https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-analyzing-2016s-best-quarterback-at-every-pff-signature-stat/

ANALYZING 2016’S BEST QUARTERBACK AT EVERY PFF SIGNATURE STAT
PFF's Vinnie Ronca takes an in-depth look at the 2016 season's top quarterbacks based upon PFF's exclusive signature stats
By Vinnie Ronca

PFF’s Signature Stats are unique metrics tailored to each position group that go far beyond the traditional box score statistics. In the case of the quarterback position, signature stats determine things like which quarterback was the best throwing the deep ball, who performed at a high level when under pressure, and a number of other situational statistics you can’t find anywhere else.

With that data at our disposal, we take a look back at the 2016 season and highlight which quarterback excelled in each area, according to PFF’s Signature Stats.

Adjusted Completion Percentage

A quarterback’s completion percentage rarely tells the whole story, and that’s why PFF has developed a method that gives a true representation of how accurate a QB’s passes are.

The PFF Adjusted Completion Percentage accounts for dropped passes, throw aways, spiked balls, batted passes and passes where the quarterback was hit while they threw the ball – factors that hurt the quarterback’s completion percentage but don’t help show how truly accurate they are.

With that in mind, who was the NFL’s most accurate passer last season? That title belongs to Minnesota’s Sam Bradford at an 80.9 percent adjusted completion rate. Bradford was the only quarterback in the league to break the 80 percent threshold, narrowly edging out the likes of Drew Brees (79.8), Tom Brady (78.5) and Matt Ryan (78.4).

Deep Passing



No quarterback in the NFL was better at throwing the ball deep last season than Atlanta’s Matt Ryan. On passes traveling 20 or more yards downfield, the Falcons QB led the league in both adjusted completion percentage (60 percent) and passer rating (138.2).

Still not impressed? Ryan also ranked second with 13 deep touchdowns and was the only qualifying quarterback to not throw a single interception on a deep attempt last season.

Under Pressure



If you brought pressure in hopes of slowing down Aaron Rodgers last season, odds are you didn’t get the results you were looking for. Only two quarterbacks faced pressure on more dropbacks in 2016, but no QB fared better than Rodgers when the pocket collapsed around him.

On plays where the defense generated pressure, Rodgers earned a 90.3 passer rating and tossed 13 touchdowns – both tops among quarterbacks last season.

His 14 Big Time Throws (PFF’s highest-graded passes) when under pressure only further highlight Rodgers’ uncanny ability to make plays when the pressure’s on as those ranked fourth among all quarterbacks last year.

Kept Clean



Making his second appearance on our list of superlatives, Ryan was the NFL’s best quarterback last season when throwing from a clean pocket. The Falcons offensive line kept Ryan clean on 66.3 percent of his dropbacks, which was slightly above the league average of 65.8 percent.

He led all quarterbacks with an 84.2 accuracy rate and his 132.5 passer rating was nearly 30 points higher than that of his closest peer. Ryan’s production was unmatched, as his 4,530 passing yards and 41 touchdowns from a clean pocket were also tops among quarterbacks last season.

Play Action



Dak Prescott ran play action on 23.6 percent of his dropbacks last season, fourth most of any quarterback in the league. No QB was more effective at utilizing the play action fake though, as Prescott led all quarterbacks with a 124.4 passer rating and 76.1 percent completion rate.

The rookie QB also ranked top five in both passing yards (1,176) and yards per attempt (10.1) on play action passes, and tossed six touchdowns to go with an impressive zero interceptions.

Quick Passes



If you haven’t figured it out by now, Ryan played pretty well last year. His numbers when getting the ball out quickly (2.5 seconds or less) are yet another example of how Ryan excelled during his 2016 campaign. The majority of Ryan’s passes (57.7 percent) came out of his hands in 2.5 seconds or less, and that usually meant trouble for opposing defenses.

Ryan tossed 29 of his 47 total touchdowns when getting the ball out quick, completed 74.7 percent of his passes and led all quarterbacks with a 119.0 passer rating.

Long Passes



As evidenced by his performance under pressure, Aaron Rodgers remains one of the best in the league at extending plays. When you combine that with his production when holding onto the ball longer than average (2.6 seconds or more), it only furthers that sentiment.

Two quarterbacks had a slightly higher passer rating than Rodgers (104.6) in this scenario, but no one came close to his ridiculous 28 touchdown passes. Rodgers also totaled an impressive 30 Big Time Throws on dropbacks lasting 2.6 seconds or longer, most of any QB in the league last season.

As a boy, my beloved Rams were defined by the Fearsome Foursome. The team was perennially playoff bound. Though Roman Gabriel was my hero, Merlin Olsen was a close second. Yet there also were the Purple People Eaters and the Doomsday defense that were teamed with superior offenses led by guys named Tarkenton and Staubach. We never made it to the big game until Ferragamo and Wendel Tyler elevated their games in a magical playoff run. Then the Dickerson and Everett era brought a new hope led by one of the most underheralded but accomplished offensive lines in NFL history. Yet even they were thwarted in the NFC Championship game by the ferocious '85 Bears' defense. It wasn't until the GSOT was paired with what is still an under appreciated top 5 defense that the agony of waiting was finally satiated. However, it was that dynamic offense that remains today as the hallmark of that team.

Though it's obvious today that the greatest strength of our current Rams lies on the potential that lurks under the tutelage of Wade Phillips and led by the generational talent of Aaron Donald, it's the hope that McVay can construct an effective offense that drives our confidence.

But the question for my Ramianados is this...if you HAD to choose between a #1 Defense paired with a #5 Offense...or a #1 Offense with a #5 Defense, which would you choose? I will save my answer for later in the thread. I suspect some of you may say something that could push me to the other side of the fence.

As a historian, I can say there are dark periods in our history. Although I could list many flaws, I can also say that the IDEA of America was revolutionary in the 18th century. No country in the World in the 18th century thought the USA would survive for 20 years, let alone more than two centuries.






For our British Ram Bros......Something for you this July 4th!

Independence Day for us Americans and... Tuesday for the rest of the world.

Hope the BBQs are amazing and people have a fun and safe day!

To read about the other 31 teams click the link below.
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https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-the-secret-superstars-on-every-nfl-roster/

THE SECRET SUPERSTARS ON EVERY NFL ROSTER
The biggest names get the lion's share of the publicity, but Sam Monson offers up the sneaky productive names one very NFL roster
Sam Monson

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAmY06vi0VM

As the 2017 season looms on the horizon, it’s time to take a look at some of the league’s lesser-known stars — players who have performed well but have yet to receive the recognition their play deserves.

We have run the secret superstar series before, but this time we are going to give them all to you in one block, covering each of the 32 teams in this one article.

Some of these players were rookies in 2016, but others are established veterans who either took a significant leap forward in 2016, or have simply been playing far better than their reputation would lead you to believe to date.

Without further delay, here are your NFL secret superstars:

Los Angeles Rams

S Maurice Alexander

Los Angeles Times

2016 snaps: 920

Key stat: Improved his PFF grade from 44.6 to 83.4 from 2015 to 2016.

Alexander saw 434 snaps in 2015 for the Rams, but this past season he started all year, replacing the departed Rodney McLeod. His coverage was the biggest leap in performance, and he notched two interceptions while allowing no scores when in primary coverage from his safety spot.

Alexander only really had one poor game all season, a week 12 outing against the Saints in which he missed three tackles.

