Early thoughts on Rams-Bears

[jimitroutboy]

I think its a low scoring game. Deep middle is not as secure for the Bears as it should be with the Tampa Two.

Watching the replay of the Redskins game. The two inside linebackers for the Redskins were over aggressive all day long and kept crashing the line. This left the middle open all day long. In addition they kept getting cut off and blocked as a result when Richardson took off to the outside. They were in man much of the time on the outside but with no help on the inside.

In addition there is a rumor out of Washington that Raheem Morris is taking some of the play calls away from Haslett and is in more favor with the Shanahans. If true that bodes well for the two first round picks yet to come.....more turmoil in DC is a good thing football wise.

Chicago is a mess offensively but still quite a force defensively. The tackle Melton is excellent. Peppers although sitting out today in practice should start.

Cutler has a habit of stinking it up one game and then playing lights out the next game.

In addition you have the awful Soldier Field turf and a young team playing on the road.

After watching the replay I am even impressed with the way Schotty studied the film and saw where they could business against the Redskins. I would think that the three tight ends could get their number called a lot more in this game.
Follow me on twitter @jimirams

 

[bluecoconuts]

The Chicago defense doesn't change much, if Sam can identify weak points I expect him to be able to put enough points on the board to win it. Easier said than done of course, but I have faith in him naturally.

 

[cfin5256]

I think we'll win. There are chemistry concerns with Cutler and the rest of the team so I think the defense will have success in slowing down their offense, though I think we'll give up a big play to Marshall somewhere along the way. I'm also reassured by the way Sam played in Detroit; he was damn solid in a tough environment. I'm confident he'll make enough plays for us to get out of there at 2-1.

 

[Iron Lion]

How long until Deion is singing "Sam, ooooh Saaaaaam"

 

[Faceplant]

How long until Deion is singing "Sam, ooooh Saaaaaam"

Could be a while, but if he continues to play smart, turn over/sack free football it could happen. What do you think of his play thus far?

 

[Ram_Fan]

Inc. long post...

To me it all comes down to the trenches....Like always.

Right now I am very impressed with what Boudreau has done with this O-Line this year. Last year if we lost any of our O-line it would be game over no matter what. Well it didn't' matter if we lost someone last year. They were BAD!! This year they just keep plugging guys in, and they are performing decently enough to give time for Bradford to throw, and open some holes for our RB's.

Honestly having Long and Quinn going up against our Tackles in practice everyday is helping our Tackles out with elite pass rushers. The experience that they get from the DE's is enough to give Bradford some time to let him step up, and get the pass off cleanly.

Sam is helping out the O-line as well with this quick release, and he's being decisive with the ball. Something about Bradford starting at the end of the Detroit game seems more poised in the pocket, and stepping into his throws.

I know this weekend they have to go up against a tandem of Peppers and Idonije. I am sure our plan is to at least have help on these two, or have the TE/RB chip off the line. I know their base defense is a Cover-2, and the weakest part of that scheme is along the seams/between the hash marks. If anything this will be a good time to hopefully exploit it with Kendricks. Kendricks could be sooo good if he just catches the ball consistently, and I think Bradford will trust him like he does with Danny.

I am thinking the Rams will still pound the ball, and then set up the Play-action pass. I haven't really seen the Bears play this year, but their LB's are pretty quick, and it will be hard to turn the corner on outside to sweep runs. We shall see....

The D

Couple of things that need to happen. One and foremost is control the trenches. It's harder to control without Brockers in there. It seems to be that our interior isn't push or holding their ground when runs up the middle. To me this week it's one of the biggest concern I have. We need to shore up the DT/NT and close those running lanes. I saw during preseason that Brockers was taking on like 2 guys sometimes, and he didn't move back. It was amazing to see that. I knew it was preseason, but having him in there was kinda like night and day.

Another small tid bit is that Quinn likes to crash inside a lot, and he gets pinned in during run plays. He needs to be more disciplined like Long. If Quinn does that he will be more of a wrecking ball. During passing plays Quinn's so fast that he leaves the line after Long, but still gets to the QB at the same time.

As for Chris Long, this past game....I think he is in the offensive huddle hearing the snap count. I mean it's flawless, and the timing he gets off the snap is really amazing. It looks like Long takes off as soon as the Center picks the ball up, and before the QB touches it under the Center. Sometimes it looks like it's off-sides on his part, but that's just beautiful timing.

LB's....I have mix reviews about them. JL is solid, but I think he can make more plays if he had Brockers eating up the blockers. Most of the time he gets our D into good position with some of his audibles that he's calling at the line. I just wish he would hit like a Mack Truck, but I know he isn't like a Ray Lewis/Patrick Willis type, but more of a wrap up tackler. Nothing wrong with that, because it's a sure tackle. I am old school football and love LB's that force fumbles.

