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martz maneuvered the rams to the edge of the abyss. linehan pushed them over the edge with the two worst drafts in the history of the rams.

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Rams43 said:

We shouldn’t be misled by early walk-through rotations.

Akers was drafted to hopefully assume the lead RB role. Moreover, I’ve read that he was considered a very good blocker at Florida State. So, that tells me two things.

1. Akers is already relatively polished in pass pro fundamentals and that should smooth the way in his transition to the NFL.

2. His college pass pro rating also tells me that he puts emphasis and effort in being a complete RB. Not all rookie RB’s have this mindset. This attitude was surely a large part of his appeal to the Rams.

My RB predictions remain the same. Akers and Hendy will probably have some kind of a rotation until McVay makes his decision on how he plans to give them their earned snaps. I predict that Akers will be getting the lions share, eventually. I am hopeful that Hendy has the lights come on this season playbook and pass pro wise. If he does, then this Ram RB tandem could be very special.

Brown will be the 3rd RB and valuable injury insurance policy as he has been for 4 years. A very nice 3rd RB for McVay’s stable.

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Im sure it was the plan, but i don't think mcvay will risk his QB without testing his rookie QB. Without pre season there is no real way to know. They went thru the entire preseason last year thinking they were new enough about the 2 unproven OLinemen and were wrong. They have to know practice doesn't tell you enough about young players. The starter opening day will be Brown.

The biggest move(s) we made this offseason was adding O’Connell and Staley.

That cocktail of young play calling creativity... I don’t know how McVay could surprise us more than he already has... but, he just might with these two.

I can only imagine the white board brainstorming! Stuff these guys will throw at each other.

Exciting!

Rams have 2nd-youngest coaching staff in NFL

The Los Angeles Rams underwent a youth movement on the coaching staff this offseason, bringing in two young coordinators to join Sean McVay. The result? Los Angeles now has the second-youngest coaching staff in the NFL;


Going strictly by head coach and the three coordinator spots (offense, defense and special teams), the average age of the Rams’ coaches is 40.5. That’s older than only the San Francisco 49ers, whose average age on the coaching staff is just 38.

Here’s a look at the ages of the Rams’ coaches, as of Aug. 13.

Head coach: Sean McVay (34)
Offensive coordinator: Kevin O’Connell (35)
Defensive coordinator: Brandon Staley (37)
Special teams coordinator: John Bonamego (56)

The Rams moved on from Wade Phillips this offseason, replacing him with 37-year-old Brandon Staley. That’s a 36-year age difference, while 35-year-old Kevin O’Connell’s arrival also lowers the average age. John Bonamego is the eldest of the bunch at 56, which is 10 years older than the man he’s replacing, John Fassel.

What the Rams’ coaches lack in experience and wisdom they make up for with innovation and creativity. McVay is one of the best young coaches in the NFL, while Staley is viewed as an up-and-comer after spending three years on Vic Fangio’s staffs in Chicago and Denver. O’Connell worked with McVay in Washington and will bring another layer of ideas to the offense.

Behind the Rams in average age are the Titans (average: 42 years old), followed by the Patriots (42.4) and Bengals (43.25).

CGI_Ram said:

To be fair, you or I could have gained good yardage through that hole!

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I may have made at least 10 yards before i ran out of puff.

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CGI_Ram said:

Looks like Goff is on your page @CoachAllred

Rams QB Jared Goff: Goal is to have three 1,000-yard pass-catchers in 2020

www.therams.com

Goff wants three 1,000-yard pass-catchers in 2020

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I have a confession to make CGI. The whole thing was a big ruse.

You see, Goff had borrowed some cash from me recently. to finish off the lay-away plan
for one of those new video games the kids are so fond of these days.

He was a little short on funds for repayment , so I told him that if he would make the 3 receivers @ 1000Yd's quote ,
I would forgive him the remainder of his debt. Poor kid , just seems to blow all of his money on video games, chips and sodas these days.

I have to think Williams wins a job at either the slot or CB2. He's gonna start for us somewhere IMO. I'd guess CB2 btw.

Competition in the secondary should be fierce. CB2, sCB should be wide open. Safety might be open too depending on whether they use Burgess at sCB. If he is on that depth chart as a safety it's still going to be hard to keep him off the field. And they might (IMO) try Rapp at the WILB spot just to have the best guys on the field if they feel they can still shut down the run.

