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Bonsignore: Trade of Greg Robinson illustrates a new way of thinking by the Rams
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 23 Replies
Trade of Greg Robinson illustrates a new way of thinking by the Rams
Guard Jamon Brown is a prime beneficiary of a new way of thinking on the part of the new Rams coaching staff. (Photo by David Crane/Southern California News Group)
By VINCENT BONSIGNORE
The writing was on the wall well before the Rams traded Greg Robinson to the Detroit Lions early Thursday morning for a sixth-round draft pick.
So we won’t give them too much credit for acting decisively and wisely in completing the trade, which puts to rest the inglorious three-year Rams career of a player of whom so much was expected after he was selected second overall in the 2014 draft and yet so little was delivered.
The former Auburn star was supposed to lock down the left tackle position for the Rams for the next decade and anchor a young, dominant offensive line.
But it didn’t take long to figure out Robinson simply wasn’t up to the task. And it took even less time for him to play his way out of the Rams’ present and future.
He was billed as a dominant run-blocker with the athletic ability and size to develop into a premier pass-rush protector. The former was never the case and the later never materialized. The fact the Rams could get a draft pick for him given all his underachieving is a coup, not that a sixth-round pick will ever make up for the major swing and miss they took drafting him.
All the more egregious given how current All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack was there for the taking at the time.
But what’s done is done.
In the bigger scheme of things, the Robinson trade, the domino effect that preceded it and the thought process and imagination behind it bodes well for the club moving forward.
There is a different vibe with these Rams under new coach Sean McVay, one that reaches above him into the general manager’s office, below him to his assistants and around him with the players.
“Aggressive,” is how Jamon Brown explained it from the player’s side.
Brown is the main beneficiary of the Robinson trade given the wide open path it clears for him to win the starting right tackle job. But he’s also a prime example of the new, aggressive approach from the Rams.
Although Brown played tackle in college at Louisville, he’s strictly been a guard in his first two seasons with the Rams. And he fully expected to continue that role this year. That is, until new Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer decided to give Brown some reps at right tackle during an Organized Team Activity practice last month.
“It was like, literally right there on the practice field,” Brown remembers, laughing. “Like, hey, take some reps at right tackle.”
To call it a whim would be underestimating Kromer and McVay. They knew Brown’s history as a tackle and had a pretty good idea he could at least provide average play at the position if given a chance. But there was some method to the madness in how Kroemer approached Brown about the possibility.
As in, right in the middle of a practice without any heads up.
“It’s OK to make guys uncomfortable sometimes this time of year,” Kromer explained.
And even more beneficial to see how they respond.
Brown immediately took to the position and was a mainstay with the first team the rest of OTA’s and minicamp, which concluded Wednesday when McVay canceled the final practice as a reward for a job well done this offseason.
“My thought process was just to show them I could be versatile, that I could play any position,” Brown said, “I knew new players were being brought in. Guys were being shuffled around. So I just wanted to make as positive an impression as possible.”
That’s exactly what happened, apparently.
“I guess coach was pleased,” Brown said, smiling.
That doesn’t mean Brown is guaranteed to be the starting right tackle when the Rams open the season against the Indianapolis Colts the first week of September. Or that Kroemer and McVay won’t ultimately decide to flip Rob Havenstein back to right tackle from right guard after making the switch from tackle to guard to start OTAs.
But with the left side of the line now solidified with two-time All-Pro tackle Andrew Whitworth coming over in free agency and Rodger Saffold at left guard, the Rams can now focus on getting the right side figured out.
“We’re still trying to sort all that out,” Kroemer said.
But even that speaks well to the new Rams’ way of doing things under McVay, which seems much more progressive, imaginative and inclusive compared to previous coach Jeff Fisher.
The willingness to remain open-minded about positions and roles rather than locking themselves into one way of looking at things is a refreshing change.
Just moving Havenstein to guard illustrates that. One look at the 6-foot-6, 322-pound Havenstein and you immediately think tackle given the height and size.
From McVay and Kromer’s vantage point, though, they saw a better athlete than others may have seen — which enables him to get on defenders quicker than most would have suspected — plus a bright mind to handle the intricacies of the position.
“I think he’s kind of one of the rare exceptions where he’s such a sharp guy, things do happen a little bit faster inside and he’s got better athleticism,” McVay said.
And it didn’t hurt that Havenstein had to clean up a bit before taking a stroll to the altar a few months ago, resulting in a bit of a body transformation any groom would be envious of.
“We always joke with him because he lost a little bit of weight because he got married this offseason,” McVay said. “So, he had to look good for that.”
Point being, McVay and his staff saw something in Havenstein others may have closed their minds to, whether it was because he didn’t fit the prototype or look the part or out of sheer stubbornness.
More importantly, they had the guts to act on their instincts and at least give it a shot, making no promises in the process while reminding players this remains a fluid situation.
“You have to be ready for anything,” Brown said. “ Nothing’s set in stone right now, given how far out we are from the actual season.”
As for Robinson, his time with the club was being measured in months almost from the moment McVay was hired and he and the Rams locked in on and ultimately reeled in Whitworth in free agency.
Whitworth coming aboard immediately displaced Robinson and sent him over to right tackle on essentially a tryout basis.
But given the Rams’ decision to decline Robinson’s fifth-year option for 2018, he would have needed a breakthrough year to put himself back on their long-range radar. And even that would not have guaranteed any sort of future with the team beyond this season.
If, say, Robinson actually held onto the starting job he could have been looking at the kind of $8 million or $11 million dollar deals fellow top-two pick tackles — and disappointments — Matt Kalil and Luke Joeckel got from the Panthers and Seahawks after fizzling out with the Vikings and Jaguars.
There is little chance the Rams would have ever paid him that kind of money, especially given the direction their cap is headed and the big-time players currently up for new contracts and raises.
Brown has a cap-friendly $800,000 contract for 2018, so if he can lock down the job he becomes an asset on the field and on the payroll.
Meanwhile, the Rams get a draft pick and $3.2 million in cap relief this year.
It’s not much, but it’s something.
And in the grand scheme of things, it speaks to a new way of doing things under McVay.
[www.ocregister.com]
Guard Jamon Brown is a prime beneficiary of a new way of thinking on the part of the new Rams coaching staff. (Photo by David Crane/Southern California News Group)
By VINCENT BONSIGNORE
The writing was on the wall well before the Rams traded Greg Robinson to the Detroit Lions early Thursday morning for a sixth-round draft pick.
So we won’t give them too much credit for acting decisively and wisely in completing the trade, which puts to rest the inglorious three-year Rams career of a player of whom so much was expected after he was selected second overall in the 2014 draft and yet so little was delivered.
The former Auburn star was supposed to lock down the left tackle position for the Rams for the next decade and anchor a young, dominant offensive line.
But it didn’t take long to figure out Robinson simply wasn’t up to the task. And it took even less time for him to play his way out of the Rams’ present and future.
He was billed as a dominant run-blocker with the athletic ability and size to develop into a premier pass-rush protector. The former was never the case and the later never materialized. The fact the Rams could get a draft pick for him given all his underachieving is a coup, not that a sixth-round pick will ever make up for the major swing and miss they took drafting him.
All the more egregious given how current All-Pro linebacker Khalil Mack was there for the taking at the time.
But what’s done is done.
In the bigger scheme of things, the Robinson trade, the domino effect that preceded it and the thought process and imagination behind it bodes well for the club moving forward.
There is a different vibe with these Rams under new coach Sean McVay, one that reaches above him into the general manager’s office, below him to his assistants and around him with the players.
“Aggressive,” is how Jamon Brown explained it from the player’s side.
