjo & Conrath that Snead & him bypassed the DT's in the 2013 draft. Many mock drafts had the Rams selecting a DT with one of our two first round picks. Snead did sign two UDFA's in Garrett Goebel & Al Lapuaho as camp bodies.

Now onto the DE's & what happened there. DLC Mike Waufle switched Long & Quinn sides early in the mini's camps. Yes that placed Quinn in a much better place to showcase his elite pass rush skills. Robert Quinn came in as a 14th selection in the first round of the 2011 draft. He was slow to adjust to the NFL. matter fact he was a scratch & did not dress in the first game of his rookie season. Quinn had shown no ability to play the run from his DE position and just did not read what was going on in front of him. he only started one game his rookie season & that was due to injury. But he did have 5 sacks and a few punt blocks. Then some bad news hit early in July in 2012. Quinn was charged with DWI and two additional traffic charges after a single-car accident. It's his first strike in the NFL's eyes, even though he was forced to sit out the entire 2010 season at North Carolina after lying to the NCAA about receiving improper benefits. Its no secret that he is a edge-bending pass rusher, that on a mighty talented DL he has the best physical skill set of the entire cadre. Big butt monkey here he is far from being a true every-down force! While DLC bragged about Quinn's TC & pre season action shown towards stopping the run when the regular season started .... Quinn had some very big gaping gaps in outside run containment. Quinn did have 36 tacks. Quinn's back up William Hayes had 35 tacks and 4th DE back up Ernie Sims had 20 tacks both these reserve played the outside containment better to Quinn. Some of the longest runs against the Rams in 2012 came from Quinn's lack of solid performance in the outside run containment. Quinn did have a knee & concussion issues. I was & I remain highly critical of his weak run play but he just turned 23 already with 2 full NFL seasons under his belt. If Quinn could get his outside run issues fixed he would be something to behold. butt until then we have Hayes & Sims ready to step up should he continue on this path.

Chris Long had some outstanding games & some drop off in play games too he was really man handled for periods of time by some run of the meal ORT's. But this guy is something special & is the full complete NFL DE package. He is now in his prime & should take over as leader in this young DL.

William Hayes had a serious shoulder issues in Tenn. It took him a while to get his A game back and started the 2012 season under the radar as the 4th DE back up. But with the injuries to the DT's Hayes was forced into action inside and something very special turned out here. His play @ DT/NT was every bit as effective as he was playing either DE posts. Matter of fact by the seasons end he was the most active and highest producing DL'er the Rams had on the field. think about that! That's why Snead & Fisher wasted no time in making Hayes the top Defensive UFA signing! Hayes is my most favorite DL'er to watch when he is playing. He manhandles the shorter interior OL'ers and blast by the OT's with a hell of swing move his bulrush is highly underrated.Hayes is the same age as Long but there is a big difference in wear & tear Hayes is just now coming into his own!

Another underrated DL'er is Ernie Sims started his career as a safety but was a late bloomer and reached 6-6 on a skinny 230 frame in college. Sims was drafted with 2 other DE's both of the others were herald DE's. Sims was thought to be a tweener, a SSLB in a 34 defense. Since then Rams have been able to put some meat on his bones now I believe we will see a much larger framed Sims in 2013 he was listed last yr in July as 265 pounds but he played much heavier than that by the end of the 2012 season. Sims 2012 season was not his best he suffered a bad knee injury and later had a concussion which really affected his ability to get on the field. Strange Sims plays a bunch at DT on passing plays and is Quinn's main back up. Sims will make his presence known if Quinn continues to play the run weak.

Snead & Fisher have three other DE's to look at ...last yrs PS rider in 6-7 270 pound Mason Brodine & two new UDFA's in RJ Washington & Gerald Rivers.

In conclusion, I see no reason why I would not expect that the Rams DL to overtake the bonified bragging rights away from the 9ers & Seahawks who were advertised to have far superior DL over the Rams as were heard over & over by the talking heads. Does not mean those talking heads will not continue to sprout out about those well loved media teams.

