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Fixing run defense is top priority for Rams
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_97c5b573-4086-55d3-9751-b032fd43a7fe.html
Almost since the end of last season, Rams defenders have been harping on the necessity of getting off to a quicker start in 2015, particularly against the run. That must have made the team’s 24-10 loss Sunday to Washington all the more frustrating.
The Rams yielded 182 yards rushing at FedEx Field, their worst outing since allowing 186 yards to Minnesota in the ’14 season opener and the seventh-worst showing in Jeff Fisher’s 50 games as Rams coach.
A team that prides itself on playing tough, physical football got out-muscled on too many plays. And at any level of football, if you can’t stop the run you’re probably not going to win.
“Just too many explosive plays,” Fisher said Monday. “We’ve got to fix our defense against the run.”
More than half of Washington’s rushing total — 99 yards — came on just three plays: a 35-yard run by Alfred Morris, a 39-yard touchdown run by Matt Jones and a 25-yard run by Jones.
“It’s a combination of things,” Fisher said. “It was a combination of gap integrity by the players. It was a combination of the (coaching) staff putting them in some bad positions.
“So overall, we’re all going to take responsibility for that — the defensive staff, the defensive players — and we’ve got to get that fixed. One hundred fifty-three yards a game rushing right now is not what we’re about.”
But that’s where the Rams are two games into the season. They rank 30th in the league in run defense, yielding 153 yards per contest. Only Green Bay (154 yards) and Cleveland (160) are worse.
The Rams were pretty stout against the run in the opener against Seattle, one of the NFL’s top-rushing teams in recent years.
The Seahawks had 124 yards rushing, but needed 32 carries to get there and averaged a modest 3.9 yards per carry. They had only one rushing play gain more than 10 yards.
Washington was a different story. There was nothing fancy about any of those three big plays. Here’s what happened:
Morris’ 35-yard run off left tackle: Defensive tackle Aaron Donald got caught too far upfield — while he was in the backfield, Morris already was pressing the line of scrimmage. Defensive tackle Michael Brockers over-pursued a little too far to the right, leaving a gap open.
Normally there would be a linebacker as a safety net in the gap, but on this play Washington right guard Brandon Scherff smothered middle linebacker James Laurinaitis. And when Morris cut back to the backside, nobody was there because outside linebacker Alec Ogletree was knocked to the ground by a cut block.
As a topper, free safety Rodney McLeod missed a tackle at the Washington 40, which helped turn what would’ve been about 12-yard gain by Morris into a 35-yard advance.
Jones’ 39-yard TD run around left end: Once again, Donald got caught upfield. Defensive end Chris Long got pinned inside, leaving the perimeter open. A few yards downfield, Washington center Kory Lichtensteiger blocked Laurinaitis and tight end Jordan Reed took out Ogletree.
McLeod took a bad angle to the ball and got caught between Ogletree and Laurinaitis (and the Washington players blocking them). Jones broke outside at this point and reached the end zone for Washington’s first score.
Jones’ 25-yard run around right end: Defensive end William Hayes got pinned inside by a Washington blocker, leaving the perimeter open. Safety Mark Barron, lining up as an outside linebacker in one of the packages designed for him by coordinator Gregg Williams, got pushed downfield by Reed.
Scherff took out Laurinaitis, and with the corners in “off” coverage about 10 yards down field, Jones had plenty of room to roam once he broke the line off scrimmage. The play set up Washington’s second TD drive.
As Fisher said, part of the problem simply is getting off blocks.
“They did a really nice job,” Fisher said, praising the blocking schemes of Washington offensive line coach Bill Callahan. “They took advantage of some angles, with a combination of a man (blocking) and a zone scheme cutting the backside off. ... We had a couple of times where they blocked the running backs into the secondary. We can’t let that happen.”
On each of those big plays, Rams defensive linemen weren’t holding up Washington blockers at the line of scrimmage — much less defeating them. As a result, that allowed those blockers to get at the linebackers on the second level.
And usually, when a 320-pound guard gets a clean shot on a 240-pound linebacker, the guard is going to win.
Schematically, it wasn’t as if Washington showed the Rams much that was different from what was already on tape.
“They might have tweaked some things we weren’t ready for,” Brockers said. “But for the most part we just got outplayed. That’s as simple as it gets.”
Or as defensive end Robert Quinn put it: “They were able to just kind of pound away. Credit to them.”
That makes the manner of Sunday’s loss all the more disappointing because that’s the style of play Fisher’s teams have been known for, dating to his time with the Tennessee Titans.
“That’s what we’re about,” Fisher said. “On defense, you stop the run and you’re off the field on third down. And we’re not doing either one of them right now.”
With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town, there’s no time like the present to get things right. Veteran speedster DeAngelo Williams leads the AFC and is second in the NFL with 204 yards rushing.
And big back Le’Veon Bell, who set a franchise record last year with 2,215 yards from scrimmage, will make his season debut after serving a two-game league suspension.