Brown is the main beneficiary of the Robinson trade given the wide open path it clears for him to win the starting right tackle job. But he’s also a prime example of the new, aggressive approach from the Rams.
Although Brown played tackle in college at Louisville, he’s strictly been a guard in his first two seasons with the Rams. And he fully expected to continue that role this year. That is, until new Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer decided to give Brown some reps at right tackle during an Organized Team Activity practice last month.
“It was like, literally right there on the practice field,” Brown remembers, laughing. “Like, hey, take some reps at right tackle.”
To call it a whim would be underestimating Kromer and McVay. They knew Brown’s history as a tackle and had a pretty good idea he could at least provide average play at the position if given a chance. But there was some method to the madness in how Kroemer approached Brown about the possibility.
As in, right in the middle of a practice without any heads up.
“It’s OK to make guys uncomfortable sometimes this time of year,” Kromer explained.
And even more beneficial to see how they respond.
Brown immediately took to the position and was a mainstay with the first team the rest of OTA’s and minicamp, which concluded Wednesday when McVay canceled the final practice as a reward for a job well done this offseason.
“My thought process was just to show them I could be versatile, that I could play any position,” Brown said, “I knew new players were being brought in. Guys were being shuffled around. So I just wanted to make as positive an impression as possible.”
That’s exactly what happened, apparently.
“I guess coach was pleased,” Brown said, smiling.
That doesn’t mean Brown is guaranteed to be the starting right tackle when the Rams open the season against the Indianapolis Colts the first week of September. Or that Kroemer and McVay won’t ultimately decide to flip Rob Havenstein back to right tackle from right guard after making the switch from tackle to guard to start OTAs.
But with the left side of the line now solidified with two-time All-Pro tackle Andrew Whitworth coming over in free agency and Rodger Saffold at left guard, the Rams can now focus on getting the right side figured out.
“We’re still trying to sort all that out,” Kroemer said.
But even that speaks well to the new Rams’ way of doing things under McVay, which seems much more progressive, imaginative and inclusive compared to previous coach Jeff Fisher.
The willingness to remain open-minded about positions and roles rather than locking themselves into one way of looking at things is a refreshing change.
Just moving Havenstein to guard illustrates that. One look at the 6-foot-6, 322-pound Havenstein and you immediately think tackle given the height and size.
From McVay and Kromer’s vantage point, though, they saw a better athlete than others may have seen — which enables him to get on defenders quicker than most would have suspected — plus a bright mind to handle the intricacies of the position.
“I think he’s kind of one of the rare exceptions where he’s such a sharp guy, things do happen a little bit faster inside and he’s got better athleticism,” McVay said.
And it didn’t hurt that Havenstein had to clean up a bit before taking a stroll to the altar a few months ago, resulting in a bit of a body transformation any groom would be envious of.
“We always joke with him because he lost a little bit of weight because he got married this offseason,” McVay said. “So, he had to look good for that.”
Point being, McVay and his staff saw something in Havenstein others may have closed their minds to, whether it was because he didn’t fit the prototype or look the part or out of sheer stubbornness.
More importantly, they had the guts to act on their instincts and at least give it a shot, making no promises in the process while reminding players this remains a fluid situation.
“You have to be ready for anything,” Brown said. “ Nothing’s set in stone right now, given how far out we are from the actual season.”
As for Robinson, his time with the club was being measured in months almost from the moment McVay was hired and he and the Rams locked in on and ultimately reeled in Whitworth in free agency.
Whitworth coming aboard immediately displaced Robinson and sent him over to right tackle on essentially a tryout basis.
But given the Rams’ decision to decline Robinson’s fifth-year option for 2018, he would have needed a breakthrough year to put himself back on their long-range radar. And even that would not have guaranteed any sort of future with the team beyond this season.
If, say, Robinson actually held onto the starting job he could have been looking at the kind of $8 million or $11 million dollar deals fellow top-two pick tackles — and disappointments — Matt Kalil and Luke Joeckel got from the Panthers and Seahawks after fizzling out with the Vikings and Jaguars.
There is little chance the Rams would have ever paid him that kind of money, especially given the direction their cap is headed and the big-time players currently up for new contracts and raises.
Brown has a cap-friendly $800,000 contract for 2018, so if he can lock down the job he becomes an asset on the field and on the payroll.
Meanwhile, the Rams get a draft pick and $3.2 million in cap relief this year.
It’s not much, but it’s something.
And in the grand scheme of things, it speaks to a new way of doing things under McVay.
[www.ocregister.com]
Rams Add Two Offensive Linemen After Minicamp
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 16 Replies
Rams Add Two Offensive Linemen After Minicamp
Posted 1 hour ago
Nate BainDigital Media Manager@natebain
The Los Angeles Rams signed two undrafted free agents on Thursday following the trade of OL Greg Robinson.
The team now sits at the roster max of 90 players with the addition of offensive linemen Michael Dunn and Alex Kozan.
Los Angeles also waived QB Dylan Thompson.
Players Signed:
Michael Dunn - OL - Maryland
Alex Kozan - OL - Auburn
Players Traded:
Greg Robinson - OL - Auburn
Players Waived:
Dylan Thompson - QB - South Carolina
The Rams are on a break until training camp kicks off on Saturday, July 29 at UC Irvine.
[
Posted 1 hour ago
Nate BainDigital Media Manager@natebain
The Los Angeles Rams signed two undrafted free agents on Thursday following the trade of OL Greg Robinson.
The team now sits at the roster max of 90 players with the addition of offensive linemen Michael Dunn and Alex Kozan.
Los Angeles also waived QB Dylan Thompson.
Players Signed:
Michael Dunn - OL - Maryland
Alex Kozan - OL - Auburn
Players Traded:
Greg Robinson - OL - Auburn
Players Waived:
Dylan Thompson - QB - South Carolina
The Rams are on a break until training camp kicks off on Saturday, July 29 at UC Irvine.
[
Simmons: Brown to Open Training Camp as Starting RT
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 67 Replies
Brown to Open Training Camp as Starting RT
By Myles Simmons
The Rams made a significant trade on Wednesday morning, sending offensive lineman Greg Robinson to the Lions for an undisclosed draft pick.
While the move will give Robinson a fresh start in the NFC North, it also has consequences for Los Angeles’ offensive line. Jamon Brown has been taking snaps at first-team right tackle since the second week of OTAs, and on Thursday head coach Sean McVay said he will open training camp as the starter.
“Jamon has done some really good things. Right now, he will be the guy that will be the tackle when we go out there, but by no means is our starting lineup set in stone,” McVay said. “We’re going to continue to evaluate these guys and try to put them in situations that are competitive, where you really, truly evaluate what goes on in games. And then the preseason is going to be a great tool for us as well.”
One reason the Rams felt comfortable making the move to trade Robinson is the depth the club feels it has along the line with Andrew Donnal
and Pace Murphy, in addition to Brown.
“You have Jamon’s development and some of those other guys at the tackle position that enable you to move a player like Greg and feel good about it, because of what he has done and put on tape,” McVay said. “It was more of a credit to those others guys than anything that Greg didn’t show us.”
According to McVay, Los Angeles’ deal to send Robinson to Detroit developed rapidly over the last few days. With Lions left tackle Taylor Decker undergoing shoulder surgery that will keep him sidelined for a significant portion of the season, Detroit had an immediate need at the position.
“It was something where a couple other teams had expressed some interest,” McVay said. “Fortunately we were able to get a thing done that we felt was good for both Detroit and the Rams.”
Plus Robinson himself. McVay referenced Robinson telling Detroit media that having a fresh start is “refreshing” and that he plans to make the most out of it. The timing of the trade also benefits both Robinson and the Rams, as it gives the parties a chance to make necessary adjustments over the NFL’s summer break.
