Official Training Camp Thread - Day Three!

[rams56]

Had a great time at Rams Park. I got to meet several ROD members, which, after following their posts for so long, was pretty cool. A good bunch of guys!

Bailey was incredible! I wish I was able to get some pics of his catches. His hands are amazing. I am really hoping he is featured more this season.

That said, most of Bailey's catches were awesome because the throws were not on target. Foles was not on today. I don't know if he is still getting his timing down with some of the guys or if it is an accuracy issue. The other thing that was pointed out and discussed was - If the first read isn't there, he gets happy feet and struggles with his 2nd and 3rd read. He is holding the ball WAY too long when going through the progressions. Is it because he is still learning the playbook and doesn't know automatically where the receivers are supposed to be? I sure hope so. I'm hoping to hear Coach's take on this in the next few days.

Mannion had the best day for the QBs. He had an interception, and a couple of (well) overthrown balls, but for the most part he was on target. If he can keep this up, #2 QB is his.

Britt had a good day. He made some really nice catches, and most of the passes to him were right were they were supposed to be.

Quick had several good catches. - one with a defender draped all over him (I believe it was Joyner). He used his size perfectly to box the defender out.

Tre Mason was looking really good. Nice burst of speed hitting the hole.

Alex Bayer is an easy guy to forget about. He made a nice catch and I had to look at my roster to see who 82 was. He made 2 more nice catches, one of which almost took his head off. Mannion threw him a ball with some extra sauce on it. It was almost on top of Bayer before he came out of his break. I still don't know how he got his hands up to catch it in time. If it were me, I'd still be in surgery having a football removed from my throat!

Pead. This guy pisses me off. All of the talent in the world, and a 'woe-is-me' attitude. For 2 years I've wanted him cut from this team. If he keeps doing what he did today, that won't be happening this year either. Bennie better step up his game because Pead was bringing it. Did I mention he pisses me off? Grrr.

The defense in general had a great day. It would be hard to single any of them out. They were in the backfield on most plays - that includes most of the nice plays that I referenced up above. In a real game, those plays never would have happened because the QB would have been buried in the turf. I hope that changes once the pads come on. I have zero concerns about them being ready to go on week 1 (with exception to Gaines' injury - tbd).

Joyner had a rough start, but about 1/2 through the practice, he started making some really nice plays.

Gaines got tangled up with Britt and went down. He was laying on the field being attended to by the trainers for several minutes. You could tell he was really hurting. He was able to walk off the field on his own, but it didn't look good.

Emory Blake was down on the far sideline for a long time. He was having his foot/ankle looked at. I didn't see when/how he got off the field.

T.J. McDonald got man-handled on one play and didn't care for it. There was a couple extra shoves after the whistle. That lead to a punch - I believe by Cook - that would make Isaiah Battle proud. At that point, neither was backing down and 3/4 the team swarmed in. It was hard to tell what all was happening but McDonald ended up getting taken down. I read someone else thought Jamon Brown was in on it too? I can't say for sure. These guys are ready to put the pads on though.

Offensive Line.
This is a hard one. They aren't in pads, so it is very hard to judge where they are.
Havenstein got beat on the edge pretty bad on a play. Other than that, I didn't notice him. (That is a good thing) I didn't see the D coming from that edge while he was there.
Jones got pushed around at center quite a bit. I wasn't impressed with Barnes with the 1 on 1 drills. I tried to follow Rhaney, but with everything going on, I only watched a few plays and he held his own.
Washington, Bond, D. Williams and Wang were turnstiles.
Reynolds seemed ok.

I think that this season is going to hinge on the offense and if the line can come together, and Foles has to get the ball out quickly and accurately - even if it is to his 2nd or 3rd read. After seeing practice today, I have concerns.

Just my take on the day. I'm hoping to make practice Tuesday.

T

Thank you.... very much appreciated. ...great report. .......

Go Rams.........

 

[rams56]

My take on the day:

LOTS of good talk with Coach O and several ROD members and their families. Great weather, football, new friends, and cold beer!

My player of the day is... Bailey. Dude is a stud. Forget about it. He BETTER be featured this season. Every time I looked up he was hauling in a pass. He's all in every play.

Honorable mention goes to Mannion. Bold prediction, he's our #2. I'm not kidding. He's accurate, athletic, a fast release, and the least intercepted of the 3 non-starters.

I'm sorry, I'm not going to comment on the O line at all. It's just too early and too complicated for me. They made great plays and also got crushed by the best D line in the NFL. The Center debate will have to wait for a better mind BUT I will ad that no one was calling out Rhaney like previous centers.

This was Foles worst day in my mind, but it was still very good at times. Dude can throw. The consensus I heard was either his skills take a nose dive after the first read or he's not familiar enough with the playbook yet. Let's hope it's the later. Still, he's a threat every down. He would have been hammered by this D-Line which is a good thing.

Being that I have a real hope that an American hero makes the team, I want to mention that Daniel Rodriguez was fielding punts again and Jeff Garcia stayed after to throw to him, like they were friends. He hasn't dropped a pass or a punt that I've seen all camp. Dude is all motor. I smell an upset on the 53.

I will be posting some GIFs tonight.

Most important, there will be a Coach O report soon. Be patient. I'm certain it will be worth the wait.

Wow....great report. ...thank you....wish I could be there.......

