A few impressions about the Bucs game after some reflection…

[Da-Rock]

Anyone remember the play, 2nd quarter… Bucs scored a rushing TD and Aikman was saying “a Rams player lost track of the ball”?

I rewound and watched that play a few times. It was Kenny Young. If he did not lose sight of the ball he would have been in position for the stop.

He had a good game. That play he missed. I just remembered Aikman said that.

I do remember that. Kenny was still looking at Brady when the rusher dove past him on his left. He never had a clue the ball was coming at him. We had a DB trying to fill the gap and if Kenny had shifted to the rusher it would have been 2 on 1 in that gap......oh well, he kicked ass elsewhere.

 

[Ramstien]

I continue to dislike this ‘soft zone’ D that Morris prefers. Frankly, I don’t think it plays to the strengths of DW, Long, or Rapp in particular. I would also like to see more 3-and-outs

This soft zone drives me crazy every week. Teams are able to throw short and negate the Rams pass rush. I absolutely hate it and find myself screaming at the TV every game. Sometimes I think these coaches are just too stubborn and will not change when something is not working.

 

[oldnotdead]

Morris has retained Staley's scheme in name only, i.e. the use of his ILBs as SS. But the crucial difference is that keeping everything in front of them is what Morris wants. Staley's scheme was zone in that it dictated who covered what receiver. Once a receiver entered the zone he was immediately covered by a DB in man coverage no matter where the receiver went. Morris' defense doesn't necessarily defend the pass as the focus is upon the receiver once he makes the catch. It's why I've been saying that Morris concedes the short zone and those passes aren't contested. That's why Brady threw for over 400 yds.

I personally hate Morris' bend not break philosophy. He's got better talent but he's not using it with the exception of Ramsey. Morris doesn't put his DBs in a position to contest the reception. Rather he's more interested in contesting the YAC. His scheme is to believe that the offense will stop itself with a mistake or penalty. If they stay clean they can move up and down the field almost at will with Morris only tightening down when they get to the Ram 30 yd line. Basically, he's conceding FGs. That's fine only as long as the offense can at least match with TDs. But if they can't, Morris' defensive scheme will keep the opponent in the game.

There is no doubt that Morris is a downgrade at DC. That said he still might be good enough for a Super Bowl win. The problem I have with Morris is his lack of deception. What the QB reads pre-snap is pretty close to what he gets. The problem is with only the TV broadcast to watch and no coaching game film it's really hard to see if Morris is evolving his defensive scheme. Hopefully, he is.

 

[1maGoh]

This soft zone drives me crazy every week. Teams are able to throw short and negate the Rams pass rush. I absolutely hate it and find myself screaming at the TV every game. Sometimes I think these coaches are just too stubborn and will not change when something is not working.

What's not working?

 

[Rams43]

I think some adjustments will be made on Defense as the season goes on. Morris will see where his players excel and where they falter. I know McVay is too involved not to at least put a whisper into Morris' ear if he feels he needs to.

DW and Rap both play sound in man coverage, Especially DWilliams.

Long excels in man coverage, too.

 

[Rams43]

A few more impressions after taking my nap.

NOW we know why McVay was so ‘happy’ in OTA’s and camp. He had seen firsthand how Stafford was interacting with Kupp, Woods, Jefferson, and DJ. He was almost smirking, reportedly.

Asst coaches, many players, and a few beat writers were smiling and dropping broad hints, too. So many clues.

Yeah, finally the Rams have a big home field advantage in LA. Not sure I’ve seen anything like this in my 53 years of fandom.

ARob is improving each game as he recovers. That was one stout run D vs Bucs. Something like 35 yards? In the neighborhood of that -7 record setter agains the Seahawks back in the day.

If McVay chooses to fully implement DJ in this O I think that the Rams could virtually name the score in each game. I’m halfway serious here.

Wonder what’s going through Shanny’s mind right now. Remember, he was trying to get Stafford, too.

There’s been a lot of pleasant surprises this year, but I think my best and biggest is this really good OL.

The biggest difference between the Rams and Bucs was that Rams dominated in the trenches on both sides of the ball. When that happens most all else becomes academic.

Is it possible for a 3-0 Cards team to be a trap game? Rams don’t need a repeat of that Jets fiasco of last year. Rams must really bear down in their divisional games.

All for now.

 

[majrleaged]

I think there will be a let down in intensity. How could there not be. The Bucs game was not just another game for this team. Now they just need to settle into the season and the next game. I still think they will win. The home crowd will lift them and the rams will win going away.

 

[RamBall]

Whats McVays record against arizona? Unless Kyler Murray has made a tremendous jump, which I doubt, we will see another Rams crushing of the cards. Would not be surprised to see a bigger focus on the run game to keep Murray on the sideline and make him less patient which will lead to mistakes that our D will capitalize on.