“I think it allows Greg to be able to have a fresh start, knowing where he’s going to be, especially when you have a bit of a break,” McVay said. “Then it also gives us a chance to figure out what you want to do to make sure you get your numbers, where now you lose a lineman and you want to make sure you have the appropriate numbers going into training camp with your 90[-man roster] and how you want to shape that — based on the evaluation of the guys we do have in-house right now.”
For now, the two on the right side are Brown and Rob Havenstein. It’s a familiar pairing, though they’re in different spots than they were when drafted in 2015. According to McVay, the plan is to keep Brown at tackle and Havenstein at guard.
“He did a nice job of adjusting inside, so I think that’s what we’re going to do moving forward,” McVay said of Havenstein. “It wasn’t exactly how you project and anticipate moving forward. You’ve got to be able to adjust. I think, to Rob’s credit, his ability to be able to transition to that spot inside is a credit to his approach from an above-the-neck standpoint, with how smart and instinctual he is.
“What you do feel good about is, if for whatever reason something were to happen to Jamon at that tackle spot, you have a guy that is playing the guard position who has also played good ball at the right-tackle spot,” McVay continued. “And it’s hard to find those types of guys.”
[www.therams.com]
By Myles Simmons
The Rams made a significant trade on Wednesday morning, sending offensive lineman Greg Robinson to the Lions for an undisclosed draft pick.
While the move will give Robinson a fresh start in the NFC North, it also has consequences for Los Angeles’ offensive line. Jamon Brown has been taking snaps at first-team right tackle since the second week of OTAs, and on Thursday head coach Sean McVay said he will open training camp as the starter.
“Jamon has done some really good things. Right now, he will be the guy that will be the tackle when we go out there, but by no means is our starting lineup set in stone,” McVay said. “We’re going to continue to evaluate these guys and try to put them in situations that are competitive, where you really, truly evaluate what goes on in games. And then the preseason is going to be a great tool for us as well.”
One reason the Rams felt comfortable making the move to trade Robinson is the depth the club feels it has along the line with Andrew Donnal
and Pace Murphy, in addition to Brown.“You have Jamon’s development and some of those other guys at the tackle position that enable you to move a player like Greg and feel good about it, because of what he has done and put on tape,” McVay said. “It was more of a credit to those others guys than anything that Greg didn’t show us.”
According to McVay, Los Angeles’ deal to send Robinson to Detroit developed rapidly over the last few days. With Lions left tackle Taylor Decker undergoing shoulder surgery that will keep him sidelined for a significant portion of the season, Detroit had an immediate need at the position.
“It was something where a couple other teams had expressed some interest,” McVay said. “Fortunately we were able to get a thing done that we felt was good for both Detroit and the Rams.”
Plus Robinson himself. McVay referenced Robinson telling Detroit media that having a fresh start is “refreshing” and that he plans to make the most out of it. The timing of the trade also benefits both Robinson and the Rams, as it gives the parties a chance to make necessary adjustments over the NFL’s summer break.
“I think it allows Greg to be able to have a fresh start, knowing where he’s going to be, especially when you have a bit of a break,” McVay said. “Then it also gives us a chance to figure out what you want to do to make sure you get your numbers, where now you lose a lineman and you want to make sure you have the appropriate numbers going into training camp with your 90[-man roster] and how you want to shape that — based on the evaluation of the guys we do have in-house right now.”
For now, the two on the right side are Brown and Rob Havenstein
. It’s a familiar pairing, though they’re in different spots than they were when drafted in 2015. According to McVay, the plan is to keep Brown at tackle and Havenstein at guard.“He did a nice job of adjusting inside, so I think that’s what we’re going to do moving forward,” McVay said of Havenstein. “It wasn’t exactly how you project and anticipate moving forward. You’ve got to be able to adjust. I think, to Rob’s credit, his ability to be able to transition to that spot inside is a credit to his approach from an above-the-neck standpoint, with how smart and instinctual he is.
“What you do feel good about is, if for whatever reason something were to happen to Jamon at that tackle spot, you have a guy that is playing the guard position who has also played good ball at the right-tackle spot,” McVay continued. “And it’s hard to find those types of guys.”
[www.therams.com]
Simmons: Goff Looking Comfortable, Confident in New Offense
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 0 Replies
Goff Looking Comfortable, Confident in New Offense
By Myles Simmons
The Rams made a number of organizational moves during the offseason to help develop young quarterback Jared Goff, from hiring Sean McVay as head coach to signing free agent left tackle Andrew Whitworth. And with the club’s offseason program coming to an end this week, Goff has shown signs that he can take a significant step forward in his second pro season.
Both coaches and players have extolled Goff for his leadership off the field, and the quarterback appears to be more comfortable and confident during practice.
“I think a lot of that has to do with the guys around me,” Goff said Tuesday. “I think we’ve done a good job offensively going from the install to on the field and being effective with it. I think that goes back to the coaches as well. Their ability to install and their ability to teach and coach us has been tremendous. It’s been a lot of fun learning with them and continuing to improve myself and the team as a whole.”
The ease of installing the playbook has been a common refrain from members of Los Angeles’ offense since McVay’s arrival. Players have said it comes from the way the coaches have been so detail oriented in their instruction and focus on learning day-by-day.
“I’ve enjoyed every day coming out here and learning with them,” Goff said. “All the way back from when we started meeting with them to now — it’s been awesome. I’ve had a really good time learning it. I think I’ve picked it up at a pretty good pace. I like where we’re at right now. Obviously, a lot of stuff to improve on, especially from today. But again, I like where we’re at.”
From offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur’s vantage point, Goff has done well in making daily strides throughout the offseason program.
“That’s been the biggest thing with him, is just get a little bit better each day, become a little more consistent on a daily basis,” LaFleur said.
“I think when you look at trying to find your identity and what you kind of want to hang your hat on within the framework of our offense, I think he’s picked some of those things up well,” McVay said. “Again, like we always talk about, it’s going to be something where we want to do a good job as coaches figuring out our players and then we’ll adjust the system accordingly.”
That’s particularly important for a signal-caller in McVay’s system, which the head coach often says is set up to make the quarterback’s job as easy as possible. To that end, McVay said Goff will have input into the way the offense functions just like any other player.
“If there’s something that he feels like is going to make it an easier way for all of the players to understand and call a concept, that’s something that we’re certainly flexible with,” McVay said. “We try to make sure that as coaches we’re creating verbiage that makes sense from a teaching standpoint, as opposed to just, ‘This is just because.’ You want to always make sure there’s a ‘why.’ I think that gives you a better chance to learn if you have that.”
Still, McVay can often be seen on the field during practice coaching up the quarterbacks to ensure plays are run to his liking. And that’s something Goff likes.
“I think he is tough at times, I think there’s other times where he knows how to handle a situation, but I’ve been very happy with the way that he’s coached me,” Goff said. “I want him to be hard on me. I think I need it. I think that’s how I get better and continue to stay sharp.”
And Goff has made strong throws throughout the offseason program, particularly over the last few weeks. His teammates have noticed the progress, particularly as it relates to year over year improvement.
“There’s a lot more communicating to the receivers when he sees something,” wideout Pharoh Cooper said. “Last year, we would kind of just go about it and try to fix it the next day or something. But if we mess something up, he’ll talk to you about it on the sideline now. We’ll say, ‘Jared, you saw what I saw?’ And we’ll go from there.”
With the Rams off until late July when training camp begins, Goff said he’ll be working out in Southern California to prepare for the season.
“I’ve got two things planned. I’m going to have a camp at my high school coming up here soon. I’m going to play golf in Tahoe in the middle of July and that’s about it,” Goff said. “Everything else will be down here training.”