“We’ve gotta figure it out because we’ve got another great team in Pittsburgh next week,” Quinn said. “So we better get ourselves together.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_97c5b573-4086-55d3-9751-b032fd43a7fe.html
Almost since the end of last season, Rams defenders have been harping on the necessity of getting off to a quicker start in 2015, particularly against the run. That must have made the team’s 24-10 loss Sunday to Washington all the more frustrating.
The Rams yielded 182 yards rushing at FedEx Field, their worst outing since allowing 186 yards to Minnesota in the ’14 season opener and the seventh-worst showing in Jeff Fisher’s 50 games as Rams coach.
A team that prides itself on playing tough, physical football got out-muscled on too many plays. And at any level of football, if you can’t stop the run you’re probably not going to win.
“Just too many explosive plays,” Fisher said Monday. “We’ve got to fix our defense against the run.”
More than half of Washington’s rushing total — 99 yards — came on just three plays: a 35-yard run by Alfred Morris, a 39-yard touchdown run by Matt Jones and a 25-yard run by Jones.
“It’s a combination of things,” Fisher said. “It was a combination of gap integrity by the players. It was a combination of the (coaching) staff putting them in some bad positions.
“So overall, we’re all going to take responsibility for that — the defensive staff, the defensive players — and we’ve got to get that fixed. One hundred fifty-three yards a game rushing right now is not what we’re about.”
But that’s where the Rams are two games into the season. They rank 30th in the league in run defense, yielding 153 yards per contest. Only Green Bay (154 yards) and Cleveland (160) are worse.
The Rams were pretty stout against the run in the opener against Seattle, one of the NFL’s top-rushing teams in recent years.
The Seahawks had 124 yards rushing, but needed 32 carries to get there and averaged a modest 3.9 yards per carry. They had only one rushing play gain more than 10 yards.
Washington was a different story. There was nothing fancy about any of those three big plays. Here’s what happened:
Morris’ 35-yard run off left tackle: Defensive tackle Aaron Donald got caught too far upfield — while he was in the backfield, Morris already was pressing the line of scrimmage. Defensive tackle Michael Brockers over-pursued a little too far to the right, leaving a gap open.
Normally there would be a linebacker as a safety net in the gap, but on this play Washington right guard Brandon Scherff smothered middle linebacker James Laurinaitis. And when Morris cut back to the backside, nobody was there because outside linebacker Alec Ogletree was knocked to the ground by a cut block.
As a topper, free safety Rodney McLeod missed a tackle at the Washington 40, which helped turn what would’ve been about 12-yard gain by Morris into a 35-yard advance.
Jones’ 39-yard TD run around left end: Once again, Donald got caught upfield. Defensive end Chris Long got pinned inside, leaving the perimeter open. A few yards downfield, Washington center Kory Lichtensteiger blocked Laurinaitis and tight end Jordan Reed took out Ogletree.
McLeod took a bad angle to the ball and got caught between Ogletree and Laurinaitis (and the Washington players blocking them). Jones broke outside at this point and reached the end zone for Washington’s first score.
Jones’ 25-yard run around right end: Defensive end William Hayes got pinned inside by a Washington blocker, leaving the perimeter open. Safety Mark Barron, lining up as an outside linebacker in one of the packages designed for him by coordinator Gregg Williams, got pushed downfield by Reed.
Scherff took out Laurinaitis, and with the corners in “off” coverage about 10 yards down field, Jones had plenty of room to roam once he broke the line off scrimmage. The play set up Washington’s second TD drive.
As Fisher said, part of the problem simply is getting off blocks.
“They did a really nice job,” Fisher said, praising the blocking schemes of Washington offensive line coach Bill Callahan. “They took advantage of some angles, with a combination of a man (blocking) and a zone scheme cutting the backside off. ... We had a couple of times where they blocked the running backs into the secondary. We can’t let that happen.”
On each of those big plays, Rams defensive linemen weren’t holding up Washington blockers at the line of scrimmage — much less defeating them. As a result, that allowed those blockers to get at the linebackers on the second level.
And usually, when a 320-pound guard gets a clean shot on a 240-pound linebacker, the guard is going to win.
Schematically, it wasn’t as if Washington showed the Rams much that was different from what was already on tape.
“They might have tweaked some things we weren’t ready for,” Brockers said. “But for the most part we just got outplayed. That’s as simple as it gets.”
Or as defensive end Robert Quinn put it: “They were able to just kind of pound away. Credit to them.”
That makes the manner of Sunday’s loss all the more disappointing because that’s the style of play Fisher’s teams have been known for, dating to his time with the Tennessee Titans.
“That’s what we’re about,” Fisher said. “On defense, you stop the run and you’re off the field on third down. And we’re not doing either one of them right now.”
With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town, there’s no time like the present to get things right. Veteran speedster DeAngelo Williams leads the AFC and is second in the NFL with 204 yards rushing.
And big back Le’Veon Bell, who set a franchise record last year with 2,215 yards from scrimmage, will make his season debut after serving a two-game league suspension.
“We’ve gotta figure it out because we’ve got another great team in Pittsburgh next week,” Quinn said. “So we better get ourselves together.”
