More shotgun for the Rams says one expert
by Ryan Van Bibber on May 19, 2010 12:08 PM CDT
Email
PrintThere's a great piece over at Yahoo sports today from Doug Farrar, who makes the case why the St. Louis Rams need to use the shotgun more often this year with Sam Bradford.
The shotgun was huge bust for the Rams last year, as was pretty much any offensive play not involving Steven Jackson. Farrar discusses the changes to the Rams roster for 2010 and why Rodger Saffold and Jason Smith make the shotgun a more natural fit.
Here's an example from Bradford's OU days Farrar cites in the article:
...a play where Bradford uses his surprising mobility to roll out and hit the open receiver. In this diagram of a play against the Washington Huskies in 2008, the left wide receiver clears the cornerback, leaving the slot receiver to beat the safety one-on-one. Bradford’s scramble draws in the weak-side linebacker, ensuring that Bradford’s first read was facing single coverage. All that was left was for Bradford to hit his man above the safety, which he did.
In my mind, that play would have Laurent Robinson or Brandon Gibson as two flankers, with one of those two being the player that draws in the cornerback. In the slot, would be Donnie Avery and his speed versus the safety.
The shotgun isn't exactly foreign to Pat Shurmur either. The Rams offensive coordinator may have only used it 38 percent of the time last year, but the Eagles, whose offense Shurmur's is based on, used it 48.7 percent of the time last year, third most in the league.
More on Bradford, the gun and the offensive line.
The season can't get here fast enough.
15 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Then again...
Shurmur is the OC of the Rams. (Count it!)
I'm not sure we have a RB to do a lot more shotgunning
I think the more they go to the gun, the less effective SJax will be. He’s a dynamic back with good hands, but he’s not on the Marshall Faulk level of utility. SF struggled when they moved away from Frank Gore’s strengths, I think toomuch gunning would eventually do the same to the Rams and Jackson. He needs to utelize his power.
I wouldn’t want to see 50 or even 48.7 percent gunning with this roster. Although…add a Westbrook (or a even a reasonable facsimile) and ok I see it. If they have the RB on the roster who can truly thrive in a heavy gun system, I don’t know who it is yet.
that's where some of our other RB options are interesting
Ogbonaya comes from a spread offense and Darby has looked much better in that third down role …could be an interesting way of using those guys.
Turf Show Times
by Ryan Van Bibber on May 19, 2010 3:42 PM CDT up reply actions
this makes the pre-season worth watching
that’s the only time I ever saw those guys, so if the plan is for them to contribute this way in 2010, I’ll need to check it out. I thought Oggie ran well last pre-, but he also had a couple of really bad missed blitz pickups and I never saw him again. Kind of underscores the importance of RB blocking.
by CoachConnors on May 19, 2010 4:08 PM CDT up reply actions
Agree w/ coach
Sjax doesn’t have the open field moves to be a legitimate screen threat, but adding a Westbrook-type would go along way in keeping blitzing defenses honest.
block! building kick! exploooooooosion!
by mooseknuckles41 on May 19, 2010 3:45 PM CDT up reply actions
Despite Gore’s complaints, if I remember correctly, with Alex Smith as QB, his production running out of the shotgun was actually better than in standard formations in 2009.
I don't think so
I didn’t know he complained, I know when I watched them he was not nearly as effective running out of the gun. He had some terribly ineffective games down the stretch last year. 3 of his last 6 games he averaged well under 3 ypc. I mean the whole stadium could see it coming.
by CoachConnors on May 20, 2010 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions
Realistic Expectations
From the Realistic Expectations article:
- There have been “hundreds” of rookie QB’s since 1970.
- Only 5 started all 16 of their rookie games.
- Of the guys that started 11-15 games, only Peyton and Marino threw as many as 20TD’s
I hope fans will not say stupid things about what a bust he is if he “only” starts 8 games and throws 10 TD’s, because that would seem like a decent year in the big picture.
A lot of giving up on guys too soon comes from having unrealistic expectations during their developmental seasons to begin with. Young players are not able to simply skip the natural development they all have to go through, no matter how much you want to win now.
Coach your right about alowing time for the player to develope but
As we have talked before on this issue there can be development as he is playing as well as sitting and waiting his turn to come,in our case I just hope he will start sooner then latter and im sure we all do ,Not just to win now but to have a change from the past and a new beginning with the right man in place,but if Bradford can not learn the play book and other things needed for him to start then by all means he should sit and learn
untill he can run the offense
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Turf Show Times
Related FanShots on Turf Show Times
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Cover the web with Turf
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Former high-school star Brian Banks does serious time on trumped-up charge, now hopes for an NFL shot
- Former ‘idiot kicker’ Mike Vanderjagt in trouble after accosting junior-high heckler
- Adrian Peterson blows teammates away in footraces; appears to be on the mend
- UPDATE: Charlie Sheen didn’t buy Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl ring
- Alex Smith gets blown up by Jon Beason over Cam Newton comments
