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These are only excerpts from the Q&A. To read the whole thing click the link below.
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http://sports.live.stltoday.com/Event/Rams_chat_with_Jim_Thomas_1b884903bc01?Page=0
Rams chat with Jim Thomas: 10/13/15
is it me or does gurly seem to do better late in the games? why dosent he start strong, both teams make adjustments but why cant he get it going in the first half
I'm sure the Rams would love for Gurley to start faster. But you've still got a new line, a new qb, a new coordinator, a new RB (Gurley). So I'm sure there's a little bit of a feeling out process and adjustment process as the game goes along. Gurley did have 64 yards rushing by halftime last Sunday.
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How do you think Cignetti is doing as a play-caller? How much freedom from Fisher does he enjoy, if any?
I guess OK. As I mentioned in my earlier answer on Gurley and the slow starts to the running game the past two weeks, there are a lot of moving parts on offense at this time. He has shown some creativity in some of his play-calling. But the Rams still rank last in total offense and are among the NFL's lowest-scoring teams. Lots of work to be done.
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How's Foles moving about today? Any talk of retirement? Poor guy.
He seemed to be moving around just fine.
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Any idea how much faster/better Gurley will be without the brace?
Certainly, he'd be a little faster. I guess he still wore it during the Green Bay game although he didn't wear it last week in practice.
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Last in total offense, is this a product in part by how fisher has built this team
I thought you knew. It's all Schotty's fault. And Bradford's.
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what have you heard on long and saffold? any updates?
Here's a link to a story on the Long, Saffold issues. (There was nothing new on Saffold today.)
Good news on Long, more tests for Saffold : Sports
The Rams run way less plays of offense than anybody else. What's that about? Is it by design or circumstance?
That's what happens when you don't make first downs, have trouble running the ball, and are near the bottom of the league in third-down conversion rate.
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what was up with the clock management sunday in 4th quarter? seems fisher left a lot of time on clock
Yeah, it would've been nice to see more of a hurry up offense.
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Mark Barron played mostly linebacker against the Packers. What's your evaluation on how he played
Pretty well. He seems very natural up there, blitzing, helping out on run support. He also had three pass breakups.
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Where do we rank now in passing offense?
No. 30, ahead of only San Francisco and Minnesota in passing offense.
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Despite beating Seahawks and Cardinals, this team looks eerily similar to last 2 seasons. Your thoughts?
No, I think this is still potentially Fisher's best team. Now "best team" may only be good for 9-7, but the defense has been pretty consistent w/the exception of first half in Washington. We knew the offense would have their ups and downs, especially early. Their early season schedule of Seattle, Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Green Bay has been very tough. The Rams' first five opponents are 16-9. Their next five opponents are 8-16.
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Any news on who the Rams might get at the trade deadline?
We're still a few weeks ago from that _ trading deadline is Nov. 3. Rams may not do anything.
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I'm not a big Fish fan. Onto his 4th year and it's like Groundhog day all over again. Same mistakes, same excuses, etc.. Is there any chance that he may try to go save the FB program at his alma mater (it would give him a good excuse to get out of here without admitting failure)?
I don't think Fisher is going back to USC.
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Is Nick Foles the new Jay Cutler? He's now alternating games of brilliant QB play with bonehead QB play?
Foles took a pounding from the Green Bay pass rush. He just needs to take a little better care of the football. I.e., sometimes it's better to take a sack than throw the ball up for grabs.
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It feels like this is actually finally our tipping point season. The team seems to have reached a point of cohesion in spirit and potential on offense once they get a bit more time together. The opportunities were there, the fight was there, the execution on offense lacked consistency and in the first quarter an odd urgency that seemed unnecessary. I think they come out flying after the bye and with a forgiving part of the schedule to allow them to build and grow on offense.
Don't know if it's a tipping point, but the schedule does lighten up, the defense is playing with consistency, and the team has found a running game with Gurley.
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did Jake Long ever find a job elsewhere? Would it be prudent with Saffold’s uncertainty for Snead to make a call, or is Jake toast at this point?
