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I didn't see anyone post the Rams fan girl for Week 3 so...seeing as there were some questionable comments I thought i'd belatedly post a different fan gir...er...fan person, you know, just for Les.
We made Hoyer look like a franchise QB tonight... But I haven't heard anything about how tired the guys on defense must be. Fatigue had to be a factor for both teams. Four days ago the Niners did a helluva job against the Hawks. Four days ago we were allowing painful straight ahead runs by the Skins....We both looked like @ss on defense tonight.
They did make a couple of critical stops at the bitter end of the game (INT by Brockers and the sack by Donald on the last 4th down). I acknowledge that we may not have the people for a 3-4 defense, but I want to give it another week before lynching Wade.....
2006? 2001? I can't remember. All I know is that although both defenses were terrible, people around the country are proclaiming this game to be the game of the year so far in the NFL. The game wasn't suspenseful because it was close, it was suspenseful because we have the right staff and players in this system that's proven to me that they're winners and can compete against the best.
It's only week 3, but it's been so long since the Rams were legitimately regarded as contenders. I'm not drinking the koolaid, I just see a completely different offense and a DC that has struggled but is one of the best in the game and will get it fixed.
Sean McVay & Kyle Shanahan's new rivalry could dominate the NFL for the next decade
Think about sports in general for a second. You know how the New England Patriots have dominated the NFL for more than the last decade, the Golden State Warriors look primed to run the NBA for the next half decade, the Pittsburgh Penguins just won back-to-back Stanley Cups in the NHL and of course the Chicago Cubs are looking at their back-to-back championship opportunity as well. That's all great, but the big question is "What comes next?". All good things must indeed come to an end and while the Patriots are likely not entirely finished winning meaningful football, it's worth noting Father Time is undefeated and Tom Brady appears to be battling that in his forties. That means others need to emerge as the face of the NFL and perhaps the next face is rather a group of "faces".
That is right Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers are next in line. Yes, these teams and coaches both need to build up their roster and grow more for sure, but the sky is truly the limit for these two individuals. Tonight, McVay faced off against Shanahan in their first head-to-head meeting as Head coaches. It will likely be the first of many match ups moving forward. The 49ers went into this tilt having just lost a heart-breaking three-point game to their rival Seattle Seahawks. Where as the Rams came off a heart-breaker of their own at home versus McVay's old team. Both teams came in hungry for a win and the Rams came out on top. That's right McVay 1, Shanahan 0.
Shanahan came into week three with zero wins in the NFL to his credit and was certainly looking to beat his friend McVay for his first win. Even though McVay replaced Shanahan after his departure from the Washington Redskins, he actually received a Head coaching position before Shanahan. Something that would appear interesting to McVay is the fact that he could have chose the 49ers as his team to coach, but ultimately decided the Rams were the best fit as his friend Shanahan was left with San Francisco.
Tonight, no matter how on the fence you might be with these two, this was likely the start of not only an intense intra-divisional rivalry, but even one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL for years to come. McVay likely inherited a roster that was not only better than their record in 2016, but also equipped with a potential franchise QB in Jared Goff. As we saw tonight, Goff looked like all the makings of a true number one overall pick. If you have ever listened to our podcast when we had Joe Curley on it, he consistently stressed that he didn't feel like McVay would have taken the job if he didn't already have a quarterback to build around. Shanahan may not have his future franchise QB even on the roster yet, but that soon could be coming and with an even bigger deal, it could be in the form of McVay's old QB Kirk Cousins. Speculation sure has run rampant with Cousins ending up in San Fran after the season ends.
Make no mistake the 49ers are not in a bad spot right now. They are hanging tough with their two divisional rivals in the Seahawks and Rams. They are holding in tough without safety Eric Reid and linebacker Reuben Foster. Still though, even without players like that and the lack of depth on the offense, Shanahan is making the most out of having Pierre Garcon on the offense. Shanahan is continuing to get by with Brian Hoyer. As a matter of fact, the 49ers came a few plays away from stealing the win from the Rams in the later going with Hoyer at QB. Shanahan has this team fighting and with new GM John Lynch acing his first draft, there could be plenty more where that came from.
When you look at tonight's game you see what will be a definite rivalry everyone will be tuning in for in the future. Let's face it, in their first head-to-head action McVay and Shanahan just put on an impressive 41-39 affair in a prime time game during a short week. Do you realize that is the most points ever scored in a Thursday Night Football game? Do you also realize that the Rams offense has scored over 100 points in three games already? The 49ers are 0-3 and the Rams are rising up at 2-1, but these teams are only going to grow and this rivalry is only going to get more intensified and more important as the years go by. What we saw Thursday Night was a preview into the future of the NFL. A future in which the Rams and 49ers could be battling for the NFC championship every single year.