Go Rams.........

 

[fastcat]

I don't get the Pead love... honestly what has he ever done on the field....?? Nothing besides fumble, hesitate the the hole, miss holes, and is the most indesicive player I have ever watched outside of high school football. The only thing he has flashed is speed and that he can pass block. But in game action he hasn't gotten alot of snaps so I'm not really too confident in that. His problem is in between the ears. If he ain't got that together by now cut the guy. But we will see in preseason.

 

[Tortoise]

Isn't Mannion dealing with the exact same circumstance, and yet nothing but glowing reviews (maybe Mannion is held to a lower standard, there could be many reasons).

Honestly I have no choice but to let it play out, but it doesn't enthuse me too much.

I do think that Foles is held to a higher standard, but I would expect that from your #1. He also had most of the reps, so there was a lot of focus on him.
Mannion had some mistakes, but looked better than Keenum and Davis.

 

[iBruce]

Hoping Gaines's injury isn't bad. Really hoping we get through camp healthy.

 

[Legatron4]

Isn't Mannion going against the 2's? That's a big difference.

 

[RamBill]

Rodger Saffold talks about the Rams offensive line and how he’s helping the young players. From Fox 2.

Watch Saffold Talk Rams O-Line

 

[RamBill]

Fox 2 Rams Training Camp Report for Sunday August 2. Includes comments from Nick Foles, Robert Quinn and an interview with WR Tavon Austin.

Watch Fox 2's Training Camp Report

 

[Alan]

CodeMonkey with a double edged sword:
2) We will be able to run the ball. I saw some very nice running lanes out there and we certainly have the horses.

What's the corollary to that? We're going to need our D to stop Marshawn.

 

[RamzFanz]

Isn't Mannion dealing with the exact same circumstance, and yet nothing but glowing reviews (maybe Mannion is held to a lower standard, there could be many reasons).

Honestly I have no choice but to let it play out, but it doesn't enthuse me too much.

Personally I think he is being held to a lower standard. He's a pleasant surprise over what we expected. Over the three days, he wasn't better than Foles, just the best of the rest.

As for Foles, he's made some very good throws. Lots of them. I think the main question at this point surrounds holding the ball and it's too early in my mind to worry about. JMHO

 

[Legatron4]

What's the corollary to that? We're going to need our D to stop Marshawn.

Has Marshawn ever even had 100 yards against us?

 

[RAGRam]

Has Marshawn ever even had 100 yards against us?

 

[Legatron4]

View attachment 8715

Thanks Rag. We've shut him down pretty well with the exception of 2012. And even then he didn't do much damage since we beat them once.

 

[RamzFanz]

A late haymaker. Oops, missed.

 

[RamzFanz]

Gaines:

 

[RamzFanz]

Gurley:

 

[Alan]

Has Marshawn ever even had 100 yards against us?

I could have just said we need to play well against the run. I picked Marshawn only because he's on a run centric team.
2013
WK 3: Cowgirls D. Murray 26 for 175 yds
WK4: Whiners F. Gore 20 for 153 yds
WK6: Texans A. Foster 20 for 141
WK8: Shehags M.Lynch 8 for 23 yds
WK9: Titans C. Johnson 23 for 150 yds
WK12: Bears M. Forte 16 for 77 yds
WK17: Shehags M.Lynch 23 for 97 yds Close enough.
2014
WK1: Vikings C. Patterson 3 for 102 yds; A. Peterson 21 for 75 yds
WK2: Bucs B. Rainey 22 for 144 yds
WK3: Cowgirls D. Murray 24 for 100 yds
WK5: Eggles Team 33 for 145 yds
WK7: Shehags R. Wilson 7 for 106 yds; M.Lynch 18 for 33 yds; Team 29 for 171 yds
WK8: Chiefs Team 33 for 140 yds
WK12: Chargers R. Mathews 12 for 105 yds
WK15: Cards Team 33 for 143 yds
WK16: Giants A. Williams 26 for 110 yds
WK17: Shehags M.Lynch 14 for 60 yds & R. Turbin 11 for 53 yds Close enough.
2012
WK4: M. Lynch 20 for 118 yds
WK17: M. Lynch 18 for 100 yds

 

[Mojo Ram]

 

[Rams43]

Gawd, I've enjoyed these camp reports and follow up comments. Thanks to all!

Just a word about Foles' occasional struggles.

Sounds like he's been dealing with frequent jailbreak type pressure from our front four. Let's face it, our OL youngsters are facing possibly the best DL in the league. That's a steep learning curve.

Donald, for example, might very well be the best DT in the league already. He's been described as "unblockable" since the Senior Bowl of '14. He, alone, is a load. Then there's Brockers, Fairley, Quinn, Hayes, and the rest of that crew...

We need to keep things in perspective as we watch Foles and the OL youngsters grow and gel.

On a positive note, our run blocking sounds like it's already pretty decent, even against this front seven. That's encouraging.

When the pads go on and the reps pile up, I suspect that the O will slowly begin to assert itself.

Another thing. And this has been mentioned elsewhere several times. Iron sharpens iron. Our D will turbocharge our O development, especially the OL. After practicing against these guys, the real games might seem to be a day at the beach. Lol.

 

[LACHAMP46]

I'm hoping to make practice Tuesday.

Me too...Great job T!