Rams sign DT Dominique Easley

[Dieter the Brock]

Fisher is gonna have his hands full. I know he's good with troubled players. But Easley, Williams, Worton, Mason, etc. He's only one man. Hopefully these guys can mature real quick. I'd hate their influence to work its way into our locker room.

You left off Higbee...but I guess that's the "etc" part
Yeah i hope this all adds up to us vs the world and a prove it mentality - so I'm hoping these guys rise to the occasion

 

[RAMpage28]

Usually I would have some sick gifs for this but I only got my phone.

I'm pretty damn hyped for this. If anything, and I might be biased, but this will be the most interesting Hard Knocks ever with all these guys coming in. Makes up for the lost personality of Janoris.

Just replaced Fairley like that. Won't have to play a whole lot because of Donald so not too worried on injury front or that he'll be worn out and not playing 100% on his motor.

This is a great talent for the price. Awesome pick up.

Lot of hot heads in the locker room, but Fisher has handled them in the past and at least Alan Branch stuck up for the kid so there's that.

Getting pretty excited.

 

[yrba1]

If he could Easley replicate Nick Fairley's production, that's a win for me.

 

[JackDRams]

You left off Higbee...but I guess that's the "etc" part
Yeah i hope this all adds up to us vs the world and a prove it mentality - so I'm hoping these guys rise to the occasion

You know it's bad when there's so many fuck ups, that you completely forget some lol

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

PFF claims that when Easley was on the field he was the Patriots best Dlineman. But, if he is as bad a locker room guy as reported is he worth the risk? I'd say no.

People like Schefter tweeting that the Rams Dline now has five first rounders. No biggie.They did last year with Fairley and Long too.

 

[Dodgersrf]

At least he's not G. Hardy.

 

[jrry32]

We needed DT depth. He has talent. But I don't like the reports about his character and work habits.(nor do I like hearing that his dogs are aggressive) Either ways, no harm no foul since we can just cut him if he acts up.

 

[VegasRam]

Know what I hate?

Really, really hate, is the term "locker room cancer'.
What does that even fucking mean?

Can someone please take a moment and define it for me?

Tell me how one or two (or even three) guys, IF, and I mean IF, they have an attitude, (or "character issues" - another classic slur people love to parrot), can significantly affect a locker room comprised of 80 guys.

Be specific, don't spew the general horseshit one can read on any blog they happen to run across that matches their own personal beliefs of what mores people should practice.

Tell me please how one or two guys are going to take down a whole team, and while your at it, explain to me how your credentials meet or exceed those of Jeff Fisher and Les Snead.

I understand this is an opinion forum, and a great one, and that it's the slow time of the year, and and and, but just take a moment and educate me.

Otherwise ( I want to say stfu, but that's kinda' harsh), so I'll just say...RELAX.

My work here is done. Good night.

 

[jrry32]

Well, I should rephrase that. He's Donald as far as style goes. Almost identical. Easley isn't on the same level as Donald, mostly because of his knee injuries. I watched him at Florida, and before he got hurt, the guy was 100% on a similar level as AD. His first step and burst was insane. If he can ever get back to that...unlikely at this point though. He's still got all the talent in the world if he can stay healthy, so if we can get him healthy and keep him healthy, plus he's not a problem in the locker room, he's a steal. Worth the risk.

I can't agree with that. Similar player, yes. But he was closer to Mike Daniels than Aaron Donald.(although, Daniels is a quality NFL starter for Green Bay)

But there's no doubt he has talent. We'll see if he has the work ethic and durability to make use of it. This is a situation that could land him a nice deal, like it did Fairley, if he makes use of it.

 

[jrry32]

Know what I hate?

Really, really hate, is the term "locker room cancer'.
What does that even freaking mean?

Can someone please take a moment and define it for me?

Tell me how one or two (or even three) guys, IF, and I mean IF, they have an attitude, (or "character issues" - another classic slur people love to parrot), can significantly affect a locker room comprised of 80 guys.

Be specific, don't spew the general horseshit one can read on any blog they happen to run across that matches their own personal beliefs of what mores people should practice.

Tell me please how one or two guys are going to take down a whole team, and while your at it, explain to me how your credentials meet or exceed those of Jeff Fisher and Les Snead.

I understand this is an opinion forum, and a great one, and that it's the slow time of the year, and and and, but just take a moment and educate me.

Otherwise ( I want to say stfu, but that's kinda' harsh), so I'll just say...RELAX.

My work here is done. Good night.

Locker-room cancers work like the disease. They corrupt the locker-room a player at a time. How they do it depends on the players. Some guys try to start conflict and turn players against each other. Other guys have shitty attitudes and do their best to infect those around them. Other guys are headcases who manage to alienate the rest of the locker-room.

How does it affect a locker-room? Because they become a distraction. And when you're distracted, you're not focusing on what's important. How can one or two guys take down a whole team? They can't. But if those one or two guys manage to infect other players who were previously falling in line and start conflict, you risk that causing the team to underachieve. Look at what happened in Miami with the whole Jonathan Martin situation.

People really underestimate the mental side of the game. It's very real.