Jake Long signed with Atlanta a few weeks ago.
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I hear a lot of talk about it but we just continue to see these slow starts that leave us in a hole right iff the bat. Right off the bat we found ourself once again in a hole of our own making. What kind of steps can the team make to correct this?
Well, last year the team was pretty good at scoring points on their first possession. Not the case so much this year with the young offense and all the new parts over there on that side off the ball. It's tough to spot anyone, much less the Green Bay Packers _ at Green Bay _ 14 points. The key is getting something going early offensively, and that's something that the team is looking at during the bye week.
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Did the Rams scouting department overrate the offensive line draft picks or is this the result of draftees being thrown into the fire of having to adjust to the NFL after playing their last college play only 9-10 months ago?
I think it was optimistic to think you could start a line with 2 rookies, a second-year player, and a relatively inexperienced center (no matter who won the job), and have things run smoothly right off the bat.
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The team has a long list of players about to hit free agency. Are you surprised at least a couple of extensions haven't been finalized by now? Is Demoff still trying or all player contracts are on hold until Kroenke knows for sure where his team is playing and which team he owns in 2016?
Yeah, I thought we'd have more than one player re-signed by now (Foles). I think the Rams are still trying. They do have some cap room _ more than $6 million.
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Jim, any update on Ogletree? Even after missing a game and a half he’s still top 10 in tackles in the league. That’s a big pair of shoes to fill.
Saw him briefly in the locker room with a cast on the surgically-repaired ankle/fibula and maneuvering around on a scooter. If he returns this season, it's not gonna happen until about mid December.
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I thought our pass defense was better with Ayers replacing Ogletree and Barron playing more. Rogers was forced to scramble several times as a result of no open receivers.
Any thoughts, Jim
Ayers wasn't on the field all that much, so I don't know if you can attribute the coverage to his presence. but yes, I thought the Rams coverage was very good against Green Bay (w/a couple of obvious exceptions).. It was pretty good the week before against Arizona as well.
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Any thoughts on when Quick could make a return to playing a significant part of the offense?
He's working his way back in. He went from six plays and zero targets against Arizona to 20 plays and three targets against Green Bay.
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I liked the Ayers signing at the time, good player, Super Bowl winner, maybe some locker room leadership, etc... Zero tackles in Green Bay and barely played. Am I missing something? Is this another underperforming Rams free agent signing?
They didn't pay the guy a ton of money to come here. Although I thought he'd play a little more than he has so far at this point. But overall, I don't have strong feelings either way - pro or con - on his play or the signing at this point. I didn't expect him to come in and re-invent the strongside LB position.
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I have a theory about why not many fans are showing up at the games. Besides the losing I mean. There must've been about 50K - 60K Original PSL holders from 1995. I would guesstimate that there are a good 20K that have stopped buying their season tix due to poor play over the years.
I bet many of them WANT to come back but they do not because the Rams have already taken their PSLs away -- so to come back now would leave a bad taste in their mouth because they lost a lot of money losing those PSLs. The original rule was you lost your PSL if you didn't buy the tix every year.
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I do think if the team was playing better there would be more fans in the stands. Not having a winning season since 2003 is a pretty long dry spell.
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Green Bay's overly praised linebacker used his helmet to hit Noles right in the chest and nothing was called, why?
I think the referee, who I believe would make that call, was screened by Foles on the play.
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At Jeff Fisher press conference you seem to be the only one asking questions, are you the only one there ?
There's only about a half-dozen reporters at many of them. A lot of media "experts" on the team don't attend them. Been that way for several years, but it's even more noticeable this year.
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Can't we come up with an offensive scheme where Nick Foles doesn't get hammered so much. We now have a stud running back to work with. I think the offensive game plan against the Packers was bad. We could keep Harkey in as a personal protector if we have to. Gurley's good on pass pro too. Play action on 1st down works well.
We need to keep the defense off balance, and you'd think with Gurley and Austin we'd have the weapons to do it. We must protect our quarterback.
