Rams’ run defense to be tested
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_e4999a29-c9ba-5b3e-9c66-da20fc9721d8.html
Linebacker James Laurinaitis isn’t the type of person who lives in a state of delusion or denial when it comes to dissecting Rams football. He calls it as he sees it, and like his teammates and his coaching staff, he’s disturbed by what he’s seen the past two Sundays on run defense.
“If you had told me before the year we were gonna look up there and see 170 yards averaged against us, I’d be like, ‘Get out of here,’” he said. “But that’s where we are right now.”
To be precise, it’s 171 rushing yards allowed per game in this 1-1 season. That ranks 30th in the league, a shocking place to be considering the Rams have a front seven stocked with first-round players and a widely heralded front four.
“It most definitely deserves to be talked about until we put the fire out,” said Laurinaitis, one of the team captains. “You can’t just sit there. I think guys have really swallowed their pride and said, ‘Hey, we need to work at this. Let’s go out and work at it.’
“No excuses, and I think it’s a sign of maturity.”
That’s what made it a rather subdued “Victory Monday” at Rams Park. Sure, the players were happy about scratching out a 19-17 triumph over Tampa Bay for the franchise’s first win in a road opener since 2001.
But those who earn their living on the defensive side of the ball weren’t pleased with yielding 144 yards, and 6.5 yards a carry, to unheralded Buccaneers running back Bobby Rainey. You know, the same Bobby Rainey who was held to 43 yards rushing and fumbled twice Thursday nightin Atlanta.
“During the game, you don’t feel like he’s killing you running the ball,” linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar said. “But once you look up and he has 100-something rushing yards, you see he was doing something right.”
And the defense was doing something wrong. That game came on the heels of an opening-day performance against Minnesota in which the Rams held the great Adrian Peterson in check, but couldn’t contain wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson, who had 102 yards rushing and a touchdown on just three carries.
“Quite frankly, I think the front seven just has to play better,” Laurinaitis said. “There’s no excuse.”
Missed tackles are no excuse. Not lining up correctly is no excuse. Missing a gap or a run-fit is no excuse.
“When we’ve got the opportunity to go and trigger and make plays, we’ve got to make those plays,” Laurinaitis said. “I really don’t like the way the front seven has been humbled, really, this week.”
The man who has humbled the Rams more than any other running back in recent seasons — DeMarco Murray — is set to be in town with the Dallas Cowboys for Sunday’s noon kickoff at Edward Jones Dome.
Murray has played like Superman the past two contests against the Rams— with a franchise record 253 rushing yards in 2011 (pre-Jeff Fisher) followed by 175 yards last season. The Rams are still searching for the Kryptonite to slow him down.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us this week,” Fisher said. “Because it seemed like yesterday that mess happened in Dallas last year.”
The Rams must play significantly better to prevent “that mess” from reoccurring Sunday.
What makes Murray so successful?
“Well, they’ll have an inside trap called in the A-gap, and he’ll bounce it outside and just take it down the sideline,” Fisher said. “Those are the kind of things that are hard. So you read and react and everything, and he’s not there. He’s someplace else.”
In layman’s terms, please ...
“He can break the ball out any place,” Fisher said. “He’s a good cutback runner. He’s got great vision.”
Defenses frequently underestimate Murray’s speed getting to the perimeter. And he’s surprisingly physical for a medium-sized back (6 feet, 217 pounds). He will break tackles, especially beyond the defensive line .
And he’s running behind an offensive line that is better than any the Rams have faced. Last week against the Tennessee Titans, it added up to 220 yards rushing, including 167 by Murray, and more than 41 minutes of ball control.
“They put the (Tennessee) game on their shoulders, and they were able to exert their will on the other team,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “We’re going to have to do a good job and match that will, match that line-of-scrimmage intensity.”
The fact that Murray gained 118 yards in the opener against San Francisco also got the Rams’ attention. That just doesn’t happen often against the 49ers — Murray was the first to hit 100 yards against the 49ers in 18 games.
But even if it wasn’t Murray on Sunday’s agenda, the Rams’ porous run defense is cause for concern.
“That’s something that you always want to handle Day 1,” Dunbar said. “You come into training camp, and you can’t allow a team to run on you.
“Once they run at you, (then) they throw at you, and you’re just at their mercy. That’s something we talked about early in training camp, and we haven’t gotten fixed. We need to get it fixed.”
There are a lot of factors involved in getting it fixed. It starts with being in the right place, which means gap integrity. Being strong at the point of attack means shedding blocks and being able to hold the perimeter and force plays inside, toward the pursuit.
Laurinaitis pointed out that there is a fine line on some coverages in which defenders must decide if they’re going to play for the run or play for the pass. Williams noted that a couple of penalties on third down kept the defense on the field and gave Tampa Bay a fresh set of downs and more opportunities to run the football. And of course, there are missed tackles — too many missed tackles through two games.
Defensive tackle Michael Brockers said there have been too many times when individual players have tried to be the hero and make the play, straying from the scheme and opening a hole or a cutback lane that shouldn’t be there.
“You’ve got to work within the scheme,” he said. “Everybody has to play their part, be in their gap and everybody has to be accountable. We’ve gotta get back down to the basics of playing our technique and getting everybody to the ball.”
Mr. Murray is waiting, and hoping that’s not the case Sunday.