Chuck Todd is the host of 'Meet the Press and the political director for NBC News .'
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/07/02/...nday-morning-quarterback-guest-column-themmqb

I Just Want to Meet the Packers at Lambeau Field
Filling in for Peter King, the host of Meet the Press explains how he became a Cheesehead, what the NFL is getting wrong about Colin Kaepernick, and how the Hall of Fame’s voting process is flawed. Plus, Chuck Todd’s Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches (you’ll likely disagree)
By Chuck Todd


Photo: Courtesy photo

So I have a confession to make: I’m a lifelong Packers fan who has never been to Lambeau Field. There are a lot of things I’m embarrassed about—the list is too long to get into now, but I’m sure plenty of you will remind me on Twitter!—but this one makes me blush the most. When folks find out, they are usually stunned. Fellow Packers fans, especially, sometimes question my allegiance.

The most die-hard Packers fans believe you can’t claim fanatic status unless you’ve been to the holiest of football sights (sorry, Canton). Honestly, I don’t blame them. If I were in their shoes, I might use that piece of information to lodge my own skeptical inquiry. But I swear, my Packers allegiance is real.

Don’t believe me? Just ask my good friend, Steve Hayes, the editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard and a frequent FOX News analyst. Steve is also a part of the D.C. Packers mafia; of course, he came about his love for the Green and Gold the normal way—he was born and raised in the Land of Cheeseheads.

I first met Steve, in 2000, when he was applying for a job at a publication I was running called, The Hotline. I noticed his Wisconsin roots on his résumé and, naturally, asked him if he was a Packers fan. He said he was, but I wanted to know if he was truly a diehard. I have a standard question for anyone around my age who claims to be a Packers fan: Who was Green Bay’s starting quarterback before Lynn Dickey?

Well, Steve not only answered correctly, he noted that David Whitehurst also punted for the team. Steve got the job offer and he accepted. So thank you, David Whitehurst, for being just obscure enough to help me prove true Packer fandom and, more importantly, thanks for being the link to one of my better friendships in D.C.

Currently, I have a good excuse for not making it to many Packers games, either home or away. It’s called my day job. When you work weekends in the fall, and Sunday mornings especially, it can put a crimp into your football viewing habits, let alone your ability to attend games in person.

But visiting the Frozen Tundra is at the very top of my bucket list. I’m just going to have to find the right Monday or Thursday night game to work into my schedule. That said, I have made pilgrimages to see the Packers in person quite a few times—the games have just always on the road.

In January 2013, Steve and I went to a playoff game in San Francisco and witnessed that awful loss in which the Packers’ defense apparently forgot that Colin Kaepernick liked to run the ball every now and then. I’ve seen them in the Meadowlands a few times and, of course, at RFK Stadium and FedEx Field here in D.C.

The most vivid memory I have of an in-person Packers game was my first. It was Oct. 28, 1979, against the Miami Dolphins at one of the greatest “gritty” stadiums to watch football: the Orange Bowl. I had remembered it as James Lofton’s rookie year, but I now realize it was his second season with the team.

What I didn’t forget is that the Dolphins won comfortably, 27-7, but as far as I am concerned, the most exciting play of the game belonged to the Packers. My memory had it as a long touchdown pass from Whitehurst to Lofton; I can remember jumping up and down as Lofton ran for the end zone, with a seemingly endless number of Dolphins unable to catch up to him.

But as I sat down to write this column, the journalist in me went and found the actual box score. I’m glad I double-checked. I remembered the long touchdown correctly, but I had the wrong player. The catch was made by tight end Paul Coffman (who was pretty darn good back in his day).

Even though we lost, what I loved most about my first Packers game was how—even though the game was in Miami, during the Dolphins’ heyday no less—I suddenly realized I wasn’t alone . . . Packers fans were everywhere that day in Little Havana.

I was 7 at the time, and what I remember most is the fan sitting near us who had shaved his head and then painted it with the iconic ‘G’. Now that was cool; no Dolphins fan would ever do that, or so I wanted to believe.

As you have probably figured out by now, I am not from Wisconsin, nor is any member of my immediate family. I grew up in Miami in the 1970s and ’80s, when the Dolphins owned that city. And while all of my early football memories are at the fabled Orange Bowl, it was to watch and fall in love with the University of Miami, not the Dolphins.


Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Hopefully I’ve established that my Packers love is real and not some bandwagon decision I made after watching Brett Far-vre? . . . Fav-re? . . . Farrev? . . . Favre! in Something about Mary. I have paid my dues and even stood by a franchise that once considered an 8-8 record and just missing the playoffs to be a good season. I’ve never been anything but a Packers fan. And to be honest, I don’t remember being allowed to root for any other team.

My love of the Packers was passed down to me by my late father, Steve. While he spent most of his life in Miami, he always viewed himself as a Midwesterner first (he was born in Waterloo, Iowa, and moved to Miami before high school). And there’s no team that epitomizes the Midwest he lionized more than the Green Bay Packers. Though they’re separated by a five-hour drive, Waterloo and Green Bay could easily be twin cities; they are that similar.

So, for him, passing on his love of the Packers was about more than just football, it was about grounding me with Midwestern values. (My father was so obsessed with making sure I had some Midwestern roots that my first bank account was set up at Waterloo Savings and Loan. Somewhere I still have that passbook, but I digress . . .)

It wasn’t easy being a Packers fan living in Miami during the 1970s and ’80s, where Don Shula, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris and, eventually, Dan Marino ruled. But my father worked hard to prevent me from rooting for the Dolphins, both with positive reinforcement and some negative! The positive reinforcement came in the form of books.

The first book longer than 100 pages that I remember finishing: Jerry Kramer’s Instant Replay. And the second such book: Vince Lombardi’s Run To Daylight. So to say my dad indoctrinated me is, well, a bit of an understatement. As for the negative campaign my dad ran against the Dolphins? His go-to was pitting the Dolphins against our beloved Miami Hurricanes (a member of the Todd family has been a Hurricanes season-ticket holder since 1958).

My favorite rant of his had to do with the fact that Joe Robbie, the Dolphins owner, controlled the concessions money at Miami Hurricane football games; it bugged him to no end that the Dolphins made money off the Hurricanes. In case you’re wondering, no, I wasn’t allowed to have anything from the concession stands at Hurricane games until the Dolphins finally started to share more money with UM (sometime in 1982 or ’83, I think).

Needless to say, my dad’s efforts worked—and then some. Not only am I a lifelong Packers fan, I have also indoctrinated my 10-year-old son. How do I know? He is so devoted that he cried when the Packers lost to the Falcons in the playoffs last season. It was the first time I remember him crying over a game he wasn’t involved in himself. I have never been more proud. This year I’ll be putting Instant Replay on his summer reading list.

And, yes, my son already believes that if Aaron Rodgers played for the Patriots, then New England wouldn’t have lost the two Super Bowls that they did. Perhaps he’s been influenced by something he’s heard countless times at home . . .

* * *

Things I Think I Think

1) I think the best teenage athletes seem to be gravitating to other sports, not football.

Admittedly, this is only an observational view. But my eyes tell me that both baseball and basketball are seeing a surge in big athletic kids—that is, a bunch of young men that traditionally look more like football players than baseball or basketball players. More and more, I find myself seeing someone such as Aaron Judge or Boogie Cousins and thinking, They would be a great defensive end, tight end, wide receiver or even quarterback. I’m convinced that even just 10 years ago they would have been putting on helmets.

