Big Bad Brian Allen

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Ballhawk

Please don't confuse my experience for pessimism!
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I saw the biggest difference in our line play on Stafford's last touchdown, when he stepped up in the pocket to make the throw instead
of the pocket being pushed back into his face before he could throw.
That right there told me we had a better center.
 

BonifayRam

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He was definitely dealing with a challenging front. What is great is he played like an average starting Center, some good stuff and some bad. Overall that's a nice upgrade for us over last year, as Blythe had more whiffs than good plays.

Another thing I am seeing improvement in is coordination among the OL and I suspect it has to do with Carberry keeping guys in specific roles vice overdoing the cross-training. Our new OL coach is off to a good start.

And lastly the threat from the backfield matters to the OL as well as it affects what teams are willing to scheme up. Nobody is going to be afraid of the run game from watching that first win, they're gonna be afraid of being torched, so going forward we're gonna see more nickel looks from defenses and more aggression on the blitz. Not too worried about the blitz due to 9's ability to diagnose/anticipate, but when Stafford starts seeing loaded secondaries they're gonna need to be able to run that shit and counter it. So that next step/concern for me is the Rams being able to do that vs nickel looks.
So glad to see the duo of QB/OC (Allen/Stafford) get off to a decent start! Give them something good to build on from here. If it had not...I would have been eating a boatload of Crow in here @ ROD that we were discussing earlier last week:sick2:...after remaining so positive on Brian Allen for so long against the grain in here.

Due to NFL rules now the Rams will always dress and go with at least 8 active OL'ers. There is no reason in this current place & time with this Ram OL to be wasting so valuable time on any cross-training. Coach Carberry has enough experience in his OL unit (14 total in all) to cover all problems that could arise. The OL is well blended to meet any challenge from my point of view.

I'll still maintain that Carberry should be working hard on finding his best "Game Day "Swing Reserve OG" for this Rams offense but for now, it's manageable even excluding Bobby Evans from the equation. Coleman Shelton, Rookie Alaric Jackson & a healthy Tremayne Anchrum provide the Rams with some possible good Swing Reserve OG prospects.

With another week of practice under his belt, Sony Michel should be seen in the backfield more often to spell Henderson with a slight uptick in running plays per series would greatly help this offense. Sony Michel has 3 seasons as the starter for a championship team so we should begin to see some of that here shortly & that is positive stuff on the horizon for our team.
 

Merlin

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Yeah Michel is just gonna need time. Going from the efficient calls of Erhardt-Perkins to the WCO with it's gobbledygook nomenclatures is a lot of memorization. I figure they will get him to know the basic run plays first for when they want to mash him late with big leads. But at some point he's gonna need to know it all. Hope he's studying hard because he should really help us once he's online. :thumbsup1:
 

CGI_Ram

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BonifayRam

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How did Brian Allen and the Rams o-line perform against the Colts?​

Brian Allen and the offensive line are playing well and quieting skeptics.

By Christopher Daniel Sep 21, 2021
1632244801569.png

One of the biggest concerns amongst Los Angeles Rams fans going into the season was how the offensive line would perform with Brian Allen taking over at center, but after the first two games, Allen and the rest of the offensive line have at least temporarily quelled the concerns of those outside of the Rams facility.

Sunday’s 27-24 road victory against the Indianapolis Colts was made possible in part by solid performances across the board from the big guys up front. Quarterback Matthew Stafford was afforded clean pockets throughout the game, especially in the first half and the Rams only allowed one sack on the day.

The O-Line “Numbers” in Week 2

Sacks allowed: 1

Colts DE Al-Quadin Muhammad blew past the inside of Andrew Whitworth

Penalties: 0

Pressures: 4

Matthew Stafford was pressured on 12.5% of his dropbacks


View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1439667042911760384


When did the LA line eventually relent enough to let the QB be touched?

Other than a busted play where Stafford dropped to the turf to simply play another down, the Colts defense didn’t get their first hit on Stafford until just under three minutes left in the second quarter when defensive lineman DeForest Buckner beat left guard David Edwards before getting a nice shot in. Fortunately, Stafford was still able to hit Cooper Kupp with a pinpoint accurate pass to pick up the first down.

Later in the drive, Buckner got another hit on Stafford as defensive end Ben Banogu got immediate pressure, beating right tackle Rob Havenstein and forcing the Pro Bowl quarterback to climb an otherwise secure pocket. Buckner’s relentless pursuit resulted in an incomplete pass on third and long. Stafford often had all day to throw or would climb into the pocket and find a throw.


View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1439667298449690632


Though it was a bit of a slow start, the Rams o-line also performed well in the run game. LA’s running backs averaged 3.8 yards per carry in the first half. Similar to Week 1 versus the Chicago Bears, the Rams show greater commitment to the run in the second half, and it paid off as Los Angeles running backs Darrell Henderson and Sony Michel averaged 4.5 yards per carry, including a two yard touchdown to open the third quarter.

