Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

I’ve been hard on the defense but they are starting to excel. We never got our 2nd starting CB but Speights and Rozeboom are coming on strong at LB. I’m sure folks are wondering what the issue is with our Offense and no, it’s not Stafford, the WRs, weak-ass play by our TEs or suddenly fumbling Kyren Williams. It’s one word: OLine.

The downfall of the Rams by virtue of injury or McVay’s years of trying to piece together an OLine on the cheap has led to a lack of continuity in the most critical platoon on the field. Jackson hadn’t even played much at Center, Avila showed obvious rust and Noteboom was….well, Noteboom. Next week will be better but the opponent is bo longer a patsie and it looks (in hindsight) sitter Limmer was a bad decision. I know all about the $$ shelled out to J. Jackson and Noteboom but Stafford was harassed all day and we had no answer. Back to the cellar. Another head scratching defeat. On to the Patriots and back to .500

Have should be back, bye Boom. Avila was Ok at LG, leave him there. Put Limmer back at OC or have a short assed leash on J Jax. He has not impressed at all - not game 1 and certainly not last night. That was a F/A whiff by Snead so far.

The sacks credited to Noteboom are questionable. One of them was strictly on Stafford who in his panic walked into the sack by actually moving in front of Noteboom. Joe had it under control but Matt walked into his own sack.

Another, the edge simply burst through the gap vacated by Dotson. Where was Kevin? Questionable OL call by J. Jack as were other strange plays by the OL? Things happening that didn't happen with a rookie at center. The blocking assignments were screwed up.

IMO Limmer was being mentored by Wendell, himself a former NFL center. I'd bet Jackson didn't seek "mentorship" from Wendell. How do I know? Because before he got hurt he had about 130 snaps and he sucked then. That is why they moved him from LG to center in the first place. They don't need a backup center if they start Limmer because Dedich is a center and as a rookie he's better than Jackson.

Alaric has shown after all these years he still can't handle speed and power. Funny how people are jumping all over Noteboom but give A. Jack a pass on his marginal plays. I will say it again. Start Limmer at center, a point I made in TC in fact. J. Jack was deemed the weak link in the Lions OL and we now see why. I don't like PFF but even they think he's average at best and certainly not worth what he's being paid.

ramsman34 wrote:Have should be back, bye Boom. Avila was Ok at LG, leave him there. Put Limmer back at OC or have a short assed leash on J Jax. He has not impressed at all - not game 1 and certainly not last night. That was a F/A whiff by Snead so far.

I mean you need to stick with Jonah another game, let these guys get more practice together. Hopefully we never see Noteboom play another down for us. Either Havs or McClendon.

We need to get back to physical run style, right of the middle now we have Avila back. There is way too much pass pressure, simulated pressure.

Frankly the offense has played about 4-5 decent halves this season, need to find that continuity and quit making mistake after mistake. I did like seeing Davis Allen getting some run.

Here's guessing the Rams start Jonah Jackson at center again this week.

However poorly he played there last night, they're likely going to give him more time. It's not his fault the Rams had Avila at center all offseason, then switched gears to Jackson at the last minute.

It may be a questionable decision, it may not work. But they'll probably give him more rope.

Or not. I could be wrong. But the Rams know as well as we do that constantly changing personnel on the O-line is not a recipe for success.

rams74 wrote:Here's guessing the Rams start Jonah Jackson at center again this week.

However poorly he played there last night, they're likely going to give him more time. It's not his fault the Rams had Avila at center all offseason, then switched gears to Jackson at the last minute.

It may be a questionable decision, it may not work. But they'll probably give him more rope.

Or not. I could be wrong. But the Rams know as well as we do that constantly changing personnel on the O-line is not a recipe for success.

Yes, continuity is accumulated not a sudden thing. And lets give Miami a little bit of credit. They are a talented team (on both sides of the ball) and absolutely needed a win to have a chance at the postseason. Question is, can they maintain that level of intensity the rest of the way. I'm on the side of "I don't think so". But they sure as hell had intesity last night. And our D limited them to low yardage. They got 10 points off of 2 possessions starting near midfield. This D is going to keep us in games where our offense may sputter a bit. If our offense gets more efficient and takes advantage of the gifts our defense gives them, I'd match us up against anybody.

Signing Jackson was stupid. We had Avila at LG and resigned Dotson at RG. They had a need at Center and should have pursued a Center in FA instead of shifting Avila who had a great rookie year at LG. They seemed to have struck gold with Limmer and fortunately the Rams can get out of the Jackson contract after this year.

rams74 wrote:Here's guessing the Rams start Jonah Jackson at center again this week.

However poorly he played there last night, they're likely going to give him more time. It's not his fault the Rams had Avila at center all offseason, then switched gears to Jackson at the last minute.

It may be a questionable decision, it may not work. But they'll probably give him more rope.

Or not. I could be wrong. But the Rams know as well as we do that constantly changing personnel on the O-line is not a recipe for success.

I don't think this was a case of Jonah not measuring up. I think it's a case of them thinking they could start 3 replacements at once, all of whom had just come back from injuries. The 3 of them had averaged playing about 1 game each this season before this one. They're not in sync, they're not communicating, the timing is off. Plus Noteboom is just not the guy they apparently think he is. Except for NB, though, that's not a talent or skill issue, that's a "playing together as a coherent unit" issue.

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you guys pretty much covered it. A lot of odd decisions and personnel moves. Self inflicted wounds. Maybe they can’t or won’t practice hard enough due to so many injuries or concern for creating more. A lot of players dinged in practice this year but without that, they just don’t seem physical enough on game day. Bright signs from the D and our depth players but the season is slipping away…

ramsww wrote:you guys pretty much covered it. A lot of odd decisions and personnel moves. Self inflicted wounds. Maybe they can’t or won’t practice hard enough due to so many injuries or concern for creating more. A lot of players dinged in practice this year but without that, they just don’t seem physical enough on game day. Bright signs from the D and our depth players but the season is slipping away…

What odd decisions? Getting their two big guys back in the middle? How many times a week can they put pads on? Once? The best way to develop continuity is on the field on Sundays. And they HAVE TO develop it if they want a chance to finish strong.

As far as "piecing the OL together on the cheap", that's waaaay off the mark. They spent money on Noteboom after 2021, drafted Bruss with their first pick, Arcuri in the 7th in 2022, traded for Dotson in 2022, drafted Avila with their first pick, McClendon in the 5th in 2023 and spent huge bucks on both JJ and Dotson this past off season. In addition they drafted Limmer and Leviston with their final two picks this year. It can't be argued they spent wisely on Noteboom but with Whit retiring and no 1st or 2nd round pick, their options were severely limited. They have used A LOT of capital on the OL over the last 3 seasons. Who do you want to cut to put more money towards the OL? Kupp? Stafford?

The O line had a bad game, that's a fact. But it wasn't ALL on the O line. Kyren fumbled. Stafford had multiple passes batted down and had one picked. Stafford missed guys (Allen on the 3rd and 4; Kyren standing at the goal line), etc.. What kills me is I read some posts (not you; not here), that JJ sucks. We've seen him a grand total of 3 games. And based on those 3 games, it's been determined 'he sucks'. Now that is some phenomenal talent evaluation skills.....3 games and they've seen enough to conclude, 'he sucks'.