New Defense - Ongoing season discussion

[Merlin]

Some key defensive metrics below. Granted we played one shitty offense in the Raiders in the past three games. But over the past three games you can see some defensive quality emerging.

Scoring defense

Redzone (TD allowed only)

Passer rating against

Yards per rush allowed

 

[Psycho_X]

Some key defensive metrics below. Granted we played one shitty offense in the Raiders in the past three games. But over the past three games you can see some defensive quality emerging.

Scoring defense
View attachment 68232

Redzone (TD allowed only)
View attachment 68233

Passer rating against
View attachment 68234

Yards per rush allowed
View attachment 68235

Some reporter was saying Rams defense is in the top 10 of most categories for the month of October as this suggests. We knew this young as hell team was going to have serious struggles coming out of the gate. Add in some injuries and a rough ILB situation and it started off rougher than I think most of us imagined.

There will still be a few frustrating struggles but they are turning into a fun team to watch. If we get lucky and all of our major injury issues are behind us this team could really turn into a force come playoff time. A defense built on applying maximum pressure with an offense that can score 30 points a game is a recipe for maximum enjoyment.

 

[fearsomefour]

I follow the team pretty closely and never saw those reports. Is there something you can link?

And.. Tennessee is having a fire sale and turned him for a profit, because he was playing so well... although his PFF grade and his counting stats are remarkably similar to Troy Reeder's.

An article? No
Just a rumor.....you know how it is.
Never heard anything negative before about Ernest however.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

DWill such a great pickup and what's even better is we signed him for three years. And the contract we signed him to doesn't give him his guarantees until after the current year. So we can get out of the contract every offseason if we wanted. But I don't know why we would at this point. He's a starting CB and the best DB we have and he's only costing us a max of $10 million a year and that's if he hits incentives. Best free agent contract we signed this offseason.

But it's not only Dwill, Curl is starting to really settle into the defense and Durant/Wallace/McCollough/Witherspoon have turned into quite a good group of DBs working together. This defense from front to back is built on pressure and as long as our offense continues on the path it started Thursday this will be a fun as hell team to watch.


View: https://x.com/JB_Long/status/1851269568825868396

Dwill was a top ten corner last year. I don't know why he didn't get bigger offers. The DBs have been playing well. I'm glad they figured out that Curl is a Strong Safety and not a free safety. It sucks that White took a nose dive. This backfield would be sick.

I wouldn't trade for JOK or any other ILB. Let Speights settle in. Use Curl next to him. I think Curl is just as good in the box as Rozeboom because he reads threats near the LOS very efficiently and has good range. That gives us speed in the duo and overall for our defense in snuffing out all the BS underneath shit that proliferates this league.

We're probably not gonna become a great run defense unit. They have improved in that regard but overall we don't have the horses up front for that. So any run we make comes down to the offense putting up points and the defense teeing off on teams trying to stay with our offense. ILBs are not going to fix the fundamental issues we have up front on defense.

Now if by some miracle Brown gets his shit together then great. Or if someone else emerges as that DL we need up front that is fine too. But if the Rams make any move it should be for one of the fundamental problematic areas they need to upgrade. Which is NT (or 5T), Corner, even Safety I'd rather see than ILB. Because Kinchens looks completely lost in a position that normally does not require major transition time. And Curl has zero instincts in the deep middle or any sort of zone approach (exception being maybe a match type zone), he's a SS type who must be given an assignment if he's gonna do anything decent in coverage.

If healthy, this roster is a Superbowl contender, with a glaring weakness at ilb. I hope Speights can play well, but if I was Snead, I'd be looking to trade for a quality veteran. There is too much riding on that position. Maybe the rumors are true and they are looking to pair a vet like JOK with Speights in time. That's a better option than Roseboom and Speights. This was a top ten defense in October. A very good ilb could make it top five the rest of the way .

 

[TheTackle]

Let's get Speights some help soon!!
From a weakness to a strength
Could Rams LBs soon be, inside out, the youngest and most talented in the league?

One can dream

 

[fearsomefour]

Let's get Speights some help soon!!
From a weakness to a strength
Could Rams LBs soon be, inside out, the youngest and most talented in the league?

One can dream

They did it with the DL in short order, why not the LB/Edge group?

 

[Kupped]

I and others linked Andrew Whitworth talking about issues with Jones in camp in the trade thread.

Thank you. Somehow, I missed that.

Makes a little more sense now.

 

[OldSchool]

Thank you. Somehow, I missed that.

Makes a little more sense now.

I think he tried to pull his punches and wasn't as negative as the situation was. But that's 100% me projecting. Still for Whit to be down on a guy like he was i have to imagine the situation was even worse than he said

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

Dwill was a top ten corner last year. I don't know why he didn't get bigger offers. The DBs have been playing well. I'm glad they figured out that Curl is a Strong Safety and not a free safety. It sucks that White took a nose dive. This backfield would be sick.

If healthy, this roster is a Superbowl contender, with a glaring weakness at ilb. I hope Speights can play well, but if I was Snead, I'd be looking to trade for a quality veteran. There is too much riding on that position. Maybe the rumors are true and they are looking to pair a vet like JOK with Speights in time. That's a better option than Roseboom and Speights. This was a top ten defense in October. A very good ilb could make it top five the rest of the way .

