RamView, August 2, 2014, by Mike Franke
Training Camp Report from the Dome
A week into training camp 2014, and I'm still waiting for the Ram offense to get into gear a little bit. Though down four key players, the Ram defense was still in charge at today's FanFest open practice, led by another strong outing by guess who, Aaron Donald...
* QB: Sam Bradford's key moment came in 11-on-11. With the pocket collapsing around him, not for the first time, he hung in and aired out a long ball down the far sideline for Kenny Britt, who took off with it for a long TD. This was a very heartening play, Bradford showing killer instinct under pressure, the mindset he'd started getting into last season, instead of being first-two-seasons Bradford and hoping for a checkdown. Bradford's main receivers looked like Jared Cook, who he really looked hard for when he was in trouble, and surprising Stedman Bailey, who had a whole mess of catches on underneath routes, though these were routes extended beyond your typical Danny Amendola routes of Bradford's first two seasons. Bradford hung tough pretty well, though his mobility is really going to get tested in 2014 if he doesn't get better protection than he got today. Little to write home about at backup QB. Shaun Hill did not look especially composed or accurate and had a goofy play where he tripped over his own lineman at the snap, did a back somersault and lost the ball (which Michael Sam easily could have scooped for a TD). Garrett Gilbert didn't look especially accurate and still needs more time to figure out what's going on downfield than a live defense is willing to give him. Austin Davis was under siege, didn't have many open receivers and couldn't make anything happen except the very bad, an awful attempt to throw a bubble screen that Aaron Hill pick-sixed. The Ram offense was not particularly sharp all day. I didn't see a single completion to the back corner of the end zone in red-zone 1-on-1 drills. They couldn't score a TD on 3 or 4 different tries from inside the 2. Blitzing was not picked up very well and a number of blitz adjustments were not executed. This isn't really the QBs' fault, and there's a lot of good reasons behind what's going on, not the least of which is the offensive line's continued personnel shifting, but it still needs to be mentioned up top that the Ram offense really is not in sync yet.
* RB: During 11-on-11 drills in the red zone, the Rams ran several running plays down on the goal line, and in a trend too familiar in recent seasons, they couldn't score. (It would be fair to mention that practice was not full-pads or full-contact. The only tackling was with threes vs. threes at the very end.) Both Zac Stacy and Tre Mason were kept out of the end zone, though, not hearing the imaginary whistle on one play, Stacy did some admirable banging through three different DBs. Mason continues to show very good shiftiness, and is even progressing, though very slowly, in blitz pickup. Bennie Cunningham got whipped by Ray Ray Armstrong on one rep but held up so much better on the second rep that he goaded Ray Ray into a scuffle. The shiftiest back the Rams have, though, is Tavon Austin, who weaved through traffic after a couple of handoffs like a human Plinko chip. Barely noticed Isaiah Pead, who did suit up; didn't see Trey Watts.
* Wide receivers: It's curious to me that Stedman Bailey is getting so many targets when it's known he's going to miss the first four weeks. But look out when October comes. Bailey looked like the feature player of the offense. When I say he caught a lot of underneath routes, these weren't the Danny Amendola 2-yard dink-and-dunks, they were downfield out routes and the like, 10-12 yard routes. Bailey especially took advantage of soft coverage. Bailey also made a tough sideline end zone catch for a TD to end the first-string's 2:00 drill, if you can ignore the fact that Bradford would have been sacked at least three times just on that one drive. And for all his catches, one bothersome thing about Bailey's play was the couple of times he and Bradford were not on the same page on a route, which I largely suspect was due to Bailey not adjusting for the defense blitzing. Kenny Britt had the big play of the day, a TD bomb on a go route for probably 60 yards. The play was Britt at his finest, warding off (possibly pushing off of) Darren Woodard to get open. Brian Quick sat out. Chris Givens did some good work 1-on-1 but I didn't notice him too much in 11-on-11. Jordan Harris has the good size but looks a little clumsy as a route-runner and I didn't see him get open.
* Tight ends: In drills, the best Ram today at blitz protection, much to my surprise, was Jared Cook. Good positioning, good base, good quickness, not a lot went by him. Others were disappointing. Lance Kendricks honestly should look better at this than he did here, and Corey Harkey was close to terrible, a big letdown because blocking's supposed to be his bread and butter. He was no match for Alec Ogletree. Alex Bayer also was no match for a blitz and didn't look like he had the athleticism needed to counter it. Cook got a lot of targets 7-on-7 but all I remember in 11-on-11 was a drop. Kendricks got a big gain off a busted coverage. Justice Cunningham was open a couple of times with the backups but couldn't adjust to Davis' throws; I suspect he also missed a blitz adjustment or two.
* O-line: There were some promising developments up front. Jake Long and Scott Wells started with the ones 11-on-11. Wells got a decent amount of action and looked effective. Long came out pretty quickly. Rodger Saffold and Barrett Jones also sat. The first line left to right was usually Greg Robinson, Mike Person, Wells, Davin Joseph and Joseph Barksdale. Robinson's still unsurprisingly getting outquicked out at LT, but he was impressive in 1-on-1 drills at LG against Michael Brockers. The power is definitely there. Person was a pleasant surprise. He went up against Quinn 1-on-1 without getting humiliated and did some nice work at guard 11-on-11, including a solid downfield block to spring Austin Pettis for a good gain off a short pass. Tim Barnes had strong reps 1-on-1 as well, looking a lot stronger today than he did in Seattle against Brandon Mebane back in December. Blitzers just poured in on the QB all day, though. Nobody could handle Aaron Donald. Bradford's 2:00 TD drive never would have happened, he would have been sacked three times, twice just by Donald. Mitchell Van Dyk was a major liability for the twos, getting abused by Eugene Sims over and over. He's far from the only culprit, but he was on the receiving end of so many beatdowns, he's the one who stands out.
