Analysis from Last nights game.

[jacobarch]

After watching the game twice and trying to get the NFL network game-day pass to work I watched the game again from different camera's that really showed me some things that I missed the first time.

* Saffold We have to do something with him, the guy just can't stay healthy. He got beat so bad on the 2nd play of the game it almost looked as if his ego was more hurt than his arm. I also understand that defenses are usually further along at this point in the pre-season but quiet honestly he looked like Jason Smith on the right side. I hope he proves me and everyone else wrong.

* Barksdale After watching the game again and watching him specifically on the right side, I have to say he did ok. He looked more comfortable on the right than the left when he was singled up against Mingo. If Saffold can't cut it this year I think we'll be fine as RT isn't the toughest position to fill on the OLine.

* Rest of the Oline Like I said earlier at this point in the season the defenses are always further a long than the offenses are. With that in mind the rest of the unit did a sub par job. Dahl and Wells need to do a better job getting off the snap. Dahl looked a bit slow getting to his blocks which caused the middle the line to fall back slightly. I'm sure they'll correct this over time.
Long and Williams looked pretty good, Long looks to be shaking off the rust a little, if he can stay healthy he'll be fine. Williams played solid, if he can stay healthy him and long will make a good team on the left side. Shelly Smith, looked.....not that great. I'm afraid he's just a average at best backup. He played a lot more with the 2nd and 3rd team and got caught for holding against a 3rd teamer which shouldn't happen, he was slow getting over to his blocks on multiple occasions. I did not like what I saw from him last night.

* WR's This was the most frustrating unit imo . Drop passes from our top WR's in Austin & Austin were pretty bad. Sam couldn't of put the ball in a better place for them to make a play, or at least make the catch. I hope they just had some butterflies in their tummies and they'll get those dropped balls out of their systems before the regular season starts. Quick looked ok but limited, he made an amazing grab that got called back for holding (by guess who? S. Smith, yaaay). If he can digest the playbook and play hard on every down I think he'll take over for Austin by week 4. Bailey looked great, he's got Tory Holts hands. He just snags the ball out of the air and pulls it in with ease. If Quick and Pettis don't work out at least we have some depth at the position. Givens is a play maker, what else can you say about him?
As far as the rest of the WR's are concerned I really can't make a fair assessment because they were playing against people who probably don't and wont belong to a NFL roster.

* RB's Richardson looked pretty good, he has some quickness to him and he seems like he knows where the holes are going to be. He needs to improve on PA and pass protection but he looks to be our week one starter. Pead, has to take a seat. The guy has mental issues and it's showing on the field, he's indecisive and looks lost at times. Doesn't show speed nor shiftiness when in the open, and I will not excuse his fumble because he had issues with the same thing last year. He needs to nut up and eventually the coaching staff will have to as well. Stacy looked ok, I would like to see him share time with Richardson just to see what he has because he can't be any worse than Pead. Cunningham is also intriguing and would also like to see him get time with the 2nd team offense.

* TE's ... who?

* Bradford I have never been a Sam apologist. I've always thought QB's get too much blame when they lose and too much praise when they win. Last night I thought he played really well. He put the ball everywhere it needed to be. Hooking up with Givens on the 60 yarder was a thing of beauty and hitting him in the endzone was crisp and clean. He looked to his check downs and he tried to spread the ball around as best as possible before he took a sack. He threw two rockets to Austin and Pettis that they both whiffed on. Funny enough after those two awful drops the commentators were saying how awful our WR core was and how they felt bad for Bradford. Not to mention the look on Bradford's face was the classic " oh shit not again ". My biggest concern is I hope he doesn't lose confidence in his new Wr's because that's when he starts to stare down one WR.

* Defense as whole we were in a base cover 2 cover 3 shell all night. We weren't doing anything fancy and seemed as tho Fisher held the group back. Which is fine by me. If Cleveland wants to tip their hands on and go deep into the playbook in a pre season game then so be it.
I wont go into the defense much more than that because they're going to play really basic stuff working on fundamentals.


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Couple of funny tidbits

Cleveland commentators are homers My God, these two guys were acting like it was the freaking playoffs. Saying how perfect their team played and how impressed they were. Acting like it was taking candy from a baby. I guess when you're a Cleveland fan you have to take what you can get. And my homer of the year award goes to the commentator down on the field what a freakin dork.

