Daily Dose: Peters and Talib’s Lock Down Defense

[BonifayRam]

Daily Dose: Peters and Talib’s Lock Down Defense
By Clarence Dennis


Each weekday, theRams.com will be taking a look around the internet for the top Rams headlines of the day. Here’s a look at what’s out there for Wednesday September 19th about your Los Angeles Rams.

HURDLES AT 2-0

Cynthia Frelund of the NFL Network picked one soft spot for each 2-0 team in the NFL. Frelund said the Rams must improve with quarterback Jared Goff under pressure.

“There are a lot of strong positive indicators for the Rams overall, but one situation to monitor is how Goff's passing production changes under pressure. So far this season, he has a 28.6 passer rating under pressure versus a 117.6 passer rating when not under pressure (last season: 61.6 vs 110.1). Think of -20 as how much the rating for top 10 QBs changes on the routes Goff has been targeting. Three of the Rams' next four opponents (Chargers, Vikings and Broncos) have upper-end ability to get in the face of opposing quarterbacks and should reveal how Sean McVay is going to evolve when it comes to play-calling and using Goff this season.”

PETERS-TALIB COMBO

The Rams adding All-Pro corners Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters in the offseason has paid off through two games. Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus tweeted just how good the pair has been so far in 2018.

Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib have allowed 37 yards *combined* through 2 weeks

85 different CBs have allowed more than that on their own

— Mike Renner (@PFF_Mike) September 17, 2018
Talib and Peters will once again face a familiar opponent in the Los Angeles Chargers of the AFC West on Sunday.

MORE MATT LONGACRE?

Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton chose one player on each NFL team who he believes deserves more snaps. For the Rams, Moton chose linebacker Matt Longacre — saying Longacre could provide help in the pass-rush.

“Matt Longacre isn't a household name, but he's a pass-rushing asset. He lined up for 35.3 percent of the team's defensive snaps in 2017 and logged 5.5 sacks. The fourth-year veteran has been on the field 36.5 percent of the time this year.

Longacre isn't an All-Pro like Aaron Donald or Ndamukong Suh, but defensive coordinator Wade Phillips can use him to dial up pocket pressure off the edge. In a larger role, he could list among the top three Rams defenders in sacks.”




news
Shields Records First Interception since 2015
CB Sam Shields has had a long road back to the NFL, and made the most of his defensive opportunity on Sunday by picking off QB Sam Bradford.[URL='https://www.therams.com/news/three-rams-named-to-pff-team-of-the-week'] [/URL]

 

[Jacobarch]

wait what? How do they figure? Goff was tearing it up under pressure last week. Maybe it was the first game that brought down his rating. Oh well.

 

[ReekofRams]

How can they measure Goff under pressure, when he hasn't been under pressure that much. Let's talk about this after a couple more games.

 

[bubbaramfan]

Cynthia Frelund writes "So far this season J Goff has a 28.6 passer rating under pressure..."
How many snaps does that equal? I've watched both games twice and I can only remember him being under pressure 4 or 5 times in both games. For most of his snaps Goff has had all day.

Something I've noticed about Goff that I don't hear anyone comment on much. Goff has an uncanny ability to sense pressure, and makes just the right amount of movement, a shrug of the shoulder, a slight duck of the head, or a half step into the pocket, just enough to avoid a hit.

I do agree that the upcoming games with the Chargers, Vikings and Bronco's will be a test for Rams OL, especially LT Whitworth. Ingram, Bosa, and Von Miller are elite pass rushers, and the Vikings have a solid pass rush also.

Rams TE's need to step up in these games as Goff is going to need to get the ball out quicker.

I'm jazzed to be able to attend the next two games.
Sec 14L, row 68 for Chargers (going with my niece, a Charger fan)

Sec 25H, row 80 for Vikings. Hooking up with ROD member VetRamFan for that game, courtesy of "CallMeRoman" of RFU.

