Saturday, August 11, 2007

Bullet Points From Game One

The Rams scored a 13-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night. As usual the most important fact from a preseason game is that nobody gets hurt. Aside from that I have gathered my thoughts, in no particular order on things you should take away from game one.

Brian Leonard with 66 total yards and a touchdown was as advertised. He is a tough inside runner and very shifty in space. Brian is the type of runner that always seems to get that extra 1 or 2 yards at the end of every carry.
Special teams should be better in 07. The depth on the 07 Rams will simply just be better than before. Hopefully the days of having no fast players on the field are over. Donnie Jones can boom some punts and Hall is an experienced high speed returner. We will also have players like Wade and Leonard available on special teams, things are looking up.
Jerome Carter needs to shine now. The Rams left him out there for most of the game and he came through some with 5 tackles and a sack. However he still misses a lot of tackles and Todd Johnson was a great pickup and could take Carters job if he does not continue to improve.
Carriker “The Beast” looked solid. He held up very well against the inside beef of the Vikings starting interior line. Carriker played most of the first half and I show him playing Left Tackle on 11 plays and Right Tackle on 10 plays. I believe the Rams will continue to move him around. Carriker looked very strong throwing the center to the ground on one play and hog tying Adrian Peterson for a stuff on a running play. Look for even better play as we gets in NFL shape.
Lenny Walls does not impress me at CB and I would like to see more of Jonathan Wade. If we can get Wade and Hill on the field at the same time we can get aggressive and hopefully get more take-aways in 07.
Bennett continues to show great hands and is a great addition to the Rams offense.
We will miss Fakir Brown. Watching Ron Bartell play starting CB is scary indeed. I am not a fan of his play. He gives way too much cushion on pass plays and misses a ton of tackles during games. Walls or Wade may have a chance to move up quickly if he continues to struggle. As a nickel corner you can hide him but as a starter he is going to get picked on a lot to start the season. With Steve Smith in week one that may be a problem.
Quinton Culberson, FA LB from North Carolina keeps making plays in camp and in the game against the Vikings. He seems to tackle well, play with a high motor, and could be a great addition to the special teams as well. He could be a surprise keeper.
With the lack of balls going to the TE it is surprising that we have Klopper, McMichael, and Byrd but continue to throw almost every ball in a camp and against the Vikings to Aaron Walker. Will we keep 4 TEs?
Drew Strojny can start to pack.
Trevor Johnson DE looked good as a backup end.
I would like to see the Rams give Derek Stanley a shot. He can be a burner on special teams and a backup to Dante Hall when he needs a break or if he gets hurt. He showed great hands in the game and is extremely fast. I say go with the young blood.
Wroten played a ton and they say he is in much better shape to start the season. With Wroten and Carriker inside Witherspoon may start to smile.
Brock Berlin has a great arm and a lot more experience then Fitzpatrick and has also known Linehan for quite a while. In addition Fitz was terrible on Saturday night so he should start looking over his shoulder.
Fox 2 coverage was terrible and as a major market you would think we could get more talent on the radio and TV.

Next week the Rams play at the dome against the San Diego Chargers. See you there!

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