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Training Camp Report: Quick Hits From Day 8
The Rams were back on field at their temporary home of UC Irvine today for Day 8 of training camp. After the team’s joint practice with the Los Angeles Chargers at the StubHub Center yesterday, this afternoon’s practice was markedly lighter and shorter in nature.
Sunday’s practice ran just over an hour and was used mainly as a walk-thru period for the players with no pads or helmets. But there was still some information about the team to be taken away from Day 8 - here’s what you need to know:
FIELD-LEVEL OBSERVATIONS
- After a physical afternoon with the Chargers, today marked a much more mental practice for the Rams. The team went through about 90 reps on both offense and defense focusing on the formation and execution of every play.
- Head coach Sean McVay said that after watching the film from their joint practice he believed there was both good and bad to be taken away. Going forward the team will emphasize tightening their technique overall and coming together as a unit before they take on the Chargers for their second joint practice on Wednesday.
- There was some reshuffling of the offensive line throughout Sunday’s drills, including the movement of offensive guard Jamon Brown
and offensive tackle Rob Havenstein. With a high risk of injury over the course of the season, offensive line coach Aaron Kromer along with McVay are continuously trying to figure out the best combination for the line - making sure other players are willing and able to step up should a starter go down. McVay said the team will continue to experiment with the line as training camp continues.
- Many of the plays executed today included throwing to the tight end position. Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett, and Temarrick Hemingway continued to assert themselves as the top three in their position group, recording a slew of receptions from quarterback Jared Goff.
- After a standout performance yesterday, running back Todd Gurley walked through select running and passing routes in this afternoon’s practice. Though Gurley has been known in the past mainly for his big runs, he could be more of a target at receiver this coming season. Throughout Day 8, Gurley caught a variety of short passes and worked with all three quarterbacks early on in the red zone drills.
INJURY WATCH
- Wide receivers Tavon Austin
and Josh Reynolds remained sidelined for today’s practice. McVay told reporters that both were “day to day” with hamstring and quad issues.- Offensive tackle Andrew Donnal
and wide receiver Bradley Marquez were also mentioned as two newly injured players. Both are suffering from “knee tweaks” and will be out for the next week or so. - On both sides of the ball a select number of veteran players were limited in today’s practice in an effort to keep them fresh and healthy heading into next week. Those players included left tackle Andrew Whitworth
, outside linebacker Connor Barwin, guard Rodger Saffold, and center John Sullivan.- Running back Lance Dunbar
also remains out indefinitely with a knee injury. PRESS POINTS
After practice McVay addressed the media to discuss his thoughts on week one of training camp as well as his plans going forward. Catch up on his most interesting point of the day and check out his full interview here.
SEAN McVAY:
On what has stood out to him so far from this week of training camp: “I just think it’s the way that we’re coming together and what’s been really fun is you watch some of these leaders take command of the team and then everybody kind of falls in line. Seeing guys like Alec Ogletree
, Connor Barwin really step up, watching on the offensive side of the ball the Andrew Whitworth’s, the maturation of Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, so I could go on and on – John Sullivan has been great. I think it’s just how refreshing it’s been to see the leaders on the team be the guys that are setting the standards and what it looks like and then everybody kind of falls in alignment.”The Rams will be back for Day 9 of training camp tomorrow afternoon before the players receive their second day off on Tuesday.
