St. Louis Rams vs. Oakland Raiders: Postgame Thoughts and Observations

The St. Louis Rams won’t be able to go undefeated this preseason, as they were dealt an 18-3 loss by the Oakland Raiders on Friday night. Coach Jeff Fisher and his staff definitely played it conservatively on Friday, as the projected starters who saw action (including rookies Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown) played just a couple series before coming out for the night. Thus, not a whole lot can be taken away from the kickoff to the preseason, as a large chunk of the players who determined the outcome of Friday’s game either won’t be on the Rams’ roster come September or will never see action from scrimmage. In fact, it seems that the Rams may place more emphasis on their organized practice and scrimmage against the Dallas Cowboys this week in Oxnard, California, as defensive end Chris Long was rested on Friday night, but is expected to participate when facing Dallas this week.

Here are a few thoughts and observations from Friday’s preseason opener:

• At this point, the thought of beginning a new season must give Rams left guard Rodger Saffold nightmares. Saffold was carted off the field with a neck injury 2012 regular season opener at Detroit, sustained a shoulder injury in the 2013 preseason opener at Cleveland, suffered a leg injury in his personal preseason opener last season at Cleveland (after missing the first two exhibition games with an achy shoulder), and left last year’s regular season opener against Minnesota with a neck stinger. Friday was no exception, as Saffold left the game after just three plays with a wrist injury. He did not return, though Jeff Fisher said in his postgame press conference that Saffold would probably be fine. Saffold is one of the Rams’ best players when healthy, but hopefully they’ve realized by now that they need a quality backup behind him for all the time that he misses while dealing with injuries.

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• Saffold’s injury did create an opportunity for Brandon Washington, who’s been with the Rams for four seasons, to showcase himself at left guard. Washington has been in a constant battle to make (and then stay on) the roster during his Rams career, and that’s perhaps true in this year more than any other, as he has to fight off the five linemen the Rams drafted, among others, in order to have a shot at the 53-man roster. Washington showed some nice physicality in the early going, though he did allow Oakland defensive lineman Shelby Harris to get past him for a sack and later missed several plays with an injury of his own.
• Rookie right tackle Rob Havenstein wasn’t terrible on Friday night, but it’s clear that he needs to make adjustments to his pass blocking technique, which is far from a surprise considering his monstrous height and the run-based offense he played in at Wisconsin. The 6-foot-8 Havenstein wasn’t getting enough knee bend coming out of his pass set, which left him susceptible to getting overpowered and pushed back. If he can get his weight under him just a bit more, he’ll become much more successful as a pass blocker.

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• Supplemental draft pick Isaiah Battle had a very rough night, which wasn’t the most surprising thing in the world considering that he was Clemson’s projected starting left tackle for this season just six weeks ago. The Rams are in no rush to make him a contributor; they have no less than three tackles that are firmly slotted ahead of him on the depth chart, and GM Les Snead was upfront after taking Battle in saying that he would need at least a year before he’d be ready to get on the field for meaningful snaps. With that said, Battle is going to have an uphill battle (no pun intended) to make himself a successful pro. By NFL tackle standards, he’s a toothpick at 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds, and it wasn’t a massive exaggeration when TV analyst and Rams legend Torry Holt remarked on Friday that Battle “has no strength at all”. With NFL strength and conditioning programs having been hugely limited by the new CBA, Battle is going to need to have an incredible desire to build his body and craft his game independently, which may be a challenge considering the apparent lack of motivation that got him in trouble at Clemson.
• Seeing as the Rams drafted five offensive linemen and have several veteran backup types like Washington, Garrett Reynolds, and Travis Bond, it was quite surprising to see undrafted rookie Darrell Williams working as the Rams’ second-team left tackle on Friday. Williams, a 6-foot-5, 300-pounder, delivered a pretty impressive performance and actually seemed more comfortable than guys like Havenstein and Battle. It should be interesting to see if Williams can make himself a practice squad candidate, or perhaps even make a good enough impression to push a player like Reynolds or fourth-rounder Andrew Donnal out of the mix when the Rams cut to 53.

