This is what we like to see from the RBs. Cam had a great one here too. Some of us remember the one Ole' he had a few years back. Maybe the problem was consistency.

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Kyren digs in....

Nothing new here. Williams gets away with a punch and the hit by Greenlaw was late and not necessary. A play later he gets dinged and the SF fans cheer him as he limps off.

How long can gunslinger GM Snead restrain himself? I think if he can make a splash signing without using his first round picks he's going to do it. Edge and RB would seem to be the logical targets. The way to protect his secondary is either pressure from the front 7 or a strong run attack. Williams is a very good RB but his lack of explosive speed doesn't scare anyone. Kupp's explosive plays scares the hell out of DCs. They need that out of their run game.

IMO an edge would have to be more than a one year rental. They won't do another Von Miller. But I think they would go for a two or three year deal with the right RB, The problem is fitting that signing under the cap. That's why looking at Taylor's contract they could give him a multi-year deal and fit this year under the cap. Jonathan is only 24, Christian is 27. Give Taylor a 6 year deal with 2 void year to fit under the cap. It's all about the guaranteed money which is what the player is concerned about. Taylor changes the entire offense.

Brian Burns is 25 so he's worthy of a full contract. Burns changes the defense with Young on the opposite side and Donald and Turner inside. The problem with Burns is the Panthers want too much.

Yeah it's been too quiet lately.

It's always interesting see how teams relying on young talent are fairing vs teams with a veteran filled roster. You might want to take note of #1 and #32 on this list. Needless to saying I'm rooting for the Rams this weekend.

A few snaps for Zack Evans to spell Williams. Just start with 5-6 snaps or so to see what the kid’s got.

More 12 sets. This could really help get our running game going, plus I think Hopkins or Allen could be weapons that really stress opposing D’s, always a good thing.

More running plays called. Stafford throwing 55 times per game is unsustainable.

Sit Jefferson and give his snaps in 11 sets to Robinson/Skow/ Trammel until one of them breaks out.

A lot less Kendrick and a helluva lot more Tomlinson. This should be a no brainer for Morris after 2 games. C’mon…

Kyren Williams’ return snaps should be over immediately. Period.

Snead should be exploring every option to bring in an edge player that is more effective than Hoecht. Then return Hoecht to that DL for more depth.

Thoughts?

Rapp comes off the bench for the Bills, and this happens:


So happy we made this move.

Kyren Williams has quickly become the Rams' RB1. The quality that I'd say has put him in that position, more than any other, is his ability to perform all three roles needed from a RB: running, receiving, and pass blocking.

Right now, the Rams can't afford to be predictable. Playing a RB who is not adept at all three roles, therefore, is a big problem, as he can telegraph what the offense is doing simply by being on the field.

Perhaps, in addition to his attitude, this was one of the problems the Rams saw in Cam Akers. Akers played 28 snaps in Week 1. 22 of those plays were handoffs to him. Williams, by contrast, played 53 plays with only 15 runs. Clearly, that type of usage is going to result in predictability, or the lack thereof, based upon personnel.

Williams can't do it alone. So, my question is... which of the other RBs can spell him without becoming a "tell" for what the offense is doing?

Not a lot of data here to work with.

Ronnie Rivers likely can handle the pass-catching role. He was used in that role quite a bit in college, as he had 150 receptions in his career at Fresno State. Not sure how capable he is in the pass blocking role, though. He's pretty small. Anyone have any observations there?

Royce Freeman is much bigger, and seems (from my cursory research) to have a good track record as a pass blocker. As a receiver, he's okay (had 43 receptions in 2019). He's not a great runner, though (3.7 career ypc), and certainly not much of a big play threat.

The wildcard for me is Zach Evans. I think he could be the most talented pure runner in the Rams' RB room. He has little experience as a receiver, though (30 receptions total in three years of college). I've seen some pre-draft scouting reports that asserted he had good pass blocking skills, but it remains to be seen if he can handle that role at the pro level.

So... who's the best Swiss Army Knife to help Kyren out?

This nerd does a really good breakdown, including showing the stuff Puka needs to get better at. Really well done....

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Thursday Night Football - September 21, 2023​

NY Giants at SF 49’ers​

8:15pm ET​

Amazon​

ROD Sportsbook:

After more careful viewing, a few notes on 2nd half, and a few things I missed (or forgot about) when I watched it live:

Austin Trammel freaks me out a bit. He catches the opening kickoff and forgets for a sec whether or not he's in the end zone?! I still remember how Trammel fumbled his one punt return (out of bounds) in preseason. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed with this guy.

KW is too important to receive either kickoffs or punts... replace him please.