Is this the front end of a trend? Are parents urging their kids to go into other sports? If my son had the ability to pick his professional sport, I’d probably point him toward either baseball or basketball. Financially, it’s a no-brainer: the lack of guaranteed contracts in the NFL, compared to the guaranteed money in the other leagues, would be a huge factor. Toss in the physical toll that football takes on your body, including concussion concerns, and it’s case closed.

I bring this up because the NFL isn’t acting like a business concerned about where it will find its future employees. If they were concerned, not only would they be more aggressive on the safety front—say, leading the effort to abolish tackle football before the age of 15—they would also be giving its employees more financial stability.

Football is never going to be the safest of American sports. Many athletic endeavors come with physical risks; actually, many non-athletic jobs come with physical risks. Right now, football doesn’t act like an employer who values compensating its employees for the additional risk they are taking by playing this sport over another. If they did, they’d start by guaranteeing contracts; they would have stepped up a lot sooner on taking care of its retired players.

Look, I love football; in fact, the sport is truly in my son’s blood (his maternal grandfather was a star QB at Louisville in the ’60s and a backup to Jack Kemp in Buffalo for two years). But I’d like to see the folks that run football value its employees more. If they don’t, then expect both baseball and basketball to continue to flourish and attract America’s next generation of great male athletes.

2) I think I have to ask: Can we stop whining about folks in sports expressing their political views?

I’ve never understood why this offends folks. What does Tom Brady’s politics have to do with his ability to win games for the Patriots? Why don’t people realize that Colin Kaepernick’s protest didn’t prevent anyone else from standing for the national anthem?

While I understand that many of us view sports as a refuge from our divisive times in today’s political world—watching sports is how I wind down on a daily basis—we shouldn’t forget that these athletes also are citizens who have First Amendment rights. I think folks who get worked up about athletes expressing political views are the ones to blame for allowing politics to invade their sporting lives, not the other way around.

I get that things are heated, but we are really veering off course if we decide whom to root for on Sundays based on which political party they support. If we can’t accept that someone from our favorite team doesn’t share our politics, then how can we expect the two political parties to ever work together to get things done? Republican Packers fans are not the enemy of Democratic Packers fans, and vice versa. Keep your venom focused where it belongs: on hating Vikings and Bears fans!

3) I think the Raiders are going to kill L.A. football.

Neither the Rams nor the Chargers will ever be “L.A.’s team” now that the Raiders are going to Vegas. The Raiders’ home games are going to become an event for L.A.’s celebrity class, especially if Derek Carr & Co. end up being as good as they are projected to be in the next few years. And that’s going to translate into making the Raiders Southern California’s “it” football team—not the Rams or the Chargers.

Someday, the NFL will regret not stepping in to save the Chargers in San Diego; they could have helped finance a stadium; they didn’t need another taxpayer-funded boondoggle; they could have done this themselves and made a great fan base even more attached to the Chargers. The Rams, on their own, will still struggle to compete for L.A.’s attention, but it will be even harder to re-establish their roots while competing against the Chargers and the Vegas Raiders.

4) I think, regarding Colin Kaepernick, the only real backlash the NFL will face is if he doesn’t get a chance to fail on the merits of his talents.

For any owner or front office worried about signing Kaepernick because either you fear either a backlash for signing him or a backlash for cutting him, see above. It’s not Kaepernick’s fault that he has political views. The worst outcome for the NFL is that he doesn’t get a shot. Don’t overthink this: if you need a competent backup QB, give him a shot.

If he isn’t worthy of the job, that will become evident. But if it appears that he’s being blackballed, then NFL owners across the board will be viewed as trying to mute speech. Trust me: other players will view this as a warning from the league not to speak out or you’ll be out of a job—that’s not a good look for any industry.

5) I think this is my Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches: Vince Lombardi, Bill Belichick, Jimmy Johnson and Don Shula.

I’m guessing most readers will agree with two of these four—Lombardi and Belichick—while quibbling with the other two. But I wanted to use my time leasing column space from Peter King to suck up to my favorite coach of all time: Jimmy Johnson. I have Johnson in there because he was Belichick before Belichick; He mastered the player development and roster management aspect of the job like no one before him, and there was no one as good as he on that front until, well, Belichick.

I read once that Belichick makes an annual pilgrimage to the Florida Keys to talk football and fish with Jimmy. Another item on my bucket list: somehow getting a chance to interview the two of them while fishing off the Keys. As for Shula, despite his longevity and success, I’m amazed at how often football writers and analysts gloss over his achievements in these coaching G.O.A.T discussions. More than any other coach of his generation, Shula was the first who seemed to be comfortable changing his style to fit his team, rather than the other way around. Shula’s teams in the 1970s were ground-and-pound.

In the ’80s he adapted earlier than most and went with the aggressive passing approach. It seems obvious in hindsight, but as most long-time football fans know: most coaches (even really good ones) stick to one style their whole careers. Only the G.O.A.T coaches have the smarts and humility to adapt.

6) Bay of Pigs, no more, I think.

As a kid, one of my favorite sports columnists to read was Pete Axthelm, in Newsweek. And nothing made me angrier at him back in the ’80s than his coining of the term “Bay of Pigs” to describe the twice-a-year matchup between Green Bay and Tampa Bay.

Well, Mr. Axthelm, if you can hear me in that great press box up in the sky: these “pigs” are flying now.

I begin every season assuming the Packers will be in the hunt for the NFC Championship. When you have Aaron Rodgers, you can feel that cocky. But the one NFC team that scares me the most in 2017: Tampa Bay. The Bucs look like a juggernaut in the making. For as great as he’s been in college, and even in his first few years as a pro, Jameis Winston gets overlooked when it comes to “the league’s best young QBs” conversation.

Part of that may be the off-field issues from his college days, so there are some people who won’t root for him. Part of it may be that he doesn’t play for one of the NFL’s elite franchises, such as the Cowboys. But I’ve watched Winston a lot (my wife went to FSU, so I have to pretend the Seminoles are my second favorite college football team . . . oops, honey, you weren’t supposed to read that!) and he just doesn’t get rattled.

When Tampa inevitably gets deep in the playoffs, I’m convinced Winston has that “it” factor a QB needs to meet the moment. And now, he’s surrounded with great playmakers. Mike Evans is a human highlight machine and DeSean Jackson is going to love getting one-on-one coverage by playing the opposite side of the field from Evans.

Bottom line: Tampa Bay is going to be a lot of fun to watch this season. As a Packers fan, I sure hope the Cowboys or Panthers get stuck playing the Bucs in the playoffs before the Packers have to face them.

7) I think these are the most underrated football collectibles: old cards.

One of my guilty pleasures is collecting baseball and football cards. Most of my collection is baseball, but I have become more and more infatuated with old football cards. I define “old” as being from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. There are some great collections you can build fairly inexpensively because, in the card world, baseball is still king.

Two of my favorite collections are the 1955 Topps All American, which includes former Colorado Buffalo standout and Supreme Court Justice Byron “Whizzer” White, and the 1977 Topps Mexican series, which is simply the 1977 Topps football set in Spanish. By the way, I hate the Osos of Chicago as much as I hate the Bears. Vamos Empacaderos Vamos!

8) I think we need to fix the voting process for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Please?

While I do think this multi-layer approach enshrines most of the players who belong in the Hall, it’s unnecessarily complicated. Most of all, it doesn’t seem to have a basic criteria that is even remotely easy for the average fan to follow. And, to me, the current process does not do a good job of making sure every position in every era is given a shot at having their Hall-worthy stars get a Canton bust.

