Football Outsiders: WR is Rams' biggest weakness/Wagoner

[LACHAMP46]

We've taken the wait and see approach for what, 8 years straight now? When does it end?

I feel ya man, but the QB thing, with terrible backups for two years is REAL. How can athletic freaks get deep, open or even come close to optimal performances with guys that shouldn't be in the league throwing them the ball? Plus they are young and just really learning the pro game?

Also the QB excuse is old. Watkins had Orton and got 900 yds. Mike Evans QB...

Not old, just the truth...Orton went to the super bowl, was one of the fastest QB's in getting the ball out...I'd take Orton now....Mike Evans is a little of a mystery...Seriously...I don't think that the Tampa QB play has been as bad as it's been here, but still. You make a strong argument but Josh McCown has some skill (witness his breakout games in Chicago in 2013) Mike Glennon has some talent. And Mike Evans, besides being a surprise (see:Chris Givens) is a beast.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Football Outsiders: Wide receiver is Rams' biggest weakness
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...siders-wide-receiver-is-rams-biggest-weakness

On Tuesday, Vince Verhei, of Football Outsiders unveiled his list of the biggest weaknesses for the teams in the NFC West division. Verhei pointed to the offensive line for the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks and linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers. But instead of choosing the offensive line for the Rams, door No. 2 and wide receiver was the choice.

As Verhei pointed out, the Rams don't have a wide receiver with 50 receptions or 800 receiving yards in their career and only Kenny Britt has really been consistently close to those marks. In fact, Rams receivers were second-worst in the NFL in terms of production last year, trailing only the Kansas City Chiefs. So a reasonable argument can be made that the Rams do indeed still have a big hole at the position.

Using receiving yards to determine the strength of a player is fruitless. A team could build a passing game with the emphasis on getting the ball to one player and have a guy crack 1,000 yards.

Either way, going by memory, it seems that Britt could have cracked 1,000 yards easy with better QB play. There were plays vs. Denver, Washington and a couple others where an accurate deep pass when he had the defender beat could have lead to long scores (Not to mention that long pass called back vs. the Chargers due to a penalty by Greg Robinson).

 

[Memphis Ram]

We've taken the wait and see approach for what, 8 years straight now? When does it end? Call them what they are, man. In that or a similar article he said "based on stats" there were enough WRs who outperformed Rams WRs for every single NFL team to have 2 better than the Rams...crazy.

Also the QB excuse is old. Watkins had Orton and got 900 yds. Mike Evans QB...

Bills - 579 passes attempted, 363 completions.
Rams - Rams 515 passed attempted, 327 completions

Bills - Watkins 65 receptions (128 targets). Woods 65 receptions. Hogan 41 receptions. Mike Williams 8 receptions. Goodwin 1 reception.

Rams - Britt 48 receptions (84 targets). Bailey 30 receptions. Austin 30 receptions. Quick 25 receptions. Pettis 12 receptions. Givens 11 receptions.

Conclusion.
Buffalo passed more and those passes went primarily to 3 WRs (TEs and RBs not included). Rams passed less and their receptions were more spread out among it's WRs.

Britt had 748 yards with 17 fewer receptions. If he got those 17 and maintained his 15.6 yard average per catch that's an extra 265.2 yards and cracks 1,000 (which is greater than 900).

BTW, given his much higher reception percentage per targets one might assume that he'd have far more receptions than Watkins, if targeted as often. And if so, the Rams would have magically found a so-called #1 WR and been fine there all of the sudden. Well at least to those who pay attention to numbers alone without taking the everything into context.

 

[Rams43]

We've taken the wait and see approach for what, 8 years straight now? When does it end? Call them what they are, man. In that or a similar article he said "based on stats" there were enough WRs who outperformed Rams WRs for every single NFL team to have 2 better than the Rams...crazy.

Also the QB excuse is old. Watkins had Orton and got 900 yds. Mike Evans QB...

I think your approach is a bit simplistic, ausmurp.

Our perceived receiving deficiencies last year were not a result of a lack of a Watkins type #1 WR. Our receiving corps, including TE's, was plenty good enough.

Two far bigger problems were our backup QB's and porous OL.

I think Foles will be a huge upgrade at QB, so that problem seems solved.

I have to think that Barnes, Reynolds (to start the season), and Hav will be upgrades over Wells, Joseph, and Barks. That's not a real high bar to surpass, is it?