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Practice Report 8/30: '50/50' Chance Goff Starts at Minnesota
By Myles Simmons
[www.therams.com]
With one final practice Tuesday morning, the Rams have completed their training camp at UC Irvine.
As is well known, the franchise has been a fairly nomadic since its relocation was announced in mid-January. At long last, the Rams will have a place to call their permanent home — at least for the next few years.
“We have a huge challenge ahead of us not only with respect to the game, but also what’s going to take place when we get back,” Fisher said. “So we have to cut down the final roster and then we’ve got to pack up and head to our next home in Thousand Oaks.”
“We have a lot of work to do over the next couple of days, but I’d say by the middle part of the week, we should be ready to go [at Cal Lutheran],” Fisher added. “We should have any glitches at all.”
But even though the preseason practices are over, there is still work to be done on Thursday night against the Vikings. The Rams will head to Minnesota Wednesday afternoon for the final exhibition matchup, which will be the second NFL game played at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“It’s cool — it’s neat going into a new place,” Fisher said. “So looking forward to seeing the job that they did.”
Playing time likely has been determined, but Fisher declined to offer specifics on Tuesday. Across the league, however, many teams will traditionally not play their major contributors hoping to prevent a season-changing injury.
Nevertheless, Fisher said there’s a “50/50” chance quarterback Jared Goff starts the contest, and we’ll, “have to wait and see” if he does.
Should Goff start, it would likely mean quarterback Case Keenum — who remains in line to start Week 1 — has the night off. And Sean Mannion would handle the remaining snaps.
Goff said he has not been informed of whether or not he’ll be the first signal-caller on the field. But if he is, he’ll be ready for it.
“If that’s the case, then it’d be great,” Goff said. “It’d be something I’m more used to — in kind of getting out there and going in right away, as opposed to trying to warm up again on the sidelines. But whatever it is, I’ll be ready.”
The quarterback said he was able to learn plenty from his experience of playing the vaunted Broncos defense last week.
“Very beneficial — obviously, they’re the defending Super Bowl champions, and their defense is a big reason why,” Goff said. “They were good the other night — [we] didn’t score a touchdown. Really solid defense, so this week it will definitely help.”
Fisher said he’s looking to see Goff continue to take steps in his progression this week by continuing to get the ball out quickly and making the proper calls at the line of scrimmage.
“There’s no telling what we’re going to get out of that defense — it’s a very talented defense,” Fisher said. “So, it’s just improve the decision-making process, which he’s done each and every week.”
As for others on the roster who may get snaps, right tackle Rob Havenstein was active in practice on Tuesday and could see his first preseason action of 2016.
But by and large, this final preseason contest will have plenty of young players who will be motivated to put good plays on film not just for the Rams, but also for 31 other teams who may be potential employers.
“We’re going to go out and try to win this football game and evaluate some players,” Fisher said. “And there’s still a few players who have an opportunity to show us some things as far as an opportunity to either make the 53 or the practice-squad roster.”
When it’s all said and done, the Rams will have completed over 20 practices at UC Irvine and four preseason games in preparation for the season. With all of that work, there’s no doubt the Rams are in better shape than they were at the end of July.
“I think from a health standpoint, we’re in good shape right now. We’ve got some guys we’re counting on coming back — obviously we’ve lost a couple guys. But overall, coming out of camp, I think health-wise, we’re pretty good,” Fisher said. “Condition-wise, we’re in good shape. I think mentally and emotionally, we’re ready to compete. And we are — I mean, everybody improves from Day 1 through the end of camp. So I think we’ve done that.”
“And the guys understand the preseason games, and they understand that there’s a lot of things that go on out here from a football-scheme standpoint that we don’t do in preseason games,” Fisher continued. “So they have that realistic picture about them.”
And so as the preseason comes to a close, one factor that’s nice to have happened was getting two Ws to commence a new era in L.A.
“Regardless of what happens tomorrow night, it was great to get the two wins here at home to start off,” Fisher said.
RAMS FINALIZE FIRST ROUND OF CUTS
The Rams formally announced their cuts to reduce the roster to 75 players. Los Angles waived safety Jordan Lomax on Tuesday to complete this round.
As reported yesterday, the Rams waived kicker Taylor Bertolet, tight end Benson Browne, safety Michael Caputo, defensive tackle Zach Colvin, offensive lieman Brian Folkerts, linebacker Darreon Herring, long snapper Jeff Overbaugh, wide receiver David Richards, tight end Jake Stoneburner, tackle Jordan Swindle, and quarterback Dylan Thompson. The club waived with an injured designation fullback Zach Laskey and wide receiver Marquez North.
Additionally, Los Angeles terminated the contract of defensive lineman Quinton Coples, who had signed with the club in March.
