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Practice Report 10/9: Gearing up for Rodgers
By Myles Simmons
View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-practicereport/Practice-Report-109-Gearing-up-for-Rodgers/77feae98-decf-45bb-8bb2-636e4893135a
The Rams will have a tough challenge on their hands going up against quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the vaunted Green Bay offense. And they will have to do it without linebacker Alec Ogletree.
With the Georgia product slated to miss extended time with a lower-leg fracture, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said the Rams have gone to the mantra of ‘next man up.’
“One of the things that we have here is a next man up philosophy,” Williams said. “We’re going to miss him because he’s so dominant. But, he’s been around here and his spirit has been good.”
One of those men to replace him will be Akeem Ayers. While the linebacker has been playing on the strong side for St. Louis, Ayers has played at ‘Will’ before in the same defensive scheme.
“That’s good and there’s not any hesitation in them with terminology,” Williams said. “He’s got a familiarity base and that’s good.”
Also, the Rams have safety Mark Barron, who can do a lot to fill in given his versatility. Williams said Barron has done well in different packages playing inside the box as a safety.
“Nobody should count him out on anything,” Williams said. “There’s other multiple of guys that we have going in at that position. We’ve just got to get the right one out on the field at the right time.”
Of course, going against Rodgers is no easy task at any point. But the quarterback has been particularly impressive in 2015, according to Williams.
He’s playing very confidently,” Williams said. “One of the things I think I heard a couple of weeks ago from whatever that sports science show is, it’s kind of a cool show anyway, but the speed of his release is amazing.”
Williams said a significant part of the strategy will be to just disrupt the timing between Rodgers an his receivers. But the team knows Green Bay will likely use quick passes to attempt to negate the effects of the Rams’ pass rush.
“We go into the game and you’re going to have to adapt and improvise on whatever the skill set is needed for that week and game,” Williams said. “Even from a statistical standpoint, there’s things that go on in a game, every game takes on the life of its own.”
Plus, there’s the matter of Rodgers’ 486 regular-season passing attempts at Lambeau Field without throwing a pick. Williams said he wasn’t necessarily aware of it early in the week, but the players have brought it up as part of the team’s overall philosophy.
“Really, it’s our mantra every week. We’ve got to take the ball away,” Williams said. “We’ve got to do a good job of creating shorter fields, creating the situations for our offense. Someone told me a stat the other day that we had six takeaways as a team and all six takeaways as a team has resulted in points for our offense, which is outstanding.”
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Williams added, “but our guys are up for it and they’ve studied very hard.”
INJURY REPORT
It looks like the Rams should get two key contributors back this week, as Chase Reynolds (knee) is listed as probable and Eugene Sims (knee) is listed as questionable.
Both players were injured in the Rams’ first contest of the season against the Seahawks. Reynolds, a key special teams contributor, and Sims, a key rotation player on the defensive line both fully participated in practice throughout the week.
Also on the report, wide receiver Kenny Britt sat out Friday’s practice with a knee injury, but is listed as probable. Safety Maurice Alexander did not participate in practice all week and is listed as doubtful. Finally, linebacker Alec Ogletree is out.
Though he’s listed on the injury report because he did not practice, defensive end Robert Quinn missed Friday’s session because his wife gave birth to a baby girl.
“I told him that was more important than what we were doing,” head coach Jeff Fisher said.
GIVE A LOOK
Linebacker Daren Bates is one of the Rams’ special teams captains, and he’s also often on the scout team, helping the offense prepare for what it will see from the opposition on Sunday. Today, Bates it to another level, sporting a long blonde wig under his helmet as he played the role of linebacker Clay Matthews.
“He’s a little shorter than Clay,” Fisher said of Bates. “He’s watched Clay. I’m sure he grew up watching Clay and has a great deal of respect for Clay. Obviously, we need to know where he is every snap. So, that’s why we dressed him up a little bit.”
The wig didn’t change anything about the way the players practiced, though it did add some brevity to Friday’s session.
“It shocked me, too. I didn’t know that was coming,” Williams said. “You can see those guys doing all of that kind of fun stuff. The hard part of the business is the preparation, your body feeling tough at times. But, all of the sudden you can laugh and joke and have some good times and promote some spirit. That was kind of cool.”
That said, Williams had some choice words for just how it affects the linebacker’s appearance on the field.
“It really didn’t look really good on him. His look right there -- he battles looks anyways,” Williams joked. “He doesn’t need any more things to hurt him, that’s for sure.”