That's training to produce quality results for 2017 and many seasons to come.
[www.therams.com]
By Myles Simmons
The Rams made a number of organizational moves during the offseason to help develop young quarterback Jared Goff, from hiring Sean McVay as head coach to signing free agent left tackle Andrew Whitworth. And with the club’s offseason program coming to an end this week, Goff has shown signs that he can take a significant step forward in his second pro season.
Both coaches and players have extolled Goff for his leadership off the field, and the quarterback appears to be more comfortable and confident during practice.
“I think a lot of that has to do with the guys around me,” Goff said Tuesday. “I think we’ve done a good job offensively going from the install to on the field and being effective with it. I think that goes back to the coaches as well. Their ability to install and their ability to teach and coach us has been tremendous. It’s been a lot of fun learning with them and continuing to improve myself and the team as a whole.”
The ease of installing the playbook has been a common refrain from members of Los Angeles’ offense since McVay’s arrival. Players have said it comes from the way the coaches have been so detail oriented in their instruction and focus on learning day-by-day.
“I’ve enjoyed every day coming out here and learning with them,” Goff said. “All the way back from when we started meeting with them to now — it’s been awesome. I’ve had a really good time learning it. I think I’ve picked it up at a pretty good pace. I like where we’re at right now. Obviously, a lot of stuff to improve on, especially from today. But again, I like where we’re at.”
From offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur’s vantage point, Goff has done well in making daily strides throughout the offseason program.
“That’s been the biggest thing with him, is just get a little bit better each day, become a little more consistent on a daily basis,” LaFleur said.
“I think when you look at trying to find your identity and what you kind of want to hang your hat on within the framework of our offense, I think he’s picked some of those things up well,” McVay said. “Again, like we always talk about, it’s going to be something where we want to do a good job as coaches figuring out our players and then we’ll adjust the system accordingly.”
That’s particularly important for a signal-caller in McVay’s system, which the head coach often says is set up to make the quarterback’s job as easy as possible. To that end, McVay said Goff will have input into the way the offense functions just like any other player.
“If there’s something that he feels like is going to make it an easier way for all of the players to understand and call a concept, that’s something that we’re certainly flexible with,” McVay said. “We try to make sure that as coaches we’re creating verbiage that makes sense from a teaching standpoint, as opposed to just, ‘This is just because.’ You want to always make sure there’s a ‘why.’ I think that gives you a better chance to learn if you have that.”
Still, McVay can often be seen on the field during practice coaching up the quarterbacks to ensure plays are run to his liking. And that’s something Goff likes.
“I think he is tough at times, I think there’s other times where he knows how to handle a situation, but I’ve been very happy with the way that he’s coached me,” Goff said. “I want him to be hard on me. I think I need it. I think that’s how I get better and continue to stay sharp.”
And Goff has made strong throws throughout the offseason program, particularly over the last few weeks. His teammates have noticed the progress, particularly as it relates to year over year improvement.
“There’s a lot more communicating to the receivers when he sees something,” wideout Pharoh Cooper
said. “Last year, we would kind of just go about it and try to fix it the next day or something. But if we mess something up, he’ll talk to you about it on the sideline now. We’ll say, ‘Jared, you saw what I saw?’ And we’ll go from there.”With the Rams off until late July when training camp begins, Goff said he’ll be working out in Southern California to prepare for the season.
“I’ve got two things planned. I’m going to have a camp at my high school coming up here soon. I’m going to play golf in Tahoe in the middle of July and that’s about it,” Goff said. “Everything else will be down here training.”
That's training to produce quality results for 2017 and many seasons to come.
[www.therams.com]
Caption this Photo: McVay & Phillips
- By Florida_Ram
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 21 Replies
"Wade, do you really expect me to believe that you weren't stealing our offensive hand signals during those 11 on 11 drills?" C'Mon man, 6 of 7 plays and my offense gets five total yards"
"I'm being as honest as a church nun Sean." My guys are just dialed in and they simply kicked your offenses ass fair and square today. Get used to it kid, I've been doing this for a long time"
"I'm being as honest as a church nun Sean." My guys are just dialed in and they simply kicked your offenses ass fair and square today. Get used to it kid, I've been doing this for a long time"
Mini Camp Day 1 Photos
- By DaveFan'51
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 5 Replies
Not a lot to show, but it's something!!!
The Big Guy is in the House!
New Special Lil Fans are present!
Looks Like Goff Had to run for it!
It would appear the Tree got his hands on one!
The O-Line isn't making it easy for the "D"!
But ..... When the going gets tough ...
... The tough get going!
Snead was around checking out the Talent he helped pick-up!
That sure looks like one Huge Helmet!!
But It's Beautiful!!
The Big Guy is in the House!
New Special Lil Fans are present!
Looks Like Goff Had to run for it!
It would appear the Tree got his hands on one!
The O-Line isn't making it easy for the "D"!
But ..... When the going gets tough ...
... The tough get going!
Snead was around checking out the Talent he helped pick-up!
That sure looks like one Huge Helmet!!
But It's Beautiful!!
Former Rams punter dies at 52
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 17 Replies
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/06/14/former-nfl-punter-rick-tuten-dies-at-52/
Former NFL punter Rick Tuten dies at 52
Posted by Michael David Smith on June 14, 2017
http://www.nolefan.org/football/tuten_rick.html
Rick Tuten, a punter who went to a Pro Bowl with the Seahawks and won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams, has died at the age of 52.
According to the Ocala Star Banner, Tuten died unexpectedly in Costa Rica. There is no information about his cause of death.
Tuten grew up in Florida and began his college football career at Miami, winning a national championship and even serving as a backup quarterback to Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde, although Tuten never played quarterback in a game. After two years at Miami, Tuten transferred to Florida State, where he played two more seasons.
After bouncing around the NFL for a few years and playing briefly for the Eagles and Bills, Tuten found his greatest success in Seattle, where he was a Pro Bowler in 1994 and would later be chosen the punter on the Seahawks’ all-time team. Tuten called himself a “frustrated linebacker,” and teammates recalled that he really wanted to be a football player, and not just a punter.
“Rick was the first kicker that actually had ‘guns,’” Former Seahawks special teams captain Paul Moyer said. “He wanted to be a football player and he was a pretty good athlete. He lifted as hard as most of the players.”
Tuten left the Seahawks for the Rams in 1998 and won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams in 1999, although he was injured and didn’t play in the game.
Tuten is survived by his wife and three children.
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/rick-tuten-player-stats
Former NFL punter Rick Tuten dies at 52
Posted by Michael David Smith on June 14, 2017
http://www.nolefan.org/football/tuten_rick.html
Rick Tuten, a punter who went to a Pro Bowl with the Seahawks and won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams, has died at the age of 52.
According to the Ocala Star Banner, Tuten died unexpectedly in Costa Rica. There is no information about his cause of death.
Tuten grew up in Florida and began his college football career at Miami, winning a national championship and even serving as a backup quarterback to Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde, although Tuten never played quarterback in a game. After two years at Miami, Tuten transferred to Florida State, where he played two more seasons.
After bouncing around the NFL for a few years and playing briefly for the Eagles and Bills, Tuten found his greatest success in Seattle, where he was a Pro Bowler in 1994 and would later be chosen the punter on the Seahawks’ all-time team. Tuten called himself a “frustrated linebacker,” and teammates recalled that he really wanted to be a football player, and not just a punter.
“Rick was the first kicker that actually had ‘guns,’” Former Seahawks special teams captain Paul Moyer said. “He wanted to be a football player and he was a pretty good athlete. He lifted as hard as most of the players.”