"Kattie bar the doors!" :hehe:

Great read. Too short though. :tyty:

I had completely forgotten about Conrath. I'll have to make a mental note to pay more attention to his exploits on the field during training camp.
I made some mental notes about a couple of other guys I should watch too but I forgot where I put them.

Yes, too short but great job.

 

[ShaneG]

That's not how I remember it but then again my memory isn't what it used to be. It wasn't just when we had a lead. I don't remember our D, as a rule, ever being very aggressive in the final two minutes of either half.

You read what Shane said about about the huge cushion we almost always gave the opposing team's WRS and TEs. As I remember it, they basically just exaggerated that defensive philosophy when we got the lead or in the final two minutes of each half.

Still, all that doesn't matter because it's old news. I just want us to be more aggressive on defense this year. Press coverage and blitzes coming from all directions. That's why I was really hoping we'd concentrate a little more heavily on the Safety position so that we could take more chances on defense. Ogletree should help with that but I really don't see the acquisition of McDonald as helping us on pass D. But yeah. we did improve our pass D.


"I'm actually hoping that our pass defense (aside from sacks and turn overs) is kind of middle of the pack this year in yards allowed. That generally means we are playing with the lead - and yes, playing SOME prevent."

That statement seems to be contradicting the whole "aggressive D" thing cause it appears your thinking we will be giving up a lot more passing yards because the other team will be in catch up mode. Why would we give up significantly more passing yards unless we're playing more prevent? I'm thinking that a more aggressive D, creating more sacks, will decrease the yards we give up. Except in !&#^$%@ time. (X gets really upset if you say garbage time :ahight: )

Your point about our offense not being able to take advantage of a lead is a good one though. I think the key will be our play calling. We need Schotty to step up to the plate (if I can mix my metaphors) and regularly call plays that take advantage of our new weapons.

We're pretty much on the same page with our views on this and just differ in degree. If you're right about us having an aggressive D, then the sack record could be in reach.

Yeah - I think we are mostly on the same page.

I don't recall us giving a much bigger cushion when we got the lead but that cushion drove us all to distraction many times. Wish you were in the chat room for some of those plays. :grr:

I definitely want to see our D play aggressive. I just think that we are better off if we can get most of the sacks and pressure by bringing four with the occasional blitzer. And there may be times where we send the house several plays in a row. That's fine too but I just don't think it's sustainable for the whole game.

My point about being middle of the pack in passing yards allowed is that if a team is being forced to pass, that generally means you have a decent lead. The odds are that if a team has to throw 50 times, they are going to pick up some yards on several of those plays. It doesn't take a whole lot of yards passing per game to go from #1 to #15 in terms of yards allowed.

So even though our pass D would show up on stat sheets as middle of the road in yardage, they would also likely have more shots at the QB, our DBs would have more opportunities at making plays on desperation passes, AND the entire D would be playing at their most aggressive because we have made the other team's offense one dimensional.

Just one other note: I think TJ is very under rated by many when it comes to pass coverage. I guess we'll see but my view is that he is an upgrade at safety (FS or SS) from day one. Maybe a tad bit myopic? :mrgreen:

Cheers man.

Have to agree with you re: McDonald being underrated in coverage. For a variety of reasons, he will be better there than many expected.

His combo of height (6'4" in shoes), speed and lift (40 inch vertical) will make it very tough for players like Larry Fitzgerald to go up deep when he's in deep pass support. This will be an asset.

And he showed a nice ability to cover slot WRs when asked too at USC. He did play quite a bit of SS, though, and there are other reasons (without detailing) that suggest he will do will in pass coverage.

 

[ShaneG]

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football ... 07ac8.html
"For anyone doubting McDonald’s coverage skills, Fisher says turn on tape of him against Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert (who was a first-round draft pick).

