- Joined
- Aug 21, 2011
- Messages
- 340
- Name
- Jim Fadler
You could definitely tell they were easing off on the veterans today. The ones took very few reps in 11 on 11. All of the vets ended practice with a stretching session a full thirty minutes before the rookies and undrafted players left.
During the latter part of the 11 on 11 drills Sam Bradford hardly took any snaps at all and most of them went to Clemons early and Davis later.
Fisher usually gets the most involved during the red zone drills and will watch the WR/CB match-up very closely. Today he took charge several times when they were running a two minute drill early in the day. Then later on during the 11 on 11 he focused some individual attention on the oline and some of its members.
I don't know that I have ever seen a Rams practice where the Hail Mary and last second lateral play was run as much as it was today. I called it the California band play on twitter but it of course should more properly be called the Stanford band play.
While the veterans were moving off the field Sam, Clemons, Smith, Salas, Amendola and Pettis went to the other field and were still running plays as my son and I left.
QB-Davis had an amazing run early on in all the drills. He was hitting everything all the way up until Middleton dropped an easy pass over the middle. After that Davis was erratic as hell, the ball sailed on him numerous times and he very badly underthrew several routes.
The torture of Tom Brandstater continues as he finally received substantial reps but it was all during the extended running drills they ran for about thirty minutes....starting to feel sorry for him.
Sam hit two really nice deep outs to Smith early on and then was pretty much done for the day save for the work he did on the side with the veteran receivers.
Clemons finally stood in on 7 on 7 and didn't bail out on the play. It sounds like Sam is only going to get a few series Sunday.
RB-Calvin Middleton is not 5:11 (never trust a football program or roster to tell the truth). If anything he looks shorter than Pead and Richardson. He has a lot of trouble in the passing game based on a small sample but really leans into his runs and has those Earl Campbell thighs that knock off tacklers. I think he has a chance to stick as a fourth running back or on the practice squad.
I got an extended look at Richardson and Pead today as SJ39 sat out again. The only thing I question is how much sense it makes to have two backs that essentially the same person with much the same strengths and weaknesses as the sole back ups to Jackson. Pead can bounce on inside stuff but neither of these guys break 200 pounds and aren't going to be anyone's feature in a ground and pound attack. What they both can do is break creases in a spread type attack, return kicks, be third down backs and get outside.
WR-Smith looked slow at times Tuesday, tired and at times I wondered how sore he must be. Today he ran two excellent deep outs for about thirty each time. He sat out a lot of the later drills. The best catch of the day though was by Salas on a deep post from Clemons. Salas played almost exclusively outside today.
Givens was open on a couple of deep nines but the ball was consistently underthrown to him by Davis. Given looked lost much of the first week but has stepped it up this week. Quick worked with Sherman and another coach while all the other players stretched and warmed up. He would run in place and from about five yards away Sherman would fire a ball at him. This went on for about 15 minutes before they allowed Quick to join the rest of the squad. Quick later ran a deep nine of his own for a TD.
The tight ends got very little work today in the passing game. I watched Eldridge and right now he is the best blocker of the bunch. The sole memorable catch was by local Mike McNeill.
OLine-Focus of much angst and fury today in the local press. Honestly when I have focused on the line it has not by and large been on Smith. What I have seen of him was a vast improvement over some of his previous pass blocking. He has always had a balance and footwork problem which Boudreau interprets as attacking too much and not letting the play come to him. Richardson has talent but has always lacked discipline. In the past his play has been erratic and resembles our old friend Alex Barron in terms of penalties. Joe Long took most of the reps at left tackle with Kevin Hughes and Rok at guards. Tim Barnes who whiffed badly several times in running plays played center and Ryan Mckee and Jose Valdez split reps at right tackle. The ones and twos got in there early but those guys took the majority of the reps.
Dline-Laws is still limited. Whether or not that accounts for Conrath moving up in the depth chart is debatable. Conrath doesn't seem built to play tackle but they use him on third downs a lot and if he gets any inside push wtih Brockers present an enormous hurdle to throw over.
The dline did an extended drill where they had to knock over two tackling dummies and then either strip a ball or tomahawk a ball from a third dummy. To get to that point the lineman had to circle a coach and then start the drill. Brockers knocked the dummies into molten plastic and most of the players seemed to have fun with the drill and put a lot into it. Darrell Scott looked slow and clumsy in his circle or spin and just walked through the rest of it.
LB-Aaron Brown got extensive time during the latter part of the drills, made no penetration when he blitzed but looks good on special teams drills. Noah Keller is getting some time with Cole in the third down package as dual blitzers. Keller is a rookie form Ohio.
DB-They did another of Cecil's short area cone drills. This was a different one where they had to back pedal, charge about five yards and close on a coach kneeling who would toss them a ball underhanded. Then they backpedaled again and closed on another coach who would throw a point blank bullet at their chest. Tru Johnson had a couple of good plays today and got credit for a deflection on a deep ball to Givens. The ball was underthrown though and Givens had him by about a step and a half. Stewart and Fletcher sat out the day.