Purdy's 3 huge misses on the long balls were glaring. 1st half: Witherspoon bit HARD on the in-and-up route. 3rd Q: Derion caught flat footed. Later in 2nd half: Deebo torches Derion at LOS, Derion can't catch back up. Purdy overthrew all 3 of these... all 3 could have been touchdowns. (Thanks for the gifts, Brock!) We definitely lucked out on these. Wouldn't be surprised if Niners fans are wondering, "does Brock have a problem with the long ball?"

Stafford moving better than I've ever seen him move. His fake on Ward #7 was nasty! (Sanchez said Stafford pulled the "stanky leg" move, lol.) Stafford strutting and rubbing it in the defender's face on that one. Several nice runs, including one for a first down on last drive. I wonder if the extra rest helped MS considerably this season? He seems to have extra pep in his step.

Didn't look like a huge hit on Boom's shoulder. Hit him more on the bicep, really. Hope Boom is ok to go.

Again with the motion and toss to the RB on the opposite side in the flat, a play I remember mostly from the GSOT days.

Camera pans the crowd to show... Walter White and Jesse are Rams fans! Awesome! If any Rams need "a little something for extra energy," they know where to get some.

Tre Tomlinson with a textbook tackle on Evans' 72 yard bomb. (Then TT throws in some extra chippiness after the play is over.) Later, TT blocks like his hair is on fire during a punt return. That guy is a fierce competitor, sure seems like he will get plays on D sooner rather than later.

Puka is like the opposite of Ike and Torry-- he just refuses to go down to protect his body. Several times it took 3 Niners to drag him down.

#92 Jonah Williams with nice pressure.

Byron Young continues to look good-- his running style reminds me of L Floyd. High effort and a couple nice run stops from BY. HE continues in 2nd half to occasionally be slow off the snap.

Rivers with a nice shifty run negated by a penalty. I thought Rivers looked good in preseason. Cautiously optimistic about him.

A commercial for a car race INSIDE the Coliseum?! Talk about a lot of left turns...

Anchrum with some nice protections in pass pro. Only sack given up all year so far was on a clear missed assignment. Other than that missed assignment, Anchrum looked competent in pass pro.

The Deebo TD was sick. One reason I enjoy watching the NFL is seeing guys who are "elite among the elites." (Like AD, for example.) Hate to say it, but Deebo is just extraordinarily gifted-- huge and fast and can change direction on a dime. He regularly torched all our CB's. And on that TD run, both Derion AND E Jones completely whiffed on him. Yeah, but he IS a crybaby!

I love E Jones (especially this year), but he played the Deebo TD poorly. Jones jogged casually to the sideline, thinking the play would get run out of bounds. But once he saw Deebo juke Derion, Jones started to sprint-- and once Deebo saw that, he juked back inward, leaving Jones flat-footed.

Hate to say it, but Rozeboom kinda reminds me of Reeder. A try-hard guy without good change-of-direction ability. Rozeboom with good effort and a nice ankle tackle, though.

On the reverse to Skow, Bosa was completely unblocked, and Skow blew by him. That play is boom or bust.

Bosa was getting unstoppable as the game wore on. Blew by RH on the right, and later blew by AJ on the left. (Can't blame Anchrum for those).

On the "anticipated whirly bird" route to Tutu, yeah, it's pretty clear Tutu made the mistake. But frankly, Stafford didn't HAVE to throw it in the EZ. MS had enough time to throw it at Tutu's feet, even though Tutu failed to make the right adjustment. Kinda seemed like MS threw it in the EZ out of frustration, as if to say, "this is where you should have been, dammit!" Yeah maybe it was a questionable decision to call intentional grounding, but if MS had just thrown it in the vicinity of Tutu, it wouldn't have been even a close call. Good overall play by Stafford, but I think frustration got to him on that play.

Back breaker not to challenge the Deebo fumble recovered by Hoecht. That lack of a challenge was a mistake made by the coaching staff, IMO. The replays were inconclusive... they never showed one with a clear definitive look. Was Deebo's foot inbounds? Did Hoecht make the recovery inbounds? We never got a good look at either one, but they were both INCREDIBLY close, within an inch or less. Rams had all 3 timeouts left, down by 7 with about 6 minutes left. Definitely should haver thrown the challenge flag... ESPECIALLY when the Niners called timeout and gave them more time. If the Rams staff saw anything definitive, it was not on the televised broadcast.

Raheem calls "cover zero" on a crucial 3rd down play late in the game? Purdy throws the ball away due to the all-out blitz! Raheem could learn a thing or two from Gregg Williams! (Well, not the "kill the head and the body will die" part.) Seriously though, it's good to see Raheem mixing in some more pressure (finally). NFL offenses are tough to beat when they get in rhythm, and he's gotta disrupt that every once in a while.

In a carryover from first half-- throughout the second half, Tutu ran with purpose and authority, and KW battled for everything.

