OL Cutups

[Merlin]

8:51 3rd Quarter, next play, Rams on opposing 30 yard line, 1st and 10. At this point we're all thinking only good things. But Demby got somethin to say bout that loool...

Pre-snap it's pretty clear who Demby's dude is, given him being lined up in 2T and all:

Goff hasn't even faked the play action yet and Demby's already ignoring his dude:

Protections at the drop not good:

Coverage at the drop is whole lotta nothin:

Goff flushes and basically throws it away at Everett's back:

 

[A.J. Hicks]

2:39 2nd Quarter, ball on their 38 yard line, 1st and 10. Last drive of the first half. I think at this point McVay noted the open space on the outside run on the previous drive and pulls the trigger with TG carrying the ball and good thing...

Pre-snap shows a nice 4 on 3 on the right edge with open hash space:
View attachment 30395

At the pitch Jordan almost wrecks our day. I wonder whether Demby was supposed to take him instead of the interior DL (would make sense since Demby is the new element on the OL and the DL should be out of the play by the pitch action) but it was close either way:
View attachment 30396


Gurley looking at great blocking now. Allen erases the LB. Woods as usual has his guy covered. Hav and Higs out in front that's a lot of beef.
View attachment 30397

TG picks up a cool 20:
View attachment 30398

Cooper Kupp is incredible!

Being asked to make that block, from where he is, on Cam Jordan! He looks absolutely beat initially and somehow he manages to get in the way.

 

[Merlin]

I'd love to see some cutups of Joseph Day from the Saints game. He played much better than game 1.

Trying to get all the important snaps done on the offense first. Did this because of all the crazy talk re: our interior OL to prove that they really played pretty well. Outside of snaps where Demby didn't know wtf he was doing of course.

Will try to put up some defensive ones before the weekend, should have some time on Friday.

 

[A.J. Hicks]

Trying to get all the important snaps done on the offense first. Did this because of all the crazy talk re: our interior OL to prove that they really played pretty well. Outside of snaps where Demby didn't know wtf he was doing of course.

Will try to put up some defensive ones before the weekend, should have some time on Friday.

I wholly appreciate this effort on your part. I always rewatch the Rams games - on condensed version. Rarely do I have the time to watch it through on the Coaches version. I've always thought if I just took the time to make notes during the game and condensed version then I could just hop around on coaches film.

Never have I really sat down and tried.

This is fantastic

 

[Merlin]

Never have I really sat down and tried.

This is fantastic

Same. It's crazy how nice it is to see what's going on. Hate to give those old bastids my money but oh well, one less trip to the neighborhood bar this month I guess.

 

[hotanez]

Thank you Merlin, I enjoyed reading this. One of the best threads I've seen on here.

 

[Merlin]

7:37 3rd Quarter, Rams ball on opposing 19 yard line, 1st and 10. This is the second clutch play in this drive by our young QB, it's a boot with a DE who is not fooled or amused lol...

Pre-snap:

Fake to TG:

Goff showing off his "sneaky" athleticism:

Goff does a great job with his eyes doesn't look at Everett until he is ready to make that risky @$$ throw:

Everett showin off that RAC ability:

 

[Merlin]

3:20 3rd Quarter, Rams on opposing 15 yard line, 1st and 10. After a play in which Brown ran for 12 yards (and it was all Brown lol blocking was meh), he gets the ball here and doesn't see a nice cutback possibility.

Pre-snap:

At the handoff:

Brown starts his cut inside:

Back against the grain for a short gainer:

 

[Merlin]

9:31 4th Quarter, Rams on their 33 yard line, 3rd and 2. McVay all-in on the pass here with empty backfield and the Saints are loading the edges (one would think Goff could moonwalk 2 yards through those gaps lol)...

Pre-snap:

Protection at the drop isn't good. Demby's already been beat (fortunately out wide), and Whit is losing the handle:

Coverage at the drop shows man, which Goff and company tend to destroy:

Demby's dude almost gets there before the ball comes out:

Similar to the play where Cooks dropped it earlier in the game it's lots of green, but this time Kupp hauls it in and it's a nice team effort with the wideouts blocking downfield with him for the, well, near-TD.

 

[Merlin]

5:27 4th Quarter, Rams have ball on their 11 yard line, 2nd and 9. Basically a four minute offense here where the goal is to burn some time and that's what they do...

