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By Nick Wagoner/Senior Writer
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Considering the plethora of injuries that have hit hard in the Rams secondary this season, there have been plenty of opportunities for young and unproven players to make a statement and grasp hold of the chance to make a name for themselves.
After watching as the likes of Ron Bartell, Bradley Fletcher, Jerome Murphy and Al Harris have been lost to season-ending injuries, there’s one young player who is making the most of his chance to show what he can do.
Josh Gordy, who didn’t play a minute in the preseason with the Rams and initially signed with the practice squad after the exhibition slate, got his first start against New Orleans on Oct. 30 and earned a permanent spot two weeks later against Cleveland.
With each passing week, Gordy has improved in every game according to defensive coordinator Ken Flajole.
“I take a guy like (CB) Josh Gordy, I know Josh is not going to get elected into the Hall of Fame but I would say this, that kid has improved in my opinion more in the last three or four weeks since he’s been in it,” Flajole said. “I think he gets as much out of his God given ability as anybody does. And those are things you look for as a coach. If guys are getting better, that’s what you look for and I think you can hang your hat on it.”
Gordy spent the first two weeks of the season on the practice squad and it wasn’t until after he had a little time in the system that he got the call up to the active roster. He then spent the next four weeks working almost exclusively on special teams before another injury opened an opportunity.
Upon making his first start, Gordy wasted no time coming up with his first career interception, snatching one from New Orleans star quarterback Drew Brees.
Since, Gordy has battled a few bumps and bruises but has begun to establish himself as a mainstay in the Rams secondary.
That was evident again last week when Gordy came up with his second interception of the season when he jumped in front of a deep out pass by Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.
“Earlier in the game they hit us with the same route combination,” Gordy said. “We kind of had trouble covering it. We saw the same alignment coming again, and we kind of knew what was coming. The front seven got great pressure on that play, forced him to throw a bad ball. I just stepped in front and (caught) it.”
Gordy has showed a little bit of a knack for jumping in front of routes and playing with good instincts. Although his completion percentage allowed is higher than he’d like, Gordy hasn’t been beaten for many big plays.
With each chance he gets to see certain routes, the better Gordy covers them.
“It was kind of route recognition,” Gordy said. “Playing the right technique puts you in the right place at the right time. When you see the ball, you become the receiver and catch it.”
All told, Gordy has actually played more snaps than any other cornerback on the roster this season and even played through an injury of his own. In fact, Gordy sat out Tuesday’s practice because of a lingering abdomen issue.
Gordy has 41 tackles, three passes defended and the two interceptions. One area he made it clear early on he wanted to improve was his run support and it has gotten better as he’s missed just three tackles on the season.
Bartell, Fletcher and Murphy are all expected to return to health and their positions in 2012 but if nothing else, Gordy has stated a pretty compelling case for being right in the mix for playing time in the defensive backfield.
“I’m proud of (him),” Flajole said. “There are other guys on our football team, but Josh Gordy comes to mind because we’re addressing the secondary and I think he’s done a marvelous job.”
SECONDARY SHIFT: Gordy and fellow cornerback Roderick Hood were the only healthy, available corners for the Rams in last week’s game against Cincinnati and that duo played the entire game.
A shoulder injury to normal starter Justin King kept him out of the game and left the Rams with just a pair of undrafted rookies in Chris Smith and Nate Ness as depth behind Gordy and Hood.
Instead of relying on those unproven youngsters to play, though, Flajole and coach Steve Spagnuolo have adjusted on the fly and deployed all of their four safeties in various roles.
Starters Darian Stewart and Quintin Mikell have moved all over the place and backups Craig Dahl and James Butler have been involved.
Needless to say, it’s been a lot of mixing and matching.
“Well if you look at the nickel, dime, whatever you want to call it defense, it’s four safeties and two corners,” Spagnuolo said. “We never have…I don’t believe at all today that we went to a three corner sub defense and that’s difficult. You’re covering a slot receiver with a safety. Craig Dahl’s battling his butt off in there and sometimes Darian Stewart’s over there. Those safeties now, I tell you what, those four safeties, a bunch of tough guys that…and they have to learn a lot. There’s been a lot of education for guys playing nickel that haven’t played nickel and Will in the sub defense that haven’t played Will. And I think they’ve done a really good job.”
