Preseason things that coaches got right, other things that fans may have gotten right...

[Rams43]

Quite a few areas that many fans were concerned about, huh? After only one game here’s my way-too-soon take on things coaches got right and others that maybe coaches missed.

First, the things that coaches look like they got right.

Not drafting an OL player high because talent was already on the roster to succeed.
Extending the aged Whit is looking brilliant now.
Rams nailed that draft for the secondary, making JJ look very expendable for next season.
Jefferson looks like a HR pick.
Staley and O’Connell looking like great hires so far.

Now, things that are still up in the air if not outright mistakes.

Noteboom at LG.
Akers and/or Hendy vying to be staters. All due respect, but if MB is our bell cow, we’re in trouble.
Edge is looking iffy, especially after the Lewis injury.
Jury is also out on ILB although the All 22 showed that Kiser and Young played better than originally thought. Stay tuned on this one.
Sloman hasn’t won too many over just yet.

So, it’s a mixed bag. Then again, it’s after only one game with 3 new Coordinators and a lot of rust on the players due to weird Covid offseason.

Thoughts?

 

[ReekofRams]

Basically the coaches look right, and we really don’t know yet or not if the fans know anything. Got it.

 

[oldnotdead]

Noteboom is out of position he's an OT. Whit is an expensive one year rental. Havenstein constantly needs TE help when facing speed. Anchrum at 6'2" at LT?

Brown isn't the bell cow RB. I don't think they are being evasive when they say they are going with RB by committee with each game being different. Brown is a power RB and a vet so he was well suited for play against the Boys. As a vet he sees the holes better, and understands how to exploit them. Akers and Henderson still need that experience and as the season goes on I think we will see more of both those RBs. One thing that isn't hype is that both Akers and Henderson have breakaway speed whereas Brown is the grinder.

Extending Woods and Kupp will maintain the Ram's elite WR corps along with Jefferson. Jefferson's drop wasn't an easy catch to make so I'm not going to fault him for it.

Staley's use of his secondary and LBs is puzzling and I hope to see some clarity this next game (if I'm able to find a way to watch it). I've never been a fan of bend but not break defenses. Normally you see that with undermanned defensive rosters. Staley has which could be one of the best secondaries in the NFL and he's not even challenging most short throws. That makes no sense at all.

O'Connell needs to keep attacking using all of his weapons. It looks like Sean and Kevin have correctly changed the run attack to more of a between the tackles emphasis. They are using gap and interior zone blocking and when they do use outside zone it's a vertical concept. I would like to see them use Mundt as a FB especially when playing Akers and Henderson. There was some indication that it was practiced in TC.

I like O'Connell and Goff's take what they give me pass offense. Short passes are like an extension of the run game in that it allows the Rams to control the clock. Also, with the receivers the Rams have YAC will also be there.

I think Austin MacGinnis is still a FA and I think he should be added to the PS as a protected player. Putting everything on a so far inconsistent rookie kicker is IMO foolish and his kicks show why he's inconsistent. The important thing is that Bonamego is a very good ST coordinator with experience with kickers. Sloman's first two kicks were very low and IMO that won't go unnoticed by the Eagles. If Sloman doesn't improve that aspect there could be a block or two next Sunday. If there is one weakness I worry about with the Rams it's Sloman. Sorry but 66% doesn't cut it in the NFL.

 

[Dz1]

Quite a few areas that many fans were concerned about, huh? After only one game here’s my way-too-soon take on things coaches got right and others that maybe coaches missed.

First, the things that coaches look like they got right.

Not drafting an OL player high because talent was already on the roster to succeed.
Extending the aged Whit is looking brilliant now.
Rams nailed that draft for the secondary, making JJ look very expendable for next season.
Jefferson looks like a HR pick.
Staley and O’Connell looking like great hires so far.

Now, things that are still up in the air if not outright mistakes.

Noteboom at LG.
Akers and/or Hendy vying to be staters. All due respect, but if MB is our bell cow, we’re in trouble.
Edge is looking iffy, especially after the Lewis injury.
Jury is also out on ILB although the All 22 showed that Kiser and Young played better than originally thought. Stay tuned on this one.
Sloman hasn’t won too many over just yet.

So, it’s a mixed bag. Then again, it’s after only one game with 3 new Coordinators and a lot of rust on the players due to weird Covid offseason.

Thoughts?

Nice Post,don't want to get into the negative, but I can say this.

Whit is awesome, scoring a 95 plus at 38 is like are you kidding me lol

Jmho. At his age can it last thru the season ??

 

[tklongball]

Way too early is right. One game in with no pre-season.

 

[Merlin]

You realize there's only 1 of 16 games in the bag, right 43?

 

[FarNorth]

Nice Post,don't want to get into the negative, but I can say this.

Whit is awesome, scoring a 95 plus at 38 is like are you kidding me lol

Jmho. At his age can it last thru the season ??

Imo Whitworth's capacity to keep playing is misunderstood. It's not his age, it's staying healthy. Whit still has power, technique, and total knowledge of his position. He's not going to fall off a cliff in the near future.

Last year he had a bad ankle, which we discovered only after the season when he had surgery. Now he's healthy. If he stays healthy there is no reason he can't keep playing at a high level, and certainly better than anyone else the Rams have. That includes next year if he wants to keep going and the Rams need him.

