Rams’ Rochell is learning from rookie mistakes
In the six months since the Rams picked him in the fourth round of the NFL draft, Robert Rochell has learned to expect the unexpected and be prepared to respond.
The latest, best lesson came a week ago when coaches told the rookie cornerback he would be making his first start as a pro in the Rams’ game against the Seahawks last Thursday night in Seattle.
“Sometimes stuff happens, so you’ve just got to be ready,” the 23-year-old from the University of Central Arkansas said Monday. “I never would have thought I’d be in this situation this early in my career.”
Replacing the struggling David Long, Rochell committed a glaring interference penalty when he was beaten on a Russell Wilson-to-Tyler Lockett pass, and looked like a Ram in the headlights giving up a Geno Smith-to-D.K. Metcalf touchdown.
But Rochell shook off the mistakes and broke up a Smith-to-Lockett pass in the end zone late in the game to help preserve the 26-17 victory that made the Rams 4-1 as they go to New Jersey to face the 1-4 New York Giants this Sunday.
Rochell’s importance will only grow with cornerback Darious Williams all but certain to miss the Giants game after spraining an ankle in Seattle.
Coach Sean McVay said Williams could go on injured reserve, sidelining the Rams’ 2020 interception leader (with four) for at least three games.
“Now guys will be asked to step up,” McVay said.
The Rams could put safety Terrell Burgess at cornerback, tap a practice squad that includes corners Dont’e Deayon, Kareem Orr and Tyler Hall and defensive back J.R. Reed, throw Long back in the mix, or use some combination of the above.
Whatever else happens, Rochell, with one NFL start to his name, suddenly is second on the Rams’ cornerback depth chart behind two-time All-Pro Jalen Ramsey.
Ramsey liked what he saw of Rochell in Seattle.
“He never got down on himself,” Ramsey said. “We were encouraging him, of course. But he was already like ‘Yeah, I’m good. Next play.’ That’s the exact mindset you’ve got to have as a corner.”
Rochell calls it “shortterm memory.”
“The last play, I had to delete it, and I had to get ready for the next play,” he said. “Because the next one could be the best play. It only takes one.”
Rochell has been getting over bad moments since training camp.
In late July, he injured his left wrist and had surgery. After missing two weeks, he resumed practicing with a cast on the wrist. He still wears a version of the cast; it’s on the hand that prevented a Seahawks touchdown with the Rams up by nine and about three minutes to play last Thursday.
In the second game of the season, he blew a special teams assignment. His missed block against the Indianapolis Colts resulted in a promising punt return by Tutu Atwell going for zero yards. He didn’t play at all the following week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I just miscued the play,” Rochell said, owning the error.
Eleven days after the special teams goof, Rochell was starting on defense as the third cornerback.
“When I got notification that it was going to happen, I had to, right then, put my big-boy shoes on,” Rochell said. “Like, I’ve got to be ready and stand up for this team and all the other guys that go out there day in and day out with me. We all represent each other.
“I just tried to go out there with a big heart and clear mind.”
Rochell seems to be popular with teammates. They call him Scooter, a family nickname passed down from his late father, who got it for the way he scooted across the floor as a toddler.
Rochell said teammates and coaches told him the Seahawks would try to pick on the rookie, and they did.
His pass interference penalty actually was a smart play under the circumstances, since it probably prevented a touchdown.
As for the 23-yard pass that sailed over his head for Metcalf’s fourth-quarter touchdown, Rochell said it was “just a misjudgment of the ball – lost it in the light.”
They were more lessons for the rookie whose role might grow again this week.
“Being in that type of situation just gave me more experience going forward,” Rochell said. “I’ll be prepared to make the play next time.”