We need some serious "tours" of the PoM given out after that game. Rules are simple, you only get one.
My nominee: Pharaoh Cooper. I made the mistake of saying in chat he should supplant Tavon on returns. So what does he do? Takes that kickoff out of the endzone and fumbles it late to raise blood pressure to unsafe levels.
Don’t Look Now, but Jared Goff Is Starting to Figure It Out The Rams QB had a disastrous rookie season, with many labeling him as a bust. Yet under the direction of Sean McVay’s staff, the no. 1 pick is showing signs of life—and giving L.A. a chance to compete.
For Trent Dilfer, the day the Rams hired Sean McVay as their head coach was cause for celebration. “I was thrilled to death,” the 14-year NFL veteran and former ESPN analyst says. That’s because Dilfer has known Los Angeles quarterback Jared Goff since 2012, when he was a high school passer invited to the Nike Elite 11 camp that Dilfer has run for the past seven years. As someone deeply invested in Goff’s football success, Dilfer viewed the chance for one of his pupils to work with the former Washington offensive coordinator as the best news imaginable. “[I told Jared,] ‘You do everything they ask you to do and more because you’re one of the lucky ones,’” Dilfer says. “You turned a shit sandwich into an ice cream cone just by who’s coaching you.”
The Rams traded nearly an entire year’s worth of draft capital to move up 14 spots and take Goff with the no. 1 overall pick in 2016. The former Cal standout spent the first nine games of his career backing up journeyman Case Keenum, but was thrust into action after Los Angeles opened last season 4-5, scored 10 points or fewer in five separate outings, and ran down the clock on Jeff Fisher’s head-coaching tenure. Then Goff’s debut proved disastrous. Since 2000, only 11 quarterbacks have finished a season with at least 200 attempts and a lower amount of yards per attempt than Goff’s 5.31. The Rams lost all seven games in which he started, being outscored 221-85. Fisher was fired in December, and many wrote Goff off as a lost cause.
“You turned a shit sandwich into an ice cream cone just by who’s coaching you.”
—Trent Dilfer
The most important challenge McVay and his offensive staff (a group that includes coordinator Matt LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Greg Olson) faced upon arriving in L.A. was fixing the player whom the franchise had spent a fortune to acquire. Through two games, tiny slivers of hope have begun to emerge. During the Rams’ 1-1 start, Goff has completed two-thirds of his passes and averaged 9.8 yards per attempt. He’s thrown for 530 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Most encouraging, the Rams have 12 recorded completions of 20-plus yards—second to only the Patriots—equaling their total from Goff’s seven starts last season.
A sample size of two games and the putrid Colts defense that the Rams picked apart in Week 1 should justifiably temper expectations, but there’s no mistaking that this year’s version of Goff has been a competent NFL quarterback. His concerning rookie habits have occasionally surfaced, yet he’s also shown flashes of increased comfort and command. Dilfer’s optimism was warranted: McVay’s presence has given Goff—and by extension, the Rams—a chance to compete.
In preparing for a new job and a fresh collection of players, coaches have no way to know what they’re inheriting. They scour days’ worth of game film, but that alone isn’t enough. The process is akin to scrolling through a slideshow on Zillow: The layout of the house is clear, but it’s impossible to tell whether the foundation is cracked without taking a look inside.
When McVay and Olson began working with Goff this spring, their first priority was restoring the confidence of the 22-year-old former college star. ‘We said, ‘Let’s build trust with him,’” Olson says. “That’s difficult to do in a short amount of time, but that’s one of the first things we said we wanted to establish with him. ‘What we’re telling you, what we’re trying to teach you, is solely intended to just get you better.’”
The Rams staff found that Goff was a quarterback with bad habits but not a broken psyche. According to Dilfer, it was a blessing that Goff started only seven games behind the 2016 team’s Swiss cheese offensive line; it put a cap on the long-term damage that the quarterback could incur. “We’ll use an analogy here—all he got were rub burns,” Dilfer says. “He didn’t get any gashes that are going to develop massive scar tissue.”
In this case, scars would have amounted to mental blemishes rather than physical ones. Olson says that many young quarterbacks who are exposed to poor protection for extended periods start to stare down the pass rush. They hear footsteps and see ghosts. Despite Goff playing behind a group that allowed the second-most sacks in the NFL (49) last fall, Olson says that “we didn’t feel like that was something we were concerned about.”
