Preseason Game #1 Observations

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Kupp does look great. I'm excited to see all of the starters on O. It's going to be a major change from last season, scheme and talent wise.
Couldn't agree more. Loved seeing my boy Pharoh making plays. If he is in a battle with Spruce for a roster spot, he definitely moved ahead
 
  • Some observations...FWIW's...Goff did look much better in limited play, he will have more opportunity in the next games, but he didn't trip, stumble or fumble and the pass to Kupp under duress was picturesque.
  • Offensive Line, well, first unit Jamon Brown is very slow off the ball and needs to get better because Havenstein should stay at RT for pass protection. The ability to run the ball to the right was non existent with the first unit. Darryl Williams looked like the 2015 version and outplayed Pace Murphy, who looked liked his feet were in cement...Jake Eldrenkamp over Austin Blythe by leaps in bounds in this first contest and please send Michael Dunn back to Maryland.
  • Wade Phillips is the best DC in the game, no sacks, but pressures and Kevin Peterson & Marqui Christian had quite a game. Some posters have been right about Casanova McKenzie and Bryce Hager just makes tackles. RB Justin Williams showed some great burst and hopefully will hang onto the football and I'm looking forward to Watkins & Austin being on the field at the same time because none of the WR's today could get deep IMO.
  • Travis Coons wins the game and is fitting right in as the some Ram players seem to be donning some cheesy mustaches like Barwin & Mannion for example. Mannion showcased he'll be a very good backup to Goff and kept some plays alive and how bad was Aaron Murray as they now have Dan Orlovsky who had trouble standing up.
  • McVay looked like a veteran on the sidelines and I feel much more confident with this coaching staff then the previous regime. Interesting to see if Brown still struggles because Donnal should be back soon, he did not play tonight, but I did not see anything better from Wichmann and Eldrenkamp played some guard too, but I like him better backing up Sullivan.
Overall I love winning and I'm sure McVay does too, next week Goff should have more reps and although Nelson Spruce does catch everything, IMO, he has trouble making the squad especially after the acquisition of Watkins, who when interviewed seem like he could not contain himself being in LA and coming to warmer weather. Travis Coons did okay for never punting and the theme for next week's practices...."Ball Security."
 
  • Some observations...FWIW's...Goff did look much better in limited play, he will have more opportunity in the next games, but he didn't trip, stumble or fumble and the pass to Kupp under duress was picturesque.
  • Offensive Line, well, first unit Jamon Brown is very slow off the ball and needs to get better because Havenstein should stay at RT for pass protection. The ability to run the ball to the right was non existent with the first unit. Darryl Williams looked like the 2015 version and outplayed Pace Murphy, who looked liked his feet were in cement...Jake Eldrenkamp over Austin Blythe by leaps in bounds in this first contest and please send Michael Dunn back to Maryland.
  • Wade Phillips is the best DC in the game, no sacks, but pressures and Kevin Peterson & Marqui Christian had quite a game. Some posters have been right about Casanova McKenzie and Bryce Hager just makes tackles. RB Justin Williams showed some great burst and hopefully will hang onto the football and I'm looking forward to Watkins & Austin being on the field at the same time because none of the WR's today could get deep IMO.
  • Travis Coons wins the game and is fitting right in as the some Ram players seem to be donning some cheesy mustaches like Barwin & Mannion for example. Mannion showcased he'll be a very good backup to Goff and kept some plays alive and how bad was Aaron Murray as they now have Dan Orlovsky who had trouble standing up.
  • McVay looked like a veteran on the sidelines and I feel much more confident with this coaching staff then the previous regime. Interesting to see if Brown still struggles because Donnal should be back soon, he did not play tonight, but I did not see anything better from Wichmann and Eldrenkamp played some guard too, but I like him better backing up Sullivan.
Overall I love winning and I'm sure McVay does too, next week Goff should have more reps and although Nelson Spruce does catch everything, IMO, he has trouble making the squad especially after the acquisition of Watkins, who when interviewed seem like he could not contain himself being in LA and coming to warmer weather. Travis Coons did okay for never punting and the theme for next week's practices...."Ball Security."

We couldn't run to the right, so why did we keep doing it? Gurley never had a chance to run behind the veterans on the left side even one time...Probably McVay testing the right side to see how they would do against the Boys #1 defense...FAIL!
 
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Not sure I understand the kudos on Mannion
Against Dallas back ups he could barely get the team inside the red zone once. And Justin Davis 32 yard run got the first fg
I can't be enthusiastic for a guy who can only muster 140 yards in 3+quarters of play

He handled himself well. Pace Murphy got him blown up twice in addition to a holding call. Our pass protection wasn't consistent. We had a couple major holding calls. Blythe snapped a ball 20 yards over his head. Hemingway coughed up a big play after a nice throw. Davis fumbled in the red-zone, and Dallas recovered the ball.

Mannion held it together well. He didn't look amazing, but he managed the game well and made some nice throws. The offense was just sloppy.
 
I'll give one observation that I haven't seen here, unless I missed it.

Higbee got owned in the run game. There were at least two times he let his man blow up the play in the backfield.

One play was the same one where Jamon Brown on the first series gets blown up leading to a Gurley huge loss that puts us in 3rd and 14 or whatever. This was horrendous blocking by Brown but Higbees man also blew by him

A second play on the next series, Higbee man comes all the way untouched by Higbee to make the play on Gurley on the other dam side of the field.

If Higbee can't learn to block he's going to get replaced by someone that can.
 
We couldn't run to the right, so why did we keep doing it? Gurley never had a chance to run behind the veterans on the left side even one time...Probably McVay testing the right side to see how they would do against the Boys #1 defense...FAIL!

McVay probably knows we can run behind Whitworth and Saffold so no reason to let all 31 other teams know this also when we can get some work for the guys on the right.
 
McVay probably knows we can run behind Whitworth and Saffold so no reason to let all 31 other teams know this also when we can get some work for the guys on the right.
But we also need to SEE Gurley do what he did in 2015. Right now, he looks like last year in games.
 
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Michael Jordan
Michael Who?
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Defense: looked good as expected--and that's w/o most of our main guys playing very little if at all!
...but get Donald signed already.

Offense: Brown looked terrible at RG. Murphy had a bad game too. OL depth issues were very apparent.

Kupp is the real deal.
Everett was very impressive too. He did not look/play like some wide eyed kid from a small school. Very polished w/ a complete game.

Favorite play:
Rams run left. Everett (not necessarily brought in for his blocking ability) chips the inside rusher to create the inside seal. He then runs upfield and blocks the DB out of the play, towards the sideline, creating the outer seal and great lane to run through.

Sadly, a great run set up by 2 nice blocks on Everett's part is called back. Murphy was holding. Too bad, but it showed how complete and willing Everett is. First time I have ever seen him play and he did not disappoint.

Overall, most of this year's draft class looked pretty good.