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Monday Wrap-Up: Improving on 3rd Down
By Myles Simmons
View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Monday-Wrap-Up-Improving-on-3rd-Down/1a40a50f-bf33-468f-8d1d-c049dc77ec73
The Rams struggled offensively on Sunday against the Steelers, and a significant indicator is the club’s third-down efficiency.
St. Louis converted only 2-of-10 third-down opportunities. It was the second week in a row the Rams only made two third downs, as they were 2-of-12 against Washington in Week 2.
“Our issue is third-down offense,” Fisher said. “Converting third downs and then making plays in the plus territory -- touchdowns rather than field goals.”
Given the Rams made myriad changes to the offense during the offseason, it was realistic to expect some growing pains for the unit. But that doesn’t mean Fisher thought scoring would decrease to this level.
“Didn’t anticipate the issue with the lack of points in the last two weeks,” Fisher said. “But the potential was certainly there. The three drops, the penalties -- they take points off the board.
“The points will increase once our drives increase,” Fisher continued. “We just haven’t had the opportunity with the drives. And really, it all circles around the third-down efficiency. We’re just not converting third downs.”
One of the factors contributing to the third-down struggles is the new offense and new personnel. The situation will probably improve as quarterback Nick Foles gets more experience with the group.
“It’s Nick in the system, pre-snap diagnosing man or zone and knowing where to go with the ball,” Fisher cited as one example of where there’s room for improvement. “We had some opportunities there. He’s seen it, we’ve discussed it, and we’ll improve upon it.”
But the Rams have to get better on their early downs as well. Many times, third-down conversions are a product of the offense setting things up well from the first two plays in the set.
“We had some tackles-for-loss that created 2nd-and-12s and then the 3rd-and-7s and then we weren’t getting off,” Fisher said. “It contributes to all that. More importantly than that, we have to avoid the third downs if at all possible. Make bigger plays and get more production on early downs.”
As for the quarterback, Fisher complimented Foles, saying he made some nice throws during the game. Unfortunately, there were more opportunities that turned into incompletions.
“The three drops were significant,” Fisher said. “We had several last week, and had none in Week 1. We’ve got to catch the ball when given the opportunity.”
Yesterday after the game, Foles spoke extensively on remaining optimistic as the season is still young. The comments largely echoed the topics Fisher touched on during Monday’s presser.
“We’re going to put ourselves in a situation where we’re in the red zone more, we convert on third downs more and we’ll be alright,” Foles said. “I say it’s early in the season just because it’s not like the season stops today. We’ll play next week and we’re going to work hard this week to be better because that’s the guys we have in the locker room.”
Fisher said Monday he feels Foles has the right attitude with his positivity.
“I think he’s got a real legitimate perspective of where we are as a football team right now,” Fisher said of Foles. “If you look at it the way we’re looking at it, then there’s optimism and confidence this team is going to get better.”
And it’s not going to get easier for St. Louis as the team will play Arizona next week and Green Bay on Oct 11 before the bye week.
“We’re moving on,” Fisher said. “Our attention now goes to one of the top-two teams in the NFC right now -- it looks like we’ve got them both back-to-back. So we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. So we’re moving forward.”
NEWS AND NOTES
There was more to come out of Fisher’s press conference on Monday. Here are some of the highlights from what the head coach said.
— Fisher complimented the Rams’ defensive line play, especially that of Ethan Westbrooks. The second-year pro out of West Texas A&M has been rotating in at end for the injured Eugene Sims.
“We got a lot of good work out of Ethan,” Fisher said. “He played end in relief of Rob [Quinn] and got a lot of production out of him. I thought the defensive line, for the most part, applied really good pressure against an offensive line that’s very well coached, that was prepared. And we still got pressure there.”
— While wide receiver Brian Quick was inactive against the Steelers, Fisher said that situation has the potential to change against Arizona.
“There’s a chance that he’ll be up this week,” Fisher said. “We’ll see how the week goes.”
“We can’t keep them all up,” Fisher added of the wide receivers. “Bradley [Marquez] is playing really well on [special] teams. And when Chris [Givens] got his opportunities, he made his plays. So we’ll just see how things shake out during the week.”
— Todd Gurley did not have many yards in his debut, but Fisher said the team was close on a few of those runs. The running back came back very well after his first game, according to the head coach.
“Good possibility he plays this week,” Fisher said with a smile.