Pre-snap shows the Rams finally see an 8 man box:

Blocking at the handoff shows a nice cutback lane, and TG don't miss no cutback lanes:

Foot in the ground and cut:

Big gainer for an easy 9 yards:

 

[Merlin]

So in closing here some notes...

1. Rams were given favorable run looks all game long, until the 4 minute offense window. McVay steadfastly refused to play into the looks.

2. Demby was not good. But he's a backup forced into action so not gonna put up every play where I can tear him down. Didn't want to get into that, but I will say the Rams should be looking at all options not necessarily making him the starter. My own opinion is Edwards will improve game to game, Demby will show very limited improvement. Decisions need to be made at RG until Blythe returns.

3. Interior OL was solid. Allen had his best game as a pro. Boom played better than in week one and that's considering he had a rough matchup on pass pro at times from the RDE. Blythe was good too before he went down. These guys should improve every week too.

4. Whit & Hav aren't gonna see these ends every week. Both are quality tackles and edge blockers, the rush was just that good off the edge.

5. I doubt the Rams make a move for OL depth. Cost vs quality is not good in the regular season, so it'd have to be a special thing where someone comes available but even then the Rams won't be the only team interested.

Will try to put up some defensive stills Friday cheers.

 

[TexasRam]

Excellent work Merlin!

i agree 100 percent with your opening points regarding our oline individual assessments etc. and your notes within the cuts.

i’ll go through this whole cut up later but wanted to add my notes from reviewing the oline a 4th time as of today.

1. The interior Oline was solid in the first half. The breakdowns started right when the third quarter began.

2. The holding calls in this game by Havenstein and Boom combined with the false start by woods and a few other penalties made the offense look worse than they actually played. and this sloppy ness can be corrected.

3. Goff as you noted had one hell of a game escaping rush as you noted. i counted 4 times he overcame pass pro breakdowns and completed the balm for 1st down or positive gain. There were other completions made with a collapsing pocket as well.

4. I counted a total of 5 interior oline pass pro breakdowns in the second half, not counting the pressures havenstein and Whitt gave up.

5 Brian allen only had two pass pro mishaps all game. He was real good in the run game and line calls. Note: Rankins did not play.

6 Boom and Demby were involved in 3 pass pro mishaps.

 

[GabesHorn]

Yeah been trying to tell people Allen played great. It's that stigma thing I guess lol.

Re: Boom keep in mind he drew Davenport on some of the pass plays which was clearly a matchup the Saints forced to get pressure. That's a really tough matchup for any young OG.

I am very happy with both of them tbh.

Merlin first I want to give you my full respect as I've read you and even sought out your posts on the other board for many many decades as to know I'm gonna read something important on our RAMS. In all these clips I only see Demby and his #73 a couple of times and only at the line as we in our zone OL scheme we can try and actually hide a major weak spot if they have the players to break the dam and get to GOFF will always be another teams goal. Sorry to see Blythe go down and it could have been worse as I saw up close a man almost as big as I am go down like that.

We do so much laterally it helps disguise weak spots like the big one that can really cost us. I'm sure you've read RFL's long post on the other board. As he also broke down every play Demby played Sunday. I hate to say I totally agree and even saw it as a worse grade as I was graded and watched black and white projector film of myself for too many hours in my many games played. My OL coach was an ex drill sergeant and Demby couldn't of played on his team. I see (NO in dark BLACK) NO PUNCH and no effort and even lining up and giving away all his angles and never does more than try to get in someones way with no real effort and so many wrong choices that could seriously get Goff hurt.

I studied all PS games also and was shocked when Demby made the 53man squad. Cleveland will study this film I assure you and will stack there nose guard and LB as #55 Davis beat Demby so bad along with the nose guard we were too far ahead till they pinpointed our biggest weakness. I agree Allen is getting better but he has not gelled enough yet of course and is still making mistakes passing his man and the communication with Demby is zero. Demby's EFFORT is his worst thing as he instantly becomes a hand clapping cheerleader after a play like Malcolm Browns 11 yard gain that he just wiffed on his guy and watched Brown run by him. No help given. Quick feet for such a person who has NO punch and is really weak to his inside shoulder. It's a turnstile. if we didn't do so much sideways and in zone he would be pushed in the backfield every play if we ran a power offense.

