[aeneas1]

the rams moved offensive linemen around quite a bit today, which was good to see, evans started at rt, was eventually moved to rg, and finished the game at lt - here's a snapshot of where the guys played at least at one point in the game, there might have been more combos, and the combos shown below might have over overlapped quarters:

STARTED
LT - 73 Edwards (2/LT)
LG - 64 Demby (2/LG)
OC - 72 Neary (2/OC)
RG - 61 Kolone (2/RG)
RT - 71 Evans (2/RT)

THIRD QUARTER
LT - 64 Demby (2/LG)
LG - 73 Edwards (2/LT)
OC - 72 Neary (2/OC)
RG - 71 Evans (2/RT)
RT - 67 Brewer (3/RG)

FOURTH QUARTER
LT - 71 Evans (2/RT)
LG - 68 Kasley (3/LG)
OC - 63 Hrynkiewicz (3/OC)
RG - 60 Hitner (4/LG)
RT - 67 Brewer (3/RG)


anyone else have the euro gamepass? i followed the game using my euro subscription and it was a blast to the c-band past, when the cameras continued to roll while the rest of the country watched commercials, it's always fun to watch this, as the booth guys know they're off (national) camera and break into small talk, make comments they wouldn't normally make while live, and discuss and setup which graphics will be shown after the commercial break... what's especially entertaining is when they setup the replays they will show and discuss, and ask each other "ok, who's number 71, he did a great job, i want to point him out" while another responds "hold on, let's see, ok that's [insert name here], he's a rookie out of [insert college here], drafted in the [insert round here]" - and when they finally go live and discuss the play, they talk about the guy as if they've always known who he and everyone else on the field was, ha ha...

got the oakland broadcast that included millen and gannon, i don't think they showed the rams sidelines once, or the rams starters who were in civies... at the end of the game they mentioned what a solid step this game was for gruden and the young raiders team, how they not only held their own but also pretty much dominated a team that was in last year's super bowl, they then announced the game's mvp, unfriggin' believable, ha ha....

in other news, not surprisingly, today's stats were eerily similar to the stats from last year's first preseason game against the ravens:

[sloramfan]

what really made me burst out laughing, was the fact that raider nation eats that garbage up, that millen and gannon spew...

i have a lot of raider fans that live around me (and niner fans)...

go rams

slo

[Elvis]

All preseason broadcasts are basically infomercials. The Raiders take that to a hell of an extreme.

Like i just said in another thread, one of the things i think the Rams do use preseason for is to get their young o linemen experience and A1's stats show that to be the case...

[aeneas1]

another thing - if mcvay intends to roll out more 12 personnel in 2019 i guess he's saving it for the regular season, seemed that the offense was by far 11 tonight, same goes for the scrimmages...

[BobCarl]

i guess he's saving it for the regular season,...

Got through a meaningless game without a major injury to the key players on the team.

The tackling dummies that won't make the team got on and off the field without embarrassing the logo, (a couple of rookies and backups had to fill in for a few plays).

Objectives met. Count this as a win.

[max]

Got through a meaningless game without a major injury to the key players on the team.

The tackling dummies that won't make the team got on and off the field without embarrassing the logo, (a couple of rookies and backups had to fill in for a few plays).

Objectives met. Count this as a win.

What funny is that there are guys out there thinking that all those tackling dummies are very talented. Jake listed about 15 undrafted guys that played last night who he thinks belong on an NFL roster. After they get cut at the first cut down, he’ll say the Rams made a mistake. Not to pick on Jake, but some guys get so wrapped up in these scrubs they can’t tell the difference between Austin Davis and Jared Goff.

[aeneas1]

snap counts, red text = 2019 draft picks, blue text = 2018 draft picks:

[snackdaddy]

As long as the rookies get some experience in real game situations. I know McVay's not gonna show his hand when it comes to play calling. So the offense will likely not look sharp. Last year I was worried about the sluggish play in the preseason. But they showed they can flip that switch when it counts. This year, I'm more like "Meh, its just preseason".

[Neil039]

When you root for a low level tier team (um the Raiders), exaggerating any success is the hype machine to keep their fan base engaged.

The Raiders might be a little better this season. They still have to play the Chiefs and Chargers twice, along with bitter rival Broncos (they suck).

So look for year 3 of the Gruden love fest to produce a .500 team IMO.

Honestly I hope they continue to stink it up, although I hope they have a better record than the Browns. Only worried about the Rams this season.

[/zn/]

The Rams pre-season games will entertain no one. But that does not mean the Rams are not making use of them. They;re using the pre-season to build their depth at some key positions, including OL and LB.

Just putting things down in black and white, but..... Maintaining the OL with this team means coaching up lower picks, UDFAs, and the occassional slightly more veteran castoff. They need to keep churning up and developing new OL every year--next year they replace probably at least 2 more (I doubt they extend Blythe after this year). Plus they've been lucky with OL injuries so far but you can't count on that (knock on wood).

Aside from the 5 starters, they could carry anywhere from 5 to 6 more OL, with 2-3 on the practice squad (depending on whether they have 8 or 9 on the regular roster.) So they have to assess and prep whoever that is, and of course there's virtually no starting experience at all among the 9 candidates.

4th year: Neary. 2nd year: Demby, Kalone. Rookies: Brewer, Edwards, Evans, Hitner, Hrynkiewicz, Kaskey.

That's real work. Put those guys in play, coach them up after tape review, do it again, then see what you have. Probably 4 pre-season games worth of that. It not only tells you what you have, it gives some experience to the ones you keep. More experience means better depth--and by keeping the starters out, the Rams are probably giving these guys more active snaps than most young OL get on most teams.

It's still very early but yesterday made it look like they had some interesting rookies at LB.

...