It may seem like the preseason carries very little value for the Rams, but despite the fact that they always rest their starters, there are parts of the game that help them prepare for the regular season.
Like simply calling plays and relaying them to the guys on the field.
In his first game as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris had trouble getting rookie Ernest Jones the play calls on their first drive against the Chargers on Saturday night. So, the rookie did what he could and took matters into his own hands.
He called the plays himself and got the defense set up despite this being his first NFL game.
“The first drive, I’m pushing the wrong button trying to talk to Ernest,” Morris told reporters Monday. “I couldn’t get to him. Ernest couldn’t hear me. They get a 19-play drive, 20-play drive going down the field. The guys wall up at the end there. We get a nice stop, make them kick it for three. So all those things – working through all those kinks – the players, the coaches, the where you go, how the alignment is, everything that happens, is all nice and new for us.”
Morris came away very impressed with Jones’ calm demeanor and the poise he showed during the technical difficulties. It’s not easy for a veteran to call the defensive plays in the heat of a game, never mind a rookie in his first NFL appearance.
Morris saw “absolute poise” from the rookie and add that “it was fun to watch.”
“He couldn’t hear me. You didn’t even know,” Morris added. “He heard part of it and he was able to get the rest out. That coming from a rookie and you hear ‘flex’ and you get the rest of the call out is pretty impressive. Most of that was me messing him up. He had the ability to get that thing going and get us rolling down the field.”
As Morris mentioned, the Chargers put together a 21-play drive that ate up 9:47, but the result was only a field goal thanks to a strong red zone stand by the defense. Jones played a part in that and had a relatively good debut, but it was made even more impressive by the fact that he called some of the plays on his own.
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