What did you learn from week 3?

[BonifayRam]

@Ram65 , @WestCoastRam........With a very high probably that Wade will go into the Vikings gm without our 2 all pro starting corners plus with knowledge that he is without an any good perfroming Edge Rushers (sorry Ebukam/Easley/Franklin-Myers/Longacre)..... what would be a possible "short term remedy"in order to try to generate the needed pass rushing pressure to off set the absence of Peters/Talib in his Defense?

Or ...is there an opinion that this Defense that we saw on the field in the 2nd half of the Chargers game can be successful in keeping the Vikings from an offensive eruption?

Wade did make some changes in his defense .....when ER/OLB Dom Easley was unable to play with his injured knee, Wade moved MLB'er Cory Littleton into the Edge Rushing position more than 8 times in the 3rd quarter & was effective. Wade went with Wilson/Christian as the inside LB'ers. Have any thoughts here?

 

[BonifayRam]

wait wasn't Thompson and Sickels both cut?

Yes.

Both have been released & signed several times but currently accordingly to the Rams Offical site ..these two OLB/Edge Rushers are listed on the Injured Reserve. I can't explain it.
https://www.therams.com/team/players-roster/

 

[hotanez]

Yes.

Both have been released & signed several times but currently accordingly to the Rams Offical site ..these two OLB/Edge Rushers are listed on the Injured Reserve. I can't explain it.
https://www.therams.com/team/players-roster/

I just read that Carlos was waived then cleared waivers and was put on IR. Didn't know that was possible. Couldn't find anything on Garrett though

 

[hotanez]

@Ram65 , @WestCoastRam........With a very high probably that Wade will go into the Vikings gm without our 2 all pro starting corners plus with knowledge that he is without an any good perfroming Edge Rushers (sorry Ebukam/Easley/Franklin-Myers/Longacre)..... what would be a possible "short term remedy"in order to try to generate the needed pass rushing pressure to off set the absence of Peters/Talib in his Defense?

Or ...is there an opinion that this Defense that we saw on the field in the 2nd half of the Chargers game can be successful in keeping the Vikings from an offensive eruption?

Wade did make some changes in his defense .....when ER/OLB Dom Easley was unable to play with his injured knee, Wade moved MLB'er Cory Littleton into the Edge Rushing position more than 8 times in the 3rd quarter & was effective. Wade went with Wilson/Christian as the inside LB'ers. Have any thoughts here?

Bonifay you think Wade might use Littleton more as a edge rusher and give either Hager or Mikah a chance at ILB

 

[Akrasian]

I just read that Carlos was waived then cleared waivers and was put on IR. Didn't know that was possible. Couldn't find anything on Garrett though

In the preseason that's the normal procedure for non-vets. That way teams don't stash mostly healthy players who won't make the team on IR - instead they have to give every other team a chance at them.

 

[Ram65]

@Ram65 , @WestCoastRam........With a very high probably that Wade will go into the Vikings gm without our 2 all pro starting corners plus with knowledge that he is without an any good perfroming Edge Rushers (sorry Ebukam/Easley/Franklin-Myers/Longacre)..... what would be a possible "short term remedy"in order to try to generate the needed pass rushing pressure to off set the absence of Peters/Talib in his Defense?

Or ...is there an opinion that this Defense that we saw on the field in the 2nd half of the Chargers game can be successful in keeping the Vikings from an offensive eruption?

Wade did make some changes in his defense .....when ER/OLB Dom Easley was unable to play with his injured knee, Wade moved MLB'er Cory Littleton into the Edge Rushing position more than 8 times in the 3rd quarter & was effective. Wade went with Wilson/Christian as the inside LB'ers. Have any thoughts here?

From what I understand the Vikings offensive line is banged up. Not sure how bad it is but I guess the OC is still out. That helps some. Looks like Littleton could be the best option. Ebukam gets close at times. It is time he steps up. Same with the rest. Last year the Vikings burned the Rams with passes near the sidelines. Some of those took a long time so they need a pass rush. Also, Kenuum used his legs to get out of trouble. Cousins is not as mobile.

 

[BonifayRam]

Bonifay you think Wade might use Littleton more as a edge rusher and give either Hager or Mikah a chance at ILB

Yes thats what I am thinking at this time hotanez.

I rewatched the entire gm today. I saw a good amount of the Chargers 2 RB's make a large amount of outside runs yesterday while Easley & Longacre were in the lineup. Ebukam seemed to perfrom much better @ outside run containment as an ER.

