Hope everyone had a great memorial day! I am grateful for all of our veterans and everyone still currently serving to protect our freedoms. I couldn't imagine that kind of sacrifice and dedication to our country and I greatly admire our servicemen. It makes me realize how blessed I am and how fun my job is! My wife came up for the long weekend and we had fun running around St Louis. We visited the arch, Blues-week festival, gypsy caravan, boathouse of Forest Park, and did a little apartment searching while exploring the city. I am loving my job so far and can't wait to see where it takes me.
The first week of OTAs is in the books as we practiced Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. This is our first true look at practice compared to the off-season phase 2 field work. In off-season phase 2, we can do drills and walk through the defense but we cannot be going against the offense. OTAs on the other hand is a full practice in helmets with full competition against the offense and on special teams. It was great to get out there and go against and with the veterans. They set a high standard fast as far as communication on the field and running to the football every rep. You figure out real fast whether you know the defense and what you need to work on. TJ McDonald and I started out with the 2s and we were told several times give our coverage, personnel, and down & distance calls faster and louder. This has gotten better with every practice as we get more comfortable with the defense and the expectations. OTAs also help rookies know where they stand in their position and also how they measure up to the vets. I can tell how much more precise and crisp the veterans are with their footwork in drills and also in competition situations. I will continue to work on this and pick their brains when I get a chance. I also had the chance to go against some great competition in 1 on 1's with the likes of Jared Cook. I got the opportunity to go against him one day and I am glad to say I had a pass break up and he didn't catch the next one (might have been a bad pass lol). Going against this type of competition is great and helps adjust to the NFL skill level and speed. This adjustment is evident as rookie mistakes were all over the field, but we just have to learn from it and not let it happen again. It was a good start to OTAs and there is a lot of work and improvement still to be had.
The veterans will be off next week and the rookies will put in more work to catch up starting after Memorial day. We will condition and lift weights as well as get in any extra film and playbook work we need on our own. 3 OTAs down and only 7 more to go. Just a small window of opportunity to show what we have before crunch time!
The first week of OTAs is in the books as we practiced Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week. This is our first true look at practice compared to the off-season phase 2 field work. In off-season phase 2, we can do drills and walk through the defense but we cannot be going against the offense. OTAs on the other hand is a full practice in helmets with full competition against the offense and on special teams. It was great to get out there and go against and with the veterans. They set a high standard fast as far as communication on the field and running to the football every rep. You figure out real fast whether you know the defense and what you need to work on. TJ McDonald and I started out with the 2s and we were told several times give our coverage, personnel, and down & distance calls faster and louder. This has gotten better with every practice as we get more comfortable with the defense and the expectations. OTAs also help rookies know where they stand in their position and also how they measure up to the vets. I can tell how much more precise and crisp the veterans are with their footwork in drills and also in competition situations. I will continue to work on this and pick their brains when I get a chance. I also had the chance to go against some great competition in 1 on 1's with the likes of Jared Cook. I got the opportunity to go against him one day and I am glad to say I had a pass break up and he didn't catch the next one (might have been a bad pass lol). Going against this type of competition is great and helps adjust to the NFL skill level and speed. This adjustment is evident as rookie mistakes were all over the field, but we just have to learn from it and not let it happen again. It was a good start to OTAs and there is a lot of work and improvement still to be had.
The veterans will be off next week and the rookies will put in more work to catch up starting after Memorial day. We will condition and lift weights as well as get in any extra film and playbook work we need on our own. 3 OTAs down and only 7 more to go. Just a small window of opportunity to show what we have before crunch time!
-Student of the Game
#RamsNation
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