Those helmets look absolutely badass outdoors.

"Hey guys, can I catch the Rona from a guy's crotch?" ~ Jared

Great videos and great numbers for Faulk.

I would have valued Marshall, even more, had he been drafted by the Rams. When I put the early Colt years and the Rams years together it is amazing.

Poor Stan. Builds the best stadium in the league while enduring $2.5B in cost overruns and its big opening is screwed over by this COVID shit. Talk about timing.

Picked4td said:

I didnt ask for all the details (if my friend even had them), but yea the gist of it was there was some tensions from the Gurley contract that carried over to this offseason, and mcvay had talks with espn about the mnf this offseason. whether espn heard about the tension and they approached him or they just did it any way, im not sure. just thought it was a tidbit worth sharing, especially since all seems well now

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It was awesome info to share. I wasnt disagreeing, on the contrary. Lets all be honest here, something wasnt right "behind the scenes" last season. And like the true leader McVay is, he wouldnt air the laundry publicly. Furthermore, what you said also may shed some light on how Gurley's use, or lackthereof in the end of 2018, thru the playoffs may have been the genesis to the "tension"
Thanks for posting

John Johnson expects Rams defense to be better than Brandon Staley’s previous stops

First time defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has not been in the NFL for very long, but he’s thus far experienced way more successes than failures. And in the last three years, few defensive assistants could say they had better successes.

After more than a decade at the college level, Staley was hired as the outside linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears in 2017, working with Leonard Floyd, Pernell McPhee, Lamarr Houston, and Sam Acho, among others. The Bears finished ninth in points allowed and 10th in yards allowed that season.

In 2018, John Fox was replaced as head coach by Matt Nagy, but he kept on defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and Staley as the outside linebackers coach. Now Staley would be working with Khalil Mack, the most valuable acquisition by the Bears in years. Mack had 12.5 sacks and was a first team all-pro, Chicago ranked first in points allowed, first in net yards per pass attempt allowed, and first in takeaways.

When Fangio took his services to Mile High Beach, he brought Staley with him as outside linebackers coach. The Denver Broncos finished 10th in points allowed last season and outside linebacker Von Miller was a Pro Bowler for the eighth time, although Fangio did have higher expectations. Part of those expectations being damaged by losing outside linebacker Bradley Chubb early in the season.

Now Staley is the defensive coordinator of the LA Rams and expectations may not only be higher than what he saw in Denver last season, but perhaps will surpass what the Bears accomplished in 2018.

Or at least, that’s what safety John Johnson believes. The Rams high-ceiling free safety said this week that as far as Staley’s previous stops are concerned, “We have better guys than he did at those places” so “picture what he did” with the Bears and Broncos ... “but with better guys.”

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Johnson may have a point.

The Rams feature the NFL’s best defensive player in Donald, no less than at least a minor upgrade to Mack along the defensive line. The Bears top corner in 2018 was Kyle Fuller, who had seven interceptions, but what can Staley expect to do with Jalen Ramsey as his top corner instead?

LA’s safety tandem of John Johnson and Taylor Rapp is no less than comparable to Chicago’s Eddie Jackson and Adrian Amos, at least as compared to what Jackson and Amos were known as prior to the 2018 season. Even today, Jackson and Johnson could be of equal value, and maybe Staley can develop Rapp in the same way that Bears coaches developed Amos, now a safety for the Packers.

If not, he also has third round safety Terrell Burgess to work with.

Mack, Jackson, and Fuller were first team all-pros in 2018, which we know is possible for Donald and Ramsey and could be possible with Johnson. A fourth Pro Bowl player on that defensive was defensive end Akiem Hicks, who at that point was going to the Pro Bowl for the first time at age 29. What could Staley do with 29-year-old Michael Brockers at this point in his career?

A first time Pro Bowl nod type season is hardly out of the question.

Thus far I am having a hard time finding the lie in what Johnson said. But Chicago did have rookie inside linebacker Roquan Smith in 2018 and he posted 121 tackles, five sacks, and one interception that year. Danny Trevathan and Floyd rounded out the group. Staley instead has Floyd, Samson Ebukam, Micah Kiser, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, and others battling it out for four positions at linebacker. If we account for the fact that Donald is making up for what the Rams don’t have with Mack at linebacker, that eases the difference somewhat.