No doubt the pass protection needs to improve. And you'd think if anything the emergence of the running game would open some things up for the passing game. That obviously wasn't the case in Green Bay. But also, I think we need to give credit to Green Bay's defense. Aaron Rodgers gets a lot of the credit, and deservedly so, but I think this is one of the best Packers defenses in years.
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With 1/4 of the season gone who got the better player Eagles or Rams?
It's pretty close right now by the numbers. Foles has a 77.6 passer rating, 6 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 57.4 completion percentage for a 2-3 team. Bradford has an 83.7 passer rating, 8 TDs, 6 INTs, and a 63.2 completion percentage for a 2-3 team. Bradford is throwing nearly 10 more passes per game _ he has 190 attempts to Foles' 141.
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Just saw that Trey Watts was released.
What happens to this slot?
He wasn't on the active roster. He had been given a 1-week roster exemption once his 4-game NFL suspension ended. So he hadn't been taking up a spot on the 53-man roster. Rams will try to re-sign him to the practice squad if he clears waivers today.
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Trey Mason tradeable now? Maybe KC and get the 3rd pick back. Seems like Cunningham is a better 3rd down option and its clear Gurley is a workhorse
Don't think you'd get a third-rounder back for Mason at this point. I'd like to see Rams keep him. Nothing wrong with having some depth at the position.
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It doesn’t seem like a two headed monster with Gurley and Mason. I don’t think Mason gets more than a few touches a game from this point on, which seems ok with Gurley's success...your thoughts?
That seems to be where it's headed. We'll see. Although Gurley won't last long if he continues to get 30 carries a game.
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Why did so many pass rushers get in untouched to pressure Foles?
That's the question isn't it? Not a good day at the office for the pass blockers. However, there's not one easy answer or just one or two players to blame for the problem. And as I mentioned earlier, part of it is just the fact that Green Bay's pass rush _ and it's entire defense for that matter _ is very, very good..
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I have to believe that infact the Rams were just couple to plays away for being 4-1 maybe. Couple of dropped passes here and there, another field goal or two and we would be sitting on a bit better record. I hope the staff takes a look at more drop off and swing passes to the backs out of the back field. With Gurly in the mix now, I would think it is time to test out his pass catching skill out of the back field and turn him loose. Agree?
Yeah, I hear what you're saying, although the Rams could be just a play or two away from being 1-4 or even 0-5 as well. The Rams do need to expand Gurley's role to the point where he's involved in the passing game. He came to the Rams with a pretty good reputation as a pass catcher. Fisher, in fact, mentioned on his radio show Monday that Gurley needed to be worked into the passing game.
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Jim it shows why the rams have a below avg.oline they really wanted jo barksdale back and the charger's have him listed or rated 3rd string on the depth chart .....is it time let saffolf go to now we no why the raiders didn't want him .your thoughts
Didn't Barksdale play left tackle for the Chargers on Monday night?
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Rams pass defense last week was darn good save for a couple of plays. Has Williams seen the benefit of mixing press and soft coverage calls that worked well against Mr. Rodgers?
For a change there was much more press coverage than off coverage vs. Green Bay, and it worked out pretty well overall. I wonder if we'll see more press coverage in the future based on what happened against the Packers.
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This may sound pretty stupid (I've always been a glass half full guy)..... but I was actually encouraged on Sunday that they played a top NFL team at their place, did everything they could do to get blown out and yet were still hanging around in the 4th quarter. A couple of plays and they actually win it.
I couldn't help thinking back to the 2011 game in Green Bay. The Rams lost 24-3, but the way the game went it seemed more like 240-3. This time only seven points difference in the score _ 24-10 _ but the teams to me seemed much more evenly matched. So yeah, I get your point. But the Rams need to start winning more of such contests.
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Sure seems like passing game can't get much traction. In face of GB's rush, it appeared near hopeless. How's things looking this week as they ready for the browns?
Cleveland is ranked 31st in the league in total defense _ 31st in rushing defense, 19th in passing defense. Might be Gurley time again.