* Defensive line: I just got off the phone with Steven Hawking, who has agreed to redefine a black hole as a gravitational force that only Aaron Donald has the velocity to escape. Good grief. With Michael Brockers leaving practice very early with what appeared to be a re-aggravation of his ankle injury – uh-oh – Donald dominated the practice to a point I can't do justice to here. His first rep in, he dropped into coverage well enough to prevent Bradford from hitting a crossing receiver and Sam likely would have eaten the ball. All forward for Donald the rest of the day. The Rams had no o-lineman who could handle his quickness and he just blipped into the backfield a couple of times for likely sacks in the 2:00 drill. He did the same thing down on the goal line to stuff a handoff. He flashed in to blow up runs a couple of times 11-on-11 as well. And, I say again, it's not just all speed with Donald. On one snap, he launched into Robinson and sent the #2 pick overall wobbling back into Bradford to the point that Sam was forced to step up, probably into a sack. Aaron Donald is an animal. Eugene Sims also had a super practice, at Van Dyk's expense. With a huge quickness advantage, Sims spent much of 11-on-11 in the offensive backfield. Michael Sam was back there a lot, too, with a number of pressures on the QB. He showed a good knack for working himself into open space, and used his speed to take advantage of blitz distractions on that side to get free runs at the QB. Sam did not stand out 1-on-1. Sean Hooey washed him outside once and, though Sam's bull rush looks better, it still wasn't enough to budge Hooey the second time. On one hand, the Sasquatch-like sighting of Sammy Brown taking reps doesn't bode well for Sam. Also working against Hooey, Brown looked well superior as a pass-rusher, with much better quickness and moves. Not too long after those reps, though, back to the sideline for Brown, with a bag of ice taped to his injured calf. If Brown ever gets off the trainer's table, the Rams may have a decision to make. Bacone-ator Harlan continues to flash nice quickness both in 1-on-1 and team drills; I think he should have the inside track to the tenth d-line slot in the final 53.
* Linebackers: The key item here is that James Laurinaitis was out and had a walking boot on his left foot. Jo-Lonn Dunbar took the Mike with the ones, Alec Ogletree the Sam and Ray Ray Armstrong the Will. Ogletree is insanely quick as a blitzer, and Armstrong isn't too far behind him. Both have developed excellent blitzing moves. They toyed with the offense in blitz pickup drills until Bennie Cunningham bowed up on Ray Ray and got a little scuffle going. I'm unsure who blew an 11-on-11 assignment that left Lance Kendricks all alone down the seam for a big gainer; I suspect Dunbar. Aaron Hill, though, had a pick-six of Austin Davis for the threes. Lawrence Wilson stood out a couple of times, showing some pop as a hitter and making a big run stop at the goal line. Phillip Steward still looks like the leader for the sixth LB slot if there is one, though. He looked good all-around, both with some good pass rushes and good play in pass coverage.
* Secondary: The secondary was down two starters, with Janoris Jenkins and Lamarcus Joyner sitting out. Brandon McGee started across from TruJo, and played better than anything I've given him credit for so far this summer. Gave up some completions to Bailey underneath 11-on-11, but had an excellent close that would have stuffed an otherwise wide-open flanker screen to Austin and had a strong end zone pass defense 7-on-7 against Britt. With the top two corners out, I'm not even sure what the nickel personnel was, or if they even went to it much. Maurice Alexander looks more and more comfortable in coverage. Don't remember him getting beaten in team drills.
* Special teams: The Rams worked on kickoff teams and on last-play-of-game FG scenarios. A lot of coverage work. Chris Givens and Tre Mason were the main players returning kicks. Givens looked better and more sure of where to go. Not sure if Cunningham is in the mix for KR or not. Greg Zuerlein hit everything out to 65 yards, coming up short twice there, though probably with enough to hit from 60. He missed from 54 on the second of two end-of-game simulations.
* Strategery: Not many notes here, I'm afraid. Other than a couple of handoffs to Tavon Austin, the offense remains as vanilla as a James Taylor concert. Gregg Williams really unleashed the blitz beast, but I would need a bootleg film of the practice to really absorb it all. There was more heat up the middle than I'm used to from a Ram defense, a little bit of zone blitzing, and some familiar overload blitzing that really helped free Sam up to pressure the QB a few times. Williams sent an OLB almost constantly.
* Cheers: I see the official attendance as 15,000-ish for FanFest. Well, at least half those folks didn't stay for practice. Proof that miracles do happen, though; it took only 20 years, but the Dome now has a sound system that works. They could stand to turn it down a little bit, though. And you kids get off my lawn! Also in fine form: the Dome A/C system. Brrr!
* What's next?: I'm not sure who we're actually going to see – rumor is that Bradford won't even play – but the fake bullets start flying for real next Friday night when the New Orleans Saints come to town. With Rob Ryan and Gregg Williams facing off, this will be the Night of a Thousand Blitzes, and, ooh! Story line! The Saints were Williams' team when he went down in flames in the Bountygate scandal. I'm not sure it will be advisable to even watch the ball during this game; the key takeaway will be how well the Rams do or don't handle things down in the trenches. Viva preseason!
-- Mike
