Reflecting on Pre-Season Game 1

[Anonymous]

regardless of whether this was only a preseason game, the execution was ragged, the O line was abysmal and the "D" not far behind.

Then again, what do I know (except it's not 2010 any longer)....after all, I've only been following this team for 50 years....oh well...

And other people who follow the team for decades disagree that a ragged game one in the preseason in a new system is that much of a danger sign. That is, there's a range of views on this. Different ways of seeing it. I'm not talking about people's private doubts or worries or any of that. I am offering views on what a ragged first preseason game means objectively. Just a different way of approaching the discussion.

What happened in 2010 is that they set a template for how preseason games work when it comes to an OL that has problem cohering. 2010 is useful because it is in recent memory, 2 of the tackles and the qb were the same, and they had massive problems with the OL in preseason game one.

It is really just this. If they are still ragged by game 3 (and they were in 2011) then objectively, there's probably a problem.

If they've improved in terms of cohesion, cleaning up mental errors, and being more efficient by game 3, chances are that carries over to the season. (And that DIDN'T happen in 2011 and it carried into the season.)

There's real objective reasons for that. It's not astrology. They actually aim to clean up the errors and put together a more coherent show by game 3. That's the "veterans get ready for the season" game. If they can pull off cleaning up the OL by then, cool--it probably holds up; if they can't, that's a warning sign.

 

[Angry Ram]

It's over.

Deal with it, let's move on.

 

[Anonymous]

It's over.

Deal with it, let's move on.

What's over? The game? We can't discuss what happened in the game?

 

[Angry Ram]

It's over.

Deal with it, let's move on.

What's over? The game? We can't discuss what happened in the game?

No, didn't say you couldn't discuss it. I'm just sayin it would be better to forget about the 1st preseason game and move on from it.

 

[Graphicker]

Yeah Yesterday my Jaw dropped by how easy our Wrs were
Getting seperation. That is a great sign. Ive learn to view the small
things in pre-season. Sam looked poised and he has making his
quick reads. I wasn't really mad about the short throws. These where
Diff from the Pat Shurmer era. This offense looks to be designed
To bait the defense into short throws then ripping a long ball.
I deff didn't feel like Sam was in a leash. He has much more freedom.
Pead is exactly what we have been starving for. Quick shifty explosive
back. He's also such a natural catching the ball out the back field.
Phillip Rivers makes his money off those flat plays. I wish we would
Have seen more bootleg action. But i think we will at the end of the
pre season. The LBs are still a weakness in this defense..

But i like where we are headed. Also, Oline played pretty good IMO.

 

[Graphicker]

By the way.. I wanted to add that Pagano was obviously more hungrier then Jeff..
He reminded me of Spags.. Showing his hand and wanting to win those pre-season games.
Just a rookie coach.. Although, still not an excuse haha..

 

[-X-]

By the way.. I wanted to add that Pagano was obviously more hungrier then Jeff..
He reminded me of Spags.. Showing his hand and wanting to win those pre-season games.
Just a rookie coach.. Although, still not an excuse haha..

Yeah, could be. I think they wanted to test-drive their new QB too with some of those deep throws.
They executed, we didn't. It'll get better I'm sure.

 

[Warner4Prez]

Was hoping to see more from Brockers and Quick. Brockers seemed to get pushed around a bit...Langford got some nice penetration on a few plays though. Don't really recall seeing Quick do much of anything. The rest of the rookies had a pretty good showing though, that's all I was really hoping to see in game one. Glorified scrimmage, right? Unless you're that freak Jim Irsay.

 

[Speeps]

Was hoping to see more from Brockers and Quick. Brockers seemed to get pushed around a bit...Langford got some nice penetration on a few plays though. Don't really recall seeing Quick do much of anything. The rest of the rookies had a pretty good showing though, that's all I was really hoping to see in game one. Glorified scrimmage, right? Unless you're that freak Jim Irsay.

Irsay celebrated like it was the superbowl.

 

[-X-]

Yeah, just a glorified scrimmage/practice. I'd have preferred a little better execution and maybe some points. I forget what double digits looks like on a scoreboard. If they can beat someone up with a vanilla scheme, then I think we'll be on our way.

