Throughout training camp, Rams insider Myles Simmons will share his top 10 observations from each practice.
1) The Rams were not in pads for the first time since the fourth day of training camp. Coming off Thursday's game, L.A. got back to business on a lighter note. Being back in Southern California, it was considerably less humid for Saturday's session than it was throughout the time in Baltimore.
2) Los Angeles began with a special teams walk thru, then separated by field for both offensive and defensive walk thrus. This is one of the first times L.A. has done a walk thru to start a public practice, which also made it one of the first times inside linebacker Mark Barron has participated in a session. Head coach Sean McVay has previously said that Barron receives the walk-thru reps beside signal-caller Cory Littleton, while Ramik Wilson takes the practice reps.
3) During offensive individual drills, the Rams used multiple quarterbacks to have each skill player catch a pass in the rhythm and timing of the play. All the running backs, wideouts, and tight ends were involved, as were all four quarterbacks. At one point, punter Johnny Hekker was even involved when the Rams used three wideouts, a tight end, and a running back as eligible receivers. Hekker does have to keep his fake-punt arm ready, after all.
4) The Rams quarterbacks, wide receivers, and cornerbacks also went through one-on-one drills. Notably from the period…
- Wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods began the session with completions on a comeback route and a fly route down the right sideline, respectively.
- Cornerback Troy Hill did a nice job to break up a pass in the middle of the field between quarterback Jared Goff and wideout Cooper Kupp. The Eastern Washington product tried to shake Hill with a move in the middle of the field, but the cornerback stayed with Kupp nicely.
- Later, though, Kupp got Hill back by shaking him with a nice move to catch a pass in the middle of the field. He drew some "ooos" from the crowd with that one.
5) In 11-on-11 — with the first-team offense competing against the first-team defense — Goff made solid completions to Cooks and Kupp. The signal-caller connected with Cooks on the first pass of the period, hitting him on the left side of the field. Then Goff hit Kupp on the left side, making the completion through a tight window just out of safety Lamarcus Joyner's reach.
6) Joyner, however, would get his during a later period. On another pass intended for Kupp, Joyner undercut the wideout's route on the defense's right and picked off the pass with a leaping interception. His defensive teammates were pumped on the sideline.
7) Later in 11-on-11, tight end Tyler Higbee made a particularly impressive catch. The play may have been a sack in real life, but Goff was able to get a red-zone pass off to Higbee. The tight end showed off his vertical, secured the catch, then got two feet in at the back line of the end zone for a score.
8) With the offense backed up to nearly its own goal line in a move-the-ball drill, Goff got the unit down the field quickly with consecutive completions to Woods and wide receiver Mike Thomas. Both receptions came on deep crossing routes.
9) Kupp made the last catch of practice for the fist-team offense, snagging a low pass over the middle. Not a surprise when it comes from him, but he did have a few nice catches on Saturday.
10) At the end of practice, McVay pulled the team together and was fairly animated in the huddle. He would tell reporters that at the time, he was explaining to players why he wasn't quite pleased with the way practice unfolded.
"I think all the guys would agree, we've got to have better urgency from the start," McVay said. "That's just the bottom line. We can say what we want about when we got back, but however you want to cut it, we've got to be better than that."