Tuten left the Seahawks for the Rams in 1998 and won a Super Bowl ring with the Rams in 1999, although he was injured and didn’t play in the game.
Tuten is survived by his wife and three children.
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/rick-tuten-player-stats
Is this the NFL's first female player?
- By Prime Time
- RAMS / NFL TALK
- 23 Replies
IS THIS THE NFL'S FIRST FEMALE PLAYER?
Becca Longo is 18. She can kick a football farther than you can. She's got a scholarship. And she's just getting started. Watch and learn
By Lars Anderson
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
They cruise down the dusty, open road, the teacher and the pupil, the making of history only months away.
What a pair they are as they roll through the 115-degree heat outside Phoenix on Highway 202, the intense desert sunlight bouncing off the black Mercedes sedan. Together they gaze into the barren landscape dotted with saguaro cacti and mesquite trees, and both see the same vision: a future in which a woman playing Division II football on scholarship is no longer a mirage.
"You are like my second father, and you're a huge reason I'm doing this," says Becca Longo, the pupil, riding shotgun. "You've made this happen."
"What separates you from everyone else is that you stuck with it, even in the hard times," says Alex Zendejas, the teacher and a member of football's most famous kicking family. "You have all the potential in the world. Keep at it, and who knows? Maybe you'll be the first female playing on Sundays."
Close your eyes and imagine that: a woman kicking in the NFL. This is how far the dream now stretches for Longo, 18, who in April became the first female to earn a football scholarship to a Division I or Division II school when she signed with D-II Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado.
About a dozen women have played college football at various levels. In 1997 Liz Heaston became the first female to score in a college football game when she kicked an extra point for Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, then an NAIA school.
But it's safe to say that no female kicker has ever possessed the pure ability of the 5'11,'' 145-pound Longo, who has kicked a 50-yard field goal in practice and routinely splits the uprights from 45.
"If you can play football and you have determination, I don't care what your gender is," says Timm Rosenbach, a former NFL quarterback and the head coach at Adams State. "And Becca can play, simple as that. She's got accuracy and she's got a powerful leg, which will only get stronger. We brought her to Adams State for a reason: to compete for a job and help us win football games."
Longo's college career will begin in mid-July when she moves into her dorm room in Alamosa and starts working out with the Grizzlies. It will mark the culmination of an unlikely journey into history, one that began at Queen Creek High in Queen Creek, Arizona.
The kicker is the loneliest player. The female kicker, well, she's as isolated on a football team as a wildflower in the desert.
Here was Longo on a late-summer afternoon in 2014. Kickoff in the season-opening junior varsity game between Queen Creek and Poston Butte High was an hour away.
A sophomore, Longo had put on her pads—she only recently had learned how to do this—and pulled on her No. 28 jersey with her teammates at Queen Creek before boarding the bus to Poston Butte. After arriving there for the first game of her high school career, she sat on a bench and tightened the laces on the soccer cleat on her right foot.
She visualized her kicking process—her approach, her plant foot, her swing-through. And even though the crowd was small, she could hear a hum of expectation. Longo thought she was going to throw up.
She walked out into the warm late-afternoon sun. After only a few steps, a cluster of young girls approached her, asking for pictures, autographs and hugs. Up in the bleachers, dozens of fans pointed at her. "There she is!" one yelled. "That's the girl trying to play football!"
Longo warmed up, drilling extra points and several field goals between 25 and 35 yards. Her father, Bob, who was pacing in the stands, recorded every practice kick with a video camera. He, too, felt the pressure of expectations and felt like he was going to vomit.
Becca, who would handle extra points and field goals for Queen Creek, then retreated to the locker room for a final moment of reflection before kickoff.
The game began. On Queen Creek's second play from scrimmage, a running back busted a 60-yard touchdown run. Longo ran onto the field, her heart thumping. Then she remembered what her personal coach, Zendejas, taught her, his words echoing in her head: Kick like you train. Win the mental battle.
Longo stood next to her holder. She took three steps back, two steps over to her left and bent forward. The ball was snapped. The hold was true. Her legs trembling, Longo took one small step forward—"a stab step" she calls it—then two more and swung her right foot back like a golf club.
She struck the ball perfectly, sending it sailing end over end into the red-orange sky. It floated between the posts. And so began the kicking career of Longo, a woman unlike anyone in the history of football.
She was a wild child.
When Becca was 18 months old, she slept in a crib in her own upstairs room next to her parents' bedroom. Her mother, Andrea, used reading glasses in the evening, and every night she placed them on her bed stand.
Then one morning Andrea discovered that her glasses had been transported downstairs. Same thing happened the next morning. "What's going on?" Andrea asked her husband.
They finally caught the glasses thief red-handed: little Becca. She had climbed out of her crib, snatched the glasses from the table, carried them down the stairs and surreptitiously returned to her crib. "I've got a solution," said Bob, an engineer at Boeing.
That night, using a lace from an old boot, Bob gently tied one of his daughter's legs to the side of the crib. "It was like a handcuff," Bob says now. Yet two nights later, the glasses once again were magically moved in the middle of the night; Becca had slipped out of her shackle.
"That's when we really knew that Becca was a determined little girl," Bob says. "She's a pistol."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
When Becca was five, her older brother, Bobby, played defensive end at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California. Bobby was Becca's hero—she mimicked all he did—and the two often played catch in the backyard. Becca never missed one of his games.
Becca was sitting in the stands with her parents one game during that 2004 season when the team's kicker, a young woman named Heidi Garrett, blasted a 48-yard field goal through the uprights—still the national record for the longest high school field goal by a female.
At an end-of-the-season team party for players and their families, Becca couldn't stop staring at Heidi, her new hero who practically glowed in the dark to little Becca. She had found her role model.
Bob Longo also was intrigued by this female kicker, but for a different reason. He had seen Heidi and her father, Rance, spend countless hours together on different football fields, the father shagging balls and offering love and support to his daughter. To Bob's eye, the two were a picture of joy.
"I always envied them," Bob says. "They had a great father-daughter relationship. I hoped that one day I'd have the same kind of connection with Becca."
Soon they would.
The Zendejas Detailing shop in Phoenix sits in an industrial park near the airport. Most of the expansive square footage in this warehouse-like structure is devoted to cars, but Alex has partitioned a corner for what he considers his true calling: developing young kickers.
The indoor kicking space features 20-foot ceilings and a kicking net with tape plastered on it in the form of a goal post. The longest field goal a student can attempt is only 20 yards, but distance is not Zendejas' primary focus.
"About 80 percent of kicks are extra points, so we begin by teaching proper form and technique," says Zendejas, who has coached seven All-State kickers in Arizona since 2006 and who has had four family members kick in the NFL. "Kicking is like any other position in football in that it requires work and a tremendous amount of practice."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
On a recent May afternoon, Longo strolled into the makeshift indoor kicking field, her long brunette hair pulled into a ponytail, her dark eyes flashing. "Let's do this," she says enthusiastically. "Time to get better."
Longo has an athlete's easy, confident gait. She began playing soccer at nine and was a star shooting guard on her high school basketball team. Sports have always come easy to her.
Now, in the sweltering heat of the Zendejas kicking gym, Longo stretches for 10 minutes while listening to the counsel of Zendejas and his son Alex Jr., who kicked for Arizona from 2008 to 2011. She then began to kick as Alex Sr. and Alex Jr. watched intently with their arms folded.
Over 30 minutes, she struck about 40 balls and split the bars on about 90 percent of them. At one point, Longo made 19 straight. The power and lift she generated on her kicks were staggering.
