Strauss: Rams' defense hands out punishment/PD

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RamBill

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Strauss: Rams' defense hands out punishment
• Joe Strauss

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c70dc34f-12c8-56f2-b789-a7503e17991c.html

They acquired a high-profile coordinator and a young defensive backfield with attitude. They rediscovered Sack City earlier this month. Their linebackers finally have found a comfort zone in a scheme that has no time for a second thought.

Sunday afternoon the Rams worked them all into a bad-ass performance against the baddest offense in the league and came away with a 22-7 statement.

The Rams brought the pain, swung the hammer, delivered a spanking and performed virtually every other description of violence the Denver Broncos and gilded quarterback Peyton Manning could imagine.

It’s only a rumor the Rams keep reporters a safe distance from practice to protect virgin ears. Coordinator Gregg Williams offers little forgiveness during the week while demanding fast, faster and fastest from his guys. If the air turns a little blue, tough. It helps the weekend product. Bruised by Sunday’s St. Louis experience, the Broncos can testify to its effectiveness.

“That offense knows if you throw that ball up you’re going to feel it,” said Rams safety T.J. McDonald.

Last month’s Welcome Wagon has turned mean. The Rams prevented an allegedly unstoppable offense from taking a snap inside their 28-yard line while holding it to a lonesome touchdown. They didn’t just contain the Broncos, they punished them.

“You bring a new coach in and things tend to go slow at first,” said second-year linebacker Alec Ogletree, who spiced Sunday’s win with a monster performance. “As you stay with it, things speed up. We’ve got a lot of great athletes on this team. When you have that, you can play fast.”

In three November games the Rams’ defense has surrendered 37 points. The Broncos entered Sunday scoring 31.8 points per tilt. They left town with their lowest regular-season point total in 42 games since Jan. 1, 2012. Tim Tebow quarterbacked that day against Kansas City.

Through September and October the Rams looked at least a half-step slow on defense. They too often failed to keep up with receivers, too often were out of position and too often got plowed by the run.

“What’s important to us is the way we’re playing now, and we’re playing better,” said coach Jeff Fisher, who thought Sunday as complete a game as he’s witnessed as Rams coach. “I think the younger guys are more familiar with what we’re doing. I think ... Gregg understands who he’s working with.”

“The scheme is built so that if everyone is on the same page you can play really fast,” explained middle linebacker James Laurinaitis, who sacked Manning on the final play of the third quarter. “Gregg always says, ‘A slow correct decision is still a wrong decision.’ He doesn’t want you to be thinking, ‘Well, technically I’m supposed to be here.’ If you do that slowly he’s still going to grade you down because he wants you playing fast.

“I think the last few weeks we’ve been able to come in, play extremely fast, trust each other and know that we don’t have to be perfect. Let’s just be aggressive and physical. The light bulb is kind of switched on, but we have to keep that thing on. I don’t want it to (burn) out.”

Opponents gashed the Rams for 4.67 yards per rush and 144.3 rushing yards per game during a 2-4 start. Now more stout than stiff, the Rams have since confined three teams that won double-digit games last season to an average 2.57 yards a carry and less than 86 rushing yards a game.

Before the Rams stunned the 49ers on the road they owned the league’s lowest combination of sacks and interceptions (nine). With Sunday’s two sacks and two picks of Manning, a team that dressed up as an easy defensive mark for Halloween has 13 sacks and three interceptions in its last three games. In other words, the Rams are finally playing to their brash coordinator’s reputation.

“Not taking anything away from their offense, you can credit their defense,” assessed Broncos coach John Fox, his reigning AFC champions now 2-3 on the road this season.

“We’re a physical team,” insisted defensive end Eugene Sims. “Most people don’t think that. But when they see our identity on film they know different.”

The Broncos like to run no-huddle, fast-break offense. Manning is the maestro of the audible, gesturing while stepping up and back from his line. The Rams typically employ two or three defensive checks per game. Sunday they brought seven or eight by Laurinaitis’ count. The Broncos took only 66 offensive snaps — the same number the Cardinals ran the previous week, only four more than the 49ers ran two weeks before.

