Special teams disaster. Will there be changes made?

[Kupped]

I understand that but we didn't draft him to be our KR guy.
If we did, we would be in trouble, but we didn't, we drafted a WR last I knew.

I get that.
I'm concerned he wasn't out to return any punts at all.
I'm also a little concerned that their drafting process left them with so few options for KR. I don't get it. Yes, I know there've been injuries.

 

[badnews]

And yet he wasn’t returning kicks over Funk and now Skow, both rookies and later round picks. I get it he’s a futures pick but two other rookies are getting snaps over him. All the excuses for Atwell won’t change that fact and this thread is about special teams. McVay said he was our punt returner as well now he’s not.

Did McVay say that or did he say he will get a shot?

I'm not making excuses for our 5th WR not being productive. It goes without saying.

 

[Tano]

Maybe he hasn't lived up to his draft status through 7 weeks but McVay barely put Cam Akers on the field during the 1st half of his rookie season...and we needed him far more.
And it turned out okay there.

Atwell was a pick for the future. Period. I know we all want immediate results as fans but the FO didn't draft that way.
If Atwell was on the field and not producing, I would be concerned. But then I would also be concerned about not only him but also either VJ and DJax, because they SHOULD be ahead of him.
I don't know what is reasonable to expect but I'm pretty sure he hasn't really had a chance to show it.

That’s not quite right. Cam was the starting RB in game 1 and he got hurt falling on the football. It took him awhile to recover.

 

[Jorgeh0605]

I get that.
I'm concerned he wasn't out to return any punts at all.
I'm also a little concerned that their drafting process left them with so few options for KR. I don't get it. Yes, I know there've been injuries.

McVay doesn't really draft with special teams in mind like Fisher did. It was really bizarre when our ST was our best unit of football. Since McVay got here, our ST has been slowly deteriorating. I suppose its better to have a fantastic offense and defense, but it is still a hole in McVay coached football teams.

 

[badnews]

That’s not quite right. Cam was the starting RB in game 1 and he got hurt falling on the football. It took him awhile to recover.

Good call. Was Henderson banged up then?

 

[Tano]

Good call. Was Henderson banged up

He might have been. But Brown was healthy. But Cam was put in front of Brown.

 

[badnews]

He might have been. But Brown was healthy.

Yeah that's true but Brown was also our established 3rd down RB and 4th quarter change of pace guy. He had already demonstrated his value there and not so much as a starter. But it's not important. Good point about Akers getting the early start. Although I think I remember McVay even admitting he should have gotten Akers more involved sooner last season.

I think it's clear that McVay doesn't particularly like to start rookies early and prefers relying on veterans.... it's worked so I'm not complaining...

 

[OldSchool]

Did McVay say that or did he say he will get a shot?

I'm not making excuses for our 5th WR not being productive. It goes without saying.

McVay said it many times in camp and heading into the season.

 

[Liberator]

I think the risk of Atwell fumbling is worth letting him return kicks an punts for us since we're so bad at it otherwise. I've also never seen him fumble in pre season or on a punt, so I wonder where all the distrust is coming from. Dude can fly if he gets a bit of space, but then again we don't really block special teams very well from what I've seen so it may be useless until we improve that.

 

[CoachAllred]

I'm pretty sure he didn't have any today.

Agree with rest of your post, but what was up with him not playing?
I tried to find any injury news and whether he was activated. I found nothing.
I also saw a shot of McVay and ST coach having a not so friendly conversation.
I think that was during Giants game , not certain.

 

[Jacobarch]

Yeah not sure why our 2nd round pick can't return punts or kickoffs

 

[RamWoodie]

Point your finger at McVay folks!!!
After the onside kick followed by a fake punt by an 0-6 team, it was obvious they were playing desperate to win.

McVay...AND ONLY McVAY...was asleep at the switch, if you ask me!!!

 

[ottoman89]

The video isn't up yet but on the Pat McAfee show, him and Chuck Pagano blasted the coaching by the Rams on those plays. And I couldn't even disagree. Makes it sting that much worse even though we won.

 

[Merlin]

McVay mentioned on his weekly show that the Rams only had 10 on the field for the final fake punt. Think it was that one. Either way at that point in the game for the ST coach to fuck up his personnel group is just about a firing offense. It's about as bad as Bones running that fake without the HC knowing it was going down.

The ST being poor is on McVay because he made the hire and stacks the roster. But he cannot be happy with his ST coach right now.

 

[ottoman89]

McVay mentioned on his weekly show that the Rams only had 10 on the field for the final fake punt. Think it was that one. Either way at that point in the game for the ST coach to fuck up his personnel group is just about a firing offense. It's about as bad as Bones running that fake without the HC knowing it was going down.

The ST being poor is on McVay because he made the hire and stacks the roster. But he cannot be happy with his ST coach right now.

That's piss poor on Joe D. part. Was excited for his hire but his special teams have been ass.

 

[madrid311]

Oh he regrets it. This is where him being so young and all factors in. I am sure that taught him a good lesson. And if this ST coach doesn't improve he's gonna learn that same lesson again.

Well and he might also pile that on top of the ol' friend hire lesson with Morris. Though I'm not totally sure about that yet I still think Morris might be a secret genius or something.

We have the #4 defense in the NFL. Not too bad really

 

[AZRams]

Does Jefferson have any experience running back punts?

 

[AZRams]

I guess this can also be a vent thread, but the special teams needs to be addressed, badly.
Aside from our kicker and punter, who are great, the rest of special teams is a disaster this year.

I mean, we got fooled 3 times today on trick plays, that has to be a record.
First time is forgivable, but the other 2 times, no.

So is it the coaching, or some of the players, or what? And how do we fix this mess?

Why did we move off Pharoh Cooper? Yes, he had the big injury in '18 but was there something else I missed along the way?

Obviously doesn't fix anything now...

 

[Kupped]

On the plus side, Gay continues to be solid. He had the weird kickoff game at Seattle, but that looks like just an odd, bad day.

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

Why did we move off Pharoh Cooper? Yes, he had the big injury in '18 but was there something else I missed along the way?

Obviously doesn't fix anything now...

He fumbled twice in our playoff game against the Falcons.