It was about what you’d expect from a preseason game. Lots of sloppiness, mistakes, and boredom to a degree. But I thought the positives outweighed the negatives overall. The Rams missed a 59 yard field goal just wide left at the buzzer to finish the game. The Saints will leave this game with plenty to work on but when you consider the fact that both sides of the ball showed good things and no one seemed to get seriously injured on the Saints, it’s a great way to start the preseason campaign. Below are my bullets on the game:
- Mark Ingram and Khiry Robinson both looked to be in midseason form. This could be quite a running back tandem in the making. They each had a rushing touchdown and made the most of their reps. Ingram in particular looked healthy and possessed. He had 8 carries for 83 yards, and I have to commend the offensive line for doing a tremendous job in run blocking despite missing Ben Grubbs and Jahri Evans.
- Speaking of Evans and Grubbs, they were two starters that missed this game along with Drew Brees, Champ Bailey, Pierre Thomas, Erik Lorig and Jairus Byrd. Hard to take a game too seriously when so many key guys are out.
- The interior looked pretty good, particularly Tim Lelito. Marcel Jones was mostly good, too. Senio Kelemete alternated bad and good, and Jonathan Goodwin looked very strong against a 2nd team defense as he should. The only really big concern besides generally spotty pass protection was Bryce Harris. The guy is really struggling right now as the #2 left tackle. There was also one snap miscue between Lelito and Griffin.
- The opening defensive series was very poor, and poor coverage by Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Rod Sweeting was victimized for touchdowns later in the game.
- Shayne Graham missed a 33 yard “extra point”, which is just a preseason trial thing by the NFL, hitting the left upright. He made his lone field goal attempt from 37, as did Derek Dimke from the same distance.
- Brandin Cooks had a 25 yard touchdown reception making a nice juke and then showcasing his speed. That play did nothing to calm the fan hype on him. This guys is going to be special very soon.
- Ryan Griffin looked pretty good to me. He had a generous stat line of 16 for 23 for 179 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. His best play by far was a tight throw in a small window that set up a 46 yard catch and run with Josh Hill. Griffin largely settled for checkdowns and easy throws, but he had good control of the offense and helped move the ball down the field.
- Josh McCown was a bit unlucky on a terrific athletic interception of a flare pass by Chris Long. Otherwise I thought he was ok too. I’d give Griffin maybe a slight edge in the performance between the two tonight but we’ll see them a lot more over the next few weeks.
- Derrick Strozier showed some things late, suggesting he could give Travaris Cadet a run for his money.
- Tyrunn Walker was a dominant force with the second unit. His dominance in preseason has become a yearly tradition. He finished with a team high 6 tackles, a sack, and a huge 4th and 1 stop. He was constantly in the Rams’ backfield getting interior pressure. Walker dealt with knee issues all last season which slowed him down, so it’s nice to see him healthy.
- Walker’s counterpart Glenn Foster also had a sack. Nice to see those two still clearly performing as very useful rotation d-line guys.
- Trevin Wade also had a team high 6 tackles, many of them coming on special teams as a gunner.
- Ronald Powell looked shaky against the run, but looked very good on special teams and rushing the passer.
- Brandon Coleman had two drops, including a horrible one on an easy would have been first down catch that bounced high off his hands and resulted in an interception. His odds of making the team took a huge hit tonight.
- Nick Toon was a little disappointing to me. The guy wasn’t nearly physical enough for his size in this one.
- On 4 punts, Thomas Morstead had a net average of 49.5. I’d say the coverage units were outstanding.
- I can’t believe the Rams actually ran a fake punt.
MVPS:
offense – Mark Ingram
defense – Tyrunn Walker
special teams – Trevin Wade
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