dbair1967
Administrator
- Messages
- 63,741
- Reaction score
- 13,438
It's a day late but I'm sure nobody cares. I know I don't.
First, apologies to amigo Aggiepride for me insisting Broaddus was wrong the other night. I was sure Mazi didn't play. Looking back at the All-22 video (cool feature of having NFL+) you can definitely see him as his #58 out there. But as noted in the other thread, he looks MUCH smaller than I ever remember him. The Rams broadcast (which is what I was able to watch live) was also poor. He did nothing of note though in the handful of plays he was on the field.
1) Absolutely horrendous display of football in almost every way possible. The defense was abysmal and the offense couldn't do anything because the QB couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (more on him below). There was no team discipline (11 more penalties, and the backup OL embarrassed themselves with what seemed like most of those). Tackling was poor. Blocking was so-so at best. They certainly gave no hint of being a more physical team on either side of the ball. Preseason games ultimately don't matter who "wins" but at least looking like a better coached team and more competent at "football" in general I thought we'd see, and we didn't.
2) All eyes were on Joe Milton and there had been a buzz about him all offseason and so far in training camp, and he was a complete flop. He's obviously a very inexperienced 2nd yr player, but he did start (and win) a game at the end of last season for the Patriots. He was terrible for us though. His inaccuracy would make even Q-Bong Carter envious and some of his throws were just downright laughable with how of the mark they were. Compounded the poor accuracy with poor (and slow) decision making as well. Threw one pick into double coverage and should have probably had a Pick 6 deep in Rams territory on another play. I'm sure he'll get extensive playing time in the next two preseason games but if he doesn't show vast improvement there's no way he can be the #2 QB. I'm not even sure he warrants a 53 man roster spot TBH. He's big, certainly has a cannon arm and good athletic ability but he seems lacking in everything else that makes the QB position go right now.
3) Thought Phil Mafah had a nice debut, he ran hard and decisive and showed he could catch the ball too. He also had a couple of text book blitz pickups. Malik Davis had one walk through practice and then played a decent amount int he 4th qtr and looked pretty good, although I do think at that point it was entirely because it was 3rd and 4th string Rams guys who had completely lost interest in the game because of how easily they won. Deuce Vaughn got a few carries and had some nice runs, but both he and Mafah had really nice runs wiped out by stupid OL penalties.
4) Thought the WR's looked good even though the stat sheet didnt quite show it (Milton misfired badly numerous times). Flournoy could have had a tremendous night had Milton hit him on two or three of those misfires. Jalen Brooks was decent and UDFA Traeshon Holden had a couple catches including the best throw on a deeper ball by Milton for 35 yards. After the game Schottenheimer said Holden would be moving UP the depth chart, but not sure at who's expense. He seems to have more of an "it" factor than Brooks and probably even Tolbert (who played and didnt really do much, 1 catch behind the LOS for a loss)
5) Was really hard to tell much about the OL, they got a little push but couldnt open any really big holes until later in the game. Lael Collins played late and actually looked pretty decent, will be interesting to see if he gets more time against Baltimore. I (and many others apparently) thought it was a huge mistake for Schottenheimer to NOT play Tyler Brooks any (apparently, he was the only healthy scratch of all first round picks form this draft, a couple others missed because of injuries). Nate Thomas started at LT and was ok, but I didnt see anything that made me think he could be an adequate starter yet if Guyton cannot go early in the season. As a group, way too many stupid penalties (holds and illegal formations for lining up incorrectly). Asim Richards had at least two of those.
6) Donovan Ezeiruaku was one of the guy I was most excited to see, I don't know what his final snap count was but he didnt get a ton of snaps. He was active, but didn't get any sacks (I noticed #41 for the Rams a lot more, he did have a sack and nearly had another, rookie from Michigan). Rookie LB Shemar James was pretty good I thought. His speed was esy to see and he was pretty physical with a couple of good tackles. He also had a near interception on a play where he dropped deep down the middle and broke up an attempt. Noted above Mafah and UDFA Holden looked good. UDFA Zion Childress had a nice night I thought and had one really nice physical hit/tackle. The other rookies (particularly DT's Jay Toia and Tommy Akingsbesote) were not very good. Toia had been hyped up a decent amount and supposedly even got some 1st team reps was a major disappointment. No movement skill at all and got wiped out numerous times in the run game.
7) Of the vets that played LB Marist Liufau was clearly the best I thought. He was all over early and only played a couple series or so, but he's gonna be good. Brandon Aubrey was his usual awesome self and split the uprights on his two short FG's and PAT.
8) Mentioned it after the game, but it would sure seem that DT, CB and probably backup QB are areas of the team they seriously need to focus on getting help at.
I don't care how they want to spin it I don't think Saturday's game was what they wanted to see at all. There was talk they were wiped out in the joint practice (and the starters DID see action then and the comment after by a couple reports was "good thing they werent keeping score") and Saturday night was as bad if not worse. The stuff we expected to see improvement in we didn't. I thought they made a poor decision to sit everybody, especially the starting OL and definitely Tyler Booker. The Rams looked like a much faster, much better coached team than we did. Yes it's only preseason, but after getting their asses whipped two different days last week there will be a little pressure on them I think to show some improvement this week v Baltimore (a really good team) at home.