"The first thing I had to teach Becca was that hitting a football is different than striking a soccer ball," says the elder Zendejas. "You aim for the same sweet spot, but the momentum of the leg is different. In soccer you go straight through the ball. In football, you've got to let the leg go as you hit it and let it whip through the ball."
In high school Longo used a 2-inch tee, but in college she'll kick off the ground, which she's now been practicing for six months. "It only took her one week to adjust," says Zendejas, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's rare for a kicker to adjust so fast. But that just shows you that Becca is different—very different."
It all began on an ordinary school day in the spring of 2014. Longo was walking from one class to another at Queen Creek High when she looked out a window and saw several freshman boys on the football field. "I'm going to play football," she casually told a friend.
After class Longo marched out to play with the boys. One challenged her to kick a ball. She lined up, strode forward and—wham!—sent the pigskin rocketing into orbit. The boys (and even Longo herself) were shocked at how far it flew.
That night Longo told her dad she was interested in becoming a kicker.
About a week later, Bob and Andrea drove their daughter to a kicking camp hosted by the Arizona Cardinals at Gilbert Christian High, about 20 minutes from Queen Creek. Becca was raw as she kicked in front of the likes of Nick Lowery, Mike Vanderjagt and Chandler Catanzaro, but she flashed so much potential that a few coaches and former NFL players handed their business cards to Bob, telling him that they could mold his daughter into something special. Bob eventually spoke to Alex Zendejas and asked him if he'd coach his daughter.
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
"I need to work her out," Zendejas told Bob. "I need to see how badly she wants it."
They met a few days later in a parking lot next to the football field at Queen Creek High. Zendejas eyed Longo as she stepped out of a car. "My first impression was that she was athletic and strong and tall," Zendejas says.
The teacher then quizzed Longo about her goals, wanting to know if she was serious about learning how to kick. "I'm strong-willed; trust me," Longo told Zendejas. "This is something I'm going to stick with."
They walked onto the field as twilight settled over the desert, Zendejas lugging a bag of balls over his shoulder. He had Longo run two laps and led her through a series of stretches. Then he asked her to go through her kicking motion without striking a ball.
After her first imaginary kick, Zendejas remember saying, "Wow, look at that swing. Her leg goes so high and she's got natural flexibility. We may have something here.''
Longo's first attempt was a 30-yard field goal: She swept through it perfectly—she knew instantly the kick was pure—and the ball easily cleaved the uprights. With her father shagging, Longo kicked about 30 footballs that evening and connected on 80 percent of her tries.
The next day Longo walked into the office of Paul Reynolds, the athletic director at Queen Creek High. She sat down in a chair, locked eyes with the A.D., held her chin high, smiled and said: "I want to play football. I want to kick."
"Well," Reynolds replied, a bit in shock, "I guess you should go for it and try out for the team."
And she did. In her first season of kicking on junior varsity, Longo made 30 of 33 point-after attempts and was four-of-four on field goals, with a long of 30 yards.
Day by day, kick by kick, her leg was growing stronger—and so was her confidence.
Alex Zendejas Jr. knows the struggle better than most.
In 2009 Zendejas, then a sophomore at Arizona, booted a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Wildcats to a 20-17 victory over archrival Arizona State. The next year in the game known as the Territorial Cup, Zendejas had a chance to win it with 27 seconds left and the score tied at 20. Alas, an Arizona State defender blocked the extra point.
In double overtime, Arizona trailed 30-29 when Zendejas trotted onto the field for another extra-point attempt. He says now that he couldn't shake the earlier miss from his thoughts. "I questioned everything when I shouldn't have questioned anything," he says.
The kick was blocked. The game was lost.
Zendejas was despondent. For days he moved about in a daze, as fellow students heckled him in classes, taunted him in restaurants and even tried to start fights with him.
"I learned a valuable lesson," Zendejas says. "Kicking isn't about all the makes; it's about how you respond to the misses. This is what I tell Becca. She's going to confront difficult times. How she responds will define her. But she's ready. She's ready for anything."
At the end of the practice session inside the Zendejas training facility, Longo hangs on the words of Alex Jr. like a worshiper to clergy. He is her de facto mental coach, and she vows to keep his wisdom fresh in her mind as she begins her college career.
"I've heard people say that I'm just a publicity stunt, that I don't deserve this chance," Longo says. "I don't let that bother me. I just need to stay true to who I am—and stay true to what I've learned and keep improving—and I'll be just fine. I really believe that. I really do."
Longo transferred to Basha High before her junior year for "social reasons," she says. This forced her to sit out that football season.
But she still kicked. One evening in the summer of 2015 at a local park, with her father fetching balls, she drilled a 50-yarder, her career long in practice.
She joined the Basha varsity football team for the 2016 season. In one early-season game a player from Pinnacle High bumped into Longo after an extra point. She promptly pushed him back—an act that further endeared her to her teammates.
"The players embraced Becca from the first day of practice because they saw two things: one, she's good; and two, she's an athlete," says Gerald Todd, the former head coach at Basha.
Last season, Longo connected on 33 of 38 extra-point attempts—"The five misses were all blocks by guys coming around the ends," says Bob Longo—and made her only field-goal attempt from 30 yards. During the season she created a highlight video and sent it to 10 schools, including Adams State.
"I had heard of Becca because of the simple fact that she was a girl playing football, and I recruit the Phoenix area," says Josh Blankenship, the offensive coordinator at Adams State. "I met her at her school and was blown away by her poise, her confidence and her desire. I immediately thought, ‘This is a player we can work with.'"
Bob Longo researched the Adams State coaches as much as the coaching staff dug into the background of his daughter. Bob wanted Becca to play for a coach who could empathize with her unique situation. "I wanted her to be coached by someone who had daughters," Bob says. "Coach Rosenbach has two great daughters. That sold me."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
The Longos visited Adams State in February. At Division II schools, coaches are allowed to work out players during their official visits, so on a frigid, wintry afternoon Longo, several Adams State coaches, a snapper and a holder walked into Rex Stadium for what essentially was a tryout.
She made her first kick from 20 yards. Then she backed up five yards for another kick, then five yards for another kick, and so on, moving at the varying distances from the left harsh mark to the right. Swinging her leg in the cold for the first time, she made all but two of her attempts.
"She crushed it," says Blankenship. "Our special teams coordinator thought she was extremely consistent and had a surprisingly strong leg. Her only flaw was that she was a little slow on her steps, but that's the most easily correctable thing for a kicker."
After accepting a scholarship, Longo returned to Alamosa in April to watch the Adams State spring game, taking in the action from the sideline. After the final whistle blew, Rosenbach gathered the team at midfield, where he introduced Longo to the players.
"Becca is a football player. That's it," Rosenbach told his squad. "You will treat her like any other teammate and welcome her onto our team."
Just then, in the middle of the field, several players approached Longo and exchanged high-fives with her.
It may have been the sweetest moment of her young football life.
It is early evening, and Longo's last day of high school is only hours away. She is riding shotgun with her dad in his 2016 GMC Terrain, passing the park in Queen Creek where the two spent so many hours together kicking, retrieving and dreaming.
"I'm not sad that high school is over," Becca tells her father. "I'm just happy and excited for the future. Who knows what will happen?"
Bob shares a story about Becca's delivering when it matters most. This past February she was picked out of the crowd at a high school state tournament basketball game to shoot a free throw between quarters. If she drained it, she was told, she could eat free fried chicken once a week for a year at Raising Cane's, a fast-food chain.
What happened? Becca grabbed a basketball and strolled to the free-throw line, that devilish smirk illuminating her face. Displaying textbook form, she arced a shot—it splashed nothing but net. "I don't get nervous," Becca says in the car. "But I can't eat that chicken anymore."
