Your Biggest Surprise of the Rams So Far?

[mr.stlouis]

There is quite a bit to pick from, really. I'm loving what I'm seeing from Bradford, Cook, Quinn, and Austin getting a couple TD's early in his career. But to be honest, I pretty much expected it from those guys. I can hardly say it surprised me. Sadly, my biggest surprises are coming from the negatives department. It's hard for me to pick just 1 but I will. It's a toss up between our pass defense and our conservative offensive play calling. This is a hard pick but I'm gonna say...

Our offensive playcalling is my biggest surprise. Wasn't we suppose to see an aggressive, fast paced, offense that keeps the defense off balance? Ugh... very surprising. Our Rams have only done it when their backs were up against the wall and the substitute has been much less than impressive. None the less, our offense is averaging around 25 points through two contests. Maybe we should harp on the defense more because 24 points or more should be enough points to beat most any opponent. I just hope the coaching staff hammers the throttle down by week 8. Im holding onto hope that they are just being cautious of all our young talent and new comers. By week 8, they should feel very confident in letting go of the reigns. This could also be said for the defense. With that being said, let's beat dem' Cowboys!!

 

[DR RAM]

The soft defense. I thought we'd blitz more, and press cover.

 

[iced]

Quick... i expected him to be starting...

Finnegan...just wow..

Austin has been a pleasant surprise, virtually impossible to cover in short distances ..


Quinn has been a great one...the corners are the other hand, especially playing 8 yards LOS

 

[BonifayRam]

!!

I'll stay on the positive side here & of course its the pass blocking from this OFFENSIVE LINE.

Chris Williams has done something he has not done since coming into the NFL in 2008 ....win a starting position. Chris has settled in well between Wells & Long. Having a OLT & OLG both standing 6-7 320 & 6-6 320 on that left side has finally produced a solid wall from which Sam can depend on! hate to here that he is experiencing foot injury issues that has came into play this past week. Reserve Shelley Smith is not as good @ Chris is @ pass blocking.

On top of that Swing OT has filled in well for two weeks in a row now @ ORT while he is no Rodger Saffold he is young large 6-4 @ 330 pounder who does well in run blocking and seems to be improving slowly in his pass blocking.

 

[Stranger]

The soft defense. I thought we'd blitz more, and press cover.

agree

 

[-X-]

I'm not really surprised, but I am pleased with the progress of Bradford. He looks like he's got it under control, and I think by season's end, he'll be one of the more talked about QBs. I also like how he and his offensive line are working together to drastically reduce the sacks. It's good to see.

The run defense is a real big surprise. Man is it stout now.

 

[bluecoconuts]

I'm not really surprised, but I am pleased with the progress of Bradford. He looks like he's got it under control, and I think by season's end, he'll be one of the more talked about QBs. I also like how he and his offensive line are working together to drastically reduce the sacks. It's good to see.

The run defense is a real big surprise. Man is it stout now.

I did a stats survey with a bunch of guys who constantly say Bradford sucks, and all but two of them ranked him #1 when comparing (without names) to RG3, Luck, Newton, Tannehill, Wilson, and Kaepernick. In fact when they rank them they always put Wilson and Kaepernick as top 10 guys but without names they were last.

Of course when they found out who was who they called Bradford a bust. I proved my point already though.

 

[RamsSince1969]

That X is now a proud grandpa! Congrats again.

 

[HometownBoy]

Biggest positive surprise? Gotta say the O-line, it was still a little shaky last year, so I figured they'd get off to a bumpy start like they did last year, but bringing in Long really solidified this line. Bradford's spent more time upright and it's really paying off.

Biggest negative one? The secondary, I guess we did get rid of a lot of experience and knowledge in the back field, but goodness I didn't expect them to fall off as much as they did. Finnegan has regressed in a way nobody could have expected, Tru is obviously still learning, McDonald and McLeod are making rookie mistakes that really hurt right now and Jenkins can only do so much. I hope the more games go on the more this'll go to the wayside.

 

[RamzFanz]

Good:

O line. All wide receivers and TEs. Bradford. Richardson. D line. Jenkins.

Bad:

Coaching. Punt return blocking.

 

[Sum1]

Sadly, the things I'm surprised with are negatives.

Surprised the defense hasn't been more stout. Surprised Austin isn't making more plays in space. Surprised at how often Finnegan is getting beat.

