Game five-Against the Green Bay Packers. Who were the starting left side OL'ers in that game with the Packers?
The starting left side OL for that game was Robinson & Saffold. Saffold was no longer starting on the right side by Game five. Just like
woofwoofmo said soooo well in the below post.
I'm going to come to the defense of Coach "Boo". He's not juggling guys and playing them out of their comfort zones for giggles and grins, he's doing it for one reason and one reason only, to put a veteran presence next to the LT, who understands not only his own assignment but can tell GRob what he's supposed to do. That's why Saffold was at LG, then why Reynolds became the LG, to nursemaid our LT. Having Brown & GRob next to each other last season just wasn't working and to take the pressure off Brown, he was moved to the right side & Reynolds put at LG. There were simply too many blown assignments. Until GRob proves he's capable of understanding his assignments, it's going to continue to be a veteran at LG.
So to continue on with what woofwoofmo said .... before game five Paul Boudreau removed Jamon Brown form starting left OG
after four good starts there. The reason for rookie Jamon Brown being moved out of his natural left side was
NOT because Brown was playing badly in fact Brown up to that time game four was playing very well for a rookie starter!
As we all know NOW this move was to an attempt to resolve a major ongoing disaster with blown assignments from GRob who has an ongoing brain cloud. The fix was in & Rodger Saffold was moved back in to his 2014 starting post next to GRob.
Back to the play shown above where Foles was hit.... it shows THREE Packers ( 2 LB'ers & a DL'er) arriving basically at the same time to assassinate the Rams QB. The all pro Clay Matthews was lined up @ the LOS in plain view to the entire world with the exception to GRob. Clay was on the outside left shoulder of GRob with
active camouflage. For whatever reason :headexplosion:the left side of the OL did not make an adjustment thus GRob took the inside DL'er & ignored left this
unknown pass pusher to blitz directly into Nick.
Most starting OLT's in the NFL really have no ideal who Clay Matthews is & its fully understandable
alm:.
I have no ideal if Saffold was still playing & Saffold failed to provide GRob the needed clue that Clay was drooling foam down the front of his jersey when this murdering was taking place on Foles or if Andrew Donnal had replaced the soon to be out for the season on IR Saffold yet. maybe some else has this information but GRob let the murder take place.
Game 5 was the first game of the season that Boudreau activated Andrew Donnal to back up our newly flipped OLG Saffold. By the end of the first half Donnal was the Rams starting OLG in place of Saffold. Reynolds, at this early time in the season was
not considered a
left side back up. It was Andrew Donnal who Boudreau had worked a lot & groomed to be the OLG reserve behind Brown (then Saffold) & in fact did maintain this role from week 5 thru week 8.
Reynolds assignment @ this time was primarily to back up the new starting ORG rookies Brown & rookie ORT Havenstein. Reynolds first official start in 2015 occurred after the Rams bye in wk. 6 & Reynolds started @ OLG in week 7 . Garrett Reynolds started his first NFL game @ left OG. Reynolds did have to return to start & finish a few other games @ ORT. On or about time we got a chance to see Rhaney & Wichmann @ both OLG & ORG. Rhaney's short time performance @ both OG posts made Donnal look like an all pro! It was also at this time Boudreau discovered that he had found a
G O L D nugget with Cody Wichmann. Cody went on to finish his rookie campaign in playing in 12 games with 7 starts & two other games where he finished the game as the starter in the lineup.
---How does the coaching staff not see that last season ??? We all saw how Wichmann played , & draft nex & fans question it as well. I could see Donnel getting the nod at RT ,but at R & L guard ?? I believe the moves to start A. Donnel & his golden hair over Wichmann cost The Rams at least on game .
The rookie Andrew Donnal dressed for 5 NFL games total. Donnal finished two games with the first unit week #5 @ OLG & week #8 @ ORT. Donnal looked much better @ ORT than OLG in these two games. Donnal started 2 games his rookie season one @ OLG on wk # 9 & @ ORT on wk#11. Week 9 game was the game that Donnal really looked bad. It was wk.#11 when Donnal suffered a knee injury & never got on the field again in 2015. I should mentioned that Donnal did see a ton of action in TC & the first half of pre season @ ORG post.
The fact that the Rams selected the best ORT in the 2015 draft who made most of the all rookies teams when the season concluded did not help Andrew Donnal either. Just plain back luck for him. It now forced Donnal into a back up @ ORT. If your reserve for Boudreau then its mandatory that you be able to play more than one post or your gone. I would sum up Donnal's rookies season as very disappointing. Donnal may not have a bright Ram future at this time but if he can remain healthy he will be a decent NFL ORT in time. He must add power & strength to his game for that to come true, he has the smarts!
Rookie OL'er Wichmann & Donnal's paths did not cross much at all in 2015. Cody Wichmann was basically injured from the very first OTA's until the 3rd pre season game. Cody was vastly behind Donnal in his training since he missed all of TC & half of pre season. Cody never worked either of the OT posts as Donnal did nor was he used @ OLG much. I do not see that Cody Wichmann or Andrew Donnal are in competition with each other in 2016.