Bob and Andrea purchased an $80,000 RV this spring. They plan to hit the road in the autumn to watch their daughter kick her way into history in stadiums across the country. "Becca has come so far," Bob says from behind the wheel. "But her story is just beginning."
Becca Longo is 18. She can kick a football farther than you can. She's got a scholarship. And she's just getting started. Watch and learn
By Lars Anderson
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
They cruise down the dusty, open road, the teacher and the pupil, the making of history only months away.
What a pair they are as they roll through the 115-degree heat outside Phoenix on Highway 202, the intense desert sunlight bouncing off the black Mercedes sedan. Together they gaze into the barren landscape dotted with saguaro cacti and mesquite trees, and both see the same vision: a future in which a woman playing Division II football on scholarship is no longer a mirage.
"You are like my second father, and you're a huge reason I'm doing this," says Becca Longo, the pupil, riding shotgun. "You've made this happen."
"What separates you from everyone else is that you stuck with it, even in the hard times," says Alex Zendejas, the teacher and a member of football's most famous kicking family. "You have all the potential in the world. Keep at it, and who knows? Maybe you'll be the first female playing on Sundays."
Close your eyes and imagine that: a woman kicking in the NFL. This is how far the dream now stretches for Longo, 18, who in April became the first female to earn a football scholarship to a Division I or Division II school when she signed with D-II Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado.
About a dozen women have played college football at various levels. In 1997 Liz Heaston became the first female to score in a college football game when she kicked an extra point for Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, then an NAIA school.
But it's safe to say that no female kicker has ever possessed the pure ability of the 5'11,'' 145-pound Longo, who has kicked a 50-yard field goal in practice and routinely splits the uprights from 45.
"If you can play football and you have determination, I don't care what your gender is," says Timm Rosenbach, a former NFL quarterback and the head coach at Adams State. "And Becca can play, simple as that. She's got accuracy and she's got a powerful leg, which will only get stronger. We brought her to Adams State for a reason: to compete for a job and help us win football games."
Longo's college career will begin in mid-July when she moves into her dorm room in Alamosa and starts working out with the Grizzlies. It will mark the culmination of an unlikely journey into history, one that began at Queen Creek High in Queen Creek, Arizona.
The kicker is the loneliest player. The female kicker, well, she's as isolated on a football team as a wildflower in the desert.
Here was Longo on a late-summer afternoon in 2014. Kickoff in the season-opening junior varsity game between Queen Creek and Poston Butte High was an hour away.
A sophomore, Longo had put on her pads—she only recently had learned how to do this—and pulled on her No. 28 jersey with her teammates at Queen Creek before boarding the bus to Poston Butte. After arriving there for the first game of her high school career, she sat on a bench and tightened the laces on the soccer cleat on her right foot.
She visualized her kicking process—her approach, her plant foot, her swing-through. And even though the crowd was small, she could hear a hum of expectation. Longo thought she was going to throw up.
She walked out into the warm late-afternoon sun. After only a few steps, a cluster of young girls approached her, asking for pictures, autographs and hugs. Up in the bleachers, dozens of fans pointed at her. "There she is!" one yelled. "That's the girl trying to play football!"
Longo warmed up, drilling extra points and several field goals between 25 and 35 yards. Her father, Bob, who was pacing in the stands, recorded every practice kick with a video camera. He, too, felt the pressure of expectations and felt like he was going to vomit.
Becca, who would handle extra points and field goals for Queen Creek, then retreated to the locker room for a final moment of reflection before kickoff.
The game began. On Queen Creek's second play from scrimmage, a running back busted a 60-yard touchdown run. Longo ran onto the field, her heart thumping. Then she remembered what her personal coach, Zendejas, taught her, his words echoing in her head: Kick like you train. Win the mental battle.
Longo stood next to her holder. She took three steps back, two steps over to her left and bent forward. The ball was snapped. The hold was true. Her legs trembling, Longo took one small step forward—"a stab step" she calls it—then two more and swung her right foot back like a golf club.
She struck the ball perfectly, sending it sailing end over end into the red-orange sky. It floated between the posts. And so began the kicking career of Longo, a woman unlike anyone in the history of football.
She was a wild child.
When Becca was 18 months old, she slept in a crib in her own upstairs room next to her parents' bedroom. Her mother, Andrea, used reading glasses in the evening, and every night she placed them on her bed stand.
Then one morning Andrea discovered that her glasses had been transported downstairs. Same thing happened the next morning. "What's going on?" Andrea asked her husband.
They finally caught the glasses thief red-handed: little Becca. She had climbed out of her crib, snatched the glasses from the table, carried them down the stairs and surreptitiously returned to her crib. "I've got a solution," said Bob, an engineer at Boeing.
That night, using a lace from an old boot, Bob gently tied one of his daughter's legs to the side of the crib. "It was like a handcuff," Bob says now. Yet two nights later, the glasses once again were magically moved in the middle of the night; Becca had slipped out of her shackle.
"That's when we really knew that Becca was a determined little girl," Bob says. "She's a pistol."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
When Becca was five, her older brother, Bobby, played defensive end at Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California. Bobby was Becca's hero—she mimicked all he did—and the two often played catch in the backyard. Becca never missed one of his games.
Becca was sitting in the stands with her parents one game during that 2004 season when the team's kicker, a young woman named Heidi Garrett, blasted a 48-yard field goal through the uprights—still the national record for the longest high school field goal by a female.
At an end-of-the-season team party for players and their families, Becca couldn't stop staring at Heidi, her new hero who practically glowed in the dark to little Becca. She had found her role model.
Bob Longo also was intrigued by this female kicker, but for a different reason. He had seen Heidi and her father, Rance, spend countless hours together on different football fields, the father shagging balls and offering love and support to his daughter. To Bob's eye, the two were a picture of joy.
"I always envied them," Bob says. "They had a great father-daughter relationship. I hoped that one day I'd have the same kind of connection with Becca."
Soon they would.
The Zendejas Detailing shop in Phoenix sits in an industrial park near the airport. Most of the expansive square footage in this warehouse-like structure is devoted to cars, but Alex has partitioned a corner for what he considers his true calling: developing young kickers.
The indoor kicking space features 20-foot ceilings and a kicking net with tape plastered on it in the form of a goal post. The longest field goal a student can attempt is only 20 yards, but distance is not Zendejas' primary focus.
"About 80 percent of kicks are extra points, so we begin by teaching proper form and technique," says Zendejas, who has coached seven All-State kickers in Arizona since 2006 and who has had four family members kick in the NFL. "Kicking is like any other position in football in that it requires work and a tremendous amount of practice."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
On a recent May afternoon, Longo strolled into the makeshift indoor kicking field, her long brunette hair pulled into a ponytail, her dark eyes flashing. "Let's do this," she says enthusiastically. "Time to get better."
Longo has an athlete's easy, confident gait. She began playing soccer at nine and was a star shooting guard on her high school basketball team. Sports have always come easy to her.
Now, in the sweltering heat of the Zendejas kicking gym, Longo stretches for 10 minutes while listening to the counsel of Zendejas and his son Alex Jr., who kicked for Arizona from 2008 to 2011. She then began to kick as Alex Sr. and Alex Jr. watched intently with their arms folded.
Over 30 minutes, she struck about 40 balls and split the bars on about 90 percent of them. At one point, Longo made 19 straight. The power and lift she generated on her kicks were staggering.
"The first thing I had to teach Becca was that hitting a football is different than striking a soccer ball," says the elder Zendejas. "You aim for the same sweet spot, but the momentum of the leg is different. In soccer you go straight through the ball. In football, you've got to let the leg go as you hit it and let it whip through the ball."
