What happened to Saffold??

[zeke2829]

Wasn't able to watch the game.
Just reading your posts it sounds as though he left the game early with an arm injury. Is it serious?

 

[fastforward]

Saffold left the game on the Rams 2nd offensive play with an arm injury. No-one has said how serious it is...or isn't...but Fisher said that Saffold will miss a small amount of time. Some will say he's fragile. Some will say he's faking it. Only those at the heart of this really know what's going on.

My take is this: The O-Line didn't look good without him. Nysekhe is leaden footed and Barksdale looked truly awful at LT. Saffold is due $880K in 2013 whilst he'd likely earn $5M as a free agent LT. Expecting him to play another position that would hurt his free agent value without compensation, guarantee, or a long-term contract doesn't make sense.

 

[jacobarch]

Saffold left the game on the Rams 2nd offensive play with an arm injury. No-one has said how serious it is...or isn't...but Fisher said that Saffold will miss a small amount of time. Some will say he's fragile. Some will say he's faking it. Only those at the heart of this really know what's going on.

My take is this: The O-Line didn't look good without him. Nysekhe is leaden footed and Barksdale looked truly awful at LT. Saffold is due $880K in 2013 whilst he'd likely earn $5M as a free agent LT. Expecting him to play another position that would hurt his free agent value without compensation, guarantee, or a long-term contract doesn't make sense.

Barksdale looked pretty good at RT. Go look at the game again. He had one rough play when he first stepped in, after that no one got past him.

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

He has a dislocated shoulder.

Reports says it popped right back into place and there was no structural damage. Just soreness and swelling. He will be out at least 2 weeks which gives guys like Barksdale reps at the position with the 1st team because we all know Saffold will get hurt again sometime this season and someone else will have to step in his place.

 

[fastforward]

Barksdale looked pretty good at RT. Go look at the game again. He had one rough play when he first stepped in, after that no one got past him.

That's not how you grade linemen. It doesn't matter if he has 30 good plays if the 3 terrible plays get your QB killed. At LT he got beat inside, outside, and heads-up. Teams will look at what sort of players and plays beat him and scheme accordingly. Maybe, and it's a big unproven maybe, he could play at G. I really doubt it. His first step is poor. That's part of the reason he was behind Richardson and Hunter last year and I don't see significant improvement.
The prognosis is this: He can't play at LT. He might play at G, but we have more physical players in Dahl, Smith, Washington, and Williams. There's no point keeping a back-up who might be ok at RT, (some of the time), but can't play elsewhere. I can't see Jones being released and he's now behind Williams and Washington. Unless 1 or more of those 3 play badly he's probably played himself off the roster.
I saw Barksdale struggle. Maybe I missed things. Maybe i've gotten names and numbers mixed up. If i'm wrong i'm wrong. I'm not going to watch the game again. There are 65 pre-season games and I won't get to see enough of them as it is.

 

[jacobarch]

That's not how you grade linemen. It doesn't matter if he has 30 good plays if the 3 terrible plays get your QB killed. At LT he got beat inside, outside, and heads-up. Teams will look at what sort of players and plays beat him and scheme accordingly. Maybe, and it's a big unproven maybe, he could play at G. I really doubt it. His first step is poor. That's part of the reason he was behind Richardson and Hunter last year and I don't see significant improvement.
The prognosis is this: He can't play at LT. He might play at G, but we have more physical players in Dahl, Smith, Washington, and Williams. There's no point keeping a back-up who might be ok at RT, (some of the time), but can't play elsewhere. I can't see Jones being released and he's now behind Williams and Washington. Unless 1 or more of those 3 play badly he's probably played himself off the roster.
I saw Barksdale struggle. Maybe I missed things. Maybe i've gotten names and numbers mixed up. If i'm wrong i'm wrong. I'm not going to watch the game again. There are 65 pre-season games and I won't get to see enough of them as it is.

I wasn't really referring to him playing LT only RT. Usually backup's get beat which is why they're backups. I think he can be a solid backup at RT. You're right about LT he got beat by rookie Mingo multiple times which isn't acceptable for a 3 year pro.

 

[UnrealTerm04]

Poor guy... He has already missed 13 games in two seasons... We can't keep counting on him to be our offensive tackle. He is an embarrassment to Orlando Pace as he wears Pace's 76.

 

[Rambunctious]

Poor guy... He has already missed 13 games in two seasons... We can't keep counting on him to be our offensive tackle. He is an embarrassment to Orlando Pace as he wears Pace's 76.

The problem Pace had was towards the end of his career...season after season he held out of camp. The season started and he was not ready and would end up getting hurt. The guy I wish the Rams could clone is Jackie Slater...now there was a QB protector and a hole maker.

 

[Retroram52]

Oh yeah Rambunctious!! The man from Grambling that was the consummate professional and although he never earned a Superbowl ring, he got the ultimate HOF ring that may mean even more. I know Jeff Fisher what like another Jackie Slater at RT rather than one made of crystal glass.

