Les Mouflons - an early acid test?

We've all had our say about the cuts and practice squad, and it's Wednesday here already, so it's about time we start talking about the upcoming game.

The Rams have potentially benefited from a bevvy of first-round picks via the Griffin trade, and continually picking early. I say potentially, because they have had trouble translating those picks to on-field performance. Part of the issue has been the oft-injured Sam Bradford and their lack of suitable backup.

This year they picked Gurley in the draft, which is good for them but not particularly scary for us because of our stout run defense. In a strength-vs-strength battle, my money is on us. Gurley is not available for this one, as far as I know, so advantage: us.

At QB they picked Nick Foles up from Philly. I've never been sold on Foles, but I have to recognise he did very well in Philly. He's an accurate passer and has potential to pick on our zone with crossing routes with Chancellor not there to collect the toll for entering the middle of the field.

On the other side of the ball they have a whale of a defensive line, which helps to protect a relatively soft secondary. When Wilson is forced to buy time with his feet, he likes to look for the home run ball. Potentially a big day for Lockett if they let him into the first team on Day 1. Otherwise it should be a quiet day for Graham as he'll be asked to block, and we may find he's not up to the challenge. hopefully we correct for that early.

This will be the first time we get to see if a team can cover all of the threats at once. Can they be aggressive enough on Wilson without being burned by Lynch? Can they spy Wilson while covering Graham? Can our receivers get some love with attention placed elsewhere? We'll see.

On special teams we have raw speed and talent versus creativity. Fisher loves his trick plays, and trick plays work best against over-aggressive teams like the Seahawks. On the other hand, he's burned us in the past, and once burned, twice warned.

Lastly, this is an early road game, which has historically been an issue for us. We have enough trouble with slow starts that we don't need to compound it with players thrown off their sleep cycle.

All in all this game will come down to the play of one Russell Wilson. If he's the guy who backpedals 20 yards before intentionally grounding the ball, then it's going to be a long day for the good guys. On the other hand, if he's the guy who can drop a dime to a streaking Lockett, this one's a laugher.

My prediction is the Seahawks by 10 - something on the order of 23-13.

Good thing about this first road game, we are not having to do a lot of schedule adjustments since it is the first, we may be better off having it be the first game and setting our clocks early this year to deal with them.

I should have mentioned: Last year we struggled all year with field position, and in a defensive struggle, field position can make the difference. Our revived special teams are once again fantastic and should give us excellent field position most of the day, which will apply additional pressure to the Rams.

KiwiHawk":3k5aiyko said:

I should have mentioned: Last year we struggled all year with field position, and in a defensive struggle, field position can make the difference. Our revived special teams are once again fantastic and should give us excellent field position most of the day, which will apply additional pressure to the Rams.

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I think our special teams, with the addition of Lockett will help field position A LOT. I'm looking forward to seeing everything hopefully fall in place come gametime.

Lockett is a given but honestly, I can't wait to see how our fierce front eats them alive. I don't think many realize how good we are with the front 7. I am seriously excited about it this year.

Seahwkgal":arelz4lj said:

Lockett is a given but honestly, I can't wait to see how our fierce front eats them alive. I don't think many realize how good we are with the front 7. I am seriously excited about it this year.

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I think this is sensible optimism. I'd like to add that the Rams defensive line is even better than ours, they tend to give the 'Hawk offense a challenge. They're healthy. And really effing deep. They can stay fresh over the course of a game because of this, without much of a drop regarding the personnel grouping. I kind of think their roster philosophy is to be able to finish games like Seattle does, strongly, never lapsing against designed-lower-risk offensive play calls (runs, "rubs," screens, and playaction--I.E. our offense).

This'd be a good time for the defense and/or special teams to have a strong performance.

I'm excited about Lockett and his new gunner coverage pal, Kelcie McCray. The preseason wasn't a fluke. Lockett & Co. had some strong returns against coverage that wasn't lapsed. Then the 'Hawks added a purported stud special teams blocker. The return team is going to make the difference in some games.

This'd be a good time for one of those games to happen.

On the long pre-season TD from Wilson to Lockett, Wilson took 2.7 seconds from snap to release. That's longer than the NFL average, but not by a lot considering the length of the throw (it wasn't a quick slant). If Wilson can continue to make reads and get rid of the ball, the OL doesn't need to buy him very much time - only around a half second.