The Tavon role?

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Shane Grandle

Shane Grandle

TE in a OT body
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Mar 5, 2017
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RamsDCrep
Even though Tavon never found himself in a prominent statistical role in the offense, his contributions with his play fakes on jet sweeps were something that didn’t go unnoticed by me. That split second of hesitation by the back side linebacker or end allowed Gurley to burst through holes and take advantage in cut back runs. Now with Austin in Texas, does any player on our team have the ability to command the same respect and fear on the back side and how does the offense change without it.

In short, I don’t believe any of the current receivers have that ability to scare defenses. The person I believe who is the most equipped to inherit such a role is Pharoh Cooper. He has a good feel for the field and a little wiggle so shake defenders on a sweep, but if you believe he is the same athlete Tavon is then you haven’t watched a ton of football. Is he capable of running away with that seemingly minor role in our offense? Maybe.

I just want to open the discussion of how you think that role will be filled or does the offense change and eliminate that role all together.
 
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Austin was phased out over the course of his tenure. I think we’ll be fine without the few plays he ran.
 
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Cooks is capable of the jet sweep part of the equation. Kelly certainly looks the part of the RB role Tavon had usually. And Cooper has great vision so wouldn't be surprised to see them trying to use him in the screen game more. In other words, will be a team effort.
 
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Cooks is not as shifty but is as fast and has better long speed. Cooper is pretty shifty and stout but not as fast. I haven’t really seen much of our new RB so I can’t say what he can do in that role. I’m thinking Cooks and Cooper will see some sweeps.
 
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Shane Grandle said:
Even though Tavon never found himself in a prominent statistical role in the offense, his contributions with his play fakes on jet sweeps were something that didn’t go unnoticed by me. That split second of hesitation by the back side linebacker or end allowed Gurley to burst through holes and take advantage in cut back runs. Now with Austin in Texas, does any player on our team have the ability to command the same respect and fear on the back side and how does the offense change without it.

In short, I don’t believe any of the current receivers have that ability to scare defenses. The person I believe who is the most equipped to inherit such a role is Pharoh Cooper. He has a good feel for the field and a little wiggle so shake defenders on a sweep, but if you believe he is the same athlete Tavon is then you haven’t watched a ton of football. Is he capable of running away with that seemingly minor role in our offense? Maybe.

I just want to open the discussion of how you think that role will be filled or does the offense change and eliminate that role all together.
Click to expand...

Last season it really didn’t work much ? How many yards did Tavon get with the sweep !!

I think Woods actually had more yards running the sweep than Tavon last year.

McVay was trying to get Tavon reps at the expense of the offense, putting in as a RB .

My answer is Woods , but Cooks did it in both N.O.’s & N.E.

Truth is all The Rams WR can run it. Tavon when the stars aligned could always take it to the house.

Tavon Austin won’t be missed. I do wish him well in Dallas though.
 
I'm not too concerned, McVay has more than just the TA jet sweep in the Rams O. These arent the Boras Rams anymore. We will still see the jet sweep, but it wont be a staple. And there will probably be a few different guys that play TAs role. Maybe even a deep shot to Cooks with Everett running the jet sweep, fake to him, then fake to Gurley and hit Cooks over the top.
 
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For everyone saying Cooks is the perfect fit for that role, I argue that the reason Cooks is valuable is because of his down the field play. I’m not saying the effect of Tavon helped those deep plays as well as the running game. Hell I think for every jet sweep ran he actually took he only received the carry on 1/4th of them.
 
I don't think the role will be filled because it was phased out at the end of last season.
 
There was someone on the team named Austin last year?????

I don't think McVay is going to give it a second thought. They will have plenty of weapons and the offense won't be built around the jet sweep. Gurley will be the weapon used to set up play action, Cooks will be taking the top off allowing Woods and Kupp to clean up again.

I see the Austin trade as addition by subtraction.
 
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I think a combination of Cooper and Cooks will we used on the sweep plays. I don't know why they would phase out the sweep play. The offense seemed to be at it's best when they switched plays up. If I'm not mistaken, Gurleys longest catch of the year was on a fake to Tavon (Cowboys game).
 
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If TA got the ball on the sweep he was trying to make the corner and Cooks has the speed to do that but as has been stated Cooper is a better runner in traffic.
I don’t remember seeing it very much in the playoff game, I’d be interested in why that was.
 
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