As far as Easley & Longacre in the pass rushing side of things, Longacre was better but he needs to get back where he was this time early last year. Cory was the best LB'er in perfroming pass rushing pressure from the LB'ing position. Thats not a good thing because he is our starting MLB'er. Rookie Franklin-Myers is more DL'er than a pass rushing Edge Rusher. I do not see where ER/OLB'ers rookie Justin Lawler & Trevon Young can offer Wade any help in this problem.

Safety Marqui Christian is balling right now as our inside Lb'er. Ramik Wilson's snaps in the defense increased in this Chargers game so did Marqui Christian's. A quick fix in getting some additional pressure on Kirk this Thursday is using Cory as an OLB'er. MLB'er Bryce Hager can also be ready to take some pressure off Cory in calling the defense. Thus alowing Cory to put himself in the best position to get to Kirk Cousins. Hager has been very solid in pre season & in brief appearances in the Rams defense.

We might see some additional snaps with Ndamukong Suh playing outside from his NT post @ the two DT's positions, with Westbrooks & Brockers getting additional NT snaps. Vikings RT Rashod Hill & OC Brett Jones may be rare cooked prime rib for Suh Thursday.

I am thinking that safety Marqui Christian snaps in Wade's defense will increase Thursday Night. A side bar issue here on safety Lamarcus Joyner's 3 wk overall play....:sadwalkn).

 

[Mackeyser]

I think if they would just let AD play, he will wreck them almost single-handedly.

 

[Ram65]

Bonifay you think Wade might use Littleton more as a edge rusher and give either Hager or Mikah a chance at ILB

That would be a surprise to me. Littleton on passing downs but not every down. Wilson over Mikah for now.

 

[hotanez]

That would be a surprise to me. Littleton on passing downs but not every down. Wilson over Mikah for now.

no not as a pass rusher exclusively, more as a edge rusher when he wants to go with a more traditional 3-4 look. we are just exchanging ideas not saying that's what Wade is going to do

 

[Merlin]

what kind of injury for Dom Easley? First time I've heard he was injured. Out for how long?

I saw him hit the locker room and told my bud "welp looks like Dominque is gunnin for an early shower." But apparently he checked out on the training table and they sent him back. I'm actually surprised he's lasted until game 3.

Either way he's a guy we cannot count on, which is a shame because he does bring a capable rush on passing downs, even on the edge.

As far as Easley & Longacre in the pass rushing side of things, Longacre was better but he needs to get back where he was this time early last year. Cory was the best LB'er in perfroming pass rushing pressure from the LB'ing position. Thats not a good thing because he is our starting MLB'er. Rookie Franklin-Myers is more DL'er than a pass rushing Edge Rusher. I do not see where ER/OLB'ers rookie Justin Lawler & Trevon Young can offer Wade any help in this problem.

Yeah both Longacre and Easley are liabilities in contain. I like this defense better with the young legs in there, as they snuff out the screens and contain much better. Problem is we're not deep even in that respect, so I really hope Oko ends up healing quickly enough to get a look this year.

Edge will be the weakness of this defense the rest of this season. It is what it is. But if we can get our two starting CBs back we're still going to have a fine defense, so there's that.

 

[Ram65]

no not as a pass rusher exclusively, more as a edge rusher when he wants to go with a more traditional 3-4 look. we are just exchanging ideas not saying that's what Wade is going to do

I get it. I just don't think Mikah is ready to see a lot of action. I think they keep Wilson and Littleton in the middle on early downs. Mikah is a good pass rusher up the middle on a blitz and Hagar can cover so Wade could try them a little in certain situation. Hope he comes up with a winning plan.

 

[Mojo Ram]

5. Oline Penalties: A few of those looked bogus to me, and I heard Big Whit's name called a few times, which definitely seems out of character and the call on Blythe was ridiculous, he was called for holding when he actually didn't touch a single defender (bogus calls?) But I'd like these penalties to stop.

If the Chargers aren't down two scores with 7 min left in the game the parity police don't make all those holding calls on that one Rams drive. Transparent as fuck what professional officials are doing in pro sports. They've been doing that in the NBA for decades. Born from the brilliance of one David Stern.

 

[Mojo Ram]

6. Dline: we're getting pressure on, but those sacks are evading us at the moment, our edge rush needs to improve so that we start rattling opposing QBs - don't get me wrong I know Rivers is a great QB and have always respected him, but we should have got to him more.

Agreed. There's pressure there, but there's less chaos in the pocket right now then there was a season ago for opposing QB's IMO. I have faith in Wade to get this wrecking machine rectified, although with our top two dogs at CB missing time now, we will have to wait on that.

