First off, let me say that I don't even agree with the approach that I think the Rams are taking, but I do think it's a legitimate concept in regard to why and how they are playing the way they are playing.
- I think the general idea is to keep the ball in front of the D, tackle well and force the offense to make long drives to score.
- I think the Rams expected to be getting more pressure on the QB, sooner than they are so far this year, because of the great sack numbers last season.
- I think both of the concepts above were supposed to lead to offensive mistakes and really good defensive plays that would lead to turnovers.
The problems with this scheme or philosophy are as follows:
- Poor tackling turns short gains in to long ones.
- Teams realize that if they can slow up the DEs for about 2/10 of a second, then the soft coverage from the DBs results in easy completions.
- Teams realize that the speed of the Rams defense makes them over-confident in pursuit so they continue to be hurt by virtually any cutback by a running back.
- The Rams defense has sacrificed, in many ways, speed for size and experience.
- Playing defense when you are playing from behind leaves the D little chance to dictate anything to the opposing offense. When you are leading the game, the offense can call any type of play at any time and the Rams D is rarely given the change to pin their ears back and rush the passer which, is what they should be doing best.
- Being on the field for most of the game simply tires and discourages the defensive players.
- I think the general idea is to keep the ball in front of the D, tackle well and force the offense to make long drives to score.
- I think the Rams expected to be getting more pressure on the QB, sooner than they are so far this year, because of the great sack numbers last season.
- I think both of the concepts above were supposed to lead to offensive mistakes and really good defensive plays that would lead to turnovers.
The problems with this scheme or philosophy are as follows:
- Poor tackling turns short gains in to long ones.
- Teams realize that if they can slow up the DEs for about 2/10 of a second, then the soft coverage from the DBs results in easy completions.
- Teams realize that the speed of the Rams defense makes them over-confident in pursuit so they continue to be hurt by virtually any cutback by a running back.
- The Rams defense has sacrificed, in many ways, speed for size and experience.
- Playing defense when you are playing from behind leaves the D little chance to dictate anything to the opposing offense. When you are leading the game, the offense can call any type of play at any time and the Rams D is rarely given the change to pin their ears back and rush the passer which, is what they should be doing best.
- Being on the field for most of the game simply tires and discourages the defensive players.
