3 things NOT to look for in LA Rams first preseason game

Focusing on who makes big plays

Okay, so who wouldn’t love to see a pick-six or a punt return for a touchdown?  Of course, you would, and I would too. But those highlight-reel plays tend to get overemphasized when fans form opinions over who had a great game. After all, let’s be realistic. Do you envision any scenario where defensive lineman Greg Gaines would lumber in for a touchdown? And yet, after the dust settles, it could be Gaines’s five tackles and two tackles for the loss that gets the coaching staff most excited.

If the Rams coaches want to trial the effectiveness of running plays, offensive linemen, and running backs, they may call a series of running plays regardless of down and distance situations.  And if the Rams are in third and 20, an 18-yard rushing play is a bonafide ‘big play’, but it failed to get the yardage necessary to move the chains. On the other hand, if the offense faces third down and three, and the running play gets five yards, that is a successful play in that it moves the chains.

Not every positive play on the football field occurs solely from the ball carrier’s ability to advance the football. There are blocks to be made, play-action rushes to fake, screens to set up, blockers to shed, receivers to cover, tackles to be made. The true measure in any play is to compare how a player reacts in a football game compared to how they were expected to act. Even plays that do not go the Rams way can be construed as positives if the player did everything he was expected to do.

Fantasy football has skewed our appreciation of players and how they contribute whenever they step onto the football field. Nobody loves a blocking tight end as much as the tight end who can’t block but who can catch a pass. Nobody loves the running back who can pick up the blitz as much as a rusher who averages over 4.2 yards-per-carry. Even an All-Pro defensive back like Jalen Ramsey is deeply discounted in fan’s eyes over his ability to force a quarterback to look elsewhere with a football, and instead applauds the rogue defensive back who allows touchdown passes but leads the league in interceptions.  NFL coaches prefer the shutdown defensive back.