I also believe that Kiser or Floyd or someone will be able to produce 100+ tackles and four or five sacks, just as Cory Littleton did the past two seasons.

Opposite of Ramsey is Troy Hill, a comparable number two corner to Prince Amukamara. The nickel position is a training camp battle and some of the questions won’t be answered until the season is over or much closer to it. Stars will emerge. Others won’t ever come to be. But not only does Staley likely have more talent as a defensive coordinator than what he had as an assistant with the Broncos last season (Miller, Justin Simmons, Chris Harris, Derek Wolfe as the standouts), he could potentially match the very talented number one defense (first in DVOA, first in pass defense DVOA, second in rush defense DVOA) of the 2018 Chicago Bears.

And if you don’t believe it, at least some of the players do.

1999... I am at Rams camp in McComb. Back then, the autograph fence was 1 person deep. You saw every player as they came on/off practice field...

The player access was awesome, for a fan.

I have a 28 Faulk child’s jersey, a friend asked me to get signed by Marshall Faulk...

The practice I attempted to get that signed... Faulk comes out of locker room... I hold out the jersey, ask “do you have time to sign?”...

He slows, looks at it, looks at me... says “Isn’t that cute”. Smiles and keeps walking.

I sort of chuckled, because it was funny. But, I also knew I missed a good shot to get it signed.

No harm, after practice he stopped and signed it.

Snaz said:

I didn't see Natrez Patrick listed in the above article as OLB but was on the ILB competition article.
What made you think he was OLB?

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2nd to last player in article

kurtfaulk said:

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During the early phases of the Falcons’ acclimation period, Gurley walked with a noticeable limp and wore a compression sock on his left leg, yet he showed speed and explosion during drills.

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FWIW I wear a compression sock on my right leg.....Good luck Todd, wish you the best, not against the Rams and I really believe it's Akers gig now.

CGI_Ram said:

What is cool looking at Dickerson stats... check out the carries. 388, 390, 404... Crazy!

Highest carries last 4 yrs has been 322. Derek Henry lead the NFL in yards last season, 303 carries.

View attachment 38198

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He really was a different breed

Since there's limited time with the practice restrictions and no preseason before fast approaching regular season, I expect teams to start with last year's depth chart or guys that have been in the system. Continuity is probably the most important thing right now, especially for the line. Outside of injuries or quarantines, I don't expect any major changes unless someone is really fucking up during the regular season.

Thank you TGII.

Really pumped about the Safety position. I believe you could potentially argue that they could be one of the top pairs in the league. Not even playing the homer card.

My guess is no. If a player is good enough for the "normal" combine, why would they waste time playing in the spring? I think what the PAC-12 and Big-10 did, will hurt them w/ recruiting. And they will have players bowing out (for their own good...). This was a bad decision for those school's athlete's.

Joe Burrow: “If this happened a year ago I may be looking for a job right now”

Elmgrovegnome said:

Its a very odd rumor for someone to start in the first place. If Snead started it then okay, then it's strategy. If a reporter started it, then it's kind of a weak rumor. How much attention would it get them? At that point Higbee wasn't anything special. I recall thinking that a 7th round pick sounded too low for Higbee's blocking ability, but thought maybe the Rams weren't going sign him. But it was hardly newsworthy at the time. So my point is that if someone was to make up a lie for clicks, why not make up a better one? It sounded to inconsequential to be made up.

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It wasnt even a rumor. Some Minnesota sports writer floated an ambiguous tweet that the Rams and Vikings discussed a trade a year earlier. Was one of those "rumors" where different writers would use the same tweet but seemingly look as if it was a different article.

-X- said:

Yeah you’d probably have to travel to find an artist like that. Wouldn’t be a bad investment of your time to go TO an artist like that either. It’s like going 80 miles out of your way for good Mexican food as opposed to trying to find a joint in your neighborhood that comes close. Most don’t.

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We drive an hour to go to this Mexican restaurant in a little cow town called Sierraville - more cows than people. They make THE best Chile Rellenos and that is my gauge for most Mexican restaurants. They make them fresh daily - simple but the poblanos are still bright green and cooked perfectly with the perfect amount of cheese and a great house made sauce. Several times I have ordered three of them ala carte for my whole meal. The other day we went there and I tried their Carne Asada. OMFG!