Allen is starting to silence all doubters.

I myself must admit I was mildly (very) concerned about Allen being named the starter at center. However, he had solid outing against the Colts, where he was credited with not allowing a single pressure.

According to Pro Football Focus (insert grain of salt), Allen is the second highest graded center in the NFL, behind only Frank Ragnow of the Detroit Lions, the highest paid center in the league.

brian_allen_pff.JPG

If Allen and the rest of the offensive line continue on this pace, the sky is the limit for this offense. After performing exceptionally well against two teams that made the playoffs in 2020 on the strength of their defense, Allen and company face their toughest test yet: the defensive line of the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Sunday, a team stacked with talent on all sides of the field.

Can someone make sure Vita Vea gets left in Tampa? Maybe Brian Allen can actually help Rams fans forget that he’s there this weekend.
 
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Merlin

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OL is the least of my worries right now and that feels pretty damn good tbh. :thumbsup1:
 

BonifayRam

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OL is the least of my worries right now and that feels pretty damn good tbh. :thumbsup1:
I would agree the early plan for the OL then modified once TC began has worked out just fine. Carberry flushing out Bobby Evans from being a starter and inserting Allen as a starter has won me over.:clap::welcome:

It's some of the other units that have me really concerned mostly on that defensive side. If the Rams front five can not get a good amount of pressure on Brady........then the back 6 are going to be :owned:by Brady .....outside of Jalen Ramsey.
 

den-the-coach

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get a good amount of pressure on Brady........then the back 6 are going to be :owned:by Brady .....outside of Jalen Ramsey.

Tough to get to Brady whether he's in the North or the South and when you do, usually the Refs throw a flag to protect him. With that being posted, my hope is to get more pressure to at the very minimum bang him around a bit.

I also believe the Rams can attack the back end of the Buccaneer defense with hope of a DeSean Jackson sighting.
 

OC--LeftCoast

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Well I don't expect the 75% or so of our fine community to admit maybe they got this one wrong, what a difference a year and decent pass pro center make.
 

Loyal

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Well I don't expect the 75% or so of our fine community to admit maybe they got this one wrong, what a difference a year and decent pass pro center make.
I am happily wrong about Brian Allen. But in all fairness, we have seen many marginal linemen, defensive and offensive, needing "development" who were quietly cut after a year or two. Maybe we didn't need Creed Humphreys after all, because that Mother-effer can't run a go route like Tutu, to save his life! Right @den-the-coach ?
 

Tano

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Well I don't expect the 75% or so of our fine community to admit maybe they got this one wrong, what a difference a year and decent pass pro center make.
Well to be honest, I didn't watch too much film of Brian Allen in 2019. So I can't really admit to anything other than I didn't know how he played.

I usually don't watch offensive linemen too much unless someone is getting complained a lot about and .... um you know who I started watching film of.
 

LARAMSinFeb.

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Well I don't expect the 75% or so of our fine community to admit maybe they got this one wrong, what a difference a year and decent pass pro center make.
I'm personally glad people express reasonable concerns and prognostications on this forum. The quality of discourse would take a dive without it.
 

Psycho_X

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Well I don't expect the 75% or so of our fine community to admit maybe they got this one wrong, what a difference a year and decent pass pro center make.
75%? Is there one person who can prove that they were excited at the thought of Brian Allen being our starter before August? Some were a little more disrespectful for sure but I don't remember anyone being happy with that scenario back then lol. And I'm sure 100% of us don't give a shit our concerns were misplaced. :)
 

blackbart

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75%? Is there one person who can prove that they were excited at the thought of Brian Allen being our starter before August? Some were a little more disrespectful for sure but I don't remember anyone being happy with that scenario back then lol. And I'm sure 100% of us don't give a shit our concerns were misplaced. :)
@BonifayRam has been promoting him all along. I went back snd watched what I could find and thought he was the best choice if healthy.

Not really into I told you so posts, I’m just happy he is playing well so far.
 
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Kupped

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I was concerned but also pointed out he wasn’t as bad as people remembered and that the guards next to him weren’t nearly as good as the two he’s playing with now.
That and Rodrigue describing his camp performance made me feel decent about him.
 

RamsFan4Life

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75%? Is there one person who can prove that they were excited at the thought of Brian Allen being our starter before August? Some were a little more disrespectful for sure but I don't remember anyone being happy with that scenario back then lol. And I'm sure 100% of us don't give a shit our concerns were misplaced. :)
Brian is a childhood friend of my son-in-law. We met at a mich state v mich game a few years back. Brian’s big brother was with the Bears IIRC, but retired after being injured too much.

I may be the only Ram-a-holic who was excited to see him drafted, but I join the ranks in being disappointed in his efforts.

very happy to see him playing well