Manning is the greatest regular-season quarterback in league history, but on Sunday in probably his last performance at the Edward Jones Dome, he looked ordinary and frustrated.

A play-changing surgeon who specializes in the unexpected, Manning found himself narrowed to throwing the ball on his team’s final 29 plays. “I don’t feel like I carried my weight today,” he said.

Once Greg Zuerlein, who had 16 points, kicked the Rams to a two-possession lead, the Broncos defined one-dimensional. The Broncos called their final running play with 7:49 left in the third quarter and the Rams ahead 13-7.

Two weeks ago the 49ers admitted after a 13-10 loss that the Rams’ defensive line manhandled them in an eight-sack effort against the mobile Colin Kaepernick. Arizona’s Carson Palmer didn’t last three quarters before suffering a left ACL tear. Sunday at the orange-tinted Edward Jones Dome ended Manning’s NFL record of 15 consecutive games with multiple touchdown passes.

Ogletree has gone from lost in space to a force in the past month. He intercepted a pass for the second straight week, conspired on 13 tackles and knocked down a fourth-down pass to effectively squash any lingering hope for a Broncos comeback.

A team embarrassingly prone to poor discipline and catastrophic mistakes in most of its six losses implemented a perfect game plan Sunday. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson intercepted Manning and defensed three other passes. Rookie cornerback E.J. Gaines proved more than a nuisance with eight tackles and two passes defensed. Free safety Rodney McLeod leveled Broncos wideout Emanuel Sanders with a second-quarter shoulder hit that left Manning’s deep threat with a concussion and McLeod potentially fined. Of the Broncos’ 34 receptions, three went for more than 20 yards, just one for more than 30.

Effective defense is fast, punishing and painful. Ballet is for the other side of the ball. Tough guys don’t dance. The Rams didn’t two-step Sunday.
 

Jumava1968

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Imagine what the defense will look like once they really have the scheme down.They have 6 games left this year to iron out any wrinkles. So come next year they will dominate the league especially since the schedule won't be any where near as brutal.
 

Ballhawk

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Why would McLeod get fined for a legal hit that the refs screwed up on?
 

bwdenverram

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Why would McLeod get fined for a legal hit that the refs screwed up on?
Because unfortunately it's not how he hit him. The actual hit wasn't helmet to helmet or anything. It's that the receiver was deemed defenseless to protect himself. That's the new league rules. I get it even though it was against us. If it was the other way around we'd want it called in our favor too. Good hit, tough rule.
 

Robocop

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Why would McLeod get fined for a legal hit that the refs screwed up on?
Kendricks got fined last week. they really don't give a shit whether it's correct or not. the NFL is a dictatorship under Goodell
 

den-the-coach

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Old Man River next up for pain and punishment!
04241f6.jpg
 

Mackeyser

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lead_large.jpg


I think you mean "Old Man Clemens"... that "Old Man River" dood turned a knee or sumthin...
 

RamzFanz

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“Gregg always says, ‘A slow correct decision is still a wrong decision.'

Damn right. Well said.
 

RaminExile

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“Gregg always says, ‘A slow correct decision is still a wrong decision.'

Damn right. Well said.

Except when it comes to the refs! I do wish they'd take their time a bit sometimes and get the right call (like the McLeod hit) which was legal actually bwdenverram - because he didn't hit him in the head or neck area - it was shoulder according to the rule.
 

blackbart

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This is the defense I was expecting when I took them in all my fantasy leagues and was talking top 5 D. It took a while to jell but I love the way these guys are playing. I'll take those occasional penalties, hits like McLeod's send a message and have a lasting affect on the game. Screw Goodell
 

LACHAMP46

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Why would McLeod get fined for a legal hit that the refs screwed up on?
If you look at the play in slow motion, his helmet does graze Sanders helmet. I would think that they'll get him for the max...$22,700 to $50,000....We are the Rams after all....If I see a $7,000 fine, you sir are correct.....
 

Ballhawk

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Fisher said on TV this evening that both big hits were completely legal and explained why.
If they had review it would have been overturned.