HULL DONE: Rams linebacker Josh Hull missed time earlier this season with a hamstring injury but was able to fight through it and return to action eventually.
Last week, though, Hull suffered an injury he can’t overcome: a high ankle sprain that ended his season with two weeks to play. Hull was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday morning, effectively ending his season early for the second consecutive season.
In Hull’s place, the Rams signed tight end Mike McNeill, a local product who played high school football at Kirkwood and collegiately at Nebraska.
McNeill entered the league as an undrafted free agent and has spent most of the season shuttling between Indianapolis’ practice squad and active roster.
“He’s a guy that we kind of had an eye on and kind of had a chance to do it with a spot,” Spagnuolo said. “Mike wanted to come back here and be a part of our team which we thought was great.”
The addition of McNeill gives the Rams four tight ends on the roster for the first time since Michael Hoomanawanui was placed on injured reserve.
INJURY REPORT: In addition to Gordy, the Rams had quarterbacks Sam Bradford (ankle) and A.J. Feeley (thumb), end Chris Long (ankle), cornerback Justin King (shoulder) and receiver Brandon Lloyd (illness) were on the sidelines for Tuesday’s practice.
Spagnuolo said there is nothing new to report on Bradford.
“I would say the status is about the same,” Spagnuolo said. “Again, it’s not that we tried to rush him today. We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow so it’s not a push thing to find out where he is. It’s pretty much rest right now.”
Feeley is also in the same boat as he was last week.
“We still want to get him to a point where he can squeeze a football,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s not quite able to do that yet. He still has a little bit of swelling in there. the thumb on his throwing hand is a pretty important item when you are a quarterback. You just can’t function throwing the ball like that.”
In the meantime, Kellen Clemens continues to work with the first team offense.
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Gordy-Steps-Up/cc9f097e-df6d-47a7-af40-c7277c7d5be3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-eve ... 277c7d5be3</a>
Considering the plethora of injuries that have hit hard in the Rams secondary this season, there have been plenty of opportunities for young and unproven players to make a statement and grasp hold of the chance to make a name for themselves.
After watching as the likes of Ron Bartell, Bradley Fletcher, Jerome Murphy and Al Harris have been lost to season-ending injuries, there’s one young player who is making the most of his chance to show what he can do.
Josh Gordy, who didn’t play a minute in the preseason with the Rams and initially signed with the practice squad after the exhibition slate, got his first start against New Orleans on Oct. 30 and earned a permanent spot two weeks later against Cleveland.
With each passing week, Gordy has improved in every game according to defensive coordinator Ken Flajole.
“I take a guy like (CB) Josh Gordy, I know Josh is not going to get elected into the Hall of Fame but I would say this, that kid has improved in my opinion more in the last three or four weeks since he’s been in it,” Flajole said. “I think he gets as much out of his God given ability as anybody does. And those are things you look for as a coach. If guys are getting better, that’s what you look for and I think you can hang your hat on it.”
Gordy spent the first two weeks of the season on the practice squad and it wasn’t until after he had a little time in the system that he got the call up to the active roster. He then spent the next four weeks working almost exclusively on special teams before another injury opened an opportunity.
Upon making his first start, Gordy wasted no time coming up with his first career interception, snatching one from New Orleans star quarterback Drew Brees.
Since, Gordy has battled a few bumps and bruises but has begun to establish himself as a mainstay in the Rams secondary.
That was evident again last week when Gordy came up with his second interception of the season when he jumped in front of a deep out pass by Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.
“Earlier in the game they hit us with the same route combination,” Gordy said. “We kind of had trouble covering it. We saw the same alignment coming again, and we kind of knew what was coming. The front seven got great pressure on that play, forced him to throw a bad ball. I just stepped in front and (caught) it.”