“We’ll use an analogy here—all he got were rub burns. He didn’t get any gashes that are going to develop massive scar tissue.”
—Trent Dilfer
More than a redemption project, Olson saw Goff as a blank slate with excess natural throwing ability. “We just felt like, gosh, we could clean up his footwork,” Olson says. “We could clean up the timing and how he’s getting the ball out. We really just started from the ground up, how you would with most quarterbacks.”
In teaching Goff superior mechanics, the Rams staff made footwork the first and most crucial element. As a rookie, Goff displayed bad tendencies that were often exacerbated by his team’s subpar production. In McVay’s system, even adequate footwork isn’t enough to make the unit thrive.
The West Coast offense is built on timing and anticipation. That may seem like it places the biggest onus on a quarterback’s eyes and mind, but equally important are his toes. The rhythms of Goff’s drop inform his progression, thereby facilitating everything else. “We wanted him to understand that there is a timing mechanism,” Olson says. “And a lot of what we do is predicated on him getting the ball out on time.”
In L.A.’s first two games, that smooth, on-time delivery was apparent on multiple occasions (like on the above throw to rookie tight end Gerald Everett). And if Goff can regularly tie his mechanical improvements to the constructs of McVay’s scheme, every offensive group will benefit. The line won’t be required to hold for as long; the receivers will be able to trust when and where they’ll get the ball. If everything works in concert, Goff’s development will unlock the entire offense around him.
Dilfer saw myriad issues with former Rams offensive coordinator Rob Boras’s scheme last season, but the most glaring was a lack of what Dilfer calls “gimme plays.” Completion percentages and quarterback efficiency rates across the league are at all-time highs in part because of the uptick in short, simple throws built into offenses. “[The quarterback] doesn’t have to read a defense,” Dilfer says. “They don’t have to handle anything complex. They just play catch. And that’s not a criticism. It’s great! You need that.”
Those throws were largely missing from Goff’s repertoire as a rookie. This year, he’s already had plenty incorporated into the playbook.
As a play designer, McVay does his best to present quarterbacks with easy throws by exploiting the alignment of receivers and playing their routes off one another. Through two games this fall, the Rams have consistently used formations that feature two wideouts bunched to the same side of the field. This was a staple of both McVay’s offense in Washington and the system that LaFleur helped lead as the former quarterbacks coach in Atlanta. The tight spacing allows the receivers to create instant separation at the line of scrimmage, easing Goff’s burden as both a decision-maker and a passer.
If Goff identifies the opposing defense’s coverage—either before the snap or early in the down—he can take advantage of quick, ready-made throws that are part of the fabric of McVay’s approach. But sometimes Goff still looks like a quarterback with nine games of NFL starting experience. By misreading a defense or not fully trusting the system, he can sabotage plays that should otherwise stand a chance. His crushing late-game pick in a 27-20 loss to Washington in Week 2 represented the worst-case scenario, but there are subtler examples of Goff struggling to acclimate, too. When he fails to use proper footwork to time his release of the ball, plays around him can start to collapse.
The Rams have tried to further streamline Goff’s thinking with a heavy dose of play-action. According to Pro Football Focus, Goff used play-action on just 14.1 percent of his dropbacks as a rookie—the second-lowest rate in the NFL—yet improved his passer rating by more than 21 points when using a play fake. Washington used play-action at about a league-average rate under McVay, while LaFleur comes from a Kyle Shanahan scheme that used it on a league-high 27 percent of dropbacks in the team’s run to the Super Bowl.
Through two weeks, the Rams have leaned on play-action throws as the centerpiece of their passing game, and they’ve provided Goff with the cleanest throws he’s had as a pro. His conviction when making them is the best indicator to date that he’s gaining the confidence that Olson imagined, and the offense’s commitment to play-action has been made more effective by L.A.’s bevy of offseason reinforcements. General manager Les Snead signed left tackle Andrew Whitworth and center John Sullivan to shore up the line and added Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, and Sammy Watkins to revamp his roster’s receiving corps. Then there’s Everett, the tight end out of South Alabama who’s already showcased his skills as a deep threat.
“You’ve got to be able to present five different eligible options for the defense to defend in the passing game,” Dilfer says of NFL offenses. “Sean does a great job, like he did in Washington, of creating pass plays where you have four or five [options].”
