July 29, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher directs his team during training camp at ContinuityX Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-US PRESSWIRE

You know football is officially back when the squad puts on the pads in practice for the first time, and that was the case at Rams Park on Thursday. You can work all you want in shorts, but things start to get real once the pads get strapped on and the guys start really hammering each other. There were some scuffles and things of that nature, but overall it was a good day for the Rams. Here’s what head coach Jeff Fisher thought of the practice.

“It was good. It was our first official practice with the whole team with pads. What happens is it slows down a little bit even though they only weigh a few pounds, It slows down. But I thought we got a lot done and we worked a lot of situational stuff, the two minute, the redzone and I thought it was pretty good.”

“It’s especially beneficial for the guys up front that got the pass rush for the first time in 7 or 8 months so that was good. We need as much of that kind of stuff as they can get so we’ll continue with that the next couple of days. It’s a process and we’ve got a lot of time ahead of us.”

(On T Roger Saffold coming back from an injury)
“The injury’s completely behind him. He’s strong. He’s really worked hard this offseason, with his feet, his balance and his technique and the injury’s behind and he’s doing just fine. He’s got a couple pretty good rushers out there to work against every day.”

1. Block Calais Campbell – Campbell showed in our last meeting that he is a tough matchup for any offensive line, but with the Rams down up front, Campbell and the rest of the Arizona D-line could be a major problem. It’s not a good situation on the line right now, so some guys are going to have to step up if the Rams are going to move the ball.

2. Keep Patrick Peterson in check – It goes without saying that the Rams absolutely cannot let Peterson beat them in the return game again on Sunday. Peterson is a major talent, and under no circumstance should he get an opportunity to return a kick or punt. We don’t necessarily have to kick out of bounds, but we do need to eliminate him from the game on special teams.

3. Establish a ground game – We know about the offensive line problems already, but if the Rams are forced to throw regularly then Sam Bradford is going to be in trouble. They have to find a way to open holes for SJ39 early in the game to control the clock. If they can get the run going and use the play-action to keep the defense off Bradford, they should be able to score some. More on next page…

The thing that bothers me most is that this team just keeps struggling with the same issues week after week. Penalties continue to kill us, and not just penalties, but stupid, undisciplined penalties at bad times. I know that no team is perfect and everyone makes mistakes, but in my opinion there’s no excuse for the false starts. That’s got to be on the coaching staff. They might not be the ones jumping, but it’s their job to make sure it doesn’t happen.