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If Reynolds has a problem at RG, is Donnal, Wichmann or Rhaney the best option?
Reynolds should be fine at RG.
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The Ram offense ignores throwing to running backs other than Tavon. Foles needs outlets since this o-line is possibly the worst in the NFL. Fish seems brain dead as an offensive mind.
As we mentioned earlier, Foles needs to start throwing to Gurley. Fisher said as much himself. But Cunningham has been used a lot as a receiver; he's among the league leaders in fact, in third down catches.
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it must be some sort of rookie record for Gurley's last 2 games? Also I really think we could have won. I think we can compete with any team, what with our defense
It's pretty rare. According to the NFL, Gurley is only the third rookie RB to have back-to-back games of 140 yards plus _ both on the road _ in the past 40 years. (Others are Mike Anderson and Curtis Martin.)
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Maybe it was because of the pressure, but Foles looked pretty inaccurate all day. He under threw some guys open on deep routes, and threw behind Kendricks on the first interception in the red zone. And he showed some very bad judgment. Or am I being unfair?
I don't think you're being too unfair.
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Do you think Gregg Williams will get a shot at the head coaching position at Miami. Their owner wanted Fischer previously, why not get the next best thing in Williams.
Don't think that's happening.
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Can the Rams afford to keep both Janoris and Trumaine? Do teams ever use the bye week to work on new deals?
Yeah, they can afford both. And yeah, they can work on something during the bye week.
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Do you think with the kind of offense Fisher wants to run it would be wise to get a full back and then have two pass blocking TE on roster?
Harkey basically is the fullback. Kendricks is a pretty good blocker.
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Is Zuerlein not a guy we can count on these days?
The 50-yarder was blocked. So not his fault. Did you see Datone Jones go right by Greg Robinson on that play?. Only 5 times in the entire history of the game has a field goal been made of 63 yards or longer. So scratch that one. On a 53-yard attempt, you basically have a 50-50 chance. So we can kind of blame Greg for that one.
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http://sports.live.stltoday.com/Event/Rams_chat_with_Jim_Thomas_1b884903bc01?Page=0
Rams chat with Jim Thomas: 10/13/15
is it me or does gurly seem to do better late in the games? why dosent he start strong, both teams make adjustments but why cant he get it going in the first half
I'm sure the Rams would love for Gurley to start faster. But you've still got a new line, a new qb, a new coordinator, a new RB (Gurley). So I'm sure there's a little bit of a feeling out process and adjustment process as the game goes along. Gurley did have 64 yards rushing by halftime last Sunday.
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How do you think Cignetti is doing as a play-caller? How much freedom from Fisher does he enjoy, if any?
I guess OK. As I mentioned in my earlier answer on Gurley and the slow starts to the running game the past two weeks, there are a lot of moving parts on offense at this time. He has shown some creativity in some of his play-calling. But the Rams still rank last in total offense and are among the NFL's lowest-scoring teams. Lots of work to be done.
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How's Foles moving about today? Any talk of retirement? Poor guy.
He seemed to be moving around just fine.
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Any idea how much faster/better Gurley will be without the brace?
Certainly, he'd be a little faster. I guess he still wore it during the Green Bay game although he didn't wear it last week in practice.
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Last in total offense, is this a product in part by how fisher has built this team
I thought you knew. It's all Schotty's fault. And Bradford's.
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what have you heard on long and saffold? any updates?
Here's a link to a story on the Long, Saffold issues. (There was nothing new on Saffold today.)
Good news on Long, more tests for Saffold : Sports
The Rams run way less plays of offense than anybody else. What's that about? Is it by design or circumstance?
That's what happens when you don't make first downs, have trouble running the ball, and are near the bottom of the league in third-down conversion rate.
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what was up with the clock management sunday in 4th quarter? seems fisher left a lot of time on clock
Yeah, it would've been nice to see more of a hurry up offense.
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Mark Barron played mostly linebacker against the Packers. What's your evaluation on how he played
Pretty well. He seems very natural up there, blitzing, helping out on run support. He also had three pass breakups.
