Both Von Miller and OBJ were VERY pleasant surprises, to be sure. Both exceeded my modest expectations and were big parts of our success in playoffs and SB.
But there were 3 players that just blew the doors off in terms of wildly exceeding my admittedly modest expectations. Mind blowingly exceeded them, tbh.
In no particular order:
A’Shawn Robinson. I had relegated him to the role of underachiever after getting paid. Boy, was I Wrong! Whether inspired by AD, Miller, and the like or not he turned into a late season BEAST. A world class run stopper. Played light years better than previously and wildly beyond my expectations. Might have become a ‘must have’ even on a cap strapped team like the Rams.
Nick Scott. Progressed from a ST demon draft pick to a human highlight reel in his first 3 years. Who can ever forget that hit on Deebo? But it’s more than just highlight reel plays. Scott now makes plays all over the field including timely interceptions. He is now far from the weakest link on a very impressive D. I look forward to seeing him continue to improve as a starter this year. Another Snead gem for a growing collection. Looks like a lottery winning 7th round pick.
Last, but certainly not least, is Eric Weddle. His direct contributions and his intangibles during that playoff run are storybook stuff. Almost fairytale stuff in the sense of too-good-to-be-true. Think about this storyline. Retired for 2 years and has been playing pickup basketball games with friends. Gets a call from Raheem Morris and invited to join a SB caliber team decimated with injuries in the secondary for a playoff run. He then joined coaches and players with which he was unfamiliar and in an evolving schemes also new to him on the fly in a do-or-die playoff scenario. Even played through a torn pec in the SB. Think about that. Yet he not only played well himself but looked like he’d been back there for 5 years. He settled down and solidified that D to a point that I thought was jaw dropping. If a writer wrote this Weddle script I think his editor would demand that he dial this back. Too much like a fairytale.
Thoughts?