No Zuerlein bombs today.
During the latter part of the 11 on 11 drills Sam Bradford hardly took any snaps at all and most of them went to Clemons early and Davis later.
Fisher usually gets the most involved during the red zone drills and will watch the WR/CB match-up very closely. Today he took charge several times when they were running a two minute drill early in the day. Then later on during the 11 on 11 he focused some individual attention on the oline and some of its members.
I don't know that I have ever seen a Rams practice where the Hail Mary and last second lateral play was run as much as it was today. I called it the California band play on twitter but it of course should more properly be called the Stanford band play.
While the veterans were moving off the field Sam, Clemons, Smith, Salas, Amendola and Pettis went to the other field and were still running plays as my son and I left.
QB-Davis had an amazing run early on in all the drills. He was hitting everything all the way up until Middleton dropped an easy pass over the middle. After that Davis was erratic as hell, the ball sailed on him numerous times and he very badly underthrew several routes.
The torture of Tom Brandstater continues as he finally received substantial reps but it was all during the extended running drills they ran for about thirty minutes....starting to feel sorry for him.
Sam hit two really nice deep outs to Smith early on and then was pretty much done for the day save for the work he did on the side with the veteran receivers.
Clemons finally stood in on 7 on 7 and didn't bail out on the play. It sounds like Sam is only going to get a few series Sunday.
RB-Calvin Middleton is not 5:11 (never trust a football program or roster to tell the truth). If anything he looks shorter than Pead and Richardson. He has a lot of trouble in the passing game based on a small sample but really leans into his runs and has those Earl Campbell thighs that knock off tacklers. I think he has a chance to stick as a fourth running back or on the practice squad.
I got an extended look at Richardson and Pead today as SJ39 sat out again. The only thing I question is how much sense it makes to have two backs that essentially the same person with much the same strengths and weaknesses as the sole back ups to Jackson. Pead can bounce on inside stuff but neither of these guys break 200 pounds and aren't going to be anyone's feature in a ground and pound attack. What they both can do is break creases in a spread type attack, return kicks, be third down backs and get outside.
WR-Smith looked slow at times Tuesday, tired and at times I wondered how sore he must be. Today he ran two excellent deep outs for about thirty each time. He sat out a lot of the later drills. The best catch of the day though was by Salas on a deep post from Clemons. Salas played almost exclusively outside today.
Givens was open on a couple of deep nines but the ball was consistently underthrown to him by Davis. Given looked lost much of the first week but has stepped it up this week. Quick worked with Sherman and another coach while all the other players stretched and warmed up. He would run in place and from about five yards away Sherman would fire a ball at him. This went on for about 15 minutes before they allowed Quick to join the rest of the squad. Quick later ran a deep nine of his own for a TD.
The tight ends got very little work today in the passing game. I watched Eldridge and right now he is the best blocker of the bunch. The sole memorable catch was by local Mike McNeill.
OLine-Focus of much angst and fury today in the local press. Honestly when I have focused on the line it has not by and large been on Smith. What I have seen of him was a vast improvement over some of his previous pass blocking. He has always had a balance and footwork problem which Boudreau interprets as attacking too much and not letting the play come to him. Richardson has talent but has always lacked discipline. In the past his play has been erratic and resembles our old friend Alex Barron in terms of penalties. Joe Long took most of the reps at left tackle with Kevin Hughes and Rok at guards. Tim Barnes who whiffed badly several times in running plays played center and Ryan Mckee and Jose Valdez split reps at right tackle. The ones and twos got in there early but those guys took the majority of the reps.
Dline-Laws is still limited. Whether or not that accounts for Conrath moving up in the depth chart is debatable. Conrath doesn't seem built to play tackle but they use him on third downs a lot and if he gets any inside push wtih Brockers present an enormous hurdle to throw over.
The dline did an extended drill where they had to knock over two tackling dummies and then either strip a ball or tomahawk a ball from a third dummy. To get to that point the lineman had to circle a coach and then start the drill. Brockers knocked the dummies into molten plastic and most of the players seemed to have fun with the drill and put a lot into it. Darrell Scott looked slow and clumsy in his circle or spin and just walked through the rest of it.
LB-Aaron Brown got extensive time during the latter part of the drills, made no penetration when he blitzed but looks good on special teams drills. Noah Keller is getting some time with Cole in the third down package as dual blitzers. Keller is a rookie form Ohio.
DB-They did another of Cecil's short area cone drills. This was a different one where they had to back pedal, charge about five yards and close on a coach kneeling who would toss them a ball underhanded. Then they backpedaled again and closed on another coach who would throw a point blank bullet at their chest. Tru Johnson had a couple of good plays today and got credit for a deflection on a deep ball to Givens. The ball was underthrown though and Givens had him by about a step and a half. Stewart and Fletcher sat out the day.
No Zuerlein bombs today.
