Thinking Positive: St Louis Rams Preseason Opener
What can be most easily evaluated when looking at a preseason contest is not how a team will fare during the regular season, but more how their rookie class will ultimately develop. For the St Louis Rams, that may be the only real positive that the team can draw on following their humiliating 38-3 drubbing thanks to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
The rookies looked quite good for the most part. Beginning in the least suspecting area of special teams, both rookie kickers in place kicker Greg Zuerlein and punter Johnny Hekker showed well. Zuerlein nailed a 37-yard field goal while Hekker boomed a 67-yard punt that went out of bounds at the Colts 2-yard line. Along with these two booting the ball, both Isaiah Pead and Chris Givens returned kicks quite well with a 30 and 28 yard return respectively.
Defensively, the highest profile pick in Michael Brockers had an anti-climactic showing, but cornerback Janoris Jenkins showed what he was capable of for sure. He locked down the number one receivers for the Colts routinely during the contest. His selection is looking more and more like a boom rather than a bust as the days move along.
As a whole, the Rams rookies played the bulk of the game with many of them seeing three-plus quarters of action. The coaches will have plenty of tape to review and see just who is doing what they are told and which players still need to take positive steps if they want to make the final roster.
While it may seem difficult to look beyond the blowout result of the game, rest assured that the coaches have no trouble doing just that in the preseason. Hopefully the staff gets an idea of what they really need to focus on this week in practice as they attempt to mold this young team into a group of winners in the near future.
Follow Anthony Blake on Twitter @AnthonyMBlake or on Facebook at Anthony Mizarkus Blake
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