I am going to put Safeties and OLB's together. They both need to cover better in passing situations. Sometimes they look lost out there in space. I know we play some zone, but to leave someone open in an area with no one around in 5-7yds of the area is not good. If you have an OLB playing underneath and a Safety playing over the top there should be little room for a QB to throw. It seemed when we play zone that the Receivers that were running down the seam were wide open A LOT.

The OLB's need to attack the edges more consistently, and disengage of blocks better during run plays. The safeties been pretty decent during run plays. Is it me or am I the only one who really HATES Craig Dahl out there. I can't wait for Stewart to get back in the line up. Mikell in my opinion isn't playing to his potential. He makes some plays, but gets burned or misses a tackle here and there. These two positions are the key weak links in our defense. If I was to plan for the Rams I would attack these positions.

Corners....What a sight to see, and not worry too much about opposing WR's. A lot of people don't give our CB's justice, and it will bite them back later. Having 3-4 solid CB's in this league is going to be good for any team. This league has turned into a pass happy era.

The double move that got Jenkins burned on that bomb last week is a lesson to be learned by the rookie. Overall I am very happy with this unit. If Fletcher can only have soft hands he will have couple INT's already...Courtney (/shakes head) I am glad his on our team. Not only can he cover, tackle, soft hands, but also get into a WR's head!!! Without that personal foul last weekend. We might have been going into OT. Like they say in the NFL 80% mental and 20% brawn. This unit goes well with our Defensive end unit. The QB doesn't have much time to throw, and at the same time the Corners cover pretty well. Add those two together...it equals to good things for the Defense.

Special teams....I don't have to talk about GZ. We all know he's money. I am one of the people that gets happy for him to come and kick. Hekker was just decent until those pivotal kicks in the 4th quarter of both games. It change the whole out look in field position. I was impressed with that. The punt block by Mulli was awesome...Was nice to see Bradford return the favor for the block.

The kick off coverages during punts seem pretty good where guys stayed in their lanes and make the tackles. They are more disciplined this year, and it helps with the hang time of the punt to be a little longer. Compared to last year they weren't...Look at Peterson's Punt Returns for TD's to win the games.

Oh man sorry for the wall, but it's been a while where I had to talk about great things about the Rams. It's really nice to see in these past two games the changes from previous regime.

Mahalo for reading!!

 

[Thordaddy]

I think its a low scoring game. Deep middle is not as secure for the Bears as it should be with the Tampa Two.

Watching the replay of the Redskins game. The two inside linebackers for the Redskins were over aggressive all day long and kept crashing the line. This left the middle open all day long. In addition they kept getting cut off and blocked as a result when Richardson took off to the outside. They were in man much of the time on the outside but with no help on the inside.

In addition there is a rumor out of Washington that Raheem Morris is taking some of the play calls away from Haslett and is in more favor with the Shanahans. If true that bodes well for the two first round picks yet to come.....more turmoil in DC is a good thing football wise.

Chicago is a mess offensively but still quite a force defensively. The tackle Melton is excellent. Peppers although sitting out today in practice should start.

Cutler has a habit of stinking it up one game and then playing lights out the next game.

In addition you have the awful Soldier Field turf and a young team playing on the road.

After watching the replay I am even impressed with the way Schotty studied the film and saw where they could business against the Redskins. I would think that the three tight ends could get their number called a lot more in this game.
Follow me on twitter @jimirams

Haslett got a 1 year contract extension yesterday, just sayin' there was a rumor Sj was benched too.

 

[classicpony]

Haslett got a 1 year contract extension yesterday, just sayin' there was a rumor Sj was benched too.

Its only a rumor, football rumors start with BS and end in SJ39 running. I seen he was hurt & the trainer working on him on the sideline.

 

[Iron Lion]

How long until Deion is singing "Sam, ooooh Saaaaaam"

Could be a while, but if he continues to play smart, turn over/sack free football it could happen. What do you think of his play thus far?

So far its been underneath stuff, the Skins for some reason didn't care to take that away, or were unable to. I still need to see more. He hasn't hit that 30th start yet.

 

[Username]

How long until Deion is singing "Sam, ooooh Saaaaaam"

Could be a while, but if he continues to play smart, turn over/sack free football it could happen. What do you think of his play thus far?

So far its been underneath stuff, the Skins for some reason didn't care to take that away, or were unable to. I still need to see more. He hasn't hit that 30th start yet.

Wrong.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/splits/_/ ... m-bradford

 

[Thordaddy]

Haslett got a 1 year contract extension yesterday, just sayin' there was a rumor Sj was benched too.

Its only a rumor, football rumors start with BS and end in SJ39 running. I seen he was hurt & the trainer working on him on the sideline.

