8/08/98
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Preseason Game #1: DENVER 8/08/98 |
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Last Game
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Alot of things looked rusty in the game tonight... but believe it or not, I left the dome feeling good... even excited... Denver - 2.7 RAMS - 4.9 This folks was one of the most powerful rushing attacks in the league. Elway wasn't there, but Terrell was and he fared no better than his replacements. Denver was also fairly adept at stopping the run last year... just ask Dorsey Levens. We were still playing without the top 3 RBs on our depth chart. Obviously our passing game wasn't in sinc... I ain't worried. The key is that if Phillips, Agnew & Co. can stuff the run this well and our offensive line can open these kinds of holes consistently... then there will be alot of crow to eat by all of those who have fretted incessantly over the Rams supposed failure to upgrade their lines in the offseason. To the casual observer who saw this game or listened in or reads the papers... it may look like... 'same old Rams'... But make no mistake about it... a more invalid conclusion could not be drawn. These are not the same Rams. These Rams can RUN... and they can stuff the run. From that foundation you have to be excited about our chances. The details were, as Tony Banks said after the game, "a few inches off"... but the bottom line is solid. A few who shined: Ray Agnew was a wall inside... he had a hand in more than one of Denver's fumbles and he had quite a say in their 2.7 ypc avg as well. Lorenzo Styles was once again a terror... he made the majority of his stops within 2 yards of the LOS and was in the backfield more than once as well. Here's the surprise of training camp thusfar: Eric Hill might actually have a fight on his hands to get back into the lineup! Greg Hill was electric. He is VERY fast to the outside as advertised and he also showed good vision, contrary to his reputation. An experienced NFL back with a history of limited success who was mysteriously unpopular in free agency and signed with the Rams a couple of weeks into camp... sound familiar? Does this remind anyone of Amp '97? A couple more notes: At least two of Banks incomplete passes were catchable balls... one to Bruce and the long pass to Ernie was a bit behind him, but it was catchable nonetheless. In a post game interview, Tony explained that he was probably pushing a bit because he really wanted to give the home fans a good showing in the home opener. Banks only made one really bad throw and that was the INT on the run to end the half. We could really use Ryan McNeil. Despite the excellent showing by the defensive line stuffing the run, they still failed to get much pressure going against Denver's starting Oline... this left the secondary in coverage for a long time. Granted, Giunta and Bunting did not have these guys blitzing anywhere near as often as I expect once the regular season starts... and that should help the secondary alot by putting some pressure on the QB. Yet, I still expect a deal to be done and Ryan to be in camp soon... it just makes too much sense for both sides for it not to happen. Brister almost never threw at Lyght... he picked on McCleon, playing in Ryan's spot at starting CB and Billy Jenkins, who started for injured SS Toby Wright and garnered 8 tackles, but was just a couple of steps late in coverage on a number of occasions. McNeil would have made big difference. Warner looks dangerous. He has a penchant for trying to be the hero by throwing into heavy coverage. I realize his stats look good, but he had no business throwing half of those balls... he was bailed out a couple of times by very poor CB play by the Broncos and he could just as easily have thrown 2 INTS. The battle between he and Bono for 3rd string could come down to who manages to keep from self destructing.
FastEddie
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