 

[Rams43]

You realize there's only 1 of 16 games in the bag, right 43?

‘Of course, Merlin.

I’m just extracting from the data available. All one game of it. Lol.

Now, do you disagree with any of my takes on admittedly limited information?

 

[FarNorth]

Quite a few areas that many fans were concerned about, huh? After only one game here’s my way-too-soon take on things coaches got right and others that maybe coaches missed.

First, the things that coaches look like they got right.

Not drafting an OL player high because talent was already on the roster to succeed.
Extending the aged Whit is looking brilliant now.
Rams nailed that draft for the secondary, making JJ look very expendable for next season.
Jefferson looks like a HR pick.
Staley and O’Connell looking like great hires so far.

Now, things that are still up in the air if not outright mistakes.

Noteboom at LG.
Akers and/or Hendy vying to be staters. All due respect, but if MB is our bell cow, we’re in trouble.
Edge is looking iffy, especially after the Lewis injury.
Jury is also out on ILB although the All 22 showed that Kiser and Young played better than originally thought. Stay tuned on this one.
Sloman hasn’t won too many over just yet.

So, it’s a mixed bag. Then again, it’s after only one game with 3 new Coordinators and a lot of rust on the players due to weird Covid offseason.

Thoughts?

With all due respect, what I see thus far is that the coaches are doing a great job. Full stop. Think they deserve the benefit of the doubt on the tbd stuff until proven wrong and/or they fail to adjust as needed.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

So Whit, Blythe and Hav were all playing hurt last year, and the other 2 season starters (plus Hav later) had season-ending injuries. Just being healthy will make a difference, and if our O keeps clicking they'll likely stay healthy.

Corbett looks like he's just out there pushing people around so far.

 

[OldSchool]

We're one game into the season

 

[Ram65]

I'm in the one game does not make a season. It's still way too early to state absolute facts.

Offense

The biggest thing is that McVay went to a more conservative game plan. Short passes early and ran the ball. I guess you could say many members were right about not getting to pass-happy and to limit the longer patterns. Dallas has a good pass rush D Line so that made sense.

Philly also has a good pass rush D Line but, are stronger up the middle against the run. Let's see how McVay handles that.

McVay didn't use the 12P set much at all as many had predicted.

The Redzone was still a problem.


Defense

Like I said it's early. The Rams did protect the edges against the run but, had trouble against the pass. The didn't control the LOS early but, improved later in the second half.
They didn't get gashed much up the middle like last year.

They still gave up yardage. They made a few key stops.


Personnel decisions.

It's still early.

The offensive line was helped by McVay's game plan. Quick shorter passes with a few longer ones and running the ball.

Whitworth played well but, can he maintain good play for the season? I liked the resigning thought he would play better this year after the SB hangover.

Noteboom is still a question mark. Still need more time on the rest but, they looked respectable.

The Rams went in other directions in the draft and there really weren't many choices after round two to become starters right away.

The draft is far from being able to do a correct evaluation.

Sloman settled down with good middle goal post kicks with end over end repeated slight hook movement. I think the coverage let him down on the shorter kicks. He may need more height on the KOs.

Reports have been good on Akers and Jefferson, Didn't see enough to know much more. Jefferson with a nice catch and harder miss. Akers ran hard but, didn' have much room. I don't know if he could have done much differently. He may have had some room outside. The key for now is he gained positive yards even when hit in the backfield.

Fuller did OK in his first start. Some good and some bad.

The rest

Kiser and Young did OK for first starts in a long time. They need to improve every week.

AD was AD. He could use a little more help in the pass rush. Lost contain up the middle on Dak. Too many holes early for Elliott and Pollard.

The Rams may have to blitz a little more than Staley likes. Fox and the second string did a good job resting the starters on the D Line.

Coverage was too loose early but, that could be a feeling-out process. Eagles like to stretch the field.

The defense can use Big A and TLew when they get healthy.

 

[jrry32]

HB looks fine to me.

 

[Merlin]

‘Of course, Merlin.

I’m just extracting from the data available. All one game of it. Lol.

Now, do you disagree with any of my takes on admittedly limited information?

I disagree with some of it. You might well be correct and I hope you are, however I just think it's pressing a bit.

ILB is going to change as we go most likely, maybe we'll see Rapp play some WILB or them make him a unique position where he does a bit of LOS and coverage. Maybe Young will show something. But overall I don't have high hopes for the position or anything.

And the OL is uncertain still. There are great signs through one game. But those signs also come with a scheme that went out of its way not to throw the ball down the field. If we're going to be a SB contender we're going to need to pass protect on some deep drops. And we're going to see some physical type fronts who tend to give us probs so let's wait and see what we have.

Re: the OL though I will say again Edwards in reserve is really fucking nice.

 

[Wisconsinram]

"Not drafting an OL player high because talent was already on the roster to succeed."
This was discussed ad nauseum in the offseason. I share Merlin's sentiments in that our OL looked pretty good overall, but they weren't asked to do what will be needed. Credit McVay. However, the NFL adjusts quickly and there will be a time where we will have to stretch the field. IMO, that will be the time to evaluate the accuracy in your statement.

I really hope it comes to fruition, but I admit to not being as optimistic about is as others here. Hopefully Noteboom improves and Blythe shows he's an average center when we need to go downfield. I feel very good about the other 3 and love having Edwards as an option.