By Myles Simmons
[www.therams.com]
With one final practice Tuesday morning, the Rams have completed their training camp at UC Irvine.
As is well known, the franchise has been a fairly nomadic since its relocation was announced in mid-January. At long last, the Rams will have a place to call their permanent home — at least for the next few years.
“We have a huge challenge ahead of us not only with respect to the game, but also what’s going to take place when we get back,” Fisher said. “So we have to cut down the final roster and then we’ve got to pack up and head to our next home in Thousand Oaks.”
“We have a lot of work to do over the next couple of days, but I’d say by the middle part of the week, we should be ready to go [at Cal Lutheran],” Fisher added. “We should have any glitches at all.”
But even though the preseason practices are over, there is still work to be done on Thursday night against the Vikings. The Rams will head to Minnesota Wednesday afternoon for the final exhibition matchup, which will be the second NFL game played at U.S. Bank Stadium.
“It’s cool — it’s neat going into a new place,” Fisher said. “So looking forward to seeing the job that they did.”
Playing time likely has been determined, but Fisher declined to offer specifics on Tuesday. Across the league, however, many teams will traditionally not play their major contributors hoping to prevent a season-changing injury.
Nevertheless, Fisher said there’s a “50/50” chance quarterback Jared Goff starts the contest, and we’ll, “have to wait and see” if he does.
Should Goff start, it would likely mean quarterback Case Keenum — who remains in line to start Week 1 — has the night off. And Sean Mannion would handle the remaining snaps.
Goff said he has not been informed of whether or not he’ll be the first signal-caller on the field. But if he is, he’ll be ready for it.
“If that’s the case, then it’d be great,” Goff said. “It’d be something I’m more used to — in kind of getting out there and going in right away, as opposed to trying to warm up again on the sidelines. But whatever it is, I’ll be ready.”
The quarterback said he was able to learn plenty from his experience of playing the vaunted Broncos defense last week.
“Very beneficial — obviously, they’re the defending Super Bowl champions, and their defense is a big reason why,” Goff said. “They were good the other night — [we] didn’t score a touchdown. Really solid defense, so this week it will definitely help.”
Fisher said he’s looking to see Goff continue to take steps in his progression this week by continuing to get the ball out quickly and making the proper calls at the line of scrimmage.
“There’s no telling what we’re going to get out of that defense — it’s a very talented defense,” Fisher said. “So, it’s just improve the decision-making process, which he’s done each and every week.”
As for others on the roster who may get snaps, right tackle Rob Havenstein was active in practice on Tuesday and could see his first preseason action of 2016.
But by and large, this final preseason contest will have plenty of young players who will be motivated to put good plays on film not just for the Rams, but also for 31 other teams who may be potential employers.
“We’re going to go out and try to win this football game and evaluate some players,” Fisher said. “And there’s still a few players who have an opportunity to show us some things as far as an opportunity to either make the 53 or the practice-squad roster.”
When it’s all said and done, the Rams will have completed over 20 practices at UC Irvine and four preseason games in preparation for the season. With all of that work, there’s no doubt the Rams are in better shape than they were at the end of July.
“I think from a health standpoint, we’re in good shape right now. We’ve got some guys we’re counting on coming back — obviously we’ve lost a couple guys. But overall, coming out of camp, I think health-wise, we’re pretty good,” Fisher said. “Condition-wise, we’re in good shape. I think mentally and emotionally, we’re ready to compete. And we are — I mean, everybody improves from Day 1 through the end of camp. So I think we’ve done that.”
“And the guys understand the preseason games, and they understand that there’s a lot of things that go on out here from a football-scheme standpoint that we don’t do in preseason games,” Fisher continued. “So they have that realistic picture about them.”
And so as the preseason comes to a close, one factor that’s nice to have happened was getting two Ws to commence a new era in L.A.
“Regardless of what happens tomorrow night, it was great to get the two wins here at home to start off,” Fisher said.
RAMS FINALIZE FIRST ROUND OF CUTS
The Rams formally announced their cuts to reduce the roster to 75 players. Los Angles waived safety Jordan Lomax on Tuesday to complete this round.
As reported yesterday, the Rams waived kicker Taylor Bertolet, tight end Benson Browne, safety Michael Caputo, defensive tackle Zach Colvin, offensive lieman Brian Folkerts, linebacker Darreon Herring, long snapper Jeff Overbaugh, wide receiver David Richards, tight end Jake Stoneburner, tackle Jordan Swindle, and quarterback Dylan Thompson. The club waived with an injured designation fullback Zach Laskey and wide receiver Marquez North.
Additionally, Los Angeles terminated the contract of defensive lineman Quinton Coples, who had signed with the club in March.
