Question: If the Rams didnt have penalties on ST

[sooner4life130]

and Tavon Austin had every yard and td back that was taken away, would you still upset about the pick? Tavon has done great on special teams and if our young players didnt make rookie mistakes, Bradford and Co would be starting at the 40 almost every drive.

Just curious only bc Ive read alot of criticism on his behalf.

 

[jacobarch]

I wouldnt be upset and I'm still not upset with the pick. Whats stupid is before the houston game he had the most receptions for any rookie and the most TD's.

Not to mention if our ST'ers weren't clowns committing penalties every play he would have a couple TD returns and a handful 30+ yard returns. Stuff like that can make a difference in a game.
You have to remember sports fans in general are extremely short sighted and dumb.

 

[sooner4life130]

I wouldnt be upset and I'm still not upset with the pick. Whats stupid is before the houston game he had the most receptions for any rookie and the most TD's.

Not to mention if our ST'ers weren't clowns committing penalties every play he would have a couple TD returns and a handful 30+ yard returns. Stuff like that can make a difference in a game.
You have to remember sports fans in general are extremely short sighted and dumb.

Yeah no kidding about the extremely short sided and dumb part. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and rightfully so but sometimes it's hard to wrap my mind around what people say on msg boards. Personally I think most of what people say is solely based on emotion and simply just fed up with having a losing team.

 

[Jermaine133]

I will agree with that statement..

 

[ozarkram]

Personally I wanted Hopkins. Austin has talent. And may if used correctly turn out to be all that and a bag of chips. My only problem with him is his size. The NFL is tough enough on big guys. But small players have done well in the past so who knows. I may fall in to all of the above categories I post many times from the gut and lean toward the dumb side.

 

[jacobarch]

Personally I wanted Hopkins. Austin has talent. And may if used correctly turn out to be all that and a bag of chips. My only problem with him is his size. The NFL is tough enough on big guys. But small players have done well in the past so who knows. I may fall in to all of the above categories I post many times from the gut and lean toward the dumb side.

Austin just needs to be used correctly. Look at Sproles. Same type of player but Austin runs better routes. Both have crazy speed and are tiny compact players.
But sproles has had something Austin has never had. Arguably two of the best offensive minded coaches. S. Peyton and Marty Schott.

 

[bluepigpen]

Austin was on the field for 4 offensive plays last week. It is hard to be critical on him if he is on the sidelines. Also we have not seen him at really any running back formation, not that he is Zach Stacy but there are schemes that do provide one on one chances. I think you can box the OC and DC together and figure out why the Rams have not been better on both sides of the ball. The next two weeks are going to be a struggle, the Panthers on the road and the Seahawks on Monday night with 10 days off. The Rams split the two and they have done some good work.

 

[Clayton]

Its still really early. The only guy Im really judging a lot this year is Pettis and that because he has been here long enough to be given proper evaluation.

 

[Retroram52]

Pettis is doing quite well and apparently has become Sammie's go to guy!

 

[jacobarch]

Pettis is doing quite well and apparently has become Sammie's go to guy!

Ya I really liked the way he pushed back off the DB on the bomb. He's grindy which I like. But he's no #1 WR either is Givens. Both are solid #2's

 

[Retroram52]

I guess jacobarch, you'd prefer to see Blackmon on this team then.

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

Look, I don't dislike Austin.

What I don't like is where the Rams took him and what he gave up to get him.

Then, you add in the fact that he is averaging 6 yds per catch when he was billed as a "home run threat"/"difference maker". Gibson averaged that when he was here and everyone was complaining the Rams had no WR. Now, they have a small punt returner who cameos as a WR occasionally and all of a sudden everyone thinks this is the WR the Rams were looking for. I don't get it.

He played all of 4 plays against Houston. Kind of hard to justify a top 10 pick when he can't stay on the field because he is too small to run block on 1st and 2nd downs.

And, you can compare him to Sproles all you want, but there are two very big differences between those 2 players. 1) Sproles actually produces on the field and 2) he wasn't a freakin top 10 pick in the draft. Guys like Sproles, Edelman, Welker etc are found throughout the draft. What you don't find the other teams doing is drafting those type of players in the top 10.

Again, it's not that I dislike Austin. It's that the Rams gave up way too much to get him and to top it off, he isn't producing which makes the pick even worse.

Think of what the Rams could've done with that 2nd round pick ( Lacy, Alonso was taken with that pick, K. Allen, T. Williams etc ).

 

[Retroram52]

And we have yet to see Bailey who was also billed as a great receiver. With that second pick we could have easily selected Larry Warford is having a ROY performance in Detroit starting at guard. The guy is a road grader and old school because he initiates his blocks by first using his shoulders and then extending his arms. Yep, we could have used that second rounder to fill some other holes but I suppose this is all conjecture at this point.

 

[SJ76]

Yes. I don't think you spend the second round pick to move up to the top to the draft and select a punt returner or slot guy under 180 pounds. He doesn't even start people.

 

[SJ76]

Retro- Larry Warford, Leveon Bell, Keenan Allen would be starting.

 

[fastforward]

Without the special teams fouls he might not have the returns. Austin was drafted to change the nature of our offense. It's early days but at this point he's fallen behind Quick. Given how limited Quick is it's not an encouraging start. At this point he's clearly a disappointment. It's too early to form a definitive view and he should be more accurately judged on what he produces at this stage next year. I was also 1 of those who hated the Draft move. I wouldn't have traded up and when the 49ers wanted to move up I would have undersold the #16 pick. We'd have Jonathan Cyprien, Eddie Lacy, and Keenan Allen instead of Austin.

 

[Retroram52]

I totally agree SJ76 and Fastforward. For sure!!

 

[DK7000]

I think it's becoming increasingly easier for defenses to scheme against Austin. He's only running these short hitch routes and defenders can just press him the whole time. You can't really create that much separation with those kind of routes. I'm confused as to why we're not having him run deeper routes. I understand that he is small, but vs the Jags when he did run a route 15 yards down the field, he created separation and was able to gain more YAC. I think Austin can be special, he's just not being utilized correctly.

Also, the WR position is very tough to transition to as a rookie. Give it time people.

 

[Retroram52]

Excellent DK7000!