Rams want ball in Austin's hands more often

[CGI_Ram]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/r...n-austins-hands-more-hes-an-explosive-player/

Prior to last season, Rams coach Jeff Fisher announced that he was making it a priority to get Tavon Austin more involved in the offense. "There's no doubt in my mind that his production level should increase," he said at the time, also noting, "This potentially could be a breakout year for him. Because he's got the potential to win outside and inside."

Austin did wind up having the most productive season of his NFL career last season. He caught 52 passes for 473 yards and five touchdowns, adding 52 carries for 434 yards and another four scores. In all, his 104 touches went for 907 yards and nine touchdowns.

On a per-touch basis, he actually was not as efficient as he'd been through his first two NFL seasons. Austin averaged 8.72 yards per touch in 2015, down from 8.92 in 2013 and 2014 combined. Still, getting the ball in his hands more often resulted in his greatest impact to date.

Now, Fisher wants to get Austin even more involved. He said in June that he expects Austin to crack 100 catches in 2016. Considering Austin has 123 total catches across his first three seasons, that'd be quite a leap in production. It's also worth noting that Austin would need 163 targets to get to the 100-catch mark, based on his current 61.5 percent catch rate in his career. His career high is 87, set last year.

Still, Fisher doubled down this week on his insistence that Austin will have a huge year. Why? Well, mostly because he's fast.

"He's got two speeds," Fisher said, per ESPN.com, which noted that the team is trying to open up its offense in order to utilize Austin's skill set more fully. "One's fast and the other is sleep."

I'm not sure what that means, but Fisher definitely sounds excited about Austin yet again. "A really smart player," Fisher called him. "Very exciting, explosive player. Loves to play and compete."

Austin, meanwhile, is excited to take on a bigger role. "I appreciate it, just for what I've been through," he said. "It's only going to get better for me. I'm about the wins and any time I get to touch the ball, hopefully I can make something good happen with it."

The Rams have been fairly mediocre thus far during Austin's career, but maybe making a concerted effort to get the ball into his hands will help them take a step forward. They're going to need somebody other than Todd Gurley to make things happen offensively, after all

 

[…..]

We'll continue to be "fairly mediocre" if we keep trying to force the rock into Tavons hands.

We need a balanced attack that focuses on execution and establishing rythem. Then Tavon's touches can be less predictable.

The best way to make Tavon more effective is to have more playmakers. If Jeff Fisher targets Tavon 160 times then he has lost his fucking mind

 

[12intheBox]

I like the idea of getting him the ball more often. Even if you do call him a gadget guy - last year good things happened when he did get the ball and the more defenses need to worry about him, the more the field opens up for everyone else.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Tavon is our best weapon not named Gurley... So the ball in his hands is a good thing.

But... I agree with @Dog he'll be insanely dangerous if someone else emerges as a weapon on offense.

 

[tempests]

Becoming a familiar refrain. Although Tavon is as effective a decoy as he is with the ball.

Tavon averaged 6 touches/game in 2016. I'd say we want to be around 8 or more. Percy Harvin averaged 10/game in his best seasons w/ Minnesota.

 

[leoram]

It appears to me that the offense will continue to be predicated on putting the opponent in a bind by having to guess between Gurley and Austin. I believe this is precisely why they drafted Cooper and are working Green into the mix. They don't want to be forced to drastically change the offense if Tavon gets injured. They see Cooper (and to a lesser extent Green) as capable of filling Tavon's role, albeit not at quite his elite level.

 

[…..]

Tavon is our best weapon not named Gurley... So the ball in his hands is a good thing.

But... I agree with @Dog he'll be insanely dangerous if someone else emerges as a weapon on offense.

I'm hoping the Higbee will get himself going and create confusion in the short middle field where Tavon has had some of his success.. Britt must command some attention over the top, and if you add a reasonable threat from either one of Cooper, North, or Spruce, then you can wrestle away some of the attention that Tavon always gets.

Thank you for realizing that I'm not saying do not give Tavon the ball. I'm saying be more creative and less predictable so his 3-5 yard gains turn into 10-20 yard gains. And we all know that Tavon 15 yards downfield is very VERY dangerous. That's the key to Jeff's prediction coming to fruition in my opinion.

One thing I think I think (as Peter King would say) ...is that we have better hands this year. We're pretty deep with guys that have great hands so that should help our QB's be confident enough to spread the ball around.

 

[Merlin]

The Rams offense needs another weapon to step it up. No matter how good or explosive Tavon is it won't matter if teams have the ability to disregard everything else.

Gurley's emergence was huge last year for that reason, and he is going to be an enormous mismatch in the passing game which is something they did not do enough of last year. But they need another to truly make things difficult on defenses.