 

[fearsomefour]

!!

I'll stay on the positive side here & of course its the pass blocking from this OFFENSIVE LINE.

Chris Williams has done something he has not done since coming into the NFL in 2008 ....win a starting position. Chris has settled in well between Wells & Long. Having a OLT & OLG both standing 6-7 320 & 6-6 320 on that left side has finally produced a solid wall from which Sam can depend on! hate to here that he is experiencing foot injury issues that has came into play this past week. Reserve Shelley Smith is not as good @ Chris is @ pass blocking.

On top of that Swing OT has filled in well for two weeks in a row now @ ORT while he is no Rodger Saffold he is young large 6-4 @ 330 pounder who does well in run blocking and seems to be improving slowly in his pass blocking.

That left side of the line will be the power run side if all three stay healthy.

One thing I noticed watching Williams pass blocking is if he gets his hands on the guy it is over. He seems to have settled in nicely so far.

 

[Rambitious1]

The soft defense. I thought we'd blitz more, and press cover.

agree

+2

 

[ramfaninfla]

surprised the rams are not going into the "hurry up" more in the 1st half of games. I'm not saying always start with it. I would like to see them sprinkle it in there more during the game. Quinn has also been a pleasant surprise.. 4 sacks 2 forced fumbles...:bg:

 

[Zaphod]

Finnegan I never liked all that much, but I am surprised that his play dropped off as much as it has.

We need to get some safties we can trust so that our corners can play closer to the line, I have to admit that I'm pretty shocked about our pass defense this year.

The biggest positive surprise for me? That Tavon Austin has been integrated as quickly as he has. I was originally so against trading up, but this kid really shows a level of maturity that I just did not expect.

 

[BonifayRam]

That left side of the line will be the power run side if all three stay healthy.

One thing I noticed watching Williams pass blocking is if he gets his hands on the guy it is over. He seems to have settled in nicely so far.

Yes looks like Boudreau found what the 27 yr old ex OT Chris Williams can do well & put him in the best of the five OL positions that he can do it at. Similar to what he did with the 27 yrs old Harvey Dahl back in 2008, who like Chris Williams just could not find a home playing OT when Boudreau had an opening @ ORG in Atlanta he just inserted the 6-6 308 pounder Dahl into the ORG post & never looked back. I sure hope that the 6-6 Chris has the same luck as Harvey has had. Sure hate to hear that Chris is injured & hobbled now after seemingly finding his grove @ OLG. Chris has been a very big surprise to me!

 

[Thordaddy]

Most things that have happened good were expected, but I never expected us to have gone through two games and Sam not get sacked once.
FWIW HE has something to do with that,I think he's acquired a pretty damned good internal clock and knows when to say when,and I also think o-linemen like playing for a guy like that.

 

[Angry Ram]

Negative:
Horrible starting field position on nearly every drive.

Leading to monotonous playcalling where every play seems to be the same. Let's get some quick outs, slants, quick bubble screens, yes?

Complete lack of running game and bad run blocking. Shouldn't that be the easier of the two vs. pass pro?

Isaiah Pead. Really beginning to wonder if the Rams should just cut their losses. If he doesn't show anything soon (by which I mean Dallas) he's really on thin ice.

Cortland Finnegan and Janoris Jenkins. Yeeesh.

Not much Brian Quick. Let. Him. Play.

Mystery injury to Chris Long.

No defensive turnovers and stupid freaky/flukey pick 6s by Sam.

Postive:
51 points in 2 games. Granted most of them came in an attempt to overcome large deficts but it shows the potential of a high scoring offense is there.

Sam Bradford...great year so far.

Tavon Austin already has 2 TDs.

Pass pro...good job!

Robert Quinn...showing up week in and out. I've come to expect @ least 1 sack every game from him now.

Run defense is good but that's to be taken w/ a grain of salt: Playing average RBs and teams can pass easily.

 

[Graphicker]

Sam Bradfords mobility in the pocket and pocket awarness. He has dodged a good 3-4 sacks.

The Tackling from our Safeties. Those guys are so fun to watch.

The Oline. Our seperation from our WR's. Daryls catching ability.

Our Dline is flat out dominant. The soft coverage isn't doing them any favors sadly.

 

[The Rammer]

That Rodger scaffold is hurt