I know Kromer has seen all I've seen nd had Demby in the OL room getting his ass chewed out over all I and others who can break don film have seen. Havenstein had a really bad day with Cam Jordan and only 3 holding calls on him with his Lobster move all refs are calling from here on out this season. Demby doe'nt even make enough contact or effort put out to EVER get a holding call on him. Blythe was our weak spot before the injury and part of the nightmare from Sully & Himself that Belichek saw and attacked our middle as we were dissected and we moved on from Sully who had give a decade of great work and brought Allen along in his reshirt year allowing him to even live with him.

I don't see us being able to redshirt Edwards and Evans in the same way this year. Edwards is obviously the first choice in our future plans but demby was chosen to be the 6th man and 1st man up due to his time in NFL and Kromer had him play every position all 4 PS games. I saw it all. Not sure we can stick with Snead and Kromers obvious long term plan. Evans is far from being our next Malcolm Brown that played next to Havenstein. Hav was given his extension but needs help with RB chips that sometimes doesn't come. More from Gurley that could help but Gurley needs to also be ready for hot reads so often out to the right.

The saints do have the personel and depth on their D line to have noticed our replacement was not up to pro standards and lined up obviously to attack his inside specifically. I am just worried about Goff and know we need another plan with who we have on our team as other teams have lost so many starting OL and at least we have a couple options and we can't afford to put Demby in again. I'm not an alarmist and you know RFL isn't either and we are both going against McVay's kind words that Demby settled in later in the game after Blythe went out and he never did. He ctually got Goff hit 3 times and fumbled once due to his decisions. I've seen women with much more fight and effort and at his size I know why the Lions cut him after we did. They had seen what I did doing due diligenceand caring bout our replacement we are stuck with for at least 2 weeks or 2 games. Merlin I trust if you put in the effort and focus on everything after Demby entered the game. Not that much to study. playing one and barely using his actual butt to just TRY to put it in between defensive players and actually thinking that is his job. Disgracefull. I have lots of time to do the studying. Will we get lucky and not have browns see this weakness? Too much of a risk to me as I see us having to run on the Browns to beat them and not play defense against the young DE that wants to muscle his way without technique and had sacks and personal fouls against jets.

 

[blackbart]

Nice job, love the different looks to see what's happening during the play and how they react. Not sure why they wouldn't run against that front, coach has to see that and feed Gurley.

 

[Merlin]

I don't see us being able to redshirt Edwards and Evans in the same way this year. Edwards is obviously the first choice in our future plans but demby was chosen to be the 6th man and 1st man up due to his time in NFL and Kromer had him play every position all 4 PS games. I saw it all. Not sure we can stick with Snead and Kromers obvious long term plan. Evans is far from being our next Malcolm Brown that played next to Havenstein. Hav was given his extension but needs help with RB chips that sometimes doesn't come. More from Gurley that could help but Gurley needs to also be ready for hot reads so often out to the right.

I agree on Edwards, he's gonna be pressed into action question is whether it will be before or after Demby is given his tryout with defenses gameplanning against him. But also I am always hesitant to doubt Kromer because he's done nothing but hit home runs on decisions since he joined the staff. So I'm definitely on record wrt Edwards being the guy, but I am also expecting Kromer to make me wrong... If that makes sense lol.

 

[Merlin]

Nice job, love the different looks to see what's happening during the play and how they react. Not sure why they wouldn't run against that front, coach has to see that and feed Gurley.

I think the Rams know that wide look will limit their outside zone. Saints basically tried to pull a Pats by taking away outside zone + stacking the secondary. As the vid on twitter shows, McVay put in those toss plays to counter it.

But IMO what is needed is more inside zone and trap type plays. I'd put Edwards in there at RG and mash the interior any time a DC gave me those looks. The gaps are just ridiculous so it's hard to think the Rams can't blow that look out from the inside.

 

[RamFan503]

Awesome @Merlin . Just great perspectives and an overall fun read. I thank you. No I REALLY thank you. Great stuff.

 

[Ram65]

Great effort @Merlin that is greatly appreciated.

All in all, you are right it wasn't as bad as it appeared on TV. Great views to see the action unfold.

It will be interesting to see how Kromer and McVay move forward with Blythe's replacement. Seems like they will try to work with Demby for a start. Hopefully, with some reps this week he stands up better.

 

[tklongball]

Good Stuff. Thanks!!

 

[dolphinlover123]

@Merlin good stuff!!0