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Rams giving veterans down time during bye week
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22487/rams-giving-veterans-down-time-during-bye-week
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams opened their bye week Tuesday with a short practice focused on correcting mistakes from Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers and getting some young players much-needed repetitions.
“What you try to accomplish here is to get young guys some valuable reps during the bye week that haven’t really gotten the reps," coach Jeff Fisher said. "The backups need the reps. A lot of the starters need some reps here the first couple of days, so we take advantage of that. We even include the practice squad players with offense and defense, just to make sure that they’re ready at a moment’s notice. So, coaches got together and, like I said, yesterday we looked at some things that we need to improve and we got a head start on it today. So, it was a modified practice, particularly because it’s Tuesday. But we’ll have two good sessions Wednesday and Thursday.”
Those practices will follow a similar pattern with young players getting plenty of work and some of the team's more experienced veterans getting some time off. Beyond injured starters Chris Long (knee) and Rodger Saffold (shoulder), Fisher also granted some down time to linebacker James Laurinaitis, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, end Robert Quinn, tight end Lance Kendricks and running back Todd Gurley.
Injured safety Maurice Alexander, who has missed the past couple of games with a groin injury, worked on the side with trainers during the portion of practice open to reporters.
Fisher offered no further update on Saffold, although the Rams aren't required to offer an injury report during the bye week. But without Saffold, the majority of the offensive linemen stuck around for extra work.
As for the practice week, the bye is often used as a chance to do what NFL types call "self scouting." In other words, instead of just turning the page to the next opponent, Fisher and staff identify trends in performance and try to get those issues corrected through the course of the week.
“We’re self-scouting this week," Fisher said. "The coaches are ahead, but we’re just working on some things. Then, we had numerous mistakes on defense on the field, so we went through some of those just as a reminder, so they don’t come up. Then, we’re working on the first down stuff and polishing the run game. We have some technique things we need to work on, as far as special teams are concerned.”
The Rams play Cleveland in Week 7 and will get a head start in that regard but, for now, the focus is in-house.
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/22487/rams-giving-veterans-down-time-during-bye-week
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams opened their bye week Tuesday with a short practice focused on correcting mistakes from Sunday's loss to the Green Bay Packers and getting some young players much-needed repetitions.
“What you try to accomplish here is to get young guys some valuable reps during the bye week that haven’t really gotten the reps," coach Jeff Fisher said. "The backups need the reps. A lot of the starters need some reps here the first couple of days, so we take advantage of that. We even include the practice squad players with offense and defense, just to make sure that they’re ready at a moment’s notice. So, coaches got together and, like I said, yesterday we looked at some things that we need to improve and we got a head start on it today. So, it was a modified practice, particularly because it’s Tuesday. But we’ll have two good sessions Wednesday and Thursday.”
Those practices will follow a similar pattern with young players getting plenty of work and some of the team's more experienced veterans getting some time off. Beyond injured starters Chris Long (knee) and Rodger Saffold (shoulder), Fisher also granted some down time to linebacker James Laurinaitis, defensive tackle Michael Brockers, end Robert Quinn, tight end Lance Kendricks and running back Todd Gurley.
Injured safety Maurice Alexander, who has missed the past couple of games with a groin injury, worked on the side with trainers during the portion of practice open to reporters.
Fisher offered no further update on Saffold, although the Rams aren't required to offer an injury report during the bye week. But without Saffold, the majority of the offensive linemen stuck around for extra work.
As for the practice week, the bye is often used as a chance to do what NFL types call "self scouting." In other words, instead of just turning the page to the next opponent, Fisher and staff identify trends in performance and try to get those issues corrected through the course of the week.
“We’re self-scouting this week," Fisher said. "The coaches are ahead, but we’re just working on some things. Then, we had numerous mistakes on defense on the field, so we went through some of those just as a reminder, so they don’t come up. Then, we’re working on the first down stuff and polishing the run game. We have some technique things we need to work on, as far as special teams are concerned.”
The Rams play Cleveland in Week 7 and will get a head start in that regard but, for now, the focus is in-house.