Maybe Fields can be an improvement? It’s not like it’s a high bar.

 

[Merlin]

If healthy, this roster is a Superbowl contender, with a glaring weakness at ilb. I hope Speights can play well, but if I was Snead, I'd be looking to trade for a quality veteran. There is too much riding on that position. Maybe the rumors are true and they are looking to pair a vet like JOK with Speights in time. That's a better option than Roseboom and Speights. This was a top ten defense in October. A very good ilb could make it top five the rest of the way .

Disagree. We won a Super Bowl with Reeder at ILB. ILB does matter, but the larger issues driving our playoff potency are our pass game potency on offense and our secondary. So as much as I'd like to see us add an ILB it's not something I'd waste draft capital on at the deadline because it's not going to move the bar enough to make up for the additional cost at this time of year.

If they do make a move for a position at the deadline it should be a DL who adds some run stopping ability, or a DB to supplement our pass defense. Even a wideout or pass game threat would make sense, though I still think supplementing the defensive trenches or secondary would improve this team more.

 

[Psycho_X]

View: https://x.com/TheLARamsPR/status/1852436106685579681

 

[Tano]

Disagree. We won a Super Bowl with Reeder at ILB. ILB does matter, but the larger issues driving our playoff potency are our pass game potency on offense and our secondary. So as much as I'd like to see us add an ILB it's not something I'd waste draft capital on at the deadline because it's not going to move the bar enough to make up for the additional cost at this time of year.

If they do make a move for a position at the deadline it should be a DL who adds some run stopping ability, or a DB to supplement our pass defense. Even a wideout or pass game threat would make sense, though I still think supplementing the defensive trenches or secondary would improve this team more.

Jones was in the game a lot replacing Reeder in that game.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Disagree. We won a Super Bowl with Reeder at ILB. ILB does matter, but the larger issues driving our playoff potency are our pass game potency on offense and our secondary. So as much as I'd like to see us add an ILB it's not something I'd waste draft capital on at the deadline because it's not going to move the bar enough to make up for the additional cost at this time of year.

If they do make a move for a position at the deadline it should be a DL who adds some run stopping ability, or a DB to supplement our pass defense. Even a wideout or pass game threat would make sense, though I still think supplementing the defensive trenches or secondary would improve this team more.

Didn’t Jones have ten tackles in that Super Bowl?

I think after watching Roseboom’s and Reeders slow reactions, and Hummel not knowing who to cover , adding another Layer nebacker that can diagnose a run play and cover a Tight end would be a big upgrade.

I don’t disagree with adding depth at some spots but in the past the Rams have gone with the bigger name signings.

 

[Merlin]

Didn’t Jones have ten tackles in that Super Bowl?

Not sure. His best play was a sack I think. Hard to recall.

I just don't like moving draft capital at the deadline for an offball backer. Save the picks for moving up for a LT or pass game stud in the draft, or a corner. Keep taking shots at ILB in the draft, and try to pull an SF and find one round 3 or whatever.

And in the meantime I want to see if Speights can grow in that role. I would pair him with Curl.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Not sure. His best play was a sack I think. Hard to recall.

I just don't like moving draft capital at the deadline for an offball backer. Save the picks for moving up for a LT or pass game stud in the draft, or a corner. Keep taking shots at ILB in the draft, and try to pull an SF and find one round 3 or whatever.

And in the meantime I want to see if Speights can grow in that role. I would pair him with Curl.

I think if the team is close then filling the biggest weakness is worth a future pick.

They screwed up with Speights and finding out if he can play better than Reeder, and even if he can they are still stuck with Reeder or Rozeboom.

Ernest Jones had 1 sack and the second most tackles with 7, which was one less than Darius Williams. He led with 6 solo tackles and tied Vonn and AD with 3 QB hits

 

[Memento]

Not sure. His best play was a sack I think. Hard to recall.

I just don't like moving draft capital at the deadline for an offball backer. Save the picks for moving up for a LT or pass game stud in the draft, or a corner. Keep taking shots at ILB in the draft, and try to pull an SF and find one round 3 or whatever.

And in the meantime I want to see if Speights can grow in that role. I would pair him with Curl.

A sack and a fourth down pass deflection that turned the ball to our side, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[PhillyRam]

The defense... Pretty good!

 

[OldSchool]

The defense is carrying this team. And they're doing it without a real ILB or a CB1. Put some damned respect on Shula's name.

 

[Londoner]

Really impressed by the D today, even though they gave up a few big plays.

The pass rush is going to be the best in the league by the end of this year, while the young players in the secondary are only going to get better.

If we can add better ILBs through free agency and get a stud CB in the draft (and it looks like a very strong class in that position), this defence will be one of the best in the league for the next few years.

 

[thirteen28]

These guys are gonna be fucking monsters. Verse and Fiske are running way with the most pressures for rookies and they are still young and green and learning the ropes.

I miss Donald and the the problems he presented to a D, but I really like the way the post AD defense is developing. With AD, you always knew who you were going to have to double team. Now it's becoming a harder choice to make, because while we don't have anyone that can get after the passer like AD, we have more guys that can do it than we did in his last couple years here.