9) In rank order, but subject to change in the future, I think this my Mount Rushmore of Packers quarterbacks: Bart Starr, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre and Lynn Dickey.

Starr is first because of the championships, plain and simple. Rodgers over Favre because, well, I think he is slightly better. They have the same number of rings, but ask yourself this: How many times have you thought Rodgers was to blame for a Packers’ playoff loss, and how many times have you blamed Favre? As for Dickey, I put him into the last slot because he was QB during what I thought was the Packers’ heyday (at least that’s how I thought of it as a kid).

Packers fans can attest: those Dickey-led teams were as much fun to watch then as Favre and now Rodgers. Dickey wasn’t a scrambler, but wow, could he deliver when the game became a shootout. My favorite Monday Night Football memory involves the Packers and Washington. Green Bay eked out a 48-47 win over the eventual Super Bowl champions. It was Dickey-Lofton-Jefferson-Coffman at their best!

http://www.espn.com/blog/seattle-se...-will-play-on-his-team-for-final-time-in-2017

Whether because of age or cap hit, players in the NFL rarely retire with the team that drafted them. Which prominent veteran will be playing for his current NFC West team for the final time in 2017?

Josh Weinfuss, Arizona Cardinals reporter: It's fair to say this could be receiver Larry Fitzgerald's last season with the Cardinals. But it's not because he'll head to another team to ride out the twilight of his career, rather because he'll retire. Fitzgerald won't say one way or the other, announcing that he'll address his future once -- during training camp -- and that will be it for the season. He will be 34 when he kicks off his 14th season. Fitzgerald didn't commit to playing this season until Feb. 1, a sign his body needs more time to recover. Another year means more wear and tear. There have been hints he won't return past 2017, and he has said he doesn't expect to chase down Tony Gonzalez, who's No. 2 on the all-time receptions list, 200 ahead of Fitzgerald.

Alden Gonzalez, Los Angeles Rams reporter: A lot of people are surprised Richard Sherman is still with the Seahawks heading into 2017, and a lot more might be surprised if he's with them in 2018. This just seems like his last ride in Seattle, if he even gets it. As Seth Wickersham outlined, growing tension within the Seahawks' locker room basically paved the way for both sides to believe a trade was the best course of action.

It didn't happen this offseason -- at least not yet -- but after 2017, Sherman will be 30, with one year remaining on his contract. So, this might be the last ride for this great Seahawks defense. Their starting defensive ends, Michael Bennettand Cliff Avril, are 31. Two of their starters in the secondary -- Sherman and Kam Chancellor -- will be 30 next year. Sherman might be moving on soon.

Nick Wagoner: San Francisco 49ers reporter: Sherman. So much can change in the course of a year, so perhaps Sherman will have another great season and the Seahawks will decide to hold on to him, but it's hard to see how that relationship is going to continue for the long term. The Seahawks openly discussed their efforts to trade Sherman this offseason and weren't able to finalize a deal, presumably because they didn't get a team willing to meet their asking price. Still, the reason Seattle considered such a trade in the first place is a desire to alleviate future salary-cap concerns. Those concerns will still exist in 2018, when Sherman is scheduled to count $13.2 million against the salary cap. That will also be the last year of Sherman's current deal, which means the Seahawks would probably be willing to lower their asking price a bit from this year and get something accomplished.

At 5'-11" 223lbs. He power cleaned 450 lbs. That's insane. He was timed in the 40 at 4.3 too.

I donor think that time will hold at the combine but still he was the fastest guy on the team.



I'll add that when he was a recruit before his Sr. season in high school, he was the second rated RB in PA. His teammate, Andre Robinson was number one. PSU landed Robinson early. With little attention given to Barkley, he was headed to Rutgers. As Penn State coaches figured that they would have some room late in the recruiting season, they decided to give him a call. I am glad they did. Robinson is nowhere near the skill level of Saquon. Recruiting is just like the draft. The rankings are not always accurate, (but I think they are much more accurate than NFL Draft rankings).

Can this team cut down on penalties?

Number one on the list is false starts. I can't even count the number of yards we gave up on offense due to false starts. That alone should improve the offensive output on some level.

One thing that was entirely frustrating with this team were the self-inflicted wounds!

Check this out.

First, there are 25 possible starting positions (including 3 ST specialists).

Here are the new projected '17 starters under McVay.

Whit
Sully
Brown
Higbee (or Everett)
Woods
Kupp
Thomas (or Reynolds)
Barwin
Webster
Coleman

That's 10 new starters, gentlemen, out of a possible 25. Ten brand new Ram starting players.

Not to mention that several former starters will ALSO be playing in different positions vs last year.

Brown
Hav
Donald
Brockers
Easley
Tree
Barron
Quinn
Joyner
Alexander

When one considers the Big Picture, one has to conclude that this is a whole new system on both sides of the ball. Some serious changes from the '16 Fisher model, don't you think?

Only the uniforms will be the same. Oh wait... The uniforms will be different, too. Lol.

Hell, I guess that almost nothing will be exactly the same, huh?

Goff
Gurley
Saffold
TruJo
McQuaide
Hekker
Zuerlein

Courtesy of Crazylegs off the Herd Board.



Aug. 4, 1947: When the Los Angeles Rams reported for practice yesterday Coach Bob Synder had this unofficial "varsity" line up for the photographers. Left to right, front row, Steve Pritko, Gil Bouley, Milan Lazetich, Fred Naumetz, Les Lear, Eberle Schultz and Jim Benton. Rear row, Jack Wilson, Pat West, Bob Waterfield and Fred Gehrke. This photo was published in the Aug. 5, 1947 Los Angeles Times.




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Aug. 5, 1948: Los Angeles Rams halfback Glenn Davis, hurdles teammate Jack Banta at Loyola College camp. This photo was published in the Aug. 6, 1948 Los Angeles Times.


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Glenn Davis , Los Angeles Rams football star.



Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield of the Los Angeles Rams.Bob Waterfield - Los Angeles Rams - File Photos (AP Photo/NFL Photos)














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Hey Guys!

Let's do a ROD Fantasy League this year on Yahoo! It'll be a cool way for us all to get together, talk some shit, and have even more fun on Sundays! (Gurley getting drafted #1 Haha)

Who's with me?!??

Wow this amazon show really exposed how bad coaching was under Fisher. All boras and Williams did was yell while Fisher just stood back and watched the team fall apart . Fisher was a decent motivator but the players just didn't seem receptive to what he was saying.

This gives me even more hope that the talent has always been there and these new coaches will bring the best out of the team.

Does anyone know what he is doing nowdays? Is any of the Rams 2016 O coaching staff still employed in the NFL other than the Skip Peete?

What are realistic expectations for Jared Goff in Year 2?

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/34143/nfc-west-qa-what-are-realistic-expectations-for-jared-goff-in-year-2

The Los Angeles Rams traded up last year to take quarterback Jared Goff No. 1 overall, but they weren’t expecting a superstar.

At least not yet.

They simply need him to take care of the football and be enough of a downfield threat that defenses aren’t stacking the box so aggressively to stop running back Todd Gurley.

It’s reasonable to expect improvement from Goff, but those expectations must be tempered. His numbers through seven games -- 54.6 completion percentage, 5.3 yards per attempt, 22.9 Total QBR -- were dreadful. And though a lot of the blame can be directed at an inadequate offensive line and an uninspiring group of receivers, Goff himself showed he has a long way to go. He needs to make better reads, be more accurate and have a better feel in the pocket.