By Myles Simmons
View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Monday-Wrap-Up-Improving-on-3rd-Down/1a40a50f-bf33-468f-8d1d-c049dc77ec73
The Rams struggled offensively on Sunday against the Steelers, and a significant indicator is the club’s third-down efficiency.
St. Louis converted only 2-of-10 third-down opportunities. It was the second week in a row the Rams only made two third downs, as they were 2-of-12 against Washington in Week 2.
“Our issue is third-down offense,” Fisher said. “Converting third downs and then making plays in the plus territory -- touchdowns rather than field goals.”
Given the Rams made myriad changes to the offense during the offseason, it was realistic to expect some growing pains for the unit. But that doesn’t mean Fisher thought scoring would decrease to this level.
“Didn’t anticipate the issue with the lack of points in the last two weeks,” Fisher said. “But the potential was certainly there. The three drops, the penalties -- they take points off the board.
“The points will increase once our drives increase,” Fisher continued. “We just haven’t had the opportunity with the drives. And really, it all circles around the third-down efficiency. We’re just not converting third downs.”
One of the factors contributing to the third-down struggles is the new offense and new personnel. The situation will probably improve as quarterback Nick Foles gets more experience with the group.
“It’s Nick in the system, pre-snap diagnosing man or zone and knowing where to go with the ball,” Fisher cited as one example of where there’s room for improvement. “We had some opportunities there. He’s seen it, we’ve discussed it, and we’ll improve upon it.”
But the Rams have to get better on their early downs as well. Many times, third-down conversions are a product of the offense setting things up well from the first two plays in the set.
“We had some tackles-for-loss that created 2nd-and-12s and then the 3rd-and-7s and then we weren’t getting off,” Fisher said. “It contributes to all that. More importantly than that, we have to avoid the third downs if at all possible. Make bigger plays and get more production on early downs.”
As for the quarterback, Fisher complimented Foles, saying he made some nice throws during the game. Unfortunately, there were more opportunities that turned into incompletions.
“The three drops were significant,” Fisher said. “We had several last week, and had none in Week 1. We’ve got to catch the ball when given the opportunity.”
Yesterday after the game, Foles spoke extensively on remaining optimistic as the season is still young. The comments largely echoed the topics Fisher touched on during Monday’s presser.
“We’re going to put ourselves in a situation where we’re in the red zone more, we convert on third downs more and we’ll be alright,” Foles said. “I say it’s early in the season just because it’s not like the season stops today. We’ll play next week and we’re going to work hard this week to be better because that’s the guys we have in the locker room.”
Fisher said Monday he feels Foles has the right attitude with his positivity.
“I think he’s got a real legitimate perspective of where we are as a football team right now,” Fisher said of Foles. “If you look at it the way we’re looking at it, then there’s optimism and confidence this team is going to get better.”
And it’s not going to get easier for St. Louis as the team will play Arizona next week and Green Bay on Oct 11 before the bye week.
“We’re moving on,” Fisher said. “Our attention now goes to one of the top-two teams in the NFC right now -- it looks like we’ve got them both back-to-back. So we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. So we’re moving forward.”
NEWS AND NOTES
There was more to come out of Fisher’s press conference on Monday. Here are some of the highlights from what the head coach said.
— Fisher complimented the Rams’ defensive line play, especially that of Ethan Westbrooks. The second-year pro out of West Texas A&M has been rotating in at end for the injured Eugene Sims.
“We got a lot of good work out of Ethan,” Fisher said. “He played end in relief of Rob [Quinn] and got a lot of production out of him. I thought the defensive line, for the most part, applied really good pressure against an offensive line that’s very well coached, that was prepared. And we still got pressure there.”
— While wide receiver Brian Quick was inactive against the Steelers, Fisher said that situation has the potential to change against Arizona.
“There’s a chance that he’ll be up this week,” Fisher said. “We’ll see how the week goes.”
“We can’t keep them all up,” Fisher added of the wide receivers. “Bradley [Marquez] is playing really well on [special] teams. And when Chris [Givens] got his opportunities, he made his plays. So we’ll just see how things shake out during the week.”
— Todd Gurley did not have many yards in his debut, but Fisher said the team was close on a few of those runs. The running back came back very well after his first game, according to the head coach.
“Good possibility he plays this week,” Fisher said with a smile.