That other weapon could be Higbee, or Cooper, or who knows any of the other young wideouts. It could be Quick; not ruling anything out right now. But they need at least one more guy to step up and if/when that happens defenses will not be able to focus Tavon like they have and he will explode.

 

[RamBall]

How much of what Fisher said was just to let defenses believe that Austin will be force fed the ball? We all know Fisher is full of coach speak and he will tell the media what he wants others to believe, whether Fisher himself believes it or not.

If Ds try to focus on Gurley and Austin, Higbeast will go off on them. Higbeast may have the most consistant hands of all the players I saw at camp, dude catches everything thrown his way. I cant wait for the season opener.

 

[RamBall]

@Dog One thing I think I think (as Peter King would say) ...is that we have better hands this year. We're pretty deep with guys that have great hands so that should help our QB's be confident enough to spread the ball around.

I think you are absolutely correct here, all of the players brought in this year on O have good hands.

 

[VeteranRamFan]

If Ds try to focus on Gurley and Austin, Higbeast will go off on them. Higbeast may have the most consistant hands of all the players I saw at camp, dude catches everything thrown his way. I cant wait for the season opener.

I agree with this assessment, RamBall. I would add to it N. Spruce is right there with Higbee for consistency. Two different style of players but both have exceptional hands.

Oh how sweet it will be when this all comes together!

 

[Adi]

Tavon is our best weapon not named Gurley... So the ball in his hands is a good thing.

But... I agree with @Dog he'll be insanely dangerous if someone else emerges as a weapon on offense.

If the outside guys ( quick, Britt, Thomas) can make big plays downfield and stretch the defense, it will allow Gurley and Tavon to make plays in space. Without a deep threat everyone is going to focus on Gurley and Tavon more than they did last year.

 

[PARAM]

The Rams offense needs another weapon to step it up. No matter how good or explosive Tavon is it won't matter if teams have the ability to disregard everything else.

Gurley's emergence was huge last year for that reason, and he is going to be an enormous mismatch in the passing game which is something they did not do enough of last year. But they need another to truly make things difficult on defenses.

That other weapon could be Higbee, or Cooper, or who knows any of the other young wideouts. It could be Quick; not ruling anything out right now. But they need at least one more guy to step up and if/when that happens defenses will not be able to focus Tavon like they have and he will explode.

Quite agree. I like the reports on Higbee and the fact Fisher claims he could play early and often. It's the perfect compliment to Gurley and Tavon. Throw in a couple of big receivers (Britt and Quick who can both block well but have yet to demonstrate competence by holding onto the ball) and it's a nice trifecta (Gurley, Tavon & Higbee). If one of those two big men or one of the two heralded rookies (Thomas, Cooper) can contribute and the offense becomes exponentially more difficult to defend. The key, as always, will be Goff or Keenum?

 

[DaveFan'51]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/r...n-austins-hands-more-hes-an-explosive-player/

Prior to last season, Rams coach Jeff Fisher announced that he was making it a priority to get Tavon Austin more involved in the offense. "There's no doubt in my mind that his production level should increase," he said at the time, also noting, "This potentially could be a breakout year for him. Because he's got the potential to win outside and inside."

Austin did wind up having the most productive season of his NFL career last season. He caught 52 passes for 473 yards and five touchdowns, adding 52 carries for 434 yards and another four scores. In all, his 104 touches went for 907 yards and nine touchdowns.

On a per-touch basis, he actually was not as efficient as he'd been through his first two NFL seasons. Austin averaged 8.72 yards per touch in 2015, down from 8.92 in 2013 and 2014 combined. Still, getting the ball in his hands more often resulted in his greatest impact to date.

Now, Fisher wants to get Austin even more involved. He said in June that he expects Austin to crack 100 catches in 2016. Considering Austin has 123 total catches across his first three seasons, that'd be quite a leap in production. It's also worth noting that Austin would need 163 targets to get to the 100-catch mark, based on his current 61.5 percent catch rate in his career. His career high is 87, set last year.

Still, Fisher doubled down this week on his insistence that Austin will have a huge year. Why? Well, mostly because he's fast.

"He's got two speeds," Fisher said, per ESPN.com, which noted that the team is trying to open up its offense in order to utilize Austin's skill set more fully. "One's fast and the other is sleep."

I'm not sure what that means, but Fisher definitely sounds excited about Austin yet again. "A really smart player," Fisher called him. "Very exciting, explosive player. Loves to play and compete."

Austin, meanwhile, is excited to take on a bigger role. "I appreciate it, just for what I've been through," he said. "It's only going to get better for me. I'm about the wins and any time I get to touch the ball, hopefully I can make something good happen with it."

The Rams have been fairly mediocre thus far during Austin's career, but maybe making a concerted effort to get the ball into his hands will help them take a step forward. They're going to need somebody other than Todd Gurley to make things happen offensively, after all

I hope Austin gets everything Fisher wants him to get and MORE!!!!