Jeff Fisher asks Rams D to break NFL sack record

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By Marc Sessler | Writer
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... ack-record

The St. Louis Rams notched 39 sacks in 2011, tied for 15th in the NFL. Coach Jeff Fisher is raising the bar for 2012.

In his first season guiding the team, Fisher is asking the St. Louis defense to chase down the opposing quarterback 73 times, according to CBSSports.com. That figure would break the NFL record of 72 sacks set by the 1984 Chicago Bears.

That's a tall order for a roster that might not be up to the task, but the Rams' 4-3 scheme flashes some potential along the defensive line. Chris Long recorded a team-best 13 sacks last season, and Robert Quinn is an emerging pass-rusher who totaled five sacks as a rookie in 2011. End James Hall had six, but he's currently a free agent.

Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports chronicled the organization's desire to land defensive tackle Michael Brockers in the draft after Justin Blackmon vanished off the board. Brockers is a big, run-stuffing inside man who will help St. Louis shore up a run defense that allowed too many big plays on the ground last season (Football Outsiders had the Rams D-line ranked 23rd against the run in football last season).

We don't see where 34 more sacks would come from (14 teams totaled 33 or less in 2011), but why not aim high, Mr. Fisher?

 

[steferfootball]

I think we'd have to get at least 15 from both Chris Long and Robert Quinn. (30 combined)

5 from our starting tackles each.

5 from the rest of the DT rotation.

5 From each of the backup DEs.

So 55 from the line.

And 17 from the linebackers and secondary. That Mario Haggens fellow has defensive end size, perhaps we get him in some mismatches? IIRC, he only has 8 career sacks though.

Yeah, it is a stretch.


One thing our defensive line has is Chris Long. He gets a lot of attention, but still manages to disrupt plays. Pair him with a good nose tackle, and many of those disruptions turn into sacks. Chris has a good initial burst, and is really good at forcing the QB to step up into the pocket prematurely - good defensive tackles could feast on this. But I don't know about 72 sacks.

 

[Username]

Well, the first thing we're going to have to do if we want to even break 50 is score more than 3-7 points a game.