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Where do we rank now in passing offense?
No. 30, ahead of only San Francisco and Minnesota in passing offense.
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Despite beating Seahawks and Cardinals, this team looks eerily similar to last 2 seasons. Your thoughts?
No, I think this is still potentially Fisher's best team. Now "best team" may only be good for 9-7, but the defense has been pretty consistent w/the exception of first half in Washington. We knew the offense would have their ups and downs, especially early. Their early season schedule of Seattle, Pittsburgh, Arizona, and Green Bay has been very tough. The Rams' first five opponents are 16-9. Their next five opponents are 8-16.
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Any news on who the Rams might get at the trade deadline?
We're still a few weeks ago from that _ trading deadline is Nov. 3. Rams may not do anything.
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I'm not a big Fish fan. Onto his 4th year and it's like Groundhog day all over again. Same mistakes, same excuses, etc.. Is there any chance that he may try to go save the FB program at his alma mater (it would give him a good excuse to get out of here without admitting failure)?
I don't think Fisher is going back to USC.
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Is Nick Foles the new Jay Cutler? He's now alternating games of brilliant QB play with bonehead QB play?
Foles took a pounding from the Green Bay pass rush. He just needs to take a little better care of the football. I.e., sometimes it's better to take a sack than throw the ball up for grabs.
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It feels like this is actually finally our tipping point season. The team seems to have reached a point of cohesion in spirit and potential on offense once they get a bit more time together. The opportunities were there, the fight was there, the execution on offense lacked consistency and in the first quarter an odd urgency that seemed unnecessary. I think they come out flying after the bye and with a forgiving part of the schedule to allow them to build and grow on offense.
Don't know if it's a tipping point, but the schedule does lighten up, the defense is playing with consistency, and the team has found a running game with Gurley.
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did Jake Long ever find a job elsewhere? Would it be prudent with Saffold’s uncertainty for Snead to make a call, or is Jake toast at this point?
Jake Long signed with Atlanta a few weeks ago.
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I hear a lot of talk about it but we just continue to see these slow starts that leave us in a hole right iff the bat. Right off the bat we found ourself once again in a hole of our own making. What kind of steps can the team make to correct this?
Well, last year the team was pretty good at scoring points on their first possession. Not the case so much this year with the young offense and all the new parts over there on that side off the ball. It's tough to spot anyone, much less the Green Bay Packers _ at Green Bay _ 14 points. The key is getting something going early offensively, and that's something that the team is looking at during the bye week.
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Did the Rams scouting department overrate the offensive line draft picks or is this the result of draftees being thrown into the fire of having to adjust to the NFL after playing their last college play only 9-10 months ago?
I think it was optimistic to think you could start a line with 2 rookies, a second-year player, and a relatively inexperienced center (no matter who won the job), and have things run smoothly right off the bat.
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The team has a long list of players about to hit free agency. Are you surprised at least a couple of extensions haven't been finalized by now? Is Demoff still trying or all player contracts are on hold until Kroenke knows for sure where his team is playing and which team he owns in 2016?
Yeah, I thought we'd have more than one player re-signed by now (Foles). I think the Rams are still trying. They do have some cap room _ more than $6 million.
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Jim, any update on Ogletree? Even after missing a game and a half he’s still top 10 in tackles in the league. That’s a big pair of shoes to fill.
Saw him briefly in the locker room with a cast on the surgically-repaired ankle/fibula and maneuvering around on a scooter. If he returns this season, it's not gonna happen until about mid December.
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I thought our pass defense was better with Ayers replacing Ogletree and Barron playing more. Rogers was forced to scramble several times as a result of no open receivers.
Any thoughts, Jim
Ayers wasn't on the field all that much, so I don't know if you can attribute the coverage to his presence. but yes, I thought the Rams coverage was very good against Green Bay (w/a couple of obvious exceptions).. It was pretty good the week before against Arizona as well.