By Myles Simmons
View: http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-practicereport/Practice-Report-109-Gearing-up-for-Rodgers/77feae98-decf-45bb-8bb2-636e4893135a
The Rams will have a tough challenge on their hands going up against quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the vaunted Green Bay offense. And they will have to do it without linebacker Alec Ogletree.
With the Georgia product slated to miss extended time with a lower-leg fracture, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said the Rams have gone to the mantra of ‘next man up.’
“One of the things that we have here is a next man up philosophy,” Williams said. “We’re going to miss him because he’s so dominant. But, he’s been around here and his spirit has been good.”
One of those men to replace him will be Akeem Ayers. While the linebacker has been playing on the strong side for St. Louis, Ayers has played at ‘Will’ before in the same defensive scheme.
“That’s good and there’s not any hesitation in them with terminology,” Williams said. “He’s got a familiarity base and that’s good.”
Also, the Rams have safety Mark Barron, who can do a lot to fill in given his versatility. Williams said Barron has done well in different packages playing inside the box as a safety.
“Nobody should count him out on anything,” Williams said. “There’s other multiple of guys that we have going in at that position. We’ve just got to get the right one out on the field at the right time.”
Of course, going against Rodgers is no easy task at any point. But the quarterback has been particularly impressive in 2015, according to Williams.
He’s playing very confidently,” Williams said. “One of the things I think I heard a couple of weeks ago from whatever that sports science show is, it’s kind of a cool show anyway, but the speed of his release is amazing.”
Williams said a significant part of the strategy will be to just disrupt the timing between Rodgers an his receivers. But the team knows Green Bay will likely use quick passes to attempt to negate the effects of the Rams’ pass rush.
“We go into the game and you’re going to have to adapt and improvise on whatever the skill set is needed for that week and game,” Williams said. “Even from a statistical standpoint, there’s things that go on in a game, every game takes on the life of its own.”
Plus, there’s the matter of Rodgers’ 486 regular-season passing attempts at Lambeau Field without throwing a pick. Williams said he wasn’t necessarily aware of it early in the week, but the players have brought it up as part of the team’s overall philosophy.
“Really, it’s our mantra every week. We’ve got to take the ball away,” Williams said. “We’ve got to do a good job of creating shorter fields, creating the situations for our offense. Someone told me a stat the other day that we had six takeaways as a team and all six takeaways as a team has resulted in points for our offense, which is outstanding.”
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Williams added, “but our guys are up for it and they’ve studied very hard.”
INJURY REPORT
It looks like the Rams should get two key contributors back this week, as Chase Reynolds (knee) is listed as probable and Eugene Sims (knee) is listed as questionable.
Both players were injured in the Rams’ first contest of the season against the Seahawks. Reynolds, a key special teams contributor, and Sims, a key rotation player on the defensive line both fully participated in practice throughout the week.
Also on the report, wide receiver Kenny Britt sat out Friday’s practice with a knee injury, but is listed as probable. Safety Maurice Alexander did not participate in practice all week and is listed as doubtful. Finally, linebacker Alec Ogletree is out.
Though he’s listed on the injury report because he did not practice, defensive end Robert Quinn missed Friday’s session because his wife gave birth to a baby girl.
“I told him that was more important than what we were doing,” head coach Jeff Fisher said.
GIVE A LOOK
Linebacker Daren Bates is one of the Rams’ special teams captains, and he’s also often on the scout team, helping the offense prepare for what it will see from the opposition on Sunday. Today, Bates it to another level, sporting a long blonde wig under his helmet as he played the role of linebacker Clay Matthews.
“He’s a little shorter than Clay,” Fisher said of Bates. “He’s watched Clay. I’m sure he grew up watching Clay and has a great deal of respect for Clay. Obviously, we need to know where he is every snap. So, that’s why we dressed him up a little bit.”
The wig didn’t change anything about the way the players practiced, though it did add some brevity to Friday’s session.
“It shocked me, too. I didn’t know that was coming,” Williams said. “You can see those guys doing all of that kind of fun stuff. The hard part of the business is the preparation, your body feeling tough at times. But, all of the sudden you can laugh and joke and have some good times and promote some spirit. That was kind of cool.”
That said, Williams had some choice words for just how it affects the linebacker’s appearance on the field.
“It really didn’t look really good on him. His look right there -- he battles looks anyways,” Williams joked. “He doesn’t need any more things to hurt him, that’s for sure.”