 

[TexasRam]

Morris has retained Staley's scheme in name only, i.e. the use of his ILBs as SS. But the crucial difference is that keeping everything in front of them is what Morris wants. Staley's scheme was zone in that it dictated who covered what receiver. Once a receiver entered the zone he was immediately covered by a DB in man coverage no matter where the receiver went. Morris' defense doesn't necessarily defend the pass as the focus is upon the receiver once he makes the catch. It's why I've been saying that Morris concedes the short zone and those passes aren't contested. That's why Brady threw for over 400 yds.

I personally hate Morris' bend not break philosophy. He's got better talent but he's not using it with the exception of Ramsey. Morris doesn't put his DBs in a position to contest the reception. Rather he's more interested in contesting the YAC. His scheme is to believe that the offense will stop itself with a mistake or penalty. If they stay clean they can move up and down the field almost at will with Morris only tightening down when they get to the Ram 30 yd line. Basically, he's conceding FGs. That's fine only as long as the offense can at least match with TDs. But if they can't, Morris' defensive scheme will keep the opponent in the game.

There is no doubt that Morris is a downgrade at DC. That said he still might be good enough for a Super Bowl win. The problem I have with Morris is his lack of deception. What the QB reads pre-snap is pretty close to what he gets. The problem is with only the TV broadcast to watch and no coaching game film it's really hard to see if Morris is evolving his defensive scheme. Hopefully, he is.

I agree for the most part. It certainly does appear that the secondary is responding after the catch but that seems like an assumption. I don't know any scheme or coach that actually tells the defender to respond after the WR catches the ball. The concept is to keep spacing and make a play on the ball or hit the WR as it arrives. It very well could be that our defenders, especially Long jr. and Rapp are not good at playing in space like this. There is no doubt we are taking away the deep shots but I am not sure they are being told to give up the reception and then respond. Except on 3rd or 4th down when the WR is in front of the chains.

 

[dang]

Young's easy to root for so yeah I agree. I have wanted to choke him at times but when he's making splash plays out there that covers for some of his mistakes. Also the guy is getting better.

His press conference was excellent. I came away from it understanding him better, that he's a guy who is going to work his ass off to be great. And that is something I can always root for whether or not I think the player can get there. His game is similar to Littleton's game to my eye (I call him a chase backer), but the difference is that this guy seems humble and hungry to take his game to a different level. Just my opinion here but I felt like Littleton was a different dude in that way, struck me as a guy who felt he had arrived moreso than a hungry type with a ton to prove. And 10 times out of 10 I'll take the latter player.

So I’m eating a little crow with Young. And glad to go so. He is playing good ball so far snd with a fire in him I didn’t see last year. Now if DWill and T Lewis can catch fire we are looking at a top 3 (or better) defense.

 

[dang]

Morris has retained Staley's scheme in name only, i.e. the use of his ILBs as SS. But the crucial difference is that keeping everything in front of them is what Morris wants. Staley's scheme was zone in that it dictated who covered what receiver. Once a receiver entered the zone he was immediately covered by a DB in man coverage no matter where the receiver went. Morris' defense doesn't necessarily defend the pass as the focus is upon the receiver once he makes the catch. It's why I've been saying that Morris concedes the short zone and those passes aren't contested. That's why Brady threw for over 400 yds.

I personally hate Morris' bend not break philosophy. He's got better talent but he's not using it with the exception of Ramsey. Morris doesn't put his DBs in a position to contest the reception. Rather he's more interested in contesting the YAC. His scheme is to believe that the offense will stop itself with a mistake or penalty. If they stay clean they can move up and down the field almost at will with Morris only tightening down when they get to the Ram 30 yd line. Basically, he's conceding FGs. That's fine only as long as the offense can at least match with TDs. But if they can't, Morris' defensive scheme will keep the opponent in the game.

There is no doubt that Morris is a downgrade at DC. That said he still might be good enough for a Super Bowl win. The problem I have with Morris is his lack of deception. What the QB reads pre-snap is pretty close to what he gets. The problem is with only the TV broadcast to watch and no coaching game film it's really hard to see if Morris is evolving his defensive scheme. Hopefully, he is.

There is plenty of doubt that Morris is a downgrade. The Rams D didn’t tear it up early last season as I recall. It took them a while to settle in. And I don’t remember last years D being so stout on the goal line. Let’s give Morris another 4-5 games before declaring upgrade/downgrade.

 

[Merlin]

So I’m eating a little crow with Young. And glad to go so. He is playing good ball so far snd with a fire in him I didn’t see last year. Now if DWill and T Lewis can catch fire we are looking at a top 3 (or better) defense.

Yeah I'm eating crow on him too. But I also want to see more.

 

[Braindead]

The drafting of Cooper Kupp is such an underrated move.
How many WRs got drafted ahead of him? His production in THREE games alone is better than some early draft picks can hope for in one season. No cap.

