What Is A Rams Linebacking Corps Without James Laurinaitis?

[tavian]

Thanks for bringing up one of my all-time favorite Rams players.

Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated/The MMQB



.

My favorite Ram backer.Bar NONE.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Ogletree had better be ready to gear up every Sunday, rain or shine, hurt or not hurt for the next several years because he's got some LARGE durability shoes to fill at MLB. If he starts to miss time here and there the Rams are going to miss having that slow average backer in there.

 

[Prime Time]

Most of the hate towards JL was from a ranking from PFF.

Let's not bash the guy, he's gone.

Seriously? A whole hate/bash/pile-on thread on a player who's no longer on the team???

What you're reading in this thread is constructive criticism, not hate, bashing, or piling on. That's what we do here. ROD has a reputation according to some that we are only a "homers" site. Untrue. We are allowed to give our opinions, the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

[DenverRam]

i dont think 9 plays really make or break a players career.

 

[ScotsRam]

Most overrated player on defense

From JJ's biggest fan that's a stretch.

 

[lockdnram21]

From JJ's biggest fan that's a stretch.

I never said Jenkins was flawless but last season he played his best football since he's been a ram.

 

[…..]

Seriously? A whole hate/bash/pile-on thread on a player who's no longer on the team??? And, for some sportswriter hack to take that much time dissecting a player the Rams let go? Must be a slow news day...

A bit dramatic, don't you think? jeez

I don't see anyone railing too much on JL55

Truth is, we don't know whether he will be missed or not. We hope we got better, that's kinda the idea here in team sports, to get better.

 

[…..]

I never said Jenkins was flawless but last season he played his best football since he's been a ram.

contract year

 

[DenverRam]

i think JL strength was putting the D in the right position pre snap.

 

[OnceARam]

Instead of seeing what this writer is telling you to see in these plays, think about what you are not seeing. I don't have the time to do a huge write up so I'll just pull out two examples.

First, the top play: JL has a clear lane to take down the RB but doesn't. We're told the reason is because JL sucks, but the real reason is because his role was not the play-maker in that defense. JL's job was to let the other guys on the field make the plays and for him to be the safety net in case they didn't.

Personally, I hated this concept. I think the MLB should be the playmaker, not the support player. I'm of the "see ball get ball" killer instinct school for linebackers. But that's what JL was told to do, and a defense works because the people commit to the team, not play like individuals.

GW's role for JL was for him to be conservative and hold the line instead of charge in aggressively. Why? One reason was to not create cut back lanes. So while it looks like JL sucks on this play, he's obeying his role and in fact the RB cuts back exactly as the defense should be prepared for will happen.

Unfortunately, it's not. Donald -- and I know this is blasphemy to utter -- gives too much ground, but he's facing three blockers so it's understandable. The real problem in this play is Ayers. He totally overlaps Donald and opens his lane instead of maintaining gap discipline. And shocker that's where the RB goes.

It is understandable that people see JL unblocked with a path to the RB and cry that it's his fault. After all Kuechly would have knifed in and stuck the guy in a heartbeat! But this isn't the same defense scheme and that wasn't JL's role. Me, personally, would always want a Kuechly. I want an unblocked MLB to explode to the ball and stuff that thing with a huge collision, but that simply was not JL's orders.

We know this because if he was supposed to be a "normal" MLB, we would have seen JL trying to do those kind of Kuechly plays but flailing and missing a lot due to his diminished skills. But how many times did we see JL knife a gap and whiff and stand there empty-handed in the backfield for all the world to see? If he simply sucked, that's what we would have seen over and over.

Clearly, he was instructed not to take aggressive risk and play the conservative way shown in the examples. I disagree with it, but I see why GW wanted it because it allowed the superior DL talent and the other less-disciplined LBs (Barron) to be the aggressive, attacking risk-takers and play makers. You can't just "bloody Sunday" and have all 11 guys blitz every down, someone has to stay back to prevent the big play and be there to cover when others whiff, and that was JL's role for the front 7.

Another example of the writer being clueless is his first Ogletree example. The writer swoons over AO's aggressiveness while totally not seeing AO is aligned on the line of scrimmage running a stunt with Donald. He's misinterpreting scheme design for individual tenacity. Again, the point isn't I disagree -- AO is indeed tenacious, aggressive and fast -- it's that the example is trying to show something that's not true of that particular play.

