I just got done watching three Rams games (I watch tape of every prospective player if I am going to voice my opinion, rather than regurgitate what I hear repeated on teh internets) and this seems as good a place as any to share what little information I could gather so far.
Two of the games I watched were in their entirity (GB @ SL, NO @ SL) while the last one (SL @ SF) was an NFL On Demand version running at just 12 minutes without commercial, so naturally not all plays were included. Doesn't matter much anyway since he was benched for the 2nd half against the 49ers anyway.
He had 4 penalties combined in the three games. A holding, a false start and two illegal formations. The holding came on the last play of game against the Saints when Bulger needed extra time to loft the pass deep. One illegal formation came against the Packers and did not look bad to me because from our angle his helmet seemed to be far enough forward but a penalty is a penalty. The illegal formation against the 49ers made him take the bench for the 2nd half of the game. The announcers discussed an interesting note about illegal formation that I didn't know; they will usually give you one warning about lining up too deep from the line of scrimmage and then the next one will getcha.That may be why Spags benched Barron, because back to back weeks he had the illegal formation call and if he got warned both times, that really could have been 4 penalties. The false start came on 1st down after the Saints had fumbled the ball out of the endzone for a touchback. It wasn't really a drive killer, the run and pass for a loss that followed the penalty did that.
Barron allowed 2 sacks in the 3 games I watched, both against the Saints. The first sack came on 2nd and 10 at the NO 24, the Rams down 7 - 0 in the 1st. On this play, Barron had Will Smith blocked fine but a collapsing right side of the line forced Bulger to scramble up and to the left practically right into his arms. The other sack was similar coming on 2nd and 5, 2nd quarter at SL 41, Rams down 14 -7. Barron was lined up RT and had Charles Grant blocked fine but two players ran right past the LG, almost like he didn't know which one to block so didn't block either. Bulger tried to scramble between the RG and RT to get some yards avoiding a sack but ran right into Grants arms. The formation was interesting because it was TE LG C RG RT RT.
A few things stuck out at me when watching Barron; obviously I am watching a 3 game window so my analysis may be much different than a Rams' fan. First, in my opinion Barron was their best pass blocker. On the sacks, hits or pressures that he gave up, most were the result of the QB stepping up in the pocket due to pressure along the line. Second, they flipped him between RT and LT frequently throughout each game and he was equally good at both positions. I have never seen a team move a tackle so much. Third, he is more of a screen blocker in the running game than a drive blocker most likely because he does get kind of high in his stance. They tended to run away from his side or ran delays so he could just seal off the DE. Interesting thing, even though he was so high in his stance, he really didn't give that much ground most of the time but he didn't gain much either. *Fourth, it looked like Barron was pointing out blocking assignments to the RG, TE and FB on some plays. This usually came on plays when they would sneak up a LB, S or a DB would start coming off the WR. Usually you see the center point these things out but I didn't see it in these games.
Judging from the 3 games I watched, I would have no problem with Barron protecting our QB. The running game is another issue but maybe running drills with a tarp over his head and a little time in the weight room might fix it.
* Addition edit