 

[Jermaine133]

I think after this season we will part ways with Saffold; he can't stay healthy and hes below avg at LT so I don't think he will command alot of attention in the FA. He needs to stick to RT where he won't be getting beat and caught holding as much; after this season we can use one of the redskins picks for a better RT in the long run. I just can't see him lasting with this team "just can't get right boss".

 

[Retroram52]

Jermaine: We have had such a string of terrible Offensive tackles ever since O. Pace from false-start Alex Barron, to a complete waste of Jason Smith, to Wayne Hunter, and now maybe Rodger Saffold. I am not sure he is in the same class as Barron, Smith, and Hunter (who we received in a trade) but our track record in drafting tackles is not being improved with what is going on with Saffold.

Maybe he'll come around but I don't see him fundamentally changing as we have already seen some of his antics when he was over on the left side in years previous. I think it is time to cut ties with this guy and go with Barksdale. The next couple of weeks will be interesting.

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

Jermaine: We have had such a string of terrible Offensive tackles ever since O. Pace from false-start Alex Barron, to a complete waste of Jason Smith, to Wayne Hunter, and now maybe Rodger Saffold. I am not sure he is in the same class as Barron, Smith, and Hunter (who we received in a trade) but our track record in drafting tackles is not being improved with what is going on with Saffold.

Maybe he'll come around but I don't see him fundamentally changing as we have already seen some of his antics when he was over on the left side in years previous. I think it is time to cut ties with this guy and go with Barksdale. The next couple of weeks will be interesting.

The thing that really hurts about Saffold is the fact that the Rams passed on the Panther trade to draft him.

That trade could've netted them AJ Green or Julio Jones since the pick rumored to have been offered was the next years 1st rounder that ended up being #1 overall.

 

[fastforward]

I think Saffold will be parting ways with the Rams, (but probably not until the end of the season), because the Rams seriously undervalue him. Saffold will get good free agent offers because he's a good pass-blocker and there's a limited supply of them. I understand people being annoyed with his injury history and his unhappiness ar RT but replacing him will be difficult and expensive. I don't have much faith in our current management when it comes to the OL. They gave Smith a $4.5M deal and Ojinnaka a start at LG. Oh well!

 

[Retroram52]

IDK fastforward. Saffold's overall rating is 30 out of 50 players according to the list you posted and his problem areas are run blocking and penalty. Then I noticed Jake Long was 46 out of 50 with the same problems. In Long's case I wonder if it was because he played alot with injuries. So maybe you might be correct!!

 

[fastforward]

The PFF stats are there as a guideline. I don't agree with some of their ratings, (especially with the moron who was in charge of the CB ratings). On the whole their OL ratings look to be 'generally' solid. Johnathan Martin, (-22.0), is not the worst OT ever seen. The rankings went a lot lower but these stats were re-printed by a friend on another site. He arbitarilly cut them off at 50. There's a big drop-off pass-blocking after Saffold & Dunlap. Saffold is not a run-blocker. That should come as no surprise, but the point is that you don't have to run behind him! You run behind someone else. You can't do that with pass-blocking. 4 great guys won't prevent the sack being given up by the awful guy. Also if you can't run block in the middle the RB might not even get to the outside. Our best 2 run-blockers have gone! I get to see quite a few Dolphins games and i'll tell you now that Long looked shaky the whole way last year. The 2 things that concern me are 1) that his technique fell apart once he got hurt, and 2) that he was ropey in 2011 but people didn't want to see it because of the troubles the Dolphins had on the right side of their OL. PFF team ratings are here:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2013/01/28/ranking-the-2012-offensive-lines/

 

[Retroram52]

So fastforward, you probably know a thing or two about an ex-Ram offensive guard many of us wanted to keep but our head coach at the time was a raving lunatic, Steve Spagnuolo whom I affectionately refer to as spigot! That being one Richie Incognito who seems to have found a home with the Dolphins at guard.

 

[fastforward]

Incognito has played well for the Dolphins. He had 1 unsavoury incident when he tried to snap an opponent's ankle, but for the most part he's kept his cool. That seemed to be his biggest problem with us. I was glad when he left because of his temper. He was undisciplined and his indiscretions really hurt us on and off the field. Different situation, different person. The left side of the Dolphins OL has been good. Their problems have been on the right. They've been trying to replace Jerry for a few seasons now. He's not a bad player but he doesn't fit their system. They're a TE & 3rd WR away from a very good offense.
I didn't want Spagnuolo to be our coach. Part of the blame goes to Devaney but it was already a horrible situation. People forget that the team mutinied against the previous coach in the previous year.

 

[zeke2829]

Inconito didnt want Jake Long to leave Miami, they were supposivly great friends. But I guess $$ talks. So Jake is now a RAM.

 

[Retroram52]

Zeke2829: Is that Rolling Rock or Iron City Beer in your avi?

 

[Rambunctious]

ZEKE!!!!! You swore you would not use my baby picture for your avi...hiccup and retro...it's a rock hiccup...I got started early...hiccup go rams!!! hiccup