The Rams have turned over their coaching staff, adding Sean McVay and a collection of coaches with a history of helping quarterbacks succeed. So, what are realistic expectations for Goff in Year 2?

Josh Weinfuss, Arizona Cardinals reporter: There’s nowhere to go but up, right? It’s silly not to expect Goff to make significant strides between Years 1 and 2, when most players have their biggest growth. Developing quarterbacks, especially rookies, is tough in this era of the collective bargaining agreement, when interaction with coaches is so limited. And it didn’t help Goff last year that he didn’t start until Week 11. In theory, starting him in Week 1 would’ve given him the chance to get fully baptized by the fire of the NFL. Or he should’ve sat his entire rookie season and learned that way, as Carson Palmer did in 2003. His growth may have been stunted by playing in only seven games. After a full offseason to work on his own game while learning an entirely new scheme -- possibly one he can contribute to molding -- more growth should be expected from him. I’m not projecting him to be a Pro Bowler in Year 2, but I think he’ll show more of why he was the No. 1 pick.

Nick Wagoner, San Francisco 49ers reporter: Well, for his sake, the first expectation should be that he can spend more time upright and scanning the field before throwing than he did as a rookie. The signing of tackle Andrew Whitworth should help in that regard, but the Rams still have major questions at three other spots on the line. The Rams also continued to add receiving options for Goff, which was something they lacked when they drafted him. There still isn't a No. 1 wideout here, but a few reliable ones are better than none. The addition of McVay should be even better for Goff's future. The quarterback had little chance to live up to his draft status under former coach Jeff Fisher and his antiquated offensive scheme, but McVay looks to be at the complete opposite end of that spectrum. That's not to say he will turn Goff into a superstar. But if Goff is going to develop at all, McVay seems capable of pulling whatever the quarterback has out of him. I wouldn't expect Goff to magically become a Pro Bowler in Year 2, but a step forward to something closer to league average or slightly below is reasonable.

Sheil Kapadia, Seattle Seahawks reporter: Periods of competency. That may sound harsh, but as mentioned, Goff’s rookie debut was terrible. He averaged 3.77 yards per dropback, which would have been the worst mark in the league had he qualified with enough starts. As a point of reference, among qualifying quarterbacks, Brock Osweiler ranked last and even he averaged 5.26 yards per dropback. No passing game in the NFL was less efficient than the Rams'. It’s completely fair to point out that Goff wasn’t given a ton of help from the coaching staff or his supporting cast, but at no time last season did he look the part of a No. 1 overall pick. There will be struggles and inconsistencies in 2017, but if Goff can show flashes of upside with a new coaching staff, that will at least give Rams fans hope for the future.

Aaron Donald mum on contract talks, but quick to praise Rams’ new coaches
Rich HammondJune 29, 2017 at 5:24 pm

http://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/2...alks-but-is-quick-to-praise-rams-new-coaches/


Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald would not say definitively whether he will attend the start of training camp next month if he doesn’t have a new contract. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
SANTA MONICA – Aaron Donald seems pleased. The star defensive tackle increasingly is a part of the Southern California community, his kids are enjoying swim classes and he has effusive praise for the Rams’ new coaches.

There’s only one sure way to quiet Donald: Ask him about his new contract, or lack thereof.

Donald’s contract with the Rams doesn’t expire until after the 2018 season, but extension negotiations have started. Donald raised some eyebrows in May and June when he skipped a portion of the Rams’ (optional) offseason program due to the contract issue, but he did attend a mandatory mini-camp two weeks ago.

Donald and Rams running back Todd Gurley volunteered on Thursday at a YMCA conditioning camp sponsored by Gatorade. In his first public comments since April, Donald smiled but deflected multiple questions about his contract situation and his mindset regarding it.

“I’m just doing my job and keeping myself how I’m supposed to keep myself, and just let that stuff handle itself,” Donald said at University High. “It’s a fun game, but a serious business at the end of the day.”

Asked about taking care of himself, in the context of the team’s offseason work, Donald grinned and said, “I’ve got two kids.”

Asked later, in a radio interview, if he would confirm whether he will attend the start of Rams training camp next month if he doesn’t have a new contract, Donald gave a brief, general answer about getting ready for the start of the season. Donald’s current deal calls for a base salary of $1.8 million in 2017 and $6.9 million in 2018.

Donald had effusive praise for new Rams coach Sean McVay (a former offensive coordinator) and veteran defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. Multiple times he praised McVay’s intelligence and relayed a story from early in the Rams’ offseason program.

“I was itching my head about a play, a defensive play, and he came to me and said, ‘You’ve got to do this, this and this,’” Donald said. “I said, ‘Wow.’ I’ve never had a coach who knew what was going on on the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball. He knows every single trick on both sides of the ball. He’s definitely a smart guy. There’s going to be a lot of good things coming.

“Wade is just … everybody knows Wade. I’m excited just to have the opportunity to be around the guy and learn from him.”

‘ALL OR NOTHING’ ON AMAZON
Donald also is one of the stars of the eight-part documentary series “All or Nothing: A Season with the Los Angeles Rams,” which will be available on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.

The series, in a way, is continuation of the “Hard Knocks” series that covered Rams training camp and aired on HBO last August. The NFL Films crew continued to follow the players, coaches and staff members and received behind-the-scenes access to on- and off-field moments.

Arguably the most compelling moments of the series involve former Coach Jeff Fisher. The cameras were running on Dec. 12 when Fisher was fired, and much of one episode is dedicated to Fisher breaking that news to his fellow coaches and Rams players.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/06/21/history-nfl-goal-posts

The History of NFL Goal Posts: Excitement And Danger
Once upon a time the uprights were on the goal line, where receivers used them as picks and the collisions were many
by Emily Kaplan


Using the goal post to his advantage, Charley Johnson sneaks into the end zone
Photo: Sports Illustrated

The cover of the Dec. 14, 1964 issue of Sports Illustrated features an iconic image for a bygone era of the NFL. Charley Johnson, the 26-year-old quarterback of the St. Louis Cardinals, lunges into the end zone.

A Browns defender hurls his body over him, and a Cardinals lineman is sandwiched underneath the pile. Chunks of grass fall onto the mangling of limbs at Busch Stadium. And right in the middle of it all is the ultimate occupational hazard: the goal posts.

Most young NFL fans probably don’t know this—and the details certainly surprised this millennial reporter—but the uprights were on the goal line until 1974. And up until 1967, there were actually two metal poles to contend with, as the uprights were shaped like an ‘H.’

“It affected the game quite a bit,” says Johnson, who retired in 1975 and went on to become a chemical engineering professor at his alma mater, New Mexico State.

When the NFL was founded in 1920, it used the ‘H’ design for its uprights and placed them on the goal line. In 1927, the league moved the posts back 10 yards, to the back of the end zone. The reasoning? That’s what the NCAA did.

At the time, the NFL simply followed the college rulebook. But that was short-lived. In 1933, the NFL finally wrote its own rulebook. And in an effort to increase field goal attempts—the general feeling was that there were too many ties—the NFL moved the uprights back to the goal line.

As Ben Austro, author of the popular NFL officiating blog “Football Zebras” notes: “a receiver could use the goalpost as a pick, just as they did with the umpire.”

“The goal line goal post was part of offensive strategy,” says Don Criqui, the famed broadcaster who began calling NFL games in 1967. “It was an extra blocker on goal-one runs and crossing patterns. Receivers Lance Alworth of the Chargers and Bernie Casey of the LA Rams were two of the best I saw at using the goal post to screen defenders on pass patterns. Goal line goal posts brought excitement and danger.”