The most important change among Goff’s supporting cast, though, might be the revitalization of the guy behind him in the backfield. The Rams finished dead last in Football Outsiders’ rushing DVOA in 2016; after two games in 2017, running back Todd Gurley has shown some of the juice that made him a revelation as a rookie. Gurley couldn’t get much going on the ground in a season-opening win over the Colts, but McVay still made a point of getting him the ball in a variety of ways. Gurley already has eight catches this fall after tallying 43 in all of 2016. Like a struggling 3-point basketball shooter who finds his stroke after hitting a free throw, a toiling back can get going after notching a touch in the open field. Following Gurley’s 136-total-yard performance in last Sunday’s loss to Washington, the Rams’ hope is that he’s found his stride and will be able to give Goff a number of easy looks.
Entering Thursday night’s matchup against the 49ers (0-2), Goff and the Rams remain a work in progress. Yet on the heels of last season’s bleak outlook, progress should be a welcome sight. The difference between Goff’s play this season and last is proof of just how much a staff and system can mean to a young quarterback. The Rams hope that this is just the start.
“So far, he’s done a lot of good things, but he still has a long way to go,” Olson says. “And he’d be the first guy to tell you that. He’s nowhere near where we’re hoping to get to.”
WE GOT A OFFENSE BOYS!!! God it feels so good to not have a ancient inadequate offense!!! Since the Greatest Show on Turf??? Come on!! We got something gents!! Let's go?!
Do you think we can keep this up all year? And can our defense nail down their end?
Banks has talked to a number of people inside the league and when asked what they think of Spanos, his response was telling:
"I have been painted a picture from people I've talked to that the league was sympathetic…to Dean Spanos' plight. Feels like he had been a 'league guy' feels like he had waited kind of his turn on the relocation front, thought he had the votes the year before - Jerry Jones and Stan Kroenke pretty much outmaneuvered Dean and Mark Davis with the Raiders to be the first in line for LA. So it was almost as if this was a bit of a make up.
"I can tell you this Darren, there are people in the league - including the commissioner - they did not want to see San Diego forsaken. They would rather there be a team in San Diego. If there's anything viable that they could find to put the league back in to San Diego, I think they will be in that camp strongly."
When discussing the optics of empty stadiums and the Chargers not being able to fill a 27,000-seat stadium with their own fans, Banks had this to say:
"They're saying the right things now and they're going to keep a stiff upper lip and say that 'we knew that this was going to be a hard slog uphill.' There's a lot of concern already. And there's a lot of people who are thinking, 'How can we put up with these optics for the next three years if the Chargers can't improve the situation in Carson?'"
When asked if he believed the league was possibly talking about forcing the Chargers back to San Diego if things don't improve, Banks was blunt:
"I think they're talking about it. I do. I think there's already a level of concern at how far south it's gone, that there are at least people talking about it…I don't think a true tipping point has been reached, it's too early for that. But I think there's enough concern that people are saying, 'What's the best option perhaps among bad options?'"
The fact that we're heading into Week 3 of the regular season and people around the league are already talking about moving the Chargers back to San Diego is simply incredible.
i can't think of any teams that I like the Rams to beat more than the 49ers, Cowboys, and Seahawks and we got them back to back to back!!!! Well, I could add the Patriots and Vikings too. We can do that in the playoffs!!!
NEW YORK POST
Aaron Hernandez autopsy showed severe case of CTE
BOSTON — Aaron Hernandez’s lawyer says the former New England Patriots tight end’s brain showed severe signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
In a news conference at his offices, attorney Jose Baez says testing showed that Hernandez had a severe case of the disease.
CTE can be caused by repeated head trauma and leads to symptoms like violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive difficulties. Hernandez killed himself in April in the jail cell where he was serving a life-without-parole sentence for a 2013 murder. His death came just hours before the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their latest Super Bowl victory.
CTE has been linked with repeated concussions and involves brain damage particularly in the frontal region that controls many functions including judgment, emotion, impulse control, social behavior and memory.
A star for the University of Florida when it won the 2008 title, Hernandez dropped to the fourth round of the NFL draft because of trouble in college that included a failed drug test and a bar fight. His name had also come up in an investigation into a shooting.
In three seasons with the Patriots, Hernandez joined Rob Gronkowski to form one of the most potent tight end duos in NFL history. In 2011, his second season, Hernandez caught 79 passes for 910 yards and seven touchdowns to help the team reach the Super Bowl, and he was rewarded with a $40 million contract.
But the Patriots released him in 2013, shortly after he was arrested in the killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison; the conviction was voided because he died before his appeals were exhausted, though that decision is itself being appealed.
