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THE CUTS: Man I think the
Rams screwed this up in a big way. I'm not just talking about Armey sending in the
paperwork too late... Although that doesn't inspire much confidence in the man who tells
us all the time how many football teams he's assembled and assures us that he knows what
he's doing... why cut it that close? Isn't that pretty unprofessional? But the cuts themselves... you cut Mac Cody and Ron Carpenter and it's pretty obvious to me that performance in the preseason (or even in practices from what I've seen of them) does not determine who makes this football team. When you cut guys like that and Troy Pelshak, Willie Jones, and James Hodgins make the team... well... I'm baffled. Shocked even. I can't help the gnawing feeling that the Rams spent seven months defying the odds and making all the right moves to upgrade this football team immensely, and the last two weeks have been a free fall. The Rams have recent history of fouling up their final cuts... BRYAN ROBINSON! DUHH! DTS: With our mastermind Charly Armey onboard, they made that ridiculous mistake. But I won't cry about Corey Sears, because he was marginal at best. He is miscast as a 300 lb run stuffing DT IMHO. He was better last year playing at end about 10-15 lbs lighter. The Rams obviously weren't too concerned about losing Sears or they would have cut Zgonina or Hyder instead. Last year Sears played defensive end and created some havoc with his pass rush, but he was about 10-15 lbs. lighter. He bulked up in the offseason to fill the roll the Rams were looking for, for a big guy to stuff the middle, but with some quickness and athleticism to get into the backfield. But in doing so, he seemed to lose alot of quickness, stamina, and most of his edge. The warning signs were evident all the way back as far as the first week of camp, when he could not finnish a practice without dehydrating for most of the first week in Macomb. Willie Jones is not the 4th DT. He's working with the scout team in practice. That doesn't mean anything other than that the Rams have some injuries at the position and need a body in there for practice. Gaylon Hyder is the 4th defensive tackle. Vermeil has already said that he will be active for the game and see significant minutes. Hopefully Grasmanis can fill in when they need him, but he doesn't have to be great. I really don't know about Grasmanis. I've been meaning to go back and watch the Chicago tape, but haven't had the opportunity. I hear some comparing Grasmanis to Agnew when he came to the Rams last year. Well, I don't know about that. If he's half as good as Agnew, then the Rams have done very well. Hyder may be the future there. He's very solid in many aspects of the position. Hyder stands up just about as well against the run and he seems to be much more athletic. ROSTER: They kept 6 running backs (Faulk, Holcombe, Watson, Lee, Harris, Hodgins), whereas last year they only kept 5. They had this luxury I suppose because Tony Horne, who was kept for special teams only last year, has improved enough so that he is now the 5th wide receiver and a legitimate threat on offense, which he was not last year. WARNER: Anybody else notice [in the Detroit game] the way Warner used the hard count down by the goal line? I haven't heard anyone mention it and I think it deserves mention because he kept the drive alive and it led directly to a touchdown when he made Porcher jump twice in the same series. That's a nice tool that I hope we see more of:) Kurt Warner will face the two best defenses that the Rams play this season in the first two games of the year. If he holds his head above water against those defenses, then it could be a fine season indeed, but I'm not going to panic if he struggles a bit out of the gate. THE DEFENSE: The Rams defense really got embarrassed only by Jamal (and that's true of a lot of defenses last year). Other than the dirty bird, when they struggled against the run, the problems were primarily mental. Over-pursuit and cutbacks to the weak side... that's what really killed us. Ray Agnew is the most underrated player on the team on either side of the ball, I sincerely believe. I've heard very intelligent fans say that he's average and his numbers have been inflated by virtue of playing next to Kevin Carter who draws the double teams. I think that's alot of hooey. Anyone that says that has not been watching Ray very closely. He has very deceptive quickness and very good instincts for where the ball is going. Ray makes alot of tackles in places where he has no business being. I hope they let him play on Sunday. It sounds like he wants to very badly. I ain't scared of Priest Holmes 4.3 yards/carry if I see #99 in the lineup. I really don't think anyone realizes how important Ray Agnew is to our run defense Agnew is to our run defense. We need him desperately... all over the field. The way Ray played last year, he should not be rotated with anyone. I want him on the field. I don't care that he's been in and out of starting lineups throughout his career, I know what I saw him do on the field last year. 5 sacks is nothing to snub your nose at from the position he plays. He plays the run well and he's a very well rounded player. Very few defensive tackles in the entire league registered the kind of stats Ray had last year. CBs. They still have Taje Allen as the top nickel back, but Bly is much better in coverage. I suspect it is because they want Dre to concentrate on right corner for the time being. When they go to the nickel, the nickel back that comes in does not play in the slot. Todd Lyght moves over into the slot and the extra backer plays left corner. Thus, it would be Allen since he is the backup left corner. I also suspect that they are trying to hold Bly back a little and not give him the job too soon because he has a very big head and flashy personality and they don't want him getting overconfident. I think the difference between Allen and Bly is so obvious, however, that I doubt they'll be able to keep Bly out of the nickel for long. At some point they have to just get their best players on the field. Bly is light years ahead of Allen in terms of talent. He can play physical on the line with his hands and then turn his hips and run with them. He's at his best when the ball is in the air. He seems to have uncanny ball instincts and ability to recover. It's useful to compare him to McCleon. Dexter played quarterback up until his sophomore year in college and it was obvious that he is a very gifted athlete, but he struggled for a long time at acquiring these skills. Bly plays with reckless abandon. He talks and he struts and he dances and he throws himself around the field. I have been most surprised by his eagerness to put his head down and make big hits in run support. I'm sure he has a few lessons to learn and he may struggle because he takes too many chances, just like any rookie corner is bound to when they find themselves matched up against NFL wide receivers for the first time, but I really see no reason that the coaching staff is pretending that there is some kind of competition here. Taje Allen is not in Bly's league. Wistrom. He is very strong against the run. He's another guy that I think is more of an everydown player than some say. Fletcher. What's fun to watch with London is how many guys try to block him and just plain miss. It's the feet man. I don't know what London's hands are like, but I'll bet he would make a wonderful fullback. He has great balance and acceleration for a 240 lb man. Those are just my opinions... maybe worth something... maybe not:) |
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