 

[Jacobarch]

I think Longacre is on a snap count and will be brought back slowly. Hopefully his workload will continue to grow as it means he's doing his job better than anyone else. I like the guy, he never quits. Reminds of a poor mans Chris Long.

 

[RamFan503]

wait what? How do they figure? Goff was tearing it up under pressure last week. Maybe it was the first game that brought down his rating. Oh well.

You have to wonder what they consider “under pressure”. Does it mean he has to be forced from the pocket? If so, I would say they don’t account for how good he is in NOT being forced from the pocket.

I’m not denying that he needs to get better at hitting receivers when he’s on the run. But watching that Monday night game and seeing those two QBs give up the pocket as a first choice.... I’ll take a young QB that knows how to move within the pocket and needs to work on throwing on the run.

 

[Jacobarch]

You have to wonder what they consider “under pressure”. Does it mean he has to be forced from the pocket? If so, I would say they don’t account for how good he is in NOT being forced from the pocket.

I’m not denying that he needs to get better at hitting receivers when he’s on the run. But watching that Monday night game and seeing those two QBs give up the pocket as a first choice.... I’ll take a young QB that knows how to move within the pocket and needs to work on throwing on the run.

Yeah, I'm assuming that INT by Peterson really brought down his rating. if he has only 3 roll outs and 1 INT his rating is going to be pretty terrible. Kind of misleading stat if you ask me.

 

[Farr Be It]

I think Longacre is on a snap count and will be brought back slowly. Hopefully his workload will continue to grow as it means he's doing his job better than anyone else. I like the guy, he never quits. Reminds of a poor mans Chris Long.

If by “a poor mans Chris Long,” you mean he doesn’t have the big salary Chris had, I agree. But I think Matt may be just as effective, if not more, than Long. Happy to have him on the team.

 

[jjab360]

If by “a poor mans Chris Long,” you mean he doesn’t have the big salary Chris had, I agree. But I think Matt may be just as effective, if not more, than Long. Happy to have him on the team.

Let's not underrate how good Long was when he played for the Rams. He had a ton of pressures and TFLs over his career, he was never an explosive pass rusher but he got the job done. Longacre is a similar type of player but has a lot to show before we can compare the two.

 

[bubbaramfan]

All the talking heads keep ragging on the Rams for not having an elite outside pass rusher. As long as guys like Longacre, Easley, Ebukam, F-Meyes contain the edge and keep QB's from dashing to 1st downs, its enough.

 

[Faceplant]

Cynthia Frelund is the same C U Next Tuesday that predicted the Rams will finish 9-7. She clearly enjoys being a "contrarian" for the sake of it. That is a laughable "metric" that is probably based on less than 10 snaps. She sucks.....that is all.

 

[Mackeyser]

Let's not underrate how good Long was when he played for the Rams. He had a ton of pressures and TFLs over his career, he was never an explosive pass rusher but he got the job done. Longacre is a similar type of player but has a lot to show before we can compare the two.

Yeah, Chris Long was very good. Not "2nd overall pick in the draft" good, but very good.

I remember when I analyzed his college game film, I saw wicked bad footwork issues and he wasn't very good with his hands. His footwork was the one thing he spoke about the media about what he needed to improve and then he went further and took part in MMAthletics camp to improve hand usage.

As he's really taken upon himself to improve, he's definitely become a very good player. Both New England and Philly were better with him on the team.

Longacre has a ways to go to get to that level. That said, his improvement is noteworthy and in Wade's defense, he could easily make that transition to very good in a relatively short period of time.

 

[Mackeyser]

Cynthia Frelund is the same C U Next Tuesday that predicted the Rams will finish 9-7. She clearly enjoys being a "contrarian" for the sake of it. That is a laughable "metric" that is probably based on less than 10 snaps. She sucks.....that is all.

Well, I don't think that's necessary. She seems like a nice enough person.

The thing is, she's using analytics and running models the standard 10k times to predict outcomes.

Well, the problem with analytics is that if one doesn't weight the variables properly or have algorithms that account for how the variables relate to one another, to what degree and extent, you get GIGO...Garbage In, Garbage Out.

