Is Tavon Austin “in his own head” a little bit?

[Ramathon]

I would like someone in the St. Louis media to ask Fisher or Schotty why they haven't run him in the slot more or even on the outside on occasion. I doubt they'd give an honest answer but it should at least be asked.

I'd also like to know who was responsible for the pick. That, I know will never get answered.

I don't think any pick is made that doesn't have Fisher's stamp of approval.

 

[Rams and Gators]

Who would anyone have taken?

Keenan Allen and Larry Warford, or possibly Nuk Hopkins and Larry Warford, probably not Patterson and Larry Warford as I wasn't high on him at all. What I wouldn't have done is trade up for a WR who I didn't think was special in a class of decent WRs and miss out on Larry Warford, you do that and you probably end up with someone like Davin Joseph .

 

[Mikey Ram]

Tavon just needs to run toward the endzone when he gets the ball. He needs to take a step immediately and quit trying to juke before he moves. He needs to stop doing the hop-step.

They could say the same thing when he's running FROM the end zone

 

[reggae]

I just wish they'd attempt to get him involved in the passing game somehow. I'm not a fan of the screen play to the guy, especially now with Quick on IR. Some slant routes or posts, something to get him in space downfield.

What if he's just not very good? The evidence is there. He struggles making a catch. He is a 1 juke tackle. If you touch him he goes down. As a wr in the passing game he stinks. He does remind me a lot of a RB from Oklahoma. Joe Washington. Run him from the backfield. Right now he has LB's playing a low post basketball game on him. Make them go to him. Don't send him to them.

 

[mr.stlouis]

No!! I think "getting him the ball" is something Scohtty is a concept Scotty struggles with.

 

[Memphis Ram]

I still believe that Tavon was the right choice.
Any team needing offensive weapons would have jumped at the opportunity to have him in the mix.
We were just the team that was able to do it.

Let's not become revisionist historians. It was a fine pick at the time and Tavon has been in a tough situation with an unimaginative OC and back up QBS who lack the arm to find him deep.

No revisionist history for me. I hated the idea of even using a 1st round pick on a on a 5'8 1/2", 174 pounds WR. Especially on a Jeff Fisher team. And the Rams not only did that, but they traded up for him?!?

No matter how talented he was or will be, his size will always limit him. In order to avoid flush hits from much bigger players, I'd be dancing out there, too.

But, it is what it is for the Austin and the team now. He's still young and developing as a player and should improve over time.

 

[…..]

Its gotten rather embarrasing. a year and a half and we have not only not figured out a way to use the talent, but we have found out a way to negate his stregths by running him smack dab into a linebacker who has filled the gap in the 3 hole. LOL thats just Awesome.

 

[Thordaddy]

Gotta confess I was guzzling the Koolaid on that pick ,and but for some penalties I think the kid would have a few more PR for TD's , as far as being a deep threat he's only played half a season with a QB he couldn't outrun the guys deep ball,which is why I wonder why they don't just throw it out there and let him run under it.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Its gotten rather embarrasing. a year and a half and we have not only not figured out a way to use the talent, but we have found out a way to negate his stregths by running him smack dab into a linebacker who has filled the gap in the 3 hole. LOL thats just Awesome.

Actually, I don't mind that type of running play every blue moon. But, for the life of me, I don't understand why they don't spread the field with potential targets (ala West Virginia), and then hand him the football.

 

[V3]

Ahhhh. Well, it was Tavon or Paterson with a trade up. Who would anyone have taken?

Everyone was screaming to get SB8 a weapon and that's who was there.

We wouldn't have had to trade up for Patterson and we still would have our second rounder.

As for who was still there....I was in favor of Patterson and if not him I would have been happy with Hopkins. Since we still had our 2nd pick, I'll also throw in Lacy or Warford for people I would have looked at for that pick. There's two pretty significant starters we could be using right now but aren't because someone with the Rams got infatuated with the highlight reel video of Austin. The guy only has 2 tools(speed, quickness). You don't take those players in the first round.

 

[V3]

No!! I think "getting him the ball" is something Scohtty is a concept Scotty struggles with.

Is it all Schotty, though? There's a good possibility they aren't using him much because he's still struggling with different aspects of the game. I would still try certain things just to throw the defense off or keep them on their toes, but while I'm not a big fan of Schotty, I don't think he's an idiot, either. I'm sure he's aware that he could be using Tavon other ways. I just don't think he trusts him.

 

[V3]

I still believe that Tavon was the right choice.
Any team needing offensive weapons would have jumped at the opportunity to have him in the mix.
We were just the team that was able to do it.

Let's not become revisionist historians. It was a fine pick at the time and Tavon has been in a tough situation with an unimaginative OC and back up QBS who lack the arm to find him deep.

It's not revisionist history when certain people were pissed with the pick at the time. And people need to stop blaming ONLY Schotty, here. It's a two way street. Tavon is obviously not doing things in practice that instill trust from the coaches to use him in games for certain plays.

 

[Thordaddy]

We wouldn't have had to trade up for Patterson and we still would have our second rounder.

As for who was still there....I was in favor of Patterson and if not him I would have been happy with Hopkins. Since we still had our 2nd pick, I'll also throw in Lacy or Warford for people I would have looked at for that pick. There's two pretty significant starters we could be using right now but aren't because someone with the Rams got infatuated with the highlight reel video of Austin. The guy only has 2 tools(speed, quickness). You don't take those players in the first round.

