[Flash]

The most promising thing about the Oline last night was that Noteboom & Allen didn’t play. Tells me Rams are very confident in them.
Worst thing was Evans at tackle. Woof.

How did Edwards look?

[/zn/]

They had a HOF LT in his prime and a pro bowl RT in Timmerman, and stayed healthy.

There’s shaky depth behind an OK starting OL. That’s what we’ve got. If there is a weak link to this offense, it’s the OL. I think the Rams are vulnerable here.

It's important to engage the actual argument and not make it about the person. So that's what I will do.

The 99 Rams had a top LOT and signed a top FA guard. They let Gandy and Weigert go. They filled out the line with 2 ronin cut by other teams (Nutten and Gruttadauria. a 7th rounder and UDFA originally) and a 5th round pick (Miller). The key was Vermeil, who knew how to put together OLs. Hanifan without Vermeil was a disaster acquiring OL talent (withoout DV Hanifan, Martz, and Armey never hit on another lineman---talking about from 2000-2002, when all 3 were still together. In that span they drafted 4 and they were all bad).

So the first thing you need is someone who knows what they're doing when it comes to acquiring linemen. DV (97-99) or Kromer.

Kromer has an eye-opening record when it comes to finding OL in the draft. In fact I would say there's a good chance he has hit on all 5 of the Rams 2018/19 OL draft picks. Compare that to Hanifan without Vermeil, who hit on zero of 4.

In terms of injuries, that's relative. Depends on the extent of it. If the 99 OL suffered 2 or more key injuries, they would not have been the same line. It's actually really rare for a good OL to replace more than 2 guys and hold up. So if the current Rams lose their 2 most veteran players at the same time (AW and Hav obviouosly), they would probably be affected. ("At the same time" is key to this.) But then that would have been just as true of the 99 OL losing both Pace and Timmerman at the same time. There's a point where it's too much, and no OL is deep enough to cover it.

So worrying about OL injuries is legit. BUT when you get past a certain point, there's basically little anyone can do. I have seen only 2 teams handle multiple simultaneous OL injuries, and it was because they had rare qbs who could still play under those conditions (Brady and Wilson). OL depth usually handles one or two injuries for short periods. I call that being relatively healthy. Once you push that barrier, no one has the depth to handle it. That kind of OL stability ended with free agency and the cap (plus in the recent era it has been harder to find safe OL picks. It's just harder to assess OL who play in a college spread.)

Injuries aside, do the Rams need high picks to maintain a solid OL? No. Not with Kromer. Records are not guarantees, but they are indicators, and AK's record indicates he is just first rate at finding them. That's without high picks too (his past demonstrates that).

[/zn/]

How did Edwards look?

Reports on Edwards from Saturday are positive.

But that comes with certain qualifiers.

As a rule you can't throw 5 inexperienced OL out there at the same time as your first unit and expect much overall stability. And then on top of it, move players around to play different spots on the line. But the McVay Rams don't care. In the pre-season they are stressing all those guys by having them play multiple spots. They are much more interested in stressing the young OLand then coaching then up after film review, than they are in fielding a stable OL and trying to win pre-season games.

SO the question really is, does it look like Edwards is a player, regardless of him being stressed by the circumstances (ie. playing with 4 other inexperienced guys while also everyone plays multiple positions in the course of the game).

And the answer on that is positive. Several line watcher types have spoken up and the consensus is, he has some developing to do but he looks like a player. More than that, he looks like a legit LOT.

So far.

[Elvis]

I still think this OL is tenuous at best. Losing Saffold is a big deal.

I've said this before but the Rams had Saffold for 10 years. They were terrible on offense 8 of them.

I feel like there are other more important factors at play...

[actionjack]

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:

VirtualBox_2019-08-10_20-54-56.png

I got the fader broadcast as well. It's funny to listen to the propaganda. The best part was hearing Gannon basically say the Faders took it to the Rams in the joint practices, ah huh sure.

[Elvis]

It's important to engage the actual argument and not make it about the person. So that's what I will do.

Actually this is a passive aggressive way of making it personal. If you really don't want to, don't. It's easy.

The 99 Rams had a top LOT and signed a top FA guard. They let Gandy and Weigert go. They filled out the line with 2 ronin cut by other teams (Nutten and Gruttadauria. a 7th rounder and UDFA originally) and a 5th round pick (Miller). The key was Vermeil, who knew how to put together OLs. Hanifan without Vermeil was a disaster acquiring OL talent (withoout DV Hanifan, Martz, and Armey never hit on another lineman---talking about from 2000-2002, when all 3 were still together. In that span they drafted 4 and they were all bad).

This combo with Tony Banks and Jerry Rhome would not have been the GSOT, or even good for that matter...

[max]

I got the fader broadcast as well. It's funny to listen to the propaganda. The best part was hearing Gannon basically say the Faders took it to the Rams in the joint practices, ah huh sure.

Just a personal feeling here.

I totally detest when anyone uses a derogatory nickname for the Rams. I hate negative nicknames for anyone actually. It makes me irate and defensive for anyone who gets labeled in that way. I think it’s juvenile and mean spirited and bullying.

[rams74]

Just a personal feeling here.

I totally detest when anyone uses a derogatory nickname for the Rams. I hate negative nicknames for anyone actually. It makes me irate and defensive for anyone who gets labeled in that way. I think it’s juvenile and mean spirited and bullying.

Calling the Seahawks the Hags, the Cardinals the Deadbirds, the 49ers the Whiners, is bullying? Juvenile and mean-spirited, sure. Bullying? Not sure I see that...

[Flash]

Reports on Edwards from Saturday are positive.

But that comes with certain qualifiers.

As a rule you can't throw 5 inexperienced OL out there at the same time as your first unit and expect much overall stability. And then on top of it, move players around to play different spots on the line. But the McVay Rams don't care. In the pre-season they are stressing all those guys by having them play multiple spots. They are much more interested in stressing the young OLand then coaching then up after film review, than they are in fielding a stable OL and trying to win pre-season games.

SO the question really is, does it look like Edwards is a player, regardless of him being stressed by the circumstances (ie. playing with 4 other inexperienced guys while also everyone plays multiple positions in the course of the game).

And the answer on that is positive. Several line watcher types have spoken up and the consensus is, he has some developing to do but he looks like a player. More than that, he looks like a legit LOT.

So far.

Thanks brother!

[max]

Calling the Seahawks the Hags, the Cardinals the Deadbirds, the 49ers the Whiners, is bullying? Juvenile and mean-spirited, sure. Bullying? Not sure I see that...

Not necessarily there, but Name calling is generally a bullying tactic.

Just me, but I never liked it. I especially hated seeing kids getting labeled with a negative nickname. So why use them at all? Just seems like an extension of a meanness in childhood.

We’ve got a POTUS right now that labels people with negative nicknames. If you find that disgusting, then why use negative nicknames at all? It’s a slippery slope.