 

[Mojo Ram]

1. Goff, the dude is just so cool, he threw that INT and he didn't look fazed by it, it was a risky throw, to the same corner as last weeks INT and again didn't come off, but it did not affect his game.

2. Our Offense: it sure looks like we can score on any drive, Goff is moving the ball beautifully, these WRs are simply amazing!

3. Gurley: was a marked man yesterday, which may have opened up the passing game, but he NEVER gives up.

Pick your poison. As i used to say in here quite a bit during the Fisher years when fans nitpicked the defense out of frustration when the offense was a joke...."There's nothing wrong with the defense."

There's nothing wrong with this offense.

 

[BonifayRam]

I saw him hit the locker room and told my bud "welp looks like Dominque is gunnin for an early shower." But apparently he checked out on the training table and they sent him back. I'm actually surprised he's lasted until game 3.

Either way he's a guy we cannot count on, which is a shame because he does bring a capable rush on passing downs, even on the edge.



Yeah both Longacre and Easley are liabilities in contain. I like this defense better with the young legs in there, as they snuff out the screens and contain much better. Problem is we're not deep even in that respect, so I really hope Oko ends up healing quickly enough to get a look this year.

Edge will be the weakness of this defense the rest of this season. It is what it is. But if we can get our two starting CBs back we're still going to have a fine defense, so there's that.

If I can still count OG Okoronkwo might be ready & authorized to come off the PUP/IR status on October 27th 2018 in time to play the Saints in New Oreleans. Thats of course if he can pass the physical. Other than that I know of no other pass rush help coming up on the menu. ER Ryan Davis was here in pre season but had an injury to his lower leg & was released. Hoping :notsure: that LB'er coach Barry can get rookies Young & Lawler up to speed as a pass rushers. What have I missed?

 

[WestCoastRam]

@BonifayRam, nice catch on Littleton - I can't see him holding up in the OLB role for long and hate to remove him from the middle but could see him get more snaps there. Other than that, I don't really have a clue unless they want to take a guy like Kiser and try to get him to rush the passer at OLB.

I think I'm just praying that Longacre works his way back to healthy during the season and Obo can provide us with a spark when he returns. Ebukam looks like a try hard guy who can't turn the corner sadly - a perfectly good started at the other OLB spot. I don't really see a long term solution here and I really worry that some team with a mobile QB will just start working a ton of bootlegs into their game plan where they attack the underneath coverage and neutralize the middle rush. I see that coming.

 

[WestCoastRam]

@BonifayRam, a novel approach for season-ending help at OLB would be for Troy Hill or Shields to play remarkably well in the absence of our starters and perhaps a trade for OLB for one of them by the trade deadline could happen... I'm not sure we have the draft capital or cap space to make other trades at that time.

 

[Loyal]

Obviously next season the Rams will focus on pass rushers as that is an issue and most of us knew that coming into this season, however, the inside pass rush has not been there either IMO, or not up to the Standards I felt...Playing the Vikings, the Rams are going to have to put more pressure on Cousins as the Rams could be without the starting two CB's. Also needing a new return man, I would sign Cairo Santos as Sam Ficken does not belong in the NFL, IMHO.

What can you do when the QB is getting rid of the ball fast? 've seen tape of the Raiders game and Donald.Suh were ripping up the interior Oline, but Carr got rid of the ball, except one time. I imagine the same will be true on coach's tape of the Chargers game.

 

[BonifayRam]

@BonifayRam, a novel approach for season-ending help at OLB would be for Troy Hill or Shields to play remarkably well in the absence of our starters and perhaps a trade for OLB for one of them by the trade deadline could happen... I'm not sure we have the draft capital or cap space to make other trades at that time.

Good stuff!

I had not gave any thoughts towards a trade for a 34 Edge Rusher. I have to think on that. Does anyone know of a team that has a glut of 34 Defense ER's? I would think that Oakland with Gruden would have already called them up.

You would think that a team that drafted four edge rushers in the last draft would not be in this position. Or a team that is currently paying our 3 starting DL'ers 34.5 million ....average of over 11 million for each of them has a problem getting sacks of the QB.

Rams have only 2 sacks logged by this trio. I understand that the Rams total sack total is @ the near the bottom with only Oakland having less sacks. I can't wait to see this part of our defensive game gets untracked. The Vikings have 10 sacks.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categoryst...rence=NFC&role=OPP&season=2018&seasonType=REG