 

[ramsince62]

Back to the discussion.

I re-watched the first half offensive line play, mostly in slow mo and frame by 2. For the positive only. Saffold, Watkins, Turner, and Dahl played pretty well. Moose had a couple of moments. Saffold is using some new techniques compared to last year and the year before. Before I say what, did anyone else notice one of his changes???

Doc,

I'm kinda behind on this conversation, I'm on page 5 and I see that I have more to go. Anyway, to answer your question, I myself did not do the fine work that guys like yourself and X do (along with a few others). That is to say, I value the work and opinions of a number of you folks who possess better "technical" skills than I, particularly since I never played the game on an organized level.

I'm just a spectator-fan, but I pride myself as a serious one in that I believe I can tell good play from bad, good organization from bad, player positioning, confusion, etc., etc. That's the beauty of this sport, you don't necessarily have to be a player to understand or appreciate it. That said, one of the strengths of this blog is the quality of members like yourself who can provide the technical insights that are missed by those like myself and for what it's worth I both appreciate and value those skills and expertise.

So when I write about my impressions, they are from the perspective of a fan, albeit one who's seen one hell of a lot of football both college and pro over an extended period. I only mention this now so that others who read my comments may know where I'm coming from.

In conclusion, as I previously mentioned to X, I too share the concerns about this team and first game or no, I was disappointed at the level of play outside of a few initial offensive plays with Bradford under center. Like everyone else, we enter this season with high hopes and expectations and I for one have been disappointed. It's brutally clear that what should have been a lesser team at this point, kicked the crap out of the Rams this weekend, vanilla formations and play or no. Hopefully, we will see giant steps by next Saturdays game or we may be in for a rough season with the heath of our "well paid" QB in further jeopardy. I have nagging fears and concerns that this young man is not far from becoming another shell shocked victim of a team ill prepared to protect and support their QB and that would be a damn tragedy.

Thanks again for all you do and I look forward to more valuable analysis and opinions from you and the other members of this blog.

 

[DR RAM]

Back to the discussion.

I re-watched the first half offensive line play, mostly in slow mo and frame by 2. For the positive only. Saffold, Watkins, Turner, and Dahl played pretty well. Moose had a couple of moments. Saffold is using some new techniques compared to last year and the year before. Before I say what, did anyone else notice one of his changes???

Doc,

I'm kinda behind on this conversation, I'm on page 5 and I see that I have more to go. Anyway, to answer your question, I myself did not do the fine work that guys like yourself and X do (along with a few others). That is to say, I value the work and opinions of a number of you folks who possess better "technical" skills than I, particularly since I never played the game on an organized level.

I'm just a spectator-fan, but I pride myself as a serious one in that I believe I can tell good play from bad, good organization from bad, player positioning, confusion, etc., etc. That's the beauty of this sport, you don't necessarily have to be a player to understand or appreciate it. That said, one of the strengths of this blog is the quality of members like yourself who can provide the technical insights that are missed by those like myself and for what it's worth I both appreciate and value those skills and expertise.

So when I write about my impressions, they are from the perspective of a fan, albeit one who's seen one hell of a lot of football both college and pro over an extended period. I only mention this now so that others who read my comments may know where I'm coming from.

In conclusion, as I previously mentioned to X, I too share the concerns about this team and first game or no, I was disappointed at the level of play outside of a few initial offensive plays with Bradford under center. Like everyone else, we enter this season with high hopes and expectations and I for one have been disappointed. It's brutally clear that what should have been a lesser team at this point, kicked the crap out of the Rams this weekend, vanilla formations and play or no. Hopefully, we will see giant steps by next Saturdays game or we may be in for a rough season with the heath of our "well paid" QB in further jeopardy. I have nagging fears and concerns that this young man is not far from becoming another shell shocked victim of a team ill prepared to protect and support their QB and that would be a damn tragedy.

Thanks again for all you do and I look forward to more valuable analysis and opinions from you and the other members of this blog.

Thanks for the kind words. There is a lot of great insight that comes from this forum. Just in this thread you can see that most people's view of the game is similar. In this forum we get it. We are all fans. Some of us have been fans a long time, some fans since the GSOT and move to St. Louie, some of us are lifers, with some of our earliest memories being watching a Rams game with our dad's. It doesn't matter to me what kind of fan someone is, as long as they share that Rams passion.