 

[DenverRam]

He was attacked by one of his pitbulls just before being drafted....He couldnt rehab his ACL, because of bites on his legs...


kind of disgusting to hand someone like that more money, if you ask me.

 

[RamzFanz]

+1 CG.
why does it seem like we are filling the locker room with bad character guys

Because we have to if you want talent. Who else would they go after? High character guys with less talent for the 10%?

Roll them in, roll them out at 10%, hope to steal.

 

[MFaulk107]

We'll take this guy but didn't decide to grab La'el Collins?!
Jk, nice pick up. Hopefully he doesn't stir anymore trouble.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Locker-room cancers work like the disease. They corrupt the locker-room a player at a time. How they do it depends on the players. Some guys try to start conflict and turn players against each other. Other guys have crappy attitudes and do their best to infect those around them. Other guys are headcases who manage to alienate the rest of the locker-room.

How does it affect a locker-room? Because they become a distraction. And when you're distracted, you're not focusing on what's important. How can one or two guys take down a whole team? They can't. But if those one or two guys manage to infect other players who were previously falling in line and start conflict, you risk that causing the team to underachieve. Look at what happened in Miami with the whole Jonathan Martin situation.

People really underestimate the mental side of the game. It's very real.

He'll be out the door in a second if he starts shit. Remember how everyone was worried about titus young. They weren't worried long.

.

 

[Mojo Ram]

No worries, Steelers will cut Shaun Suisham

Cool. Why?

 

[Mojo Ram]

Like the Easley one year flyer. Not optimistic but i like the move. We do need depth there.

 

[jrry32]

Cool. Why?

Chris Boswell. He's younger, cheaper, and performed similarly well. But I don't know if the Rams will be interested in Suisham. Fisher likes Kickers with big legs. Suisham doesn't have a big leg. His career long is 53 yards, he's only hit around 35% of his 50+ yard FGs over his career, and he's only attempted 17 FGs of 50+ yards over a career that has spanned over a decade. Zuerlein attempted 13 FGs of 50+ yards in his rookie season alone.

In fact, if you look at Suisham's career accuracy splits, they're nearly identical to Zuerlein's from every range except 50+ yards.(where Zuerlein is significantly better)

Basically, Zuerlein's stats seem bad because the Rams had him kick a ton of long FGs. Not to say that Zuerlein is incredibly accurate but I think he'd be considered a much better Kicker if he were on a team like New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, etc. for two reasons. He'd have much better numbers due to having a much higher percentage of "high percentage kicks" and he wouldn't have his confidence wrecked by his head coach trotting him out for long FG after long FG.

These may seem like excuses but I don't really think they are. The kicking game is much more mental than people believe. I don't think Zuerlein is the problem. I think the offense was the problem. Take Shaun Suisham's last 3 years in Pittsburgh. Suisham hit 91.6% of his FGs. If you apply Zuerlein's career averages, Zuerlein would have likely hit 87.5% of his FGs with the same splits.(10 under 30, 10 between 30-39, 10 between 40-49, and 2 over 50 per year on average) That's slightly worse but that doesn't account for the confidence boost that Zuerlein would get from kicking much more accurately which might have made a difference on one of the missed FGs. It also doesn't account for the fact that Zuerlein would still have his elite leg. So people would see a high accuracy percentage (87.5%) along with an elite leg and likely regard him as one of the game's best Kickers.

Basically, the point I'm making here is that I think our Kicker is better than he's given credit for and less of a problem than people believe he is. It's like criticizing a QB for having a low completion percentage when his team asks him to throw way more intermediate and deep passes than any other QB. We asked Zuerlein to make a ton of low percentage kicks while not giving him a lot of high percentage kicks to offset it.

And that's not even getting to the injury he was playing through which likely was a contributing factor in Greg's accuracy percentage in 2015 from 40-49 yards and 50+ yards being around 25% to 30% lower than his career average coming into the year.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Rams announce the hiring of Dr. Phil to Coaching Staff

The Rams announce the hiring of Phil McGraw, to the position of; runningbacks-wide receiver-defensive line-offensive line-defensive backs assistant coach

When reached for comment Jeff Fisher said "he can help us all over the place and, no, his job title cannot be used in scrabble".

This is the first NFL coaching job for Phil McGraw.

http://www.drphil.com/advice/take-responsibility-for-your-life/

 

[tempests]

Basically, the point I'm making here is that I think our Kicker is better than he's given credit for and less of a problem than people believe he is. It's like criticizing a QB for having a low completion percentage when his team asks him to throw way more intermediate and deep passes than any other QB. We asked Zuerlein to make a ton of low percentage kicks while not giving him a lot of high percentage kicks to offset it.
.

GZs rep exceeds his performance. He's never really been much more than an average kicker with a huge leg.

Rams do ask him to kick more 55+ yarders but the ability to kick deep and accurate is his claim to fame, and still just a small percentage of his overall attempts. League average last year was 88% from below 50 yards and GZ hasn't been that good since 2013.

 

[den-the-coach]

Cool. Why?

Because they have Chris Boswell who is younger and cheaper.