“He’s one of those guys that has the cover skills,” Fisher said. “He sees things. He anticipates. ... He gets the game. He plays the position well.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Get" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Get</a> ... class.html
WEAKNESSES - Despite having the size and athleticism of an elite prospect, McDonald does not produce like one. Right now he is a much better athlete than football player and needs to improve his production if he wants to start in the NFL. While he flashes quickness coming up quickly in run support, he does not do it consistently and goes through stretches where he seems content to sit back and allow his teammates to make the tackle. Like many defensive players, McDonald loves making the "blow up" hit and it leads to him launching himself to try and make big hit too often and ends up missing tackles he should make. Additionally, when he is not going for the big hit he tends to become an upright, grab tackler. For a player with his experience, it is surprising that he does not read and react consistently in coverage and if often a beat late reacting to sideline and deep passes. He is much more effective going forward in pass coverage than he is in deep coverage and has not shown the skills to come down and be effective covering slot receivers at the next level.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/play" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/play</a> ... j-mcdonald
Weaknesses: Long, lanky build that makes him a step slow in transitioning. Has to gather himself out of his cuts, giving receivers room to gain separation. Seemed confused in Kiffin's scheme. Too often drifted out of position by attempting to read the quarterback's eyes, leaving huge gaps in the secondary for the high-octane passing attacks in the Pac-12 to exploit.

Had a generally underwhelming performance throughout the week of practice at the Senior Bowl and could be losing momentum as the draft approaches. Underwent surgery to his ankle (undisclosed) following 2010 spring.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/t.j.-mcdonald?id=2539309" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/ ... id=2539309</a>
WEAKNESSES Will be pegged as a pure in-the-box safety. Protected in coverage by being used extensively as a Robber his senior season. Linear, high-cut player who is tall in his back pedals. Displays stiff hips, average change-of-direction ability and burst. His height and average short-area quickness become an issue when trying to break down quickly to make tackles in space, can be eluded in the open field by quicker receivers and running backs. Also lacks flexibility to turn-and-run with better receivers and tight ends. Does not have the range to get to the sideline, even sometimes to the hash, in single-high looks. Stares into the backfield, gets frozen and fooled by play action, loses receivers behind him, and takes time to recover after a false step.

What I find very troublesome about him is his hips. I'm not sure how you can coach hips. He doesn't seem to have very many strong supporters among the "experts" but if you've seen him play and are impressed then that gives me some optimism.

Reggie will be stretching the heck out of those hips

 

[ShaneG]

Yeah, T.J. is an intriguing pick. Lots of people scratched their heads on that one, but if Fisher (as a former safety) sees something in him, then I'll have to afford him the benefit of the doubt. I watched a little bit of video on him, and he does have stiff hips. Change of direction isn't real fluid, and that *can* actually be improved upon with NFL conditioning coaches. Technique coaching and flexibility training can do wonders for that *stiffness*. He looks instinctive to me (again with what little I've seen) and he can deliver quite the shot at times too. I see a few turnovers where the ball pops out like a champagne cork if T.J. gets a good angle and good timing on his hits.

Every prospect has *weaknesses* in his write-ups too. Every. Single. One. I wouldn't worry about much of that unless they're red flags associated with intelligence or work ethic. Everything else can be improved upon, provided the player has the dedication and desire to improve.

Agreed

 

[ShaneG]

X enlightening me about trainable hips:
Yeah, T.J. is an intriguing pick. Lots of people scratched their heads on that one, but if Fisher (as a former safety) sees something in him, then I'll have to afford him the benefit of the doubt. I watched a little bit of video on him, and he does have stiff hips. Change of direction isn't real fluid, and that *can* actually be improved upon with NFL conditioning coaches. Technique coaching and flexibility training can do wonders for that *stiffness*. He looks instinctive to me (again with what little I've seen) and he can deliver quite the shot at times too. I see a few turnovers where the ball pops out like a champagne cork if T.J. gets a good angle and good timing on his hits.

Every prospect has *weaknesses* in his write-ups too. Every. Single. One. I wouldn't worry about much of that unless they're red flags associated with intelligence or work ethic. Everything else can be improved upon, provided the player has the dedication and desire to improve.