You make some good points. I think we should have been further along too. I thought our defense would be way better than they showed. Listening to Les Snead talk, it was clear that he was disappointed, so I think it's OK for some of us to be. Les was disappointed for the fans too. I'm with you, what I hope is that this shellacking this early causes everyone to focus even harder to improve in all aspects of the game. We are the youngest team in the league now, and with that I do expect some growing pains, there's no getting around it, but there is a lot of new talent out there on the field. These guys need to learn to play together, to know one another, and that takes a little time.

Rodger Saffold #2 His kick slide is much more compact and quicker, meaning that it is not off the ground as long as it was before, helping him to anchor faster.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, just a glorified scrimmage/practice. I'd have preferred a little better execution and maybe some points. I forget what double digits looks like on a scoreboard. If they can beat someone up with a vanilla scheme, then I think we'll be on our way.

They are trying to get a handle on who and what they have while ironing out execution things. Indy was trying to showcase/jumpstart its new qb. If the Rams have the same issues in game 3 it's a real issue. If not, then, this game will become another future symbol for "what can happen in the preseason and how it has no bearing on the season."

 

[BatteringRambo]

Damn!!!!!!! You guys are still going at it in this thread on 1 preseason game and it has spawned into a virus.
I'm not bashing at all, its all groovy good stuff in my entirely blazed, 12 hour + insane chest workout day. I just couldn't keep up after page 4 sober. :boing:

 

[-X-]

Damn!!!!!!! You guys are still going at it in this thread on 1 preseason game and it has spawned into a virus.
I'm not bashing at all, its all groovy good stuff in my entirely blazed, 12 hour + insane chest workout day. I just couldn't keep up after page 4 sober. :boing:

That's what I'm talkin' bout.

12 hour blaze fest.

I probably wouldn't give a shit either. :sly:

 

[Anonymous]

Damn!!!!!!! You guys are still going at it in this thread on 1 preseason game and it has spawned into a virus.
I'm not bashing at all, its all groovy good stuff in my entirely blazed, 12 hour + insane chest workout day. I just couldn't keep up after page 4 sober. :boing:

As a rule, read long threads backwards. From the last post to the first. Not vice versa. Makes things easier.

 

[BatteringRambo]

X haha not a 12 hour blaze fest...I wish! 12 hours sitting in the cube taking calls from advisers and shareholders all day...putting in heavy o/t...gym workouts have never been better...music is GOD in the gym atmosphere.

ZN, you rock man I just can't keep up w/ the 4-5 all involved. And let the record show to the jury I'm straight even baked..I've been following since last night and throughout work...can't post at work AND all of you lit it up before I could find my place in line.

 

[raised_fisT]

Caught the first quarter thanks to PhxRam and here is MY knee-jerk reaction to that "meaningless" preseason game.
Sam had that 4th and 3 in the bag and threw some BS. Too bad. Thy had a good stretch of moving the chains. And nice mixing up of the play calls. No more SJax up the middle 10 times in a row.

And I HOPE to GOD Fisher bent over everyone on D for giving up a TD on THE VERY FIRST EFFING PLAY of the year. Didn't we learn our lesson about OVER playing LAST YEAR??

Stopped watching after that because I was getting flashbacks.

 

[Faceplant]

Caught the first quarter thanks to PhxRam and here is MY knee-jerk reaction to that "meaningless" preseason game.
Sam had that 4th and 3 in the bag and threw some BS. Too bad. Thy had a good stretch of moving the chains. And nice mixing up of the play calls. No more SJax up the middle 10 times in a row.

And I HOPE to GOD Fisher bent over everyone on D for giving up a TD on THE VERY FIRST EFFING PLAY of the year. Didn't we learn our lesson about OVER playing LAST YEAR??

Stopped watching after that because I was getting flashbacks.

I know it is only PS game 1, but I totally had flashbacks too. It just seems that whomever the Rams trot out there, and no matter who is coaching them...they look lost. Still have hope that this season will be better than last, because it damn sure couldn't be much worse. A 5 year stretch the likes of what we have endured will make a skeptic out of just about anyone.....