You guys remember the 2nd year of Spags football? Remember how good we were in the pre season? haha, I'll just leave it there.

Awful WR's I thought this was pretty funny because I somewhat agreed with them. The Rams have had a really bad reputation for putting some of the worst WR's on the field for the last what? ......6 or 7 years now?

NFL gameday suuuuuuuuucks! Kept on freezing up and taking forever to play. quality was terrible, so I'm getting back my 20 bucks and using frontrowsports from here on out.


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In closing I would like to say this. THE SKY IS NOT FALLING! Reading some of the other boards like stltoday people are already freaking out and it's really annoying. Pre season games don't matter, it's a chance for guys to get warmed up and for rookies to show what they have. Even playoff teams do terrible in the pre season because they're not playing to win, they're playing to see who makes the team.

 

[bluepigpen]

Thanks jocobarch, I have the game being recorded of the NFL network in the morning. From what I know of the game while watching the dial line on cbs, your take is spot on. Saffold is not going to work, we can see that, lets make the move now, watch the wire as the drops start and plan on the RT next draft. This guy is a plug, pure and simple. Bradford is getting better but I would have liked to see A TE get involved. Probably Shotts and Fisher holding cards. I don't take much on the Weeden dissect of the defense, like you said simple concept and we all know it starts counting against the Cardinals not Browns and the preseason. nice job arch.

 

[Clayton]

Those Cleveland announcers are the worst NFL homers Ive ever heard.

Saffold is a good player when he is healthy. I think Im one of the few Saffold fans. That said, he isnt going to be on this team next year. He is one of the most injury prone players Ive ever seen.

I'm still not giving up on Pead. He still manages to average 6 yards a carry or so whenever he touches the ball. But its all on him. He has to choose to succeed. If he doesn't, back of the line. If someone else passes him up with good play, cut him.

I guess it goes without saying that Im a huge Givens fan. He is awesome. I'll agree that the rest of the WRs need some work.

I will say that I wasn't ridiculously impressed with Bradford. He threw a catchable ball to Richardson but it was behind him and he dropped it. Givens outran Bradford's bomb and he had to slow up to catch it. Bradford stared down Givens the whole time on his TD grab.

But its preseason. None of this is how its going to look when they are playing for real.

 

[jacobarch]

Thanks jocobarch, I have the game being recorded of the NFL network in the morning. From what I know of the game while watching the dial line on cbs, your take is spot on. Saffold is not going to work, we can see that, lets make the move now, watch the wire as the drops start and plan on the RT next draft. This guy is a plug, pure and simple. Bradford is getting better but I would have liked to see A TE get involved. Probably Shotts and Fisher holding cards. I don't take much on the Weeden dissect of the defense, like you said simple concept and we all know it starts counting against the Cardinals not Browns and the preseason. nice job arch.

I would of also like to have seen a TE get involved. However it could be scheme. Fisher might not want to tip his hand into what they're gonna do on offense this coming year. Remember when Kendricks lit it up during the preseason his rookie year, then disappeared when it mattered. I don't think they want people to roll coverage over to Cook just yet. Then again Cook only saw the field a handful of times so I'm sure they'll get him more involved.

 

[jacobarch]

Those Cleveland announcers are the worst NFL homers Ive ever heard.

Saffold is a good player when he is healthy. I think Im one of the few Saffold fans. That said, he isnt going to be on this team next year. He is one of the most injury prone players Ive ever seen.

I'm still not giving up on Pead. He still manages to average 6 yards a carry or so whenever he touches the ball. But its all on him. He has to choose to succeed. If he doesn't, back of the line. If someone else passes him up with good play, cut him.

I guess it goes without saying that Im a huge Givens fan. He is awesome. I'll agree that the rest of the WRs need some work.

I will say that I wasn't ridiculously impressed with Bradford. He threw a catchable ball to Richardson but it was behind him and he dropped it. Givens outran Bradford's bomb and he had to slow up to catch it. Bradford stared down Givens the whole time on his TD grab.

But its preseason. None of this is how its going to look when they are playing for real.

I don't want to give up on Saffold, I think he can be a good player too if given the time. Problem is he isn't given the time because he's always hurt.

If Pead picks it up a little in preseason look for the Rams to use him as trade bate for a starting right tackle.
I don't think we're really hurting for running backs atm and it looks as though Pead isn't the answer so if we trade him we have nothing to lose.