It's not just a problem of assigning a variable like in Madden, either.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it's not that Target predicted that a 16 year old was pregnant because she bought crackers. There wasn't a linear correlation.

Target's analytics team was looking for shopping patterns which correlate with 1st trimester pregnancy.

The emphasis was on patterns, not any one purchase. Thus, with something like 40 items, a person would have to purchase a certain number at the same time or within a limited time frame to indicate a pattern.

The reason to run simulations 10k times is to remove random outcomes and establish a data cloud which if the context of the data is understood would lead to some sort of data derived conclusion or insight.

All too often with sports analytics, we see advanced versions of Madden rather than a real understanding of how the parts fit together.

Sort of like it takes a lawyer who's also a doctor to litigate certain cases because it takes the knowledge of a doctor to speak to how the law applies, it's the same here.

While I'm sure Cynthia Frelund knows football to a degree, she's not Sean McVay.

We'll have the kind of analytics that really matters when someone like McVay who is a football savant, but maybe isn't all that great a coach goes into analytics.

THAT person will be able to contextualize the variables in such a fashion that the simulations matter.

As it stands right now, it's like playing 10k games of vibrating, electric football and thinking that will have any bearing on the outcome in real life.

All it means is that analytics is still in it's infancy, especially as relates to football and as more talent comes into the field, the better the models will be and the better they will be able to output relevant data.

 

[Adi]

That stat on Talib and Peters is ridiculous .

Goff stat has no validity . How many times was he under pressure so far this year ? We will see over the next few weeks

 

[RamBall]

wait what? How do they figure? Goff was tearing it up under pressure last week. Maybe it was the first game that brought down his rating. Oh well.

I think it is more a case of he has been under pressure so seldom that it is a small sample size. Goff has only been knocked down a few times in 2 games. On most pass plays he has had time to order dinner before getting rid of the ball.

 

[RamBall]

Cynthia Frelund writes "So far this season J Goff has a 28.6 passer rating under pressure..."
How many snaps does that equal? I've watched both games twice and I can only remember him being under pressure 4 or 5 times in both games. For most of his snaps Goff has had all day.

Something I've noticed about Goff that I don't hear anyone comment on much. Goff has an uncanny ability to sense pressure, and makes just the right amount of movement, a shrug of the shoulder, a slight duck of the head, or a half step into the pocket, just enough to avoid a hit.

I do agree that the upcoming games with the Chargers, Vikings and Bronco's will be a test for Rams OL, especially LT Whitworth. Ingram, Bosa, and Von Miller are elite pass rushers, and the Vikings have a solid pass rush also.

Rams TE's need to step up in these games as Goff is going to need to get the ball out quicker.

I'm jazzed to be able to attend the next two games.
Sec 14L, row 68 for Chargers (going with my niece, a Charger fan)

Sec 25H, row 80 for Vikings. Hooking up with ROD member VetRamFan for that game, courtesy of "CallMeRoman" of RFU.

I will be at the vikings game also, sec 24 row 69. My wife and I are going to the game for my 50th birthday, it will be my 1st Rams home game. I may go to the seattle game in November also. I've got Dales # I'll try and meet up with you guys again.

 

[RamBall]

Cynthia Frelund is the same C U Next Tuesday that predicted the Rams will finish 9-7. She clearly enjoys being a "contrarian" for the sake of it. That is a laughable "metric" that is probably based on less than 10 snaps. She sucks.....that is all.

She is also your classic butter face. She has a nice body, but her face.

 

[BonifayRam]

One thing we do know about our tandem corners is they know Rivers very well! Both having played against Rivers twice a season since these corner both played in the AFC West.

I would have liked to seen the past stats on how well Rivers has done throwing the ball twice a yr @ Peters then twice a year @ Talib?

 

[Mackeyser]

Well, Peters has straight victimized Rivers and Rivers basically avoided Talib when he was with Denver

 

[Prime Time]

View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1042964130385125376