Adds Johnson: “In the passing game, receivers would grab ahold of the post, spin around, and go the other direction pretty quick. I also used it a couple times on quarterback sneaks, like in that photo in Sports Illustrated, where I could use the goal post as a screen and go on the opposite side of the nose tackle.”

If a pass hit the metal uprights, it would automatically be ruled incomplete. This was famously applied in Super Bowl VII when, in the fourth quarter, Washington quarterback Billy Kilmer missed a wide-open Jerry Smith in the end zone and bounced the ball off the post. The Dolphins won, 14-7, though it should also be noted Kilmer was intercepted three times that day.

“Oh, it happened all the time,” says Johnson. “If you were on your 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-yard line, you drop back and there’s a good chance you’d hit it . . . and usually when I threw it, I did.”

A new wrinkle was introduced in 1967. Joel Rottman, a retired newspaper distributer and a hobbyist inventor, was having lunch at the Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal with his friend, Alouettes coach Jim Trimble. After staring a bit too long at his fork and imagining what it would look like if the two inside prongs were knocked out, Rottman blurted out an idea: what if the football goal post modeled a fork’s shape?

According to a 2010 account in the Florida Sentinel, Rottman believed “slingshot” goal posts would be more aesthetically pleasing—and a bit safer. Rottman brandished his new invention at Expo ’67, the world fair held in Montreal, and earned a meeting with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle.


Photo: SI

In the years to come, the kicking game became too commonplace. In 1973, a record 543 field goals were made on 861 attempts—an average of five per game. Field goals accounted for 23% of the scoring that season, compared to 15% in 1969, the NFL’s last year before the AFL-NFL merger. Owners wanted more touchdowns.

When players returned from the 1974 strike, they found the goal posts in the back of the end zone, which did the trick to curtail the kicking game. In 1974, only 335 field goals were made—or 15% of the scoring.

It created more offense, too. As Paul Brown told SI in 1974: “The whole end zone is open for pass patterns now; the goalposts were, in effect, another safety man when you got inside the 20. You couldn’t run or pass around them. And it was hard to punt or pass coming out of the end zone.”

For the last 42 seasons, the NFL hasn’t found a reason to revert—and it likely never will given the safety issues.

“And that’s all I know about goal posts,” says Johnson. “I guess it’s more interesting than I thought.”

Great read on why it's not easy to give extentions with two years remaining on first contracts. Starts with Beckham but covers Donald as well. I wanted to make a new thread so everyone would have a chance to read it. Worth reading all of it to understand how and why the numbers set up the way they do.


http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/giants-hold-cards-contract-talks-odell-beckham-jr/story?id=47983926
Giants hold all the cards in contract talks with Odell Beckham Jr.

Odell Beckham Jr. wants a new deal. Odell Beckham Jr. deserves a new deal, given that he will be the 64th-highest paid wide receiver in football?at $1.8 million this season. He's not the only one from the class of 2014 facing a similar situation.

Aaron Donald might be the best defensive tackle in football, but this year, he will also take home just $1.8 million in actual cash. For comparison,? Kawann Short, who will earn $26 million this season as part of his new extension, will make nearly that much per game. You don't have to be a Rams fan to see how that might be considered inequitable.


Players such as? Taylor Lewan, C.J. Mosley?and Zack Martin also have delivered on their potential after being selected outside of the top 10 picks of the first round of the 2014 draft and are in line for massive contracts. On merit, they all deserve to be paid like players at the top of their respective positions. In reality, they might find it difficult to command the contracts they would hope for.

The problem? Their current contracts. Players such as Beckham and Donald have gotten so good in such a short period of time that they've outgrown their rookie deals with years to go. Meanwhile, the perennially rising cap is leading to players making massive amounts of money in free agency or as they approach the free market. As a result, the economics of an extension for Beckham or Donald this offseason are difficult to square up.

Let's start with the Giants' star receiver. Beckham is entering the fourth year of a four-year deal that was worth just $10.4 million (all guaranteed) at the time of signing. He's due the $1.8 million that I mentioned earlier for 2017. Because he was a first-round pick, though, the Giants can (and have chosen to) lock Beckham up for a fifth season. If Beckham were a top-10 pick, he would receive a fifth-year salary in 2018 equivalent to the average of the top 10 players at his position, which would be $13.3 million. Instead, because he fell to the 12th pick, Beckham will make the average of the third through 25th players at wide receiver, which is just $8.5 million.

All of this means the Giants have massive amounts of leverage in negotiating an extension. They know they have Beckham under contract for the next two seasons at just $10.3 million combined, which is a bargain. Even further, they can use the franchise tag to keep Beckham around in the years to come. My estimate is that the franchise tag for wideouts in 2019 will come in at $18.3 million.

That brings the Giants' potential three-year outlay to $28.6 million. Several organizations around the NFL use a player's earnings over the first three years of a contract extension as a measure of the contract's "true" value, given the likelihood a player will either sign a new deal or be released after those three seasons.

That $28.6 million figure is a fraction of Beckham's true value. Compare Beckham to A.J. Green, who signed his first contract extension before the 2015 season, as he was entering the fifth-year option of his rookie deal. Green racked up $47.3 million over the first three years of his pact. Julio Jones, who signed the same offseason under the same circumstances, hit $47.5 million. Pierre Garcon netted $29 million over the first three years of his free-agent deal with the 49ers this offseason. Garcon is a useful player, but he's not Beckham.

Antonio Brown serves as a useful warning case for a Beckham deal. Like Beckham now, Brown was two years away from unrestricted free agency when he ended up signing a five-year, $42 million extension. That deal wound up being one of the biggest veteran bargains in all of football. When Brown finally signed his new contract this offseason, he ended up netting $68 million over four years as an extension to his old deal.

Brown's new contract guarantees the superstar just his $19 million signing bonus, although he'll likely earn a minimum of $48.9 million over the next three years before the Steelers would ever seriously consider moving on, given the cap structure of the contract. Consider that the Giants could franchise Beckham twice and hold onto him for the next four years at a total of $50.6 million, a far cry from that $68 million Brown figure. In other words, the Giants hold all of the cards in a Beckham deal right now.

The same is true for Donald, who will make just $8.7 million over the next two seasons before his rookie deal expires. Using the same logic for Donald, the Rams could go year-to-year and pay him $15.6 million in 2019 for a three-year total of $24.3 million, then pull the same feat off again in 2020 for a four-year total of $43.0 million.

Those figures are even larger bargains, given how much it costs to lock up dominant interior disruptors in this market. Short, who was set to play under the franchise tag, will earn $51.5 million over the first three years of his new deal, more than double Donald's earnings without a new deal. Fletcher Cox racked up $47.8 million to stick around in Philly. And forget the stratospheric heights of Von Miller, whose contract Donald will try to top. Miller is making $61 million over the first three years of his extension and $78.5 million over its first four seasons, figures that Donald wouldn't be able to come close to matching this offseason, two years away from free agency.

The economics are unfair, but they are what they are. Rookie salaries were rising to astronomical heights before they were capped as part of the negotiations in the most recent collective bargaining agreement. From here, one of three things can happen with players such as Beckham and Donald:

1. Their teams give in and hand them massive deals anyway. It's hardly out of the question that the Giants and Rams just ignore their leverage and hand out full-freight contracts in the hopes of keeping their superstar players happy and focused. They'll attach language about wanting to reward their players, which isn't how the NFL works, when you consider just how many players bust their behinds and don't get large contracts. The Rams are just one year removed from handing an inexplicable deal to Tavon Austin, who will make a shade under $15 million fully guaranteed American dollars this season. Take a look around the league at the NFL's perennial contenders -- the Patriots, Seahawks and Packers come to mind -- and note how rarely they hand out extensions with multiple years to go just to keep players happy.