First, apologies to amigo Aggiepride for me insisting Broaddus was wrong the other night. I was sure Mazi didn't play. Looking back at the All-22 video (cool feature of having NFL+) you can definitely see him as his #58 out there. But as noted in the other thread, he looks MUCH smaller than I ever remember him. The Rams broadcast (which is what I was able to watch live) was also poor. He did nothing of note though in the handful of plays he was on the field.
1) Absolutely horrendous display of football in almost every way possible. The defense was abysmal and the offense couldn't do anything because the QB couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (more on him below). There was no team discipline (11 more penalties, and the backup OL embarrassed themselves with what seemed like most of those). Tackling was poor. Blocking was so-so at best. They certainly gave no hint of being a more physical team on either side of the ball. Preseason games ultimately don't matter who "wins" but at least looking like a better coached team and more competent at "football" in general I thought we'd see, and we didn't.
2) All eyes were on Joe Milton and there had been a buzz about him all offseason and so far in training camp, and he was a complete flop. He's obviously a very inexperienced 2nd yr player, but he did start (and win) a game at the end of last season for the Patriots. He was terrible for us though. His inaccuracy would make even Q-Bong Carter envious and some of his throws were just downright laughable with how of the mark they were. Compounded the poor accuracy with poor (and slow) decision making as well. Threw one pick into double coverage and should have probably had a Pick 6 deep in Rams territory on another play. I'm sure he'll get extensive playing time in the next two preseason games but if he doesn't show vast improvement there's no way he can be the #2 QB. I'm not even sure he warrants a 53 man roster spot TBH. He's big, certainly has a cannon arm and good athletic ability but he seems lacking in everything else that makes the QB position go right now.
3) Thought Phil Mafah had a nice debut, he ran hard and decisive and showed he could catch the ball too. He also had a couple of text book blitz pickups. Malik Davis had one walk through practice and then played a decent amount int he 4th qtr and looked pretty good, although I do think at that point it was entirely because it was 3rd and 4th string Rams guys who had completely lost interest in the game because of how easily they won. Deuce Vaughn got a few carries and had some nice runs, but both he and Mafah had really nice runs wiped out by stupid OL penalties.
4) Thought the WR's looked good even though the stat sheet didnt quite show it (Milton misfired badly numerous times). Flournoy could have had a tremendous night had Milton hit him on two or three of those misfires. Jalen Brooks was decent and UDFA Traeshon Holden had a couple catches including the best throw on a deeper ball by Milton for 35 yards. After the game Schottenheimer said Holden would be moving UP the depth chart, but not sure at who's expense. He seems to have more of an "it" factor than Brooks and probably even Tolbert (who played and didnt really do much, 1 catch behind the LOS for a loss)
5) Was really hard to tell much about the OL, they got a little push but couldnt open any really big holes until later in the game. Lael Collins played late and actually looked pretty decent, will be interesting to see if he gets more time against Baltimore. I (and many others apparently) thought it was a huge mistake for Schottenheimer to NOT play Tyler Brooks any (apparently, he was the only healthy scratch of all first round picks form this draft, a couple others missed because of injuries). Nate Thomas started at LT and was ok, but I didnt see anything that made me think he could be an adequate starter yet if Guyton cannot go early in the season. As a group, way too many stupid penalties (holds and illegal formations for lining up incorrectly). Asim Richards had at least two of those.
6) Donovan Ezeiruaku was one of the guy I was most excited to see, I don't know what his final snap count was but he didnt get a ton of snaps. He was active, but didn't get any sacks (I noticed #41 for the Rams a lot more, he did have a sack and nearly had another, rookie from Michigan). Rookie LB Shemar James was pretty good I thought. His speed was esy to see and he was pretty physical with a couple of good tackles. He also had a near interception on a play where he dropped deep down the middle and broke up an attempt. Noted above Mafah and UDFA Holden looked good. UDFA Zion Childress had a nice night I thought and had one really nice physical hit/tackle. The other rookies (particularly DT's Jay Toia and Tommy Akingsbesote) were not very good. Toia had been hyped up a decent amount and supposedly even got some 1st team reps was a major disappointment. No movement skill at all and got wiped out numerous times in the run game.
7) Of the vets that played LB Marist Liufau was clearly the best I thought. He was all over early and only played a couple series or so, but he's gonna be good. Brandon Aubrey was his usual awesome self and split the uprights on his two short FG's and PAT.
8) Mentioned it after the game, but it would sure seem that DT, CB and probably backup QB are areas of the team they seriously need to focus on getting help at.
I don't care how they want to spin it I don't think Saturday's game was what they wanted to see at all. There was talk they were wiped out in the joint practice (and the starters DID see action then and the comment after by a couple reports was "good thing they werent keeping score") and Saturday night was as bad if not worse. The stuff we expected to see improvement in we didn't. I thought they made a poor decision to sit everybody, especially the starting OL and definitely Tyler Booker. The Rams looked like a much faster, much better coached team than we did. Yes it's only preseason, but after getting their asses whipped two different days last week there will be a little pressure on them I think to show some improvement this week v Baltimore (a really good team) at home.