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• Tavon Austin had only one reception on Friday night, but he made the most of it, gaining 35 yards on the play after accumulating some extremely impressive yards after the catch. Austin seemed to gain confidence over the second half of last season, but his catch and subsequent movement down the field was just about the most comfortable he’s looked in open space since becoming a Ram in 2013. After two seasons of primarily disappointing results from the former seventh-overall pick, it was so uplifting to see Austin do something productive, even if it was just in a preseason game.
• I wrote earlier this week about how Marshall McFadden seemed to have worked his way back into the mix for the Rams at linebacker. The special teams ace, who was released and demoted to the practice squad during the middle of the 2014 season, continued his battle to get back on the Rams’ 53-man roster with three tackles and some impressive moxie on Friday. McFadden could make himself particularly indispensable if Daren Bates, who left Friday’s game, is seriously injured, but he already seems to have the edge for the sixth linebacker job over rookie Bryce Hager and the injured Korey Toomer.
• Speaking of Hager, he had some brutal moments in coverage–most notably a blown assignment that allowed Oakland receiver Andre Holmes to score a touchdown in the second quarter–and he didn’t exactly make a great impression despite leading the team with seven tackles. Considering the Rams’ general disregard of seventh-round picks under the Fisher/Snead administration, the odds were already against Hager in his battle to make the 53-man roster, so Friday’s performance didn’t help his cause.

• It was quite odd to see newly-signed linebacker Akeem Ayers being pressed into coverage against Oakland receivers early on in Friday’s game. The 6-foot-3, 255-pound Ayers, who remarked during an in-game interview that he has to “get used to playing linebacker again”, was mainly used as a blitzing specialist after being traded to the Patriots early last season, and many have anticipated that he’ll fill a similar role with the Rams. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who seems to be comfortable dropping literally any of his defenders back into coverage, might as well get the hefty linebacker re-acclimated to handling receivers and tight ends while the games don’t count.
• In his first NFL action, third-rounder Sean Mannion was more than solid at quarterback, completing 8 of 13 passes for 53 yards. Considering that pocket presence was one of his most pressing issues at Oregon State, it was quite a feat for Mannion to be the only Rams quarterback who wasn’t sacked on Friday, especially since he was playing behind an extremely inexperienced line.
• Cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who had an interception against Oakland, is a guy to really watch in the early part of this season, as he may be a candidate for a major breakout season. Johnson began intently studying tape for the first time this offseason, and if the 6-foot-2, 208-pounder can develop a superior level of intellect to go along with his elite size, there’s no reason that he can’t be one of the better cornerbacks in the league. He’s had issues with consistency through his first three seasons, but  if he can sort those out, look for him to make major improvements.

• 2014 second-rounder Lamarcus Joyner continues to be a major disappointment. While NFL players aren’t supposed to concern themselves with preseason depth charts, it had to hurt Joyner just a little bit to get passed up by second-year undrafted corner Marcus Roberson on the Rams’ depth chart going into the Oakland game. He’s getting an opportunity to prove himself that he may not have otherwise thanks to Gaines’ injury, but he’s not doing much to take advantage of it. Joyner was beat physically on multiple occasions Friday, notably when he was matched up against Oakland’s Kenbrell Thompkins and was overmatched, then again when he had Oakland receiver Andre Holmes in front of him and allowed him to walk into the endzone without much of a fight. Joyner doesn’t necessarily have a natural position (the Rams tried him at an outside corner position on Friday, to little avail), and he’s undersized to be major special teams contributor, so the Rams may have a problem on their hands in the near future as they attempt to get value back from a player that they traded up to get in the second round.
• Especially if E.J. Gaines‘ foot injury ends up being something that puts him on either short-term or season-ending injured reserve, undrafted rookie Imoan Claiborne could be a darkhorse to make the 53-man roster. Claiborne, who was widely expected to be drafted this spring out of Northwestern State, has caught the eyes of many observers during training camp practices, and he continued his impressive performance on Friday by intercepting a pass and deflecting another. He’s certainly a more attractive candidate to make the roster than Brandon McGee, who is once again dealing with injuries.

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