20 Random Post-Game 1 Thoughts

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dieterbrock

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I though Akers ran hard. Surprised at all the criticism of him.
I agree! I was impressed with him. Thought he had that knack for falling ahead during contact, that he was "slippery" when hit. Did he read the holes correctly? Were they there and he missed them? I dont know, will leave that up to the coaching staff to figure out. Brown was impressive for sure, and seemed to have a couple big holes to run thru. Again, that doesnt necessarily mean he had something that Akers didnt, more likely he saw the hole that Akers didnt
 

Snaz

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I agree! I was impressed with him. Thought he had that knack for falling ahead during contact, that he was "slippery" when hit. Did he read the holes correctly? Were they there and he missed them? I dont know, will leave that up to the coaching staff to figure out. Brown was impressive for sure, and seemed to have a couple big holes to run thru. Again, that doesnt necessarily mean he had something that Akers didnt, more likely he saw the hole that Akers didnt

I must be using different eyes. Akers went down so easily. Only the spin one did he do anything to break a tackle.
Near the end of the game Brown ran an outside run, Akers had more speed would have been better there but otherwise Brown was the hot hand.
 

Da-Rock

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Akers looked solid. Did he have any negative runs?

I saw him several times get skinny and get 3 yards out of zero due to bad blocking. My understanding is that Dallas is known for their D-Line........I think I only saw Akers on one outside run call.

Brown reminds me of Roger Craig.
 

Merlin

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Couple of things. Rapp, wasn't out there because the guy was injured thru most of camp. He didn't take a snap during any of the scrims and McVay didn't want to push him back too soon. Good thing Fuller seems like the real deal. It's going to be great having some depth on the back end.
Rapp really surprised me last season with his ability to man it up and hold his own. That plus his ability to support in the run (where I think he is special) had me thinking he would be a real star in the Rams' defense.

But he wasn't too good in zone, and wasn't particularly instinctive reacting from the top. So as good as he is, and as much as I love Rapp I have to say this sentiment that Fuller is only the starter because of his injury may not be correct. This defense really fits him.

So I wouldn't underestimate what Fuller has done (and I'm not saying you are in your post btw). For him to do what he's doing is very impressive and long-term our safety pairing will probably be him and Rapp, but either way what we have right now is a great thing because it's going to push all the kids in that safety room to raise the bar on their play. Burgess might start pushing for time too as we go forward.

This safety group is the best I can remember in horns.
 

Ewe83

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Just saw this on twitter, I didn't catch this last night HAHA





Eh5j1dXXkAI6R3L
 

Mikey Ram

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1. We won. Everything else is commentary.

2. I think the Cowboys are a pretty good team, so this was a quality win.

3. I thought McVay did a very good job of game planning to take the Cowboys pass rush, which is formidable, out of the game for the most part.

4. Not a ton of holes for the running backs, but I thought they did a good job of ensuring that we had positive yardage on virtually every play.

5. You have to love Malcolm Brown. 6th Round pick... playing behind a franchise back for his first 5 years... RBs drafted every year to essentially take his job... and he's not only still there... he's thriving.

6. Jared Goff had a solid outing. The INT was obviously not his fault (should have been a 15 yard penalty) and there were a few (Everett, Jefferson, Brown) drops.

7. The deep throw to Jefferson was a thing of beauty.

8. Yes, that was offensive pass interference. Textbook, really. They "surprised they would call that at that point in the game" take is silly. The rules are the rules.

9. Aaron Donald really messes with opposing teams' game plans.

10. Michael Brockers had a nice game.

11. Jordan Fuller - what a huge play for the rookie!

12. Leonard Floyd did a good job rushing the passer.

13. Seeing Jachai Polite in a tight 4th quarter on the field and pressuring the QB was pretty remarkable. There's talent there... hope he continues to show it.

14. Sam Sloman's first FG attempt was pretty ugly. Jury's still out on that one.

15. The new stadium is impressive. Really impressive. Can't wait to see it full.

16. I thought the new uniforms looked pretty good. Still would have preferred making the throwbacks permanent, but you can't always get what you want.

17. Taylor Rapp's limited role was surprising. I suspect it was situational, to a large degree, but its not what you want to see in a promising second year player.

18. Overall, you have to like the Game 1 contribution of the rookie class.

19. The piped in crowd noise was interesting. I found myself forgetting that there were no fans in the stadium. I'm sure the players didn't feel that way.