 

[Clayton]

I don't want to give up on Saffold, I think he can be a good player too if given the time. Problem is he isn't given the time because he's always hurt.

If Pead picks it up a little in preseason look for the Rams to use him as trade bate for a starting right tackle.
I don't think we're really hurting for running backs atm and it looks as though Pead isn't the answer so if we trade him we have nothing to lose.

The trade value of guys like Pead and Saffold is probably much lower than people think. Remember what we got when Spags got rid of Brian Leonard and Adam Carriker? Me neither.

Im not going to jump the gun on the RB battle. Its too early for that other than to say that Richardson will be top 2. He can fly.

 

[jacobarch]

Ya, but Saffold / Pead are better than Leo / Carriker........Or are they???? Sigh...

 

[Rambunctious]

“Me and Sam (Bradford) decided to try and send a message, ‘This is the effort you’re going to get every Sunday,’” Givens said.

Gotta love that...

 

[Retroram52]

And I do Rambunctious!!

 

[Silas]

Rams will be okay. That's why they play these pre-season games.

 

[bluepigpen]

I still think the Rams better get a plan real quick for Saffold, he will fail or get hurt as the season gets started. Don't address that now and the Rams will shove 3 games away from the front side rush on Sam. Just saying, mark it down, don't fix it now and we will be closer to the Cardinals than the Seahawks.

 

[jacobarch]

I still think the Rams better get a plan real quick for Saffold, he will fail or get hurt as the season gets started. Don't address that now and the Rams will shove 3 games away from the front side rush on Sam. Just saying, mark it down, don't fix it now and we will be closer to the Cardinals than the Seahawks.

agree 100%. too bad we passed on Winston from the Chiefs, he's looking pretty good right about now.
I think we'll end up getting some one that can fill in. Anyone know what Wayne hunter is up to? lol, at least he can stay healthy and he plays hard.

 

[Retroram52]

Noo, they'll go find Barry Richardson before Hunter if Richardson is not playing somewhere. I know they are really hoping the best for Barksdale and Nyseke though.

 

[DK7000]

From what I've read, Fisher was pleased with how Barksdale played from the right side. Hopefully the continued reps with the first team while Saffold is out will improve Barksdale's play and we can count on him in case Saffold or Long goes down.

 

[Retroram52]

Yea DK7000. I am hearing and reading good things about Barksdale and the dude is our biggest O-lineman at a hefty 6'5-6'6, 330lbs. Nyseke is taller but about 5 pounds lighter and he is coming along nicely as well. So Saffold is kind of like Pead. They are both trying disparately to play themselves off the final roster. Not a good thing.

 

[DK7000]

I wouldn't go as far as to say he is playing himself off the roster. But this injury is not helping his transition to right tackle.

 

[bluepigpen]

Don't ever forget guys, this guy doesn't want to play RT, he wants LT and that money. How do we really know that Saffold doesn't have a hard on for Fisher and the Rams for getting Jake Long? I say this guy is playing a game and the Rams will lose out because of it. Drop the monkey, play the best we can and go from there.

 

[Retroram52]

I agree Blue. Saffold does not want to play RT and that sets up any player to get hurt which is another ruse to get thrown off the team in the long-run. The antics mount up and the organization let's him go. We seen this before with other players over the years since the team has been in St Louis.

 

[fastforward]

They could play him at LT and move Long to RT. For sure he'll want out rather than play RT for peanuts. I don't know how badly he was hurt, or if he was even hurt. I'll leave management to sort this out. They knew what the situation was 7 months ago. I had hoped we'd have some depth at the position even if it wasn't starting quality depth. I was less than convinced on Thursday.

 

[jacobarch]

I wouldn't go as far as saying Saffold is playing a game because he gets the worst end of the stick if he is. Say he is playing a game how does it benefit him at all? IF the Rams were to cut him where would he go? Whats that saying about Saffold if he gets cut before the season starts? Whats that say about him if stis on the bench all year? He'll go the way of Jason Smith if that happens. No one wants a baby on their team and no one wants a guy who's made of glass. Especially a Tackle in the NFL. I don't think Saffold is pulling a fast one over on anyone, it's a contract year and if he want's LT money than he needs to play the best RT of his life.