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Any thoughts on when Quick could make a return to playing a significant part of the offense?
He's working his way back in. He went from six plays and zero targets against Arizona to 20 plays and three targets against Green Bay.
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I liked the Ayers signing at the time, good player, Super Bowl winner, maybe some locker room leadership, etc... Zero tackles in Green Bay and barely played. Am I missing something? Is this another underperforming Rams free agent signing?
They didn't pay the guy a ton of money to come here. Although I thought he'd play a little more than he has so far at this point. But overall, I don't have strong feelings either way - pro or con - on his play or the signing at this point. I didn't expect him to come in and re-invent the strongside LB position.
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I have a theory about why not many fans are showing up at the games. Besides the losing I mean. There must've been about 50K - 60K Original PSL holders from 1995. I would guesstimate that there are a good 20K that have stopped buying their season tix due to poor play over the years.
I bet many of them WANT to come back but they do not because the Rams have already taken their PSLs away -- so to come back now would leave a bad taste in their mouth because they lost a lot of money losing those PSLs. The original rule was you lost your PSL if you didn't buy the tix every year.
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I do think if the team was playing better there would be more fans in the stands. Not having a winning season since 2003 is a pretty long dry spell.
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Green Bay's overly praised linebacker used his helmet to hit Noles right in the chest and nothing was called, why?
I think the referee, who I believe would make that call, was screened by Foles on the play.
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At Jeff Fisher press conference you seem to be the only one asking questions, are you the only one there ?
There's only about a half-dozen reporters at many of them. A lot of media "experts" on the team don't attend them. Been that way for several years, but it's even more noticeable this year.
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Can't we come up with an offensive scheme where Nick Foles doesn't get hammered so much. We now have a stud running back to work with. I think the offensive game plan against the Packers was bad. We could keep Harkey in as a personal protector if we have to. Gurley's good on pass pro too. Play action on 1st down works well.
We need to keep the defense off balance, and you'd think with Gurley and Austin we'd have the weapons to do it. We must protect our quarterback.
No doubt the pass protection needs to improve. And you'd think if anything the emergence of the running game would open some things up for the passing game. That obviously wasn't the case in Green Bay. But also, I think we need to give credit to Green Bay's defense. Aaron Rodgers gets a lot of the credit, and deservedly so, but I think this is one of the best Packers defenses in years.
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With 1/4 of the season gone who got the better player Eagles or Rams?
It's pretty close right now by the numbers. Foles has a 77.6 passer rating, 6 TDs, 5 INTs, and a 57.4 completion percentage for a 2-3 team. Bradford has an 83.7 passer rating, 8 TDs, 6 INTs, and a 63.2 completion percentage for a 2-3 team. Bradford is throwing nearly 10 more passes per game _ he has 190 attempts to Foles' 141.
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Just saw that Trey Watts was released.
What happens to this slot?
He wasn't on the active roster. He had been given a 1-week roster exemption once his 4-game NFL suspension ended. So he hadn't been taking up a spot on the 53-man roster. Rams will try to re-sign him to the practice squad if he clears waivers today.
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Trey Mason tradeable now? Maybe KC and get the 3rd pick back. Seems like Cunningham is a better 3rd down option and its clear Gurley is a workhorse
Don't think you'd get a third-rounder back for Mason at this point. I'd like to see Rams keep him. Nothing wrong with having some depth at the position.
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It doesn’t seem like a two headed monster with Gurley and Mason. I don’t think Mason gets more than a few touches a game from this point on, which seems ok with Gurley's success...your thoughts?
That seems to be where it's headed. We'll see. Although Gurley won't last long if he continues to get 30 carries a game.
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Why did so many pass rushers get in untouched to pressure Foles?
That's the question isn't it? Not a good day at the office for the pass blockers. However, there's not one easy answer or just one or two players to blame for the problem. And as I mentioned earlier, part of it is just the fact that Green Bay's pass rush _ and it's entire defense for that matter _ is very, very good..