2. The players wait a year and sign their extensions before the fifth-year option approaches. Just four members of the first-round class of 2013 -- Austin, Lane Johnson, Kyle Long?and Travis Frederick -- signed new deals before the fourth season of their rookie contract began. Of those four, Johnson was the only one who signed before August, agreeing to terms on a five-year, $56 million extension with the Eagles in January 2016. It's also fair to note that Johnson signed what would be considered a below-market deal for left tackle, the position he will eventually play in Philadelphia: He'll make just $31.6 million over the first three years of that extension, less than what Matt Kalil ($32.8 million) earned from the Panthers this offseason.

The leverage situation changes dramatically if these stars wait one more season, which is why most rookie first-rounders end up signing extensions after Year 4. I mentioned earlier how the Giants could control Beckham for $28.6 million over the next three seasons under his current deal. If we're looking at this same question one year from now, the Giants would need to pony up $48.8 million over the ensuing three years to keep Beckham on board with his fifth-year option and two franchise tags. Suddenly, the math in giving Beckham an Antonio Brown-sized extension makes way more sense. Donald would still be a bargain at $36.4 million, but it's certainly more defensible to hand him a contract similar to Short's a year from now.

3. Find a middle ground. All contracts are compromises, of course, and it's not out of the question that these players and teams will find a way to make everyone happy. It's just a lot harder than it would have been before. The Giants would rather not go year-to-year with Beckham, but there's an enormous gap between the $28.6 million three-year cap figure he would be owed now and the $50 million he would seek to be in the stratosphere ahead of Green, Jones and Brown. Is he willing to settle for a contract that won't set records? Are the Giants willing to pay another massive signing bonus this year after shelling out for several free agents last offseason and giving Jason Pierre-Paul $20 million up front earlier this year?

The Rams have to ask themselves the same question. Defensive tackle is about as risky as positions get in terms of injuries; knee problems have derailed stars on a temporary ( Geno Atkins) and permanent (Tommie Harris) basis. The Rams unquestionably want to build around Donald -- he's too good not to keep around and pay. But do they want to make a long-term commitment to him two years before even needing to slap him with the franchise tag? Is Donald willing to take a small percentage of what Miller picked up after winning the Super Bowl? Compromises are there, but when the gap between sides is as wide as it is for Beckham and Donald with their organizations, those compromises can be nearly impossible to find.

2017 Rams Roster Preview: C Austin Blythe

[www.turfshowtimes.com]

Eric Nagel

Center hasn’t exactly been a position of strength for the Los Angeles Rams in recent history. The Rams released Demetrius Rhaney on June 20th and Tim Barnes is history. With John Sullivan likely entrenched as the starter, the teams needs to find a capable backup.

That’s where Austin Blythe hopes to factor in.

Roster Battle

It’s not the sexiest battle by any means, but Blythe and UDFA Jake Eldrenkamp are likely looking at a single spot. It’s rare when a team holds on to three centers unless they can pull double duty as a guard.

Blythe may have the slight edge as he has game experience with the Indianapolis Colts (8 games, 1 start), but both seem to be impressing so far:


Expectations

Coming out of Iowa, Blythe was considered a solid and dependable four-year starter who lacked physicality but made up with it using solid technique and gamesmanship.

Blythe was the odd man out last year after the Colts changed their GM. Regime changes, as we all know, typically make short work of the bottom half of the roster. He has experience at both center and right guard, which could factor in with the new regime’s carousel of offensive line changes.

Blythe has some in-game experience, so it seems logical that he would have the edge against Eldrenkamp, the rookie.

Chances of Making Final Roster (6/10)

Blythe has some game experience and versatility giving him the edge over Eldrenkamp, at least initially. With that said, McVay and his staff picked the UDFA for a reason, and he’s impressed, according to reports.

It’s not a sure bet, but it’s not exactly a bad one either.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/r...or-dorial-green-beckham-after-eagles-cut-him/

The talking heads at CBS have deemed the Rams WR corp as the one that would benefit most from picking up DGB. I was a big fan when he came out and would have liked the Rams to have taken a chance on him but he has failed to impress at both clubs he has played in the past two years.

I'm sort of torn as to whether he would be of any benefit. I want to believe that our current crop of WR's show promise and can do without DGB but that size in the red zone really intrigues me.

He should be cheap and may be worth bringing in to camp. Nothing to lose really I suppose.

Wired with Rams OC Matt LaFleur –Video

Get to know the Rams new Offensive Coordinator Matt LaFleur in this mic’d up OTA edition of Wired.

Watch LaFleur Wired

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/06/29/nfl-bobby-wagner-seattle-seahawks

Bobby Wagner Can See into the Future
Most times, the Seahawks’ middle linebacker knows what’s coming. The tells are in your running back’s shoulders, in your linemen’s fingertips and how your receivers adjust their gloves at the line of scrimmage
by Jenny Vrentas

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgvGW1B5p1g

Watching Bobby Wagner play, the first thing you might notice is his speed. That swiftness, once clocked at sub-4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash, makes him a sideline-to-sideline nightmare for running backs and once prompted the venerable Frank Gore to say, “Bobby, man, he’s f------ fast as f---.”

But the Seahawks’ middle linebacker—who has surpassed 100 tackles in each of his five NFL seasons, and last year made a franchise-record 167 stops—views his athletic ability as a mere complement to the most important aspect of his game.

“Ninety percent,” Wagner says, “is mental.”

That may seem like a stunningly large percentage for a physical game, until you hear Wagner describe how he does his job. He prepares so well, he says, that he knows what play is coming on about seven out of every 10 plays before the ball is snapped. After thinking it over for a few seconds, he reconsiders that appraisal. “It might be higher,” he says.

Wagner is the Seahawks’ defensive signal-caller, the guy in the middle of a defense that has been the NFL’s stingiest, in terms of points allowed, in four out of the past five seasons. (In their outlier season, 2016, the Seahawks finished third.)

Seattle’s defensive scheme is often described as relatively simple, as the unit plays mainly Cover 3 zone (first and second downs) or man-to-man (third downs). But what each player does on the field is much more complicated than those schemes might suggest.

This is Smarter Football Week at The MMQB, in which we’re spotlighting the mental side of the game and what often goes unnoticed to the naked eye. Quarterback might be the only position on the field that gets due credit for the brainpower that goes into making plays.

So we set out to understand the mental process of a non-quarterback who, if you will, has a Ph.D. in the sport. As we solicited suggestions among players and coaches, Wagner’s name kept coming up.


Photo: Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

“The game is more mental than physical,” Wagner, a three-time All-Pro, says. “There are guys out there that run 6.0-second 40s but beat guys that run a 4.2 to the ball every play. It’s because they do so much film study, to the point where they know where the play is going, or have an educated guess.”

It’s a prerequisite of Wagner’s position to know where everyone needs to line up and what their responsibilities are. The defensive call from coordinator Kris Richard comes in through his helmet radio, and he communicates it to the 10 other defenders on the field. Wagner then stands at the front of the huddle.

He watches how the offense lines up, starting with where the tight end is, which determines the strong and weak sides of the formation. It’s Wagner’s responsibility to set the defensive front, which means aligning the defensive linemen and linebackers with the correct gaps and shading in relation to the offensive front. But this is just where his job starts.