I really only worry about two weaknesses. Lack of football instincts and physical liabilities. Now that you've informed me that stiff hips can be mitigated by training I'll look at that as less of a red flag. Still, it's hard to believe that this guy could ever cover someone like Austin. Of course not many will be able to cover him but I see players like Vernon Davis eating his lunch. Or at least his dessert.

As an in the box safety he will probably more than cover for Mikell but having Stewart, who I think has similar skill set as McDonald, as our FS really worries me.

If it ends up being McDonald and Stewart (and I believe it will), they will be interchangeable and not so much FS/SS per se.

 

[ShaneG]

Pretty hard to say on TJ - eh Albe. I'm not sure where you are but we are out here in Pac 8, 10, 12, 16? country and he was talked about quite a bit for his coverage skills before last year when they changed his role. I just think that is what Fish really liked about him. He was good in coverage AND could lay the wood. By the accounts I saw his move wasn't because he was a coverage liability. So yeah... I'm kinda hoping that is the case.

That's was what I was reading much of why TJ was selected was not off his senior yr but the two seasons pryor to his rover/LB'er role in 2012. If you take notice of TJ now with the Rams vs the TJ seen in earlier this winter you will see a much slimmer version no longer pushing over 220 pounds but down near 205 or lower. This over 6-3 long armed safety is going to be placed in position to make plays & turnovers. TJ will also be working very hard to improve his range from sideline to sideline.

X enlightening me about trainable hips:
Yeah, T.J. is an intriguing pick. Lots of people scratched their heads on that one, but if Fisher (as a former safety) sees something in him, then I'll have to afford him the benefit of the doubt. I watched a little bit of video on him, and he does have stiff hips. Change of direction isn't real fluid, and that *can* actually be improved upon with NFL conditioning coaches. Technique coaching and flexibility training can do wonders for that *stiffness*. He looks instinctive to me (again with what little I've seen) and he can deliver quite the shot at times too. I see a few turnovers where the ball pops out like a champagne cork if T.J. gets a good angle and good timing on his hits.

Every prospect has *weaknesses* in his write-ups too. Every. Single. One. I wouldn't worry about much of that unless they're red flags associated with intelligence or work ethic. Everything else can be improved upon, provided the player has the dedication and desire to improve.

I really only worry about two weaknesses. Lack of football instincts and physical liabilities. Now that you've informed me that stiff hips can be mitigated by training I'll look at that as less of a red flag. Still, it's hard to believe that this guy could ever cover someone like Austin. Of course not many will be able to cover him but I see players like Vernon Davis eating his lunch. Or at least his dessert.

As an in the box safety he will probably more than cover for Mikell but having Stewart, who I think has similar skill set as McDonald, as our FS really worries me.

I would say first that Fisher tried hard to address the secondary as best he could in the off season. The hiring of Tim Walton to go with Chuck Cecil was a power move IMO. When you release both your 2012 starting safeties you know Fisher wants vast improvement. This new DC with an excellent knowledge in developing young DB's. This safety area is UNDER DEVELOPMENT. WE do know a little bit that's turned up ...the Rams most experienced safety with 3 yrs of NFL experience well over a dozen starts ... Darian Stewart is #1 Strong Safety 5-11 215 pounds. Presently TJ McDonald is playing behind him with the #2's. I would also expect to see TJ getting some action @ deep free safety too. Last yrs surprise roster maker was UDFA Rodney McLeod 5-11 183 who played in all 16 games and saw some action @ FS early in 2012. He was starting next to Stewart. UDFA Cody Davis the 6-2 205 pounds was behind Rod.

If I stopped there with just those four safeties in 2013 when you look back @ last season where we had the real short and limited Mikell @ SS & another pure Strong Safety Dahl playing deep free safety absent any speed or range.....I'll take the two new guys as being a very good improvement materials for development. Fisher has gained 7 inches alone just in height & even more in arm & jumping ability in adding two safeties TJ & Cody into our secondary minus the shorter Mikell & Dahl. IMO Stewart is much better than Mikell. Rod may be green but he was our best gunner and has speed and will tackle you more than I can say about Dahl who was always late.