Gordy has showed a little bit of a knack for jumping in front of routes and playing with good instincts. Although his completion percentage allowed is higher than he’d like, Gordy hasn’t been beaten for many big plays.
With each chance he gets to see certain routes, the better Gordy covers them.
“It was kind of route recognition,” Gordy said. “Playing the right technique puts you in the right place at the right time. When you see the ball, you become the receiver and catch it.”
All told, Gordy has actually played more snaps than any other cornerback on the roster this season and even played through an injury of his own. In fact, Gordy sat out Tuesday’s practice because of a lingering abdomen issue.
Gordy has 41 tackles, three passes defended and the two interceptions. One area he made it clear early on he wanted to improve was his run support and it has gotten better as he’s missed just three tackles on the season.
Bartell, Fletcher and Murphy are all expected to return to health and their positions in 2012 but if nothing else, Gordy has stated a pretty compelling case for being right in the mix for playing time in the defensive backfield.
“I’m proud of (him),” Flajole said. “There are other guys on our football team, but Josh Gordy comes to mind because we’re addressing the secondary and I think he’s done a marvelous job.”
SECONDARY SHIFT: Gordy and fellow cornerback Roderick Hood were the only healthy, available corners for the Rams in last week’s game against Cincinnati and that duo played the entire game.
A shoulder injury to normal starter Justin King kept him out of the game and left the Rams with just a pair of undrafted rookies in Chris Smith and Nate Ness as depth behind Gordy and Hood.
Instead of relying on those unproven youngsters to play, though, Flajole and coach Steve Spagnuolo have adjusted on the fly and deployed all of their four safeties in various roles.
Starters Darian Stewart and Quintin Mikell have moved all over the place and backups Craig Dahl and James Butler have been involved.
Needless to say, it’s been a lot of mixing and matching.
“Well if you look at the nickel, dime, whatever you want to call it defense, it’s four safeties and two corners,” Spagnuolo said. “We never have…I don’t believe at all today that we went to a three corner sub defense and that’s difficult. You’re covering a slot receiver with a safety. Craig Dahl’s battling his butt off in there and sometimes Darian Stewart’s over there. Those safeties now, I tell you what, those four safeties, a bunch of tough guys that…and they have to learn a lot. There’s been a lot of education for guys playing nickel that haven’t played nickel and Will in the sub defense that haven’t played Will. And I think they’ve done a really good job.”
HULL DONE: Rams linebacker Josh Hull missed time earlier this season with a hamstring injury but was able to fight through it and return to action eventually.
Last week, though, Hull suffered an injury he can’t overcome: a high ankle sprain that ended his season with two weeks to play. Hull was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday morning, effectively ending his season early for the second consecutive season.
In Hull’s place, the Rams signed tight end Mike McNeill, a local product who played high school football at Kirkwood and collegiately at Nebraska.
McNeill entered the league as an undrafted free agent and has spent most of the season shuttling between Indianapolis’ practice squad and active roster.
“He’s a guy that we kind of had an eye on and kind of had a chance to do it with a spot,” Spagnuolo said. “Mike wanted to come back here and be a part of our team which we thought was great.”
The addition of McNeill gives the Rams four tight ends on the roster for the first time since Michael Hoomanawanui was placed on injured reserve.
INJURY REPORT: In addition to Gordy, the Rams had quarterbacks Sam Bradford (ankle) and A.J. Feeley (thumb), end Chris Long (ankle), cornerback Justin King (shoulder) and receiver Brandon Lloyd (illness) were on the sidelines for Tuesday’s practice.
Spagnuolo said there is nothing new to report on Bradford.
“I would say the status is about the same,” Spagnuolo said. “Again, it’s not that we tried to rush him today. We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow so it’s not a push thing to find out where he is. It’s pretty much rest right now.”
Feeley is also in the same boat as he was last week.
“We still want to get him to a point where he can squeeze a football,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s not quite able to do that yet. He still has a little bit of swelling in there. the thumb on his throwing hand is a pretty important item when you are a quarterback. You just can’t function throwing the ball like that.”
In the meantime, Kellen Clemens continues to work with the first team offense.
