How they play needs to be considered in actual players and their roles. This team isn't vet loaded, so that determines how they play. Do you consider how they play by how hard they play or by the end results in how they play. For instance for a long time everyone was saying that Verse wasn't getting sacks....he was getting pressures, but they weren't transferring to sacks....so was his play poor?
The RAMS plans for the O-Line were totally put upside down. It has now transformed into a rookie C, for a while the line was manned by and UDFA LG, and a half salvaged T to G in Bruss. Noteboom was penciled in as 1st off the bench , but has returned to 1st to the infirmary. Havs has been in and out, and Jackson is still up and down at LT. Jonah has never appeared in his original spot, and Avila who was looking very bright went to the sidelines for a good amount of time. Looking at all that movement doesn't that reflect in how they have played? With all that change you'd expect zero from them, yet they have at times done very well.
The D has played well more than bad as well, issues with the run game pop up and when you go against the best run game you expect to see some effups.......
So again I think that to look at how they play needs to be looked at at what was planned,who was planned on playing and who has had to play instead. If these were all 4or 5 or more year starters I'd think how they are playing is not good, but the fact that they play very well at times is something to look good upon in the fact that many of these guys had no idea that their game time would have been or has been what it is, and others have grown much faster than anticipated in there starting roles.
Do they play hard, do they play to the end? That to me is the "how" they are playing not so much the end result of it...a young team is going to play just like this team is doing, many times a young team doesn't even come close to how this team is playing (putting in and putting out effort).
I just can't expect an O-Line to play up to expectations of a Line that has 3 out 5 players in the game out of the designed group...That said how they are playing isn't terrible, but in reality is going to show flaws, and those flaws are not real surprises IMO.....For what they have to work with they have done above any expectations I would have had if these present 5 guys were my 1st of the year starters.