Fisher did not stop with those two safeties he also shifted last yrs 5th CB Quinton Porter to Free Safety. Two other UDFA's should also figure in some of this FS development are Don Unamba who is 6 ft 196 pounds and Cannon Smith who is bigger 6 ft 205. pounds. Another 2012 safety who returned this yr is Matthews Daniels 6-0 211 who is well known as a playmaker but from the strong safety post behind Stewart & TJ. Daniels has been slowed by two back to back knee surgeries.

Fisher had to replace two of his CB's from 2012 season ..so he was able to go find & sign three decent prospects...a real good sized Robert Steeples 6-2 190, a very fast quick solid Brandon McGee 5-11 193 and Drew Thomas. To go with Finnegan, Jenkins & Trumaine Johnson who was also seen playing some FS in OTA's.

Strong Safeties:
Darian Stewart
TJ McDonald
Matt Daniels
Free Safeties:
Rodney McLeod
Cody Davis
Quinton Porter
Don Unamba
Cannon Smith
CB's
Finnegan (Nickel)
Trumaine Johnson
JJ Jenkins
Robert Steeples
Drew Thomas
Brandon McGee (Nickel)

In conclusion I have very high hopes for this cadre of DB's over last years and very well pleased in what I have seen thus far! :ja:

Good point in that Rams adroitly addressed CB last year and (hopefully) have done same at S in 2013.

 

[albefree69]

ShaneG noted:

If it ends up being McDonald and Stewart (and I believe it will), they will be interchangeable and not so much FS/SS but per se.

Isn't playing FS center field at USC where McDonald had most of his difficulties? He was compared to the Maginot line when asked to be the last line of defense at USC. Of course that was only by me but still...I was under the impression that the scheme change he was forced to play in his senior year revolved around him taking on the duties of a FS. Maybe I read that wrong.

 

[LesBaker]

But they used higher draft picks to address CB last year and had a chance to select Jenkins. You don't get lucky like that every year.

Still, like you, I have faith that these guys know what they are getting and draft guys because they know they will produce. Can't hit on all of them and it looks like Pead may be a high pick miss.....but overall we don't have any reason to gnash our teeth.

In just two drafts this crew has torched what we have seen from any other group going back to DV and Armey. Wow how bad were Linehan and Martz.....

 

[ShaneG]

But they used higher draft picks to address CB last year and had a chance to select Jenkins. You don't get lucky like that every year.

Still, like you, I have faith that these guys know what they are getting and draft guys because they know they will produce. Can't hit on all of them and it looks like Pead may be a high pick miss.....but overall we don't have any reason to gnash our teeth.

In just two drafts this crew has torched what we have seen from any other group going back to DV and Armey. Wow how bad were Linehan and Martz.....

Yes, but I believe Stewart will be an upgrade over Dahl and McDonald was a pretty early pick (round 3) while Trumaine Johnson was a late 2nd.. not a big difference there in terms of where selected.

Like you said, you can't hit each and every year, though. But I have like McDonald for a long time and I think he will be a strong addition and a physical presence.

 

[albefree69]

ShaneG predicted:
But I have like McDonald for a long time and I think he will be a strong addition and a physical presence.

The physical presence is an area where I do think we've upgraded significantly. Lets face it, despite all our talk in this thread about our safety group being able to handle pass D, our ability to stop the run was also an area of great concern. I thnk McD, along with Ogletree, will be a big help there. Better run D will also help the pass D IMO.

 

[RamFan503]

ShaneG noted:

If it ends up being McDonald and Stewart (and I believe it will), they will be interchangeable and not so much FS/SS but per se.

Isn't playing FS center field at USC where McDonald had most of his difficulties? He was compared to the Maginot line when asked to be the last line of defense at USC. Of course that was only by me but still...I was under the impression that the scheme change he was forced to play in his senior year revolved around him taking on the duties of a FS. Maybe I read that wrong.

