- If I wasn't scared enough about the injuries of last year, here's how camp started for the NFL this year: a season-ending injury on the first play of 7-on-7 drills. Philip Daniels (ESPN) , Redskins DE, injured his knee and will miss the entire season. In the afternoon, another DE from deeper in their depth chart, Alex Buzbee, ruptured his achilles tendon and will also miss the entire year. Solution: trade some draft picks for Jason Taylor (ESPN). The Rams will travel to D.C. on Oct. 12th to play the Skins. ESPN coverage here, reactions from SBNation brotherblogs Hogs Haven here, and The Phinsider here.
- ESPN just released their training camp power rankings (here) and slotted the Rams at 26th. Make Sando offered this:
Getting LT Orlando Pace healthy -- and keeping him that way -- must rank as the Rams' top priority heading into training camp and the season.
Hard to disagree, given the state of the O-line. Hopefully, we can grab an LT in the next two years and let Orlando relax until his HOF induction. My only real issue with the rankings was, predictably, with the Seahawks. They're ranked 9th above the Vikings and Browns. I don't see how the Vikings, having picked up Jared Allen (ESPN) and Bernard Berrian (ESPN), still sit below the aging 'Hawks.
- ESPN's travel guide to training camp (here) doen't offer much, but shows Linehan's inventive flexibility:
The Rams are moving north to Concordia University Wisconsin, which is near Lake Michigan and where camp is conducted at an ideal time of year. Head coach Scott Linehan wanted to try something different to get his team together after being at the team facility for work the past two summers. The Rams hope the change of scenery will promote team chemistry and generate some energy.
Whatever promotes team chemistry and energizes the rookies gets the official 3k stamp of approval:
- Tony Moss at The Sports Network serves up capsules (here) for every NFL team's training camp. The St. Louis capsule includes this nugget:
A key to the offense's success will be the health and effectiveness of the line group, which will have to be identified during camp.
As an update, the poll from the offensive preview of training camp (here) saw 31% want to hear about the O-line while half of all votes were more interested in WR's.
And thus ends this random Ramsdom.