[Juice]

http://www.espn.com/blog/st-louis-rams/ ... s-for-rams

Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer


IRVINE, Calif. -- Center Tim Barnes was whistled for a false start two minutes into the game, defensive tackle Aaron Donald was called for leverage midway thru the first quarter and defensive lineman Ian Seau was caught offside with 8:52 remaining in the third.

That's it.

The Los Angeles Rams drew only three penalties in their 28-24 win against the Dallas Cowboys in Saturday's preseason opener, a welcomed sign for coach Jeff Fisher, who has overseen one of the league's most penalized teams over the last four years.

"Penalties have been an issue for us since we got here," Fisher said, "and I really want to keep the numbers down."

The Rams have ranked within the bottom eight in the NFL in penalty yards per game in each of Fisher's four seasons as coach. They were 25th in 2015, 32nd in 2014, 29th in 2013, and 30th in 2012. Last season, the Rams had as many as 12 penalties in a game (twice) and never less than four (once).

"It's a culture change," Fisher said. "We just have to keep the penalties down."

Fisher put his players through extra running at the end of Monday's practice from UC Irvine. It was procedural, but also somewhat punitive. Fisher and his staff singled out the players who committed penalties in the previous game and scheduled them for additional suicides. The rest of their teammates joined in, as they're prone to do.

"Fortunately, for them, we had [three] penalties in the game," Fisher said. "We were the least-penalized team in the preseason this weekend. It's been a point of emphasis for us; we have to continue with it."

Some additional notes from Monday's practice, with stories on Jared Goff's evolution at quarterback and the pursuit of a better rushing attack posted earlier ...
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Cornerback E.J. Gaines was sidelined against the Cowboys because of a hamstring injury, but is on track to return for Week 2 of the preseason against the Chiefs, Fisher said. That would mark Gaines' first game action since 2014. The 24-year-old suffered a season-ending foot injury during training camp last season.

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The Rams waived injured safety Brian Randolph, who suffered a torn ACL on Saturday, and signed safety Michael Caputo, an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin. Fisher said Sunday that the team would eventually place Randolph on injured reserve and give him a chance to compete next season.

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The Rams will practice with full pads on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both workouts begin at 3:30 p.m. PT and will be open to the public. Quarterbacks and tight ends will sign autographs after practice on Tuesday. Running backs and wide receivers will follow on Wednesday.

[St. Loser Fan]

Please. Please please please change this. It was so bad last year any time the Rams rattled off more than 8 or 10 yards on offense the first thing I'd do would be to scan the field for flags. More times than not, I'd find one.

[Elvis]

I'm skeptical of whether we will actually see a change and of whether penalties matter.

Lately you see highly penalized teams doing really well. So i'm not sure it's the right thing to be focusing on...

[St. Loser Fan]

I'm skeptical of whether we will actually see a change and of whether penalties matter.

Lately you see highly penalized teams doing really well. So i'm not sure it's the right thing to be focusing on...

It's not like the Rams were the most penalized team. I want to say the Arizona Cardinals had that honor last year. But the problem was for the Rams a lot of them came at the worst time and that can't be fleshed out by stats. Offensive penalties that killed Rams drives and defensive penalties that kept the other team going.

[LARams_1963]

My understanding is Fisher teams are always highly penalized. Comes with the style of play he instills.

[Elvis]

My understanding is Fisher teams are always highly penalized. Comes with the style of play he instills.

That's certainly been the case but he's singing a new tune apparently. Still, my guess is it's more lip service than anything else.

But we'll see...

[Tom, With Horns]

Well, the difference between us and other highly penalized teams is that they seem to have the ability to overcome them, whereas we do not. At least not without a fake punt.

The "culture change" we should focus on is the mental toughness to overcome mistakes. The difference between winning and losing is the ability to handle and overcome adversity.

Or at least that's what Ryan Holiday says in his books.

[Elvis]

Penalties are a complicated subject.

They're not always bad.

Often a highly penalized defense is better than rarely penalized defense.

If you get away with a pick play 9/10 times, isn't it better to run that play than not?

And even in instances where penalties clearly are a negative, other factors are way more important to the success of a team...

[dieterbrock]

I'll take a holding call over a sack any day and a Pass interference over a break away td...

[ramsrams]

I'd like to hear a1's take on the subject.

Kidding, kidding, just kidding!