My understanding was it was just the opposite. He was asked to play somewhat of a hybrid position that put him up more in the box and at times in place of a LB. I could also be wrong but I remember Fish talking about his coverage skills on pass catching TEs and the slot and that he was asked to cover them as well as be in position to defend the spread offense of the likes of Oregon (a mostly run based spread).

 

[albefree69]

RamFan503 responded:

My understanding was it was just the opposite. He was asked to play somewhat of a hybrid position that put him up more in the box and at times in place of a LB. I could also be wrong but I remember Fish talking about his coverage skills on pass catching TEs and the slot and that he was asked to cover them as well as be in position to defend the spread offense of the likes of Oregon (a mostly run based spread).

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football</a> ... 07ac8.html
"For anyone doubting McDonald’s coverage skills, Fisher says turn on tape of him against Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert (who was a first-round draft pick).

“He’s one of those guys that has the cover skills,” Fisher said. “He sees things. He anticipates. ... He gets the game. He plays the position well.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/t.j.-mcdonald?id=2539309" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/ ... id=2539309</a>
McDonald moved into more of a hybrid linebacker/safety role for USC, setting a career high in tackles (112) and tackles for loss (6.5).

Those two quotes seem to reflect your thoughts about this. But I read a different review on him that talked about him frequently letting WRs get by him when he was supposed to be the last line of defense. I posted that review of him at The Rams Huddle and I'm too lazy to try and find it.

So lacking any data to prove my my contention I'll just concede this point for now and move to the dark side (that's you BTW :neener: )

 

[RamFan503]

RamFan503 responded:

My understanding was it was just the opposite. He was asked to play somewhat of a hybrid position that put him up more in the box and at times in place of a LB. I could also be wrong but I remember Fish talking about his coverage skills on pass catching TEs and the slot and that he was asked to cover them as well as be in position to defend the spread offense of the likes of Oregon (a mostly run based spread).

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football</a> ... 07ac8.html
"For anyone doubting McDonald’s coverage skills, Fisher says turn on tape of him against Notre Dame tight end Tyler Eifert (who was a first-round draft pick).

“He’s one of those guys that has the cover skills,” Fisher said. “He sees things. He anticipates. ... He gets the game. He plays the position well.”

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/t.j.-mcdonald?id=2539309" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nfl.com/draft/2013/profiles/ ... id=2539309</a>
McDonald moved into more of a hybrid linebacker/safety role for USC, setting a career high in tackles (112) and tackles for loss (6.5).

Those two quotes seem to reflect your thoughts about this. But I read a different review on him that talked about him frequently letting WRs get by him when he was supposed to be the last line of defense. I posted that review of him at The Rams Huddle and I'm too lazy to try and find it.

So lacking any data to prove my my contention I'll just concede this point for now and move to the dark side (that's you BTW :neener: )

Yeah - I get yuh. But think about it. How lazy do we know most media tards to be? I doubt they really looked at the system and how he was used before his last year in college. I'm thinnin' Fish/Snead are a bit less on the lazy side.

 

[albefree69]

RamFan503 attempting to ground me in reality:

Yeah - I get yuh. But think about it. How lazy do we know most media tards to be? I doubt they really looked at the system and how he was used before his last year in college. I'm thinnin' Fish/Snead are a bit less on the lazy side.

So are you seriously trying to say that Snisher knows more about these players than I do? :zomg1:

You're really trying to cut down on my posts aren't you? :doink:

:lol:

 

[Yamahopper]

Geez that would be something.

What could make this happen is the Rams offense getting a decent but not overwhelming lead in the 1st half the letting the dogs out rest of the game.

 

[ShaneG]

Geez that would be something.

What could make this happen is the Rams offense getting a decent but not overwhelming lead in the 1st half the letting the dogs out rest of the game.

Yes indeed.. that helped the 99 D a lot, for one.