A week before his suicide, Hernandez was acquitted in the 2012 drive-by shootings of two men in Boston. Prosecutors had argued that Hernandez gunned the two men down after one accidentally spilled a drink on him in a nightclub, and then got a tattoo of a handgun and the words “God Forgives” to commemorate the crime.
Bernie Casey, Pro Bowl receiver turned actor, dies at 78
Posted by Michael David Smith on September 21, 2017
Getty Images
Bernie Casey, one of the NFL’s fastest receivers in the 1960s and an actor and artist who gained fame in the 1970s and 1980s, has died at the age of 78.
Born in the small town of Wyco, West Virginia, Casey became a college football and track star at Bowling Green. In 1959 he was a key player on the 9-0 Bowling Green team that was voted the small college national champion. One of Casey’s college teammates was Jack Harbaugh, who later became a coach and is the father of Jim and John Harbaugh.
Casey was an outstanding all-around athlete who finished sixth in the 110-meter hurdles at the 1960 U.S. Olympic trials, and at 6-foot-4 he was a matchup nightmare for opposing defensive backs. Loving that talent, the 49ers selected Casey with the ninth overall pick in the 1961 NFL draft.
A man who understood that players could control their careers long before the players won the right to free agency, Casey was traded from the 49ers to the Falcons in 1967, but he refused to go to Atlanta. Casey knew he wanted to explore acting, and so he told the Falcons they’d have to trade him again, this time to the Los Angeles Rams. The Falcons, knowing Casey wouldn’t budge, obliged.
In an eight-year NFL career, Casey finished in the Top 10 in receiving four times. His best season came in 1967 with the Rams, when he was chosen to the Pro Bowl and scored the game-winning touchdown in the final minute of a key late-season win over the Packers, helping the Rams earn a playoff berth.
When Casey announced his retirement in 1969 at the age of 29, he said he had other things he wanted to do with his life. He had already written and starred in one-man plays, and he intended to paint and have a book of poetry published as well. In 1977, when a New York Times interviewer asked if he had any thoughts on football, Casey answered, “Actually, I’m working on a volume of love poetry now.”
Casey’s first movie role came in Guns of the Magnificent Seven, a sequel to the classic The Magnificent Seven. He suited up as a football player one more time to appear in Brian’s Song, and he later had roles in the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again, and in 1980s comedies like Revenge of the Nerds and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. In Bill & Ted, Casey played a teacher who asked Ted (Keanu Reeves) who Joan of Arc was, eliciting the response, “Noah’s wife?”
In comedic or dramatic roles, as a painter or a poet, as a wide receiver or a hurdler, Bernie Casey was one of a kind.
Blaine Grisak & Jake Ellenbogen have you covered with the NEW Downtown #Rams podcast. Check out this week's podcast in which Jake & Blaine give their thoughts on the Rams and Redskins game plus have former LA Ram and Merlin Olsen's brother Phil Olsen on as well as NFL Insider Benjamin Allbright. Check it out below and don't forget to leave an iTunes 5-star review as we have 59/100 to give away an Aaron Donald/Sammy Watkins jersey!
Apologies in advance for the length of this post but I know there are lots of dog owners on this site so I thought I'd come to you for some advice.
Some background: My wife and stepdaughter (16) have been periodically trying to convince me that we should get a dog for the last couple of years or so. I'm getting the sense that this campaign is being ramped up hence this post.
We're a family of 5. My wife doesn't work and regularly goes for walks for her fitness anyway so a dog would have company during the day and would get the exercise it needs. It would only be left alone for maybe 2 hours in the day at most. Our two youngest daughters (7 and 4) are both autistic and dogs are supposed to be good for autistic kids. My parents' neighbours have two small dogs that my youngest absolutely loves - she becomes the 3rd member of the pack when they're around. My eldest (the 7 year old) is ambivalent to them.
If we go on holiday, it tends to only be once a year and not abroad so finding somewhere that will allow dogs won't be an issue. I don't think holidays abroad will happen for a long time because of the autism.
My youngest has recently started full time education so my wife (who is a very sociable person) is getting lonely in the day which is why I think the campaign is heating up a little.
From my point of view, I love the idea of a dog in theory but I can't help thinking of the practical considerations. For example, we don't have a particularly big garden and I don't like the idea of the dog doing its business out where the girls play although I realise that they can be trained to only use a certain patch so that might not be the end of the world.
My wife and stepdaughter want a cockapoo. No idea what their personalities are like.