They saw him in person, threw to him it wasn't just highlight reels ,my wish is that he can follow in Quicks footsteps and burst on the scene in his third year, or sooner would be nice too, but we DO have a perfect example there of a guy who just has had some trouble figuring out the pro game and was headed for a VERY productive season 3 when he got hurt .
If he lives up to his draft position the last three years of his contract (provided the Rams exercise the 5th year option) he can go a long way to making people forget who woulda, shoulda , coulda

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_3a2e76e4-1a99-5fdc-bb15-5551e8c90202.html

 

[Athos]

Ahhhh. Well, it was Tavon or Paterson with a trade up. Who would anyone have taken?

Everyone was screaming to get SB8 a weapon and that's who was there.

Nuke Hopkins. The real WR of the draft. I banged the gong for him like a crazy mofo. Austin Honks ran me to the hills.

At any rate, we have Austin, not Hopkins. And at some point, we need to get him doing something to justify the pick at 8 overall, preferably more ability shown as a WR. Shotty is part, but Austin is also a big part of his own struggles.

 

[WvuIN02]

TA is a guy who needed a franchise with a clear design for him, because he's not Calvin Johnson.

The Rams knowingly drafted a receiver whose skill set didn't mesh with this power offense they had plans for. It makes no sense, and then on top of that, they don't even use his strengths. The whole struggling thing to run routes etc to me is garbage. The guy runs a sub 4.3 and you cant have him run a go route, you know, what he got most of his touchdowns in college doing? Football isn't rocket science, and Snisher lauded the WVU program for how prepared the receivers were with NFL routes and such when they worked out Sted and Tavon. Then again, the Rams dont even have a deep ball throwing QB on the roster. Which makes it an even worse fit for him. Save some egg on the faces of both parties and ship him somewhere else who knows his value.....ala the Wes Welker trade. I can't imagine he's happy in this offense, and the Rams have made less of an effort recently to get him involved. Maybe the writing is on the wall for everyone.

Sometimes its not a good fit, so move on please.

 

[V3]

They saw him in person, threw to him it wasn't just highlight reels ,my wish is that he can follow in Quicks footsteps and burst on the scene in his third year, or sooner would be nice too, but we DO have a perfect example there of a guy who just has had some trouble figuring out the pro game and was headed for a VERY productive season 3 when he got hurt .
If he lives up to his draft position the last three years of his contract (provided the Rams exercise the 5th year option) he can go a long way to making people forget who woulda, shoulda , coulda

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_3a2e76e4-1a99-5fdc-bb15-5551e8c90202.html

There's a clear difference between Tavon and Quick, IMO. Quick had/has the tools to be a good WR. The only things that were unknown were the route running and concept intelligence. He obviously took a big step this year, thanks in large part to Britt, IMO. With Tavon, all I saw/see with him are speed and quickness. He doesn't have size, strength, route running, jumping ability, hands, catch radius, or concept intelligence. People(I know you didn't bring him up but I've seen the comparison multiple times, along with some other players) love to compare him to Steve Smith but the two aren't anything alike, IMO. Smith was very strong, physical, smart, and could outjump most(along with the speed and quickness). And who knows how much longer Schotty will be here? Is Tavon going to be able to pick up another scheme? I'll keep hoping for the best but I have major doubts he'll ever come close to what the Rams paid to get him- even with someone that knows how to use him.

 

[RaminExile]

Something I've said before is that I think you've got to get him the ball (anyway you can) some 15 times a game. Its a bit unfair to give him 2 catches and some runs up the gut and expect him to break one. He needs more chances to do it. Build an offensive game plan around him - start with him in the gun - give him a bubble screen then come right back to him on the next play with a sweep and then run him on the outside on a 9 route etc.

 

[Thordaddy]

Something I've said before is that I think you've got to get him the ball (anyway you can) some 15 times a game. Its a bit unfair to give him 2 catches and some runs up the gut and expect him to break one. He needs more chances to do it. Build an offensive game plan around him - start with him in the gun - give him a bubble screen then come right back to him on the next play with a sweep and then run him on the outside on a 9 route etc.

I think planning a game around him would be overkill, I agree he'd probably do better with more touches , but who wouldn't? He needs to earn the touches and right now I think the "we have to get him the ball" position is giving him credit for being something he's only shown glimpses of.

Making him the focal point of the offense is a recipe for disaster if he get's hurt and at his size that's pretty likely, then what?

That near disaster when he retreated into the endzone with that missed field goal was one of the most boneheaded things I've seen , and it illustrated his indecisiveness that he's seemed to lack all along .
My opinion of the kid is he's been the fastest guy on the field all his life and expects that to carry him ,still sees himself as a star and everyone keeps feeding that impression by insisting he has to get the ball,
IMO the more you force it the worse it becomes, they need to put him on the outside let him run by some people and if nothing else open the underneath routes or something cuz what's happening now isn't working.
AZ plays a lot of single high safety and stacks the box so one of our outside guys is going to be covered man to man so if it's him maybe this week he can break out.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Tavon just needs to run toward the endzone when he gets the ball. He needs to take a step immediately and quit trying to juke before he moves. He needs to stop doing the hop-step.

It drives me nuts every time he does this ^ , especially when you know what he can do when he gets moving!!

 

[Prime Time]

One problem is that AD is only 6'2", relatively short for an NFL signal caller

Not to pick on you but this statement is puzzling to me and I've seen it used many times to try to explain why AD has been struggling.

Drew Brees - 6'
Aaron Rodgers - 6' 2"
Matthew Stafford - 6' 2"
RGIII - 6' 2"

I wonder when they have a bad game if fans on message boards of those teams rationalize that it's because of their height that they're struggling? The difference I see between AD and the above mentioned QB's is that they all have strong arms and he doesn't. It's not his height that's causing problems for him, it's his weak arm and his inexperience.