Wagner, a second-round draft pick in 2012, has been a full-time starter for the Seahawks since his rookie season. Early on, he was consumed with learning the defensive playbook and the weekly game plan constructed by the coaches. Once that became second nature, he was freed up to study what opposing offenses are trying to do against Seattle’s defense.

From there, he could start to develop what some defensive coordinators like to call an individual game plan within the team’s game plan. Based on film study and accrued experiences, Wagner has a library of tendencies and tells that informs when and how he can make the big plays that stand out on highlight reels.

“The more and more you play in this league, you just kind of know what to look at,” Wagner says.

Consider Seattle’s Week 6 win over the Falcons last season. On the sixth play of Atlanta’s first drive, facing second-and-9 at Seattle’s 49-yard line, Matt Ryan brought the offense out in an uncommon personnel group and formation. The most common set in the NFL is 11 personnel (3 WR, 1 RB, 1 TE), but the Falcons sent out 21 personnel (2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE).

They have fewer plays out of this grouping, and the playbook gets even smaller out of this specific formation: The fullback was offset to the left side of the formation, the tight end was on the right side, but a yard behind the line of scrimmage, and the two receivers were in tight splits.

“I told myself before the game, if they came out in this certain formation, I was going to take a shot and see if I could get a play in the backfield,” Wagner says. “They came out in that exact formation, and we ran the exact call I had in my head.

You have to understand what shot can you take within the defensive scheme, because you don’t want to hurt the defense. You want to take a good percentage shot—a shot that only positivity is going to come from. There are not going to be a lot, but there are going to be a few that change the course of a game, and you don’t want to miss those.”

Right before the ball was snapped, Wagner took off running straight toward the ‘A’ gap between the center and the right guard. Alex Mack is one of the best centers in the league, but Wagner’s decisive move made it impossible for Mack to work up to Wagner and block him.

Wagner burst into the backfield untouched and dragged down running back Devonta Freeman for a loss of two yards. One incomplete pass later, the Falcons punted.

On that running play, Wagner’s reconnaissance didn’t stop at the personnel grouping and formation. He also noticed a few players’ demeanor matched what he’d seen on film for the play he thought was coming.

He wouldn’t say what those tells are, so as not to give away his advantage, but here’s our educated guess: On the coaches’ film, the stance of right guard Chris Chester looks to be weighted to the outside, onto his right foot. It’s probably why the gap that Wagner shot was to Chester’s left.

Wagner spends more hours per week watching film than he does on the practice field, picking up for small indicators that allow him to have an advantage on the field. There are certain offensive players in the league who, Wagner says, tighten their gloves before the snap if they know they are going to get the ball.

Wagner mentally logs which backs prefer to make a cut to the left or to the right, and which linemen have trouble blocking toward a certain direction. The best players look the same regardless of the play or their responsibility, but many struggle without even realizing the secrets they’re leaking.

The goal, Wagner says, is always to be one step ahead. On run plays, he is trying to be a mirror to the running back’s movements. He pays close attention to the back’s first step, because depending on the offensive system, certain run plays require certain footwork.

The back’s shoulders can also be telling: Staying square to the line means the back has the ability to stay front-side or cut back on a run between the tackles, whereas a back on a one-cut-and-go outside run will turn his shoulders and take off hard in that direction.

If he’s in pass coverage, the goal is similar: Watch enough film so you can recognize the spot the receiver wants to get to, and try to beat him there. When Seattle plays man coverage, Wagner may rush the quarterback on what’s called a green-dog blitz, charging the backfield after his man coverage assignment stays in to block.

Wagner has proved to be an effective blitzer—he had 4.5 sacks last season, and he also racked up 18 quarterback hits—and a big reason why is his ability to set up offensive players. He recalled one game last season when he pretended to blitz early on but didn’t go; later on, when he was actually blitzing, he faked like he was in coverage, the running back didn’t account for him and he went in untouched for a quarterback hit.

Discerning between a run and a pass play before the snap may come down to subtle clues, such as offensive linemen’s fingers. On a run play, where the linemen plow forward, the pressure in their fingers may be slightly heavier than it would be for a pass set, in which they drift backward. One of the most colorful reads Wagner describes is something the Seahawks call “elephants on parade.”

Yes, he’s talking about the offensive linemen, all at once opening up to one side and running in that direction. The rule of thumb: Don’t be fooled. It’s most likely a play-action fake, with a pass the other direction. “Big guys going the wrong direction,” Wagner says, with a chuckle in his voice.

The goal is for the outcome of the play to be expected—in the same way that a chain of dominoes tumbles if the pieces are set up correctly. In a sport where there are 22 players on the field at the same time, there are always complications.

Errors happen. Teams self-scout and try to break tendencies. But while the most memorable plays are often marked by a physical feat, very often they are set up by mental acrobatics. Wagner points to the perfect example of this—a play executed by two of his teammates in one of Seattle’s biggest wins last year.

You may remember Earl Thomas’s big hit on Rob Gronkowski last November? The Patriots tight end called it one of the hardest hits he’d absorbed in his seven years in the NFL. The Seahawks’ free safety closed on Gronkowski from the middle of the field and leveled him (legally) with a shoulder to his chest. Three weeks later, Gronkowski was placed on injured reserve after needing back surgery.

But what the highlight clip didn’t show was how the Seahawks’ defenders set the play up ahead of time. It was a first-and-10 near midfield, and yes, even the Patriots have tendencies. They lined up in a 2x2 set, and when Gronkowski is in the No. 2 position (second from the outside), he almost always goes out on a vertical route.

The Seahawks expected this, and performed accordingly. Safety Kam Chancellor lined up a few yards off the line and let Gronkowski go to the outside to slow down his route; then, Chancellor sunk back in coverage, forcing Tom Brady to put more air under the ball and giving Thomas more time to impact the play.

“You want to force the quarterback to throw over top of Kam, and that gives Earl a shot either at a pick or at a big hit,” Wagner says. “Plays like that, you make it look like it’s open, and you try to lead them, but then Earl is fast enough to get over there. It’s kind of an educated guess, but more times than not, teams are going to show their tendencies.”

Seattle coach Pete Carroll would later call it “a perfect play.” On the field when it happened, Wagner thought something much more mundane: It played out exactly like it did in practice. The Seahawks have set the standard for defense in the NFL over the last half-decade, and a big reason why is players like Wagner, who often seem to be a step ahead—and not just because he’s fast as, well, you know what.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/06/29/report-league-pushes-back-game-in-china-until-2019/

Report: League pushes back game in China until 2019
Posted by Charean Williams on June 29, 2017

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The NFL has pushed back plans to play a game in China. According to Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal, the league has postponed staging a game there in 2018, targeting 2019 instead.

Per Kaplan, the league could open the 2019 season, its 100th anniversary, in China.

“It may make better sense to look at that game as an opportunity to celebrate our hundred years, in the event we can pull it off and as a way to look forward to the future,” NFL Executive Vice President/International Mark Waller said, via Kaplan.

The Rams, as the host team of the game, postponed the opening of their new stadium in Los Angeles from 2019 to 2020, allowing the league to move back the China game. The Rams now will give up a home game in 2019 to host the game in China.

The league will play four games in London and one in Mexico this season, with a Tottenham partnership beginning next season with two games. Thus, the China effort will wait, which is nothing new.

But China makes sense as the next market for the NFL to expand its brand.