Overall, like most everyone else here, I was pleased the Rams played smart and hard and gave a great fight to an obviously loaded Niners team. Feeling great about the future of our Rams!

Thoughts and comments welcome

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Playing TE ismore than receiving!

Per Schefter

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Just thought might be good to get one going for WR position group too for all the good examples out there.

Sometimes, it's difficult to see the value in the acquisition of compensatory draft picks at the time they are awarded. Some have even teased Les Snead for the premium he seems to place on Day 3 picks obtained through this process.

Right now, though, the value of these picks is becoming more clear.

Three compensatory selections from 2022, Cobie Durant, Derion Kendrick and Quentin Lake, are key members of the DB depth chart (with Durant and Kendrick currently starting).

In 2023, the Rams had several comp picks, including the one used on rising star Puka Nakua.

The Rams are projected to be awarded 4 more comp picks next year (3 in Round 6, 1 in Round 7).

Who knows what gems we might find.

I love these J.B. Long Interviews.....

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Felt like it deserved its own thread but feel free to move it if it doesn’t get a lot of action lol

Started a list for us of ones we haven’t seen yet

Talk to Me
Cobweb
Smile
The Popes Exorcist
Midsommar
Malevolent
The Boogeyman
Insideous: the red door


Let’s hear some recommendations/reviews!

It's hard of course to catch many of the little details when watching live. A few things that I had forgotten about, or only noticed on re-watch, occasionally in slo-mo:

Unfortunately, Cobie Durant was the guy at fault on CMC's 51 yard run. Cobie had a clean shot at him and totally whiffed. Nice coverage by 14 on Aiyuk on a crucial play, though. Cobie hand-fighting all the way to the ground.

VJ had a nice first-down catch nullified by a holding call on the Rams. Got popped and held on. Just sayin'!

Avila's block on Williams' TD was a thing of beauty. Wow!

Jonah Williams with a real nice shed and tackle. Good use of hands and leverage.

Bobby Brown with a bit of an 'ole' on CMC TD run. Balance wasn't very good on that play.

Puka is just a warrior out there. On re-watch you can see how damn tough he is, he fights for EVERYTHING. Just hope he can learn how to protect his body, but man he is tough after the catch.

Larell Murchison and Johnnie Johnson were out there with starters to open the game. Kinda weird.

Tutu looks GREAT. He knows exactly what he is doing and runs with authority and purpose. (Yeah, of course with the exception of that big 'intentional grounding' play). Also, the play design and execution to give him a free release is just brilliant. Rams snap the ball at the precise moment to allow for Tutu to release directly behind another receiver, using his teammate as a "pick" at the line of scrimmage. Really haven't seen that type of release used before so consistently and so well.

Kyren Williams had a straight drop in the first Q that went right through his hands. A precursor to what was unfortunately the biggest play of the game-- (the INT off off his hands in the 4th Q) . Don't get me wrong though-- I LOVE KW's effort and tenacity and professionalism out there. Especially loved a play when he made a one-handed grab, fell to his knee, and then had the awareness to get back up a split-second before he was touched and then gain another 7 yards for a first down. Bottom line, KW just has to focus better on the easy catches, and make sure he's got it BEFORE turning to run.

Hoecht had a good first half and sealed the edge well, from what I saw.

EDIT: finishing off the first half notes...

Gotta repeat how good Tutu looked out there. If not for Puka being a record-setting monster, we'd all be talking about Tutu!! I wonder if he's grown an extra inch to reach 5'9", and maybe he's gained a couple pounds to get all the way up to 160? Seriously though, Tutu looks like a polished pro out there, great to see.

Puka's warrior nature could be a safety problem for him... he fights every damn play to the whistle and beyond. Even when there's three opponents hanging all over him and the ref's have blown the play dead, Puka is still scrapping for yards.

Just a weird observation I noticed in slo-mo about Byron Young: he is CONSISTENTLY the last guy to react after the snap. I wonder if this can be improved with coaching? Or if it's part of his head spinning as a rookie? I noticed this about him in preseason, too. In the first half, on no less than 5 plays, Young was a half-step behind everyone else on the D-line. Frankly, he seems to have good quickness and speed-- I just think it could help him if he could just get up to the same speed as everyone else after the snap.

Quite honestly I thought the refs called a couple of ticky-tack calls on the Niners. I rewatched the personal foul call on #57 and didn't see anything obviously egregious-- either during the play or after the whistle. Never heard a good clear explanation as to what the infraction was. And frankly a DB holding call on Puka was a bit tricky-tack also-- Puka stumbled out of his break, it wasn't really the result of a hold.

Likewise, the PI call on Derion was real close and they easily could have let it go. His left arm was ok I think, but his right arm just gave a little extra shove just a fraction too soon. Derion competes hard, that's for damn sure.