In high school Longo used a 2-inch tee, but in college she'll kick off the ground, which she's now been practicing for six months. "It only took her one week to adjust," says Zendejas, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's rare for a kicker to adjust so fast. But that just shows you that Becca is different—very different."
It all began on an ordinary school day in the spring of 2014. Longo was walking from one class to another at Queen Creek High when she looked out a window and saw several freshman boys on the football field. "I'm going to play football," she casually told a friend.
After class Longo marched out to play with the boys. One challenged her to kick a ball. She lined up, strode forward and—wham!—sent the pigskin rocketing into orbit. The boys (and even Longo herself) were shocked at how far it flew.
That night Longo told her dad she was interested in becoming a kicker.
About a week later, Bob and Andrea drove their daughter to a kicking camp hosted by the Arizona Cardinals at Gilbert Christian High, about 20 minutes from Queen Creek. Becca was raw as she kicked in front of the likes of Nick Lowery, Mike Vanderjagt and Chandler Catanzaro, but she flashed so much potential that a few coaches and former NFL players handed their business cards to Bob, telling him that they could mold his daughter into something special. Bob eventually spoke to Alex Zendejas and asked him if he'd coach his daughter.
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
"I need to work her out," Zendejas told Bob. "I need to see how badly she wants it."
They met a few days later in a parking lot next to the football field at Queen Creek High. Zendejas eyed Longo as she stepped out of a car. "My first impression was that she was athletic and strong and tall," Zendejas says.
The teacher then quizzed Longo about her goals, wanting to know if she was serious about learning how to kick. "I'm strong-willed; trust me," Longo told Zendejas. "This is something I'm going to stick with."
They walked onto the field as twilight settled over the desert, Zendejas lugging a bag of balls over his shoulder. He had Longo run two laps and led her through a series of stretches. Then he asked her to go through her kicking motion without striking a ball.
After her first imaginary kick, Zendejas remember saying, "Wow, look at that swing. Her leg goes so high and she's got natural flexibility. We may have something here.''
Longo's first attempt was a 30-yard field goal: She swept through it perfectly—she knew instantly the kick was pure—and the ball easily cleaved the uprights. With her father shagging, Longo kicked about 30 footballs that evening and connected on 80 percent of her tries.
The next day Longo walked into the office of Paul Reynolds, the athletic director at Queen Creek High. She sat down in a chair, locked eyes with the A.D., held her chin high, smiled and said: "I want to play football. I want to kick."
"Well," Reynolds replied, a bit in shock, "I guess you should go for it and try out for the team."
And she did. In her first season of kicking on junior varsity, Longo made 30 of 33 point-after attempts and was four-of-four on field goals, with a long of 30 yards.
Day by day, kick by kick, her leg was growing stronger—and so was her confidence.
Alex Zendejas Jr. knows the struggle better than most.
In 2009 Zendejas, then a sophomore at Arizona, booted a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Wildcats to a 20-17 victory over archrival Arizona State. The next year in the game known as the Territorial Cup, Zendejas had a chance to win it with 27 seconds left and the score tied at 20. Alas, an Arizona State defender blocked the extra point.
In double overtime, Arizona trailed 30-29 when Zendejas trotted onto the field for another extra-point attempt. He says now that he couldn't shake the earlier miss from his thoughts. "I questioned everything when I shouldn't have questioned anything," he says.
The kick was blocked. The game was lost.
Zendejas was despondent. For days he moved about in a daze, as fellow students heckled him in classes, taunted him in restaurants and even tried to start fights with him.
"I learned a valuable lesson," Zendejas says. "Kicking isn't about all the makes; it's about how you respond to the misses. This is what I tell Becca. She's going to confront difficult times. How she responds will define her. But she's ready. She's ready for anything."
At the end of the practice session inside the Zendejas training facility, Longo hangs on the words of Alex Jr. like a worshiper to clergy. He is her de facto mental coach, and she vows to keep his wisdom fresh in her mind as she begins her college career.
"I've heard people say that I'm just a publicity stunt, that I don't deserve this chance," Longo says. "I don't let that bother me. I just need to stay true to who I am—and stay true to what I've learned and keep improving—and I'll be just fine. I really believe that. I really do."
Longo transferred to Basha High before her junior year for "social reasons," she says. This forced her to sit out that football season.
But she still kicked. One evening in the summer of 2015 at a local park, with her father fetching balls, she drilled a 50-yarder, her career long in practice.
She joined the Basha varsity football team for the 2016 season. In one early-season game a player from Pinnacle High bumped into Longo after an extra point. She promptly pushed him back—an act that further endeared her to her teammates.
"The players embraced Becca from the first day of practice because they saw two things: one, she's good; and two, she's an athlete," says Gerald Todd, the former head coach at Basha.
Last season, Longo connected on 33 of 38 extra-point attempts—"The five misses were all blocks by guys coming around the ends," says Bob Longo—and made her only field-goal attempt from 30 yards. During the season she created a highlight video and sent it to 10 schools, including Adams State.
"I had heard of Becca because of the simple fact that she was a girl playing football, and I recruit the Phoenix area," says Josh Blankenship, the offensive coordinator at Adams State. "I met her at her school and was blown away by her poise, her confidence and her desire. I immediately thought, ‘This is a player we can work with.'"
Bob Longo researched the Adams State coaches as much as the coaching staff dug into the background of his daughter. Bob wanted Becca to play for a coach who could empathize with her unique situation. "I wanted her to be coached by someone who had daughters," Bob says. "Coach Rosenbach has two great daughters. That sold me."
Carlos Rodriguez for B/R Mag
The Longos visited Adams State in February. At Division II schools, coaches are allowed to work out players during their official visits, so on a frigid, wintry afternoon Longo, several Adams State coaches, a snapper and a holder walked into Rex Stadium for what essentially was a tryout.
She made her first kick from 20 yards. Then she backed up five yards for another kick, then five yards for another kick, and so on, moving at the varying distances from the left harsh mark to the right. Swinging her leg in the cold for the first time, she made all but two of her attempts.
"She crushed it," says Blankenship. "Our special teams coordinator thought she was extremely consistent and had a surprisingly strong leg. Her only flaw was that she was a little slow on her steps, but that's the most easily correctable thing for a kicker."
After accepting a scholarship, Longo returned to Alamosa in April to watch the Adams State spring game, taking in the action from the sideline. After the final whistle blew, Rosenbach gathered the team at midfield, where he introduced Longo to the players.
"Becca is a football player. That's it," Rosenbach told his squad. "You will treat her like any other teammate and welcome her onto our team."
Just then, in the middle of the field, several players approached Longo and exchanged high-fives with her.
It may have been the sweetest moment of her young football life.
It is early evening, and Longo's last day of high school is only hours away. She is riding shotgun with her dad in his 2016 GMC Terrain, passing the park in Queen Creek where the two spent so many hours together kicking, retrieving and dreaming.
"I'm not sad that high school is over," Becca tells her father. "I'm just happy and excited for the future. Who knows what will happen?"
Bob shares a story about Becca's delivering when it matters most. This past February she was picked out of the crowd at a high school state tournament basketball game to shoot a free throw between quarters. If she drained it, she was told, she could eat free fried chicken once a week for a year at Raising Cane's, a fast-food chain.
What happened? Becca grabbed a basketball and strolled to the free-throw line, that devilish smirk illuminating her face. Displaying textbook form, she arced a shot—it splashed nothing but net. "I don't get nervous," Becca says in the car. "But I can't eat that chicken anymore."
Bob and Andrea purchased an $80,000 RV this spring. They plan to hit the road in the autumn to watch their daughter kick her way into history in stadiums across the country. "Becca has come so far," Bob says from behind the wheel. "But her story is just beginning."