TL;dr-- it is totally agreed that JL had a terrible year and should have made more plays than he did, but it is also totally clear that his role was defined towards lending that impression. Criticism of JL is totally warranted but needs to be done while understanding his job in the scheme, not just superficially showing a play and saying he sucks for reasons that aren't true. Maybe the reason JL was asked to play this role is due to his diminished skills. Hopefully now GW has a more athletic and tenacious MLB that can be more of the role I would expect an MLB to perform.

You're right; Ayers over ran that play. JL could have been more aggressive and made it though. I understand LB responsibilities. He still could have made the play, if he had the athletic ability to do so. Yes, a better LB could have made the play regardless of responsibility. Production trumps scheme, especially when it's a TFL.

JL was not a TFL guy and that's what our defense has been missing from that position, regardless of scheme.

So if I'm grading the play, Donald and JL get a minus and Ayers gets a double minus. Not a good look all around. But the weakest link, Ayers, opens up the hole. Not JL.

 

[Wolfecola]

Seriously? A whole hate/bash/pile-on thread on a player who's no longer on the team??? And, for some sportswriter hack to take that much time dissecting a player the Rams let go? Must be a slow news day...

While I agree with your post, I don't think it's wrong to look at a former player's time on our team objectively.

Truth is, we got faster on defense. Laurinaitis has a brilliant football IQ and like I said, was the epitome of durability and toughness while on our squad. He just lacked speed and instincts, and it showed the last two years.

There's no doubt in my mind that Barron's performance last year made Laurinaitis expendable.

 

[Ballhawk]

I'm afraid that Ogletree will get injured early and we won't have a MLB at all. He is better in coverage but has not been durable and hasn't played in the middle.
The JL bashing is mostly BS.:rant:

 

[rfa77]

A bit dramatic, don't you think? jeez

I don't see anyone railing too much on JL55

Truth is, we don't know whether he will be missed or not. We hope we got better, that's kinda the idea here in team sports, to get better.

No, I don't think. He's gone. On to better things.

 

[rfa77]

What you're reading in this thread is constructive criticism, not hate, bashing, or piling on. That's what we do here. ROD has a reputation according to some that we are only a "homers" site. Untrue. We are allowed to give our opinions, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Yeah - and I gave mine. Leave the guy alone, for crying out loud. He's gone.

 

[So Ram]

I'm afraid that Ogletree will get injured early and we won't have a MLB at all. He is better in coverage but has not been durable and hasn't played in the middle.
The JL bashing is mostly BS.:rant:

Worry all you want. I like what Bryce Hager brings to the position.Next guy up, & he was solid in the preseason. Has a knack for finding loose footballs.
--Ogletree will be fine . That said trading for Goff cost The Rams depth at MLB.

 

[12intheBox]

He was an awesome presence in practice and I'm sure in the locker room as well - but I like the new look LB corps - even as thin as it is.

 

[lockdnram21]

contract year

Don't just think it was contract year he grew as a player. Rams are going to be mad they let him go. Because Tru is no where near Jenkins level

 

[Prime Time]

Yeah - and I gave mine. Leave the guy alone, for crying out loud. He's gone.

This is about making sure every ROD member gets to express their opinion, positive or negative, about Rams players and former Rams players without being shamed or stifled. Now if all someone has to offer is negative commentary, then that's a different matter entirely.

 

[RamFan503]

Yeah - and I gave mine. Leave the guy alone, for crying out loud. He's gone.

You may want to chill out. A moderator's job is to interject. Besides, it's not like there are a bunch of people here saying JL sucks or otherwise being disrespectful to him.

 

[RamFan503]

JL is overrated,but OP does not understand what he is looking at.

Yeah, there are a few examples provided in the OP that come from someone who clearly doesn't understand fundamental football, but it is what it is. I won't argue that JL could get washed out, would over-pursue, and had difficulty shedding blockers, but use some examples that make sense. There are also a ton of examples people could provide of him getting players into position, diagnosing the offense, making adjustments, and making solid reads/tackles. This 'article' is just confirmation bias, but I guess that's what he was going for.

I kept looking at the gifs over and over to see what I was missing. I simply wasn't seeing the same things the author was pointing at. Should have known that all I had to do was read the responses from ROD members to get clarification.