Kupp was the 7th WR taken in 2017 after Corey Davis (#5/Titans), Mike Williams (#7/Chargers), John Ross (#9/Bengals), Zay Jones (#37/Bills), Curtis Samuel (#40/Panthers) an JuJu Smith-Schuster (#62/Steelers).
Among those WR Kupp ranks #2 in receptions, #1 in yards, and #1 in TDs. Unfortunately there are no stats on his run blocking....

 

[Flint]

Whats McVays record against arizona? Unless Kyler Murray has made a tremendous jump, which I doubt, we will see another Rams crushing of the cards. Would not be surprised to see a bigger focus on the run game to keep Murray on the sideline and make him less patient which will lead to mistakes that our D will capitalize on.

Murray’s name is being thrown around for mvp so that’s something. I’m still not convinced Kingsbury knows what he’s doing though.

 

[majrleaged]

Kupp was the 7th WR taken in 2017 after Corey Davis (#5/Titans), Mike Williams (#7/Chargers), John Ross (#9/Bengals), Zay Jones (#37/Bills), Curtis Samuel (#40/Panthers) an JuJu Smith-Schuster (#62/Steelers).
Among those WR Kupp ranks #2 in receptions, #1 in yards, and #1 in TDs. Unfortunately there are no stats on his run blocking....

The Rams are pretty sharp at when to take players in the Draft. I give them a pass on the occasional pick that might look like they picked a guy to soon.

 

[JoeBo21]

imagine if Akers was out there..

 

[oldnotdead]

There is plenty of doubt that Morris is a downgrade. The Rams D didn’t tear it up early last season as I recall. It took them a while to settle in. And I don’t remember last years D being so stout on the goal line. Let’s give Morris another 4-5 games before declaring upgrade/downgrade.

That's true about Staley's D taking time to fully implement. But the crucial difference between Staley and Morris is experience. Staley was a first-time DC (coordinator in the NFL). He was taking a middle of the road defense and completely changing not just the scheme but also how the D played top to bottom. Morris is no newbie and inherited the #1 defense in the NFL. He has retained some elements of Staley's scheme but has basically changed this style from attacking to reacting. How many contested catches do we see? Yes, he's moving Ramsey all over, but IMO there is a time when you get too cute. Taking away a team's primary receiver has huge advantages, as does contesting the catches. Other than tipped or poorly thrown passes, this secondary which was built to be a ball-hawking unit is sitting back playing scared.

Morris knows better and the clue was the criticism (mild but accurate) directed at Morris in TC. This defense has not picked up where they left off. This D isn't really building upon what was a stellar season. I thought Good Enough Wasn't Good Enough anymore. Morris' attitude of being good enough instead of elite will cost games eventually. But Morris will shrug them off as you win some you lose some. Morris needs a stick up his ass to fire him up and realize just how good of personnel he has. Morris' conservative scheme isn't good enough and he needs to do more to help the D front by giving QBs nowhere to throw that quick outlet.

Go ahead and watch the games again and that short zone is always there for the QB. Why do you think Brady threw for over 400 yds which is BTW twice the production against a Staley led scheme.

Why am I harping on this? Because we are going to play the Cards. Murray's last game is a perfect example of what I'm saying. Murray threw 34 passes completing 28. When you chart his passes, about 20 of those completions were 10 yds or less type of throws. Murray will throw for 400 yards against Morris' secondary if he doesn't contest those short throws. Go ahead and play a two-deep shell but it doesn't mean you concede short throws. The Cards are exactly the type of team you can't allow to do that. The Rams have played well against Murray simply by taking away his simple early reads forcing him to hold the ball. Then it becomes Donald/Floyd time.

This is why I'm saying criticism of Morris' scheme is warranted at this point. Let's see how he plays this game. But IMO he will trot out his same ultra-conservative react not contest scheme. If he does and even if the Rams win, believe me, I will not be happy because this is a game this team should dominate on both sides of the ball not just win. To allow that type of concession will come back and bite the Rams in their butt if their offense doesn't light it up.

 

[theduke]

Reeder is an ILB, he does not sub in for DL Robinson.

He doesn't take Robinson's spot on the DL. However, he does replace Robinson as one of the 11 players on the field on obvious/likely passing downs.

 

[Q729]

Anyone remember the play, 2nd quarter… Bucs scored a rushing TD and Aikman was saying “a Rams player lost track of the ball”?

I rewound and watched that play a few times. It was Kenny Young. If he did not lose sight of the ball he would have been in position for the stop.

He had a good game. That play he missed. I just remembered Aikman said that.

Was that the one where his back was towards the hole and he was just standing there looking for something to do? I think I remember seeing a replay with Aikman saying something like that.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Was that the one where his back was towards the hole and he was just standing there looking for something to do? I think I remember seeing a replay with Aikman saying something like that.

Yes.

He wasn’t turned properly toward the play… He was sort of looking right, the runner came to his left.