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I have to believe that infact the Rams were just couple to plays away for being 4-1 maybe. Couple of dropped passes here and there, another field goal or two and we would be sitting on a bit better record. I hope the staff takes a look at more drop off and swing passes to the backs out of the back field. With Gurly in the mix now, I would think it is time to test out his pass catching skill out of the back field and turn him loose. Agree?
Yeah, I hear what you're saying, although the Rams could be just a play or two away from being 1-4 or even 0-5 as well. The Rams do need to expand Gurley's role to the point where he's involved in the passing game. He came to the Rams with a pretty good reputation as a pass catcher. Fisher, in fact, mentioned on his radio show Monday that Gurley needed to be worked into the passing game.
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Jim it shows why the rams have a below avg.oline they really wanted jo barksdale back and the charger's have him listed or rated 3rd string on the depth chart .....is it time let saffolf go to now we no why the raiders didn't want him .your thoughts
Didn't Barksdale play left tackle for the Chargers on Monday night?
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Rams pass defense last week was darn good save for a couple of plays. Has Williams seen the benefit of mixing press and soft coverage calls that worked well against Mr. Rodgers?
For a change there was much more press coverage than off coverage vs. Green Bay, and it worked out pretty well overall. I wonder if we'll see more press coverage in the future based on what happened against the Packers.
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This may sound pretty stupid (I've always been a glass half full guy)..... but I was actually encouraged on Sunday that they played a top NFL team at their place, did everything they could do to get blown out and yet were still hanging around in the 4th quarter. A couple of plays and they actually win it.
I couldn't help thinking back to the 2011 game in Green Bay. The Rams lost 24-3, but the way the game went it seemed more like 240-3. This time only seven points difference in the score _ 24-10 _ but the teams to me seemed much more evenly matched. So yeah, I get your point. But the Rams need to start winning more of such contests.
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Sure seems like passing game can't get much traction. In face of GB's rush, it appeared near hopeless. How's things looking this week as they ready for the browns?
Cleveland is ranked 31st in the league in total defense _ 31st in rushing defense, 19th in passing defense. Might be Gurley time again.
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If Reynolds has a problem at RG, is Donnal, Wichmann or Rhaney the best option?
Reynolds should be fine at RG.
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The Ram offense ignores throwing to running backs other than Tavon. Foles needs outlets since this o-line is possibly the worst in the NFL. Fish seems brain dead as an offensive mind.
As we mentioned earlier, Foles needs to start throwing to Gurley. Fisher said as much himself. But Cunningham has been used a lot as a receiver; he's among the league leaders in fact, in third down catches.
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it must be some sort of rookie record for Gurley's last 2 games? Also I really think we could have won. I think we can compete with any team, what with our defense
It's pretty rare. According to the NFL, Gurley is only the third rookie RB to have back-to-back games of 140 yards plus _ both on the road _ in the past 40 years. (Others are Mike Anderson and Curtis Martin.)
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Maybe it was because of the pressure, but Foles looked pretty inaccurate all day. He under threw some guys open on deep routes, and threw behind Kendricks on the first interception in the red zone. And he showed some very bad judgment. Or am I being unfair?
I don't think you're being too unfair.
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Do you think Gregg Williams will get a shot at the head coaching position at Miami. Their owner wanted Fischer previously, why not get the next best thing in Williams.
Don't think that's happening.
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Can the Rams afford to keep both Janoris and Trumaine? Do teams ever use the bye week to work on new deals?
Yeah, they can afford both. And yeah, they can work on something during the bye week.
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Do you think with the kind of offense Fisher wants to run it would be wise to get a full back and then have two pass blocking TE on roster?
Harkey basically is the fullback. Kendricks is a pretty good blocker.
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Is Zuerlein not a guy we can count on these days?
The 50-yarder was blocked. So not his fault. Did you see Datone Jones go right by Greg Robinson on that play?. Only 5 times in the entire history of the game has a field goal been made of 63 yards or longer. So scratch that one. On a 53-yard attempt, you basically have a 50-50 chance. So we can kind of blame Greg for that one.