Well I'm not sayin' what jimi heard is BS, for ALL I know it's completely true, just adding info . The contract extension may have been in the works for some time.
As for the SJ thing that IMO was a viral rumor and illustrates how fast BS can become "known fact".

 

[Iron Lion]

What rows/columns are you referring me to, Username?

 

[classicpony]

Haslett got a 1 year contract extension yesterday, just sayin' there was a rumor Sj was benched too.

Its only a rumor, football rumors start with BS and end in SJ39 running. I seen he was hurt & the trainer working on him on the sideline.

Well I'm not sayin' what jimi heard is BS, for ALL I know it's completely true, just adding info . The contract extension may have been in the works for some time.
As for the SJ thing that IMO was a viral rumor and illustrates how fast BS can become "known fact".

SJ39 was never benched for the spike, I seen the trainer working on him on the sideline, he wasn't pushing on his groin for the fun of it. Thats the direction I'm coming from.

 

[Iron Lion]

he wasn't pushing on his groin for the fun of it.

Oh... so I am a freak? I'm the only one who does this?

 

[Dochal]

I'm concerned about the possible Peppers-Hunter matchup.

Rams' D-line needs to make its presence felt in this game.

Expect the Bears to target Dahl and Jenkins in pass coverage.

Expect the Bears to run even with Forte out until the Rams show them they can't.

Expect the Rams to test the Bears secondary deep.

Lots of screens and 3-step drops to slow the Bears' rush.

Rams can run on these guys.

Close game. Turnovers help Rams grab a win in a tough place.

All IMO, of course...

 

[Warner4Prez]

I'm concerned about the possible Peppers-Hunter matchup.

Rams' D-line needs to make its presence felt in this game.

Expect the Bears to target Dahl and Jenkins in pass coverage.

Expect the Bears to run even with Forte out until the Rams show them they can't.

Expect the Rams to test the Bears secondary deep.

Lots of screens and 3-step drops to slow the Bears' rush.

Rams can run on these guys.

Close game. Turnovers help Rams grab a win in a tough place.

All IMO, of course...

I think you're definitely on the right track.
It's going to be a battle of 'which bottom barrel OT's are better?' Both units seem to be over matched by the opposition. In my opinion Bradford is better at feeling the heat in comparison to Cutler, so hopefully they can rattle his cage and make an impact on da Bears' passing attack a'la Clay Matthews last week.
I expect the Bears to run a lot more this week though. Could be problematic, Bush is no slouch and will be a bit tougher to drag down than Alfred Morris or Kevin Smith. Bears might be cued in on Amendola early on which will hopefully open things up towards the sidelines for Gibson and Smith. Hope to see Jackson, but if he's a no go I have no doubt that Richardson can tote the rock 20 times.

 

[Username]

What rows/columns are you referring me to, Username?

Are you the one saying Bradford only throws the "underneath stuff?"

Those are his splits. Looks at the pass attempts.

 

[Iron Lion]

What rows/columns are you referring me to, Username?

Are you the one saying Bradford only throws the "underneath stuff?"

Those are his splits. Looks at the pass attempts.

Yes I'm the one who said that.

I looked at the pass attempts. I do not see your point other than that it is a good completion percentage, which, while good, is actually suggestive of what I'm arguing.

The only stat relevant to what I'm claiming is the breakdown his completions and attempts on passes of certain yards traveled through the air. And this stat breakdown is not present. There isn't even a stat present that tells you all completions of certain depths that does not take YAC into account.

So in other words I want to see something like,

x/y completions on passes traveled 0-5 yards through the air
x/y completions on passes traveled 6-10 yards through the air
etc

My claim is that the 30+ yard passes are very rarely attempted, and also not very successful when attempted.

 

[-X-]

What rows/columns are you referring me to, Username?

Are you the one saying Bradford only throws the "underneath stuff?"

Those are his splits. Looks at the pass attempts.

Yes I'm the one who said that.

I looked at the pass attempts. I do not see your point other than that it is a good completion percentage, which, while good, is actually suggestive of what I'm arguing.

The only stat relevant to what I'm claiming is the breakdown his completions and attempts on passes of certain yards traveled through the air. And this stat breakdown is not present. There isn't even a stat present that tells you all completions of certain depths that does not take YAC into account.

So in other words I want to see something like,

x/y completions on passes traveled 0-5 yards through the air
x/y completions on passes traveled 6-10 yards through the air
etc

My claim is that the 30+ yard passes are very rarely attempted, and also not very successful when attempted.

This is last year. Which was a bad year, of course.
They haven't posted his 2012 splits yet (relative to distance).

.

 

[-X-]

Yes they have. Different source.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/player/sam ... m-bradford