Cobie with loose coverage on a couple plays. From my POV, not sure who is the better CB at this point, Derion or Cobie, they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Just like in the Seattle game, KW fighting for every last inch, good to see.

Speaking of a different KW... the misdirection followed by the "flip toss" to the RB on the edge reminded me of Warner tossing to MF in '99.

That's all for now... thoughts and comments welcome.

To make one SUPER !!!!! leauge

As mentioned previously in another thread, i'm all about a top EDGE & CB during free agency next year, also add a decent ILB to play next to Ernest Jones, so I've basically scratched those positions as early draft picks. With our new CAP situation, we can certainly afford to go this route. I anticipate having Havenstein playing thru 2024 for us, meaning a drafted OT can probably wait one more year unless someone great falls to us. Admittedly, I do waver somewhat between a WR and a LT for our 1'st rounder. As you'll see, this draft leans heavily towards the offense. I'm contemplating a 6'th round draft pick by trading away Van Jefferson once Cooper Kupp returns from IR, ... and receiving 7'th round compensation for trading Akers.

Currently, I'm going with :

1'st round - WR (Xavier Worthy, Tx.). McVay gets a new top quality receiving toy while Kupp still has a few years of good value left in him. Kid only needs to add some weight to his 6'1" frame.

2'nd round - RB (Braelon Allen, Wis). Akers is gone, ... so Allen, Williams, Rivers & Evans take us to the next level.

3'rd round - TE (Cade Stover, Oh. St.). Higbee & Hunter Long will be gone, although I won't be surprised if Hopkins is re-signed on the cheap.

4'th round - C/RG (Bryce Foster, Tx. A&M). Brian Allen is likely off our books & Shelton will be moving into his 'contract' year, and who knows what the ultimate outcome is for Noteboom. Anchrum also becomes a free agent following this season. We don't really know what we have in UDFA McAllister yet. Foster is a big strong multiple IL player much in the same vein as Steve Avila imo.

5'th round - QB (Jayden Daniels, LSU). Security against whatever is going on with Bennett.

6a) Safety - Jalen Catalon, Texas

6b) Safety - Cam Hart, N.D.

7'th round - DT (Fabien Lovett, Fl.St.)



jmo.

It drives me crazy when I hear low information scumbags. professionals or otherwise, mindlessly repeat the narrative that Stafford is going to give you one every game. Meaning, he is a reckless gunslinger who will throw a bad interception every game. Of the two interceptions he threw vs the Niners, you could argue both were not his fault. Van Jefferson needs to run better routes and he needs to fight for the ball, but I am not including that Int in the discussion of a different stat.

Matthew threw a perfect ball to Kyren and he batted it up for a Niner to catch. If memory serves, the ball hit him in the chest and he batted it up.

This was not Stafford's fault and should not be held against him.. There should be a receiver Fuck Up stat = RFU, along with true error interceptions by the QB.

What do you think?

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Thought it might be good to get threads going on various position groups. Kinda like we have one with Avila and the offensive line. Here's some Turner content for you guys.

Keep seeing that comment. Let's take a look. We'll start with PFF rankings:

Witherspoon: 57.1
Kendrick: 44.3
Durant: 42.3
Fuller: 59.2
Yeast: 70.5

According to PFF we have one guy doing his job at a starter level.

Now let's see how well the actual league rankings compare (Top 15 Top 10 Top 3):

Opponents PPG: 21.5 (12th)
Opponents 3rd Down Conversion: 22.22% (2nd)
Opponent Average Passer Rating: 88.5 (16th) <note: last year was 90.8 for reference>
Sack Percentage: 5.56% (24th)
Opponents Passing Yards Per Game: 159.4 (4th)
Opponents Yards Per Pass: 5.9 (T-10th)

What stands out here is that this secondary is playing quite well. They are limiting yards, teams are throwing against them carefully, and they are getting off the field. These things do not happen with a shit secondary.

Also on top of that it's not like they are being protected with a top front. The boys up front are getting some timely pressures but that needs to improve. So overall if you were to tell me this offseason that our defense would be inside that top 15 in points allowed alone I would have been surprised and quite happy. But they are showing signs of potency besides that.

So if you are loading PFF for your takes I suggest you take them with a grain of salt. Because clearly what we are getting here is recognition bias in the gradings. I am not saying all these guys should be grading out as top starters. Rather that it seems unlikely they're that bad when they are showing so well in key metrics.

If the Rams decide they don’t want to wait until next offseason and decide to try to make a big move for Brian Burns or Jonathan Taylor now, how much would you be willing to offer?

Assume, for the sake of the hypothetical that the Rams are would be able to sign whomever the acquire to a long-term deal.