20. Its been a long offseason. I really needed this one!

The only place my feelings differ is the uniforms...I was more disappointed live than I was with the pics..That bone color (or whatever it's called) just look to me like the last game's unis that hadn't been washed)..Of course I wouldn't care if the wore speedos as long as they win..And I really, really dislike the gradient numbers...


..
 
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Steve808

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Mikey Ram

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Mal was running pretty hard last night. I was hoping he'd get 100 (he ended with a career-high 79 I believe) but he did pretty well breaking tackles and fighting for extra yards. Plus the 2 TDs.

Agree...I liked the work of the O-line in general, but there wasn't really much there for the RBs that they didn't pound out on their own IMO...
..
 

Mikey Ram

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Brown was decisive and ran hard after cuts. It will come in time with Akers, but, for the time being, Brown needs to be out there on the important downs. He always gains yards on his carries because he is hard to bring down.

Man I wish Jefferson would have come down with that catch, but he did make an excellent catch earlier in the game. Love what I see from him and love that he is being used as much as he was.

Bring on the Eagles!

Just looking at the score, it looked like the Eagles just collapsed after getting up early on the "Football team"
 

Gandalf

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You must be too young to remember Dave Elmendorf and Nolan Cromwell :)
They weren't the best, but I enjoyed watching Toby Wright and Keith Lyle play. Toby could really bring the pain.
 

Mackeyser

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the talking heads were complaining that the refs didn’t need to call OPI on Gallup but full extension of the arm to push off is textbook OPI.

Funny how one ref is assigned to watch the QB but didn’t see Goff get punched in the face and missed a blatant face mask against the saints in the NFC Title game the other year.

Well, and they called it uniformly around the league. I watched Redzone all day and they called that on what would have been a TD pass in another game.

The refs are calling it.

Now, normally, we'd see that as a "point of emphasis" and have preseason games to acclimate, but you can't play in a night game and not have someone clue you in on how refs around the league are calling games.

Well, not and win.
 

oldnotdead

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People forget Rapp was coming off an injury. I think it was a smart move to limit his play. Also without a pre-season they got to see Fuller in action and he looks to be a steal in the 6th round. IMO if Fuller continues to play like this he will make it easier for the Rams to move on from Johnson. Rapp can move into Johnson's role and Fuller can play SS. Jordan's stuffing of the 4th down attempt was a textbook thing of beauty.

I don't like Staley's bend not break defense. It's flirting with danger. His reliance on a zone coverage scheme doesn't play to the strengths of his secondary. This secondary was built for man coverage, not zone. He's trying to replicate the "legion of boom" type of play. The problem with bend not break is it assumes the offense will make mistakes the defense can exploit. If they don't then the defense will end up playing a lot of red zone holding the scoring to field goals.

If the Rams are going to play defense like that then the offense needs to be a scoring machine. McVay needs to understand he has a balanced offense and he needs to use it like that inside the red zone. He goes too conservative and predictable inside the red zone which is why they settle for too many FG's. But with an inconsistent kicker that is playing with fire. That early chip shot miss could have cost them the game. I'm an amateur but I can see the flaws by the balls he kicks. Inconsistent plant foot and leg swing. His leg swing should not change no matter the distance. Plant foot and leg swing must be absolutely consistent. His isn't and its why his trajectory varies every kick, i.e. high, low, and directionally. John Carney told me this over lunch at Torrey Pines. People didn't notice that Zuerlein's kicking problems really exacerbated after his injury. That's why even now he's working to retool his mechanics with limited success. Before his injury that 52 yard attempt would have been normal for him to make.
 

Merlin

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You must be too young to remember Dave Elmendorf and Nolan Cromwell :)
I was a kid yeah but I do remember them. Pops is a big Cromwell fan. But I think this room is deeper. It's crazy.
 

Merlin

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Whenever Brown spelled Gurley I always thought "wow, he can do this stuff too, and he runs really tough for some tough yards." Not surprised at his succcess last night.
Was perusing the RB rankings at Football Outsiders and look who's on top for now... :cool: (y)

1600123271107.png
 

Merlin

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According to PFF Akers was actually better after contact. Take that for what it’s worth. Get the rookie hesitation out of the way and we might see something awesome in the future.


View: https://twitter.com/qbsmvp/status/1305527005723623428?s=21

Yeah and I think the Rams know it too. They're gonna keep rolling him out there and it's gonna be fun to watch.

Just saw this on twitter, I didn't catch this last night HAHA

Eh5j1dXXkAI6R3L
Wow. Amazing what an improvement that is over the official one, isn't it? (y)