Philipps and Rams defensive players other than Donald,need to be held accountable.

[Ramlock]

I want to hear Phillips and every Ram player on defense come forward and admit they have not done their jobs this year and need to have all their salary taken away from them.

Gonna hold your breath, are ya?

 

[99Balloons]

I noticed that when the Rams Defense lined up in 4-3 formation with Ebukam, Suh, Donald and Fowler, the pocket collapsed faster and there's nowhere to go for the QB or RB.

The Seahawks used an eligible OL in their 6-OL formation and they gashed the Rams D for huge chunks of yards on the ground. And when Wade had the line of Ebukam, Suh or Brocker, Donald and Fowler, the quick pressure on RW was instant causing him to hurry and overthrow his receivers.

The same thing happened against the Chiefs on the last few defensive series as the Rams Defensive front 4 (I called it the 4-Horsemen of the Rampocalypse), the pocket collapsed and Mahome did not have time to find his receivers and the result was Ebukam got a hand on Mahome's throwing motion and resulting in a wobbly interception.

With the 3-4 Defensive formation, the Rams run defense were easily bulldozed over because it was 5-OL on 3DL. But with the 4-3, this Rampocalypse front four can push back the pocket and cause sacks or hurried throws for an interception.

Wade needs to switch up to a 4-3 Defense with the beef and speed up front.

 

[BonifayRam]

I have always felt Joyner was a bit of an underdog who made good but he is not sticking his nose in on tackles like last year. Is it possible he is trying to avoid an injury this year that will affect a contract next year?

Joyner has played better.....much better! I have no ideal what has happened to him but he is still 3rd on this team in tackles with 56 combo's 38 solo's & 1 INT. LJ did put on 10 lbs since last season. He just seems a lot slower, & late on his reads. His tackles are soft & late too. When your 2nd highest paid defensive player & top paid DB has very little positive plays, no impact whatsoever ......:huh: We have one serious on going "Fail Mode"! The entire defense will suffer.

I posted before I would have no problems IF Wade made a change @ both safety posts. I would be happy to see our current Strong Safety John Johnson III take his athleticism & ball skills to play as a high safety in place of LJ. WE have seen now since his arrival as a rookie last season that he has very soft hands to finish at the catch-point against receivers. I do know that JJ III can cover a lot of ground quickly & does possesses great ball skills in coverage. That is missing with LJ as our high safety. You also get FS that got 6 1/2 inches on what LJ has to offer.

Not so sure who would fill the SS post but Marqui Christian has made some decent progress this season. MC has 27 combos & 22 solos. Of the DB's he is 4th just behind Troy Hill who is 3rd. Wade seems to like MC. He looks to be our best hitter of the back 8. MC is our fastest safety but his coverge skills are not as good as the other three (LJ/ Countess & JJIII). Countess has shown he can play up close to the LOS & be effective. However Wade seems to like his safeties playing back.

I would think that Snead will be looking to duplicate what he did in 2017 when he drafted JJ III in the 3rd round. LJ will not return but Snead can easily have four returning next season{ JJ III/ Marqui Christian/ Blake Countess & a good looking Strong Safety Steven Parker who is on the PS}.

I see little to zero value attached to LJ after this 2018 performance. Spotrac has calculated his market value @ $10.6 million :shocking:.....:rolllaugh:that's never going to happen after this performance.
https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-rams/lamarcus-joyner-14450/market-value/

 

[BriansRams]

You're too caught up in the points with this particular game. If they gave up 51 to the cardinals, yes, that would be a concern, but try and look at the game as a whole with its unique context.

If I may say this.
The Cardinals went to play the Chiefs THIS year IN ARROWHEAD ... and held the Chiefs to ... wait for it .... 26 points.

We seriously need to chew on that before we start offering excuses that our defense doesn't have major problems.

 

[BonifayRam]

Predicting the future NFL coaching changes
ByJohn Newby
https://247sports.com/nfl/cleveland...ng-changes-predictions-124789430/#124789430_7

Los Angeles Rams

Throughout his storied career, Wade Phillips' teams have been known for creating turnovers and getting after the quarterback. J.J. Watt's 20.5-sack season in 2012 is the perfect example, as is Von Miller's performance in Super Bowl 50, and Aaron Donald's performance against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. The possibly greatest defensive coordinator in NFL history has always found a way to incorporate his star defenders into the game plan with staggering results.


Let's face it, Phillips will likely be stepping away from football, much to the dismay of fans around the world. The 71-year-old Rams defensive coordinator has been a coach for 49 years, leading fearsome defenses in Houston, Denver, Philadelphia, San Diego, and many other locations, but he could potentially choose to retire. If he does walk away, potentially after a victory in Super Bowl LIII, who would blame him? Phillips has earned the right to do whatever he wants.


If he does indeed walk away from football, the Rams will be left with a massive hole on the coaching staff. No one can truly replace Phillips and his effect on the game, but there is a coach in Houston that could do reasonably well.


John Pagano is the current linebackers coach in Houston and is enjoying some relative success despite the constant injuries. This is his first season with the Texans after spending five years as the Chargers defensive coordinator and one season in Oakland as the assistant head coach/interim defensive coordinator. While Pagano's defenses have never been known for stifling yards, they have been known for creating turnovers and getting after the quarterback. In 2012, the Chargers scored seven touchdowns and notched 38 total sacks, showing major improvement over the previous seasons. This defense also sacked Greg McElroy 11 times during a week 16 victory.


As further evidence of Pagano's coaching prowess, just look at the Raiders 2017 season. Under Ken Norton Jr., Oakland struggled to sack quarterbacks or create turnovers as the defense went 10 full games without intercepting a pass. Once Pagano took over for the fired Norton, the defense began producing. The Raiders intercepted five passes and notched 14.5 sacks over the final six games of the season. This was a major turnaround for a group that had been underperforming all year long. Unfortunately for Pagano, this improvement didn't ultimately matter as Oakland cleaned out its coaching staff in order to hire Jon Gruden.

 

[8to12]

I ain't gonna lie..Joyner has been playing like crap this year..

I love LJ! I was probably the first fan with his jersey; I had it printed up at NFL SHOP 2 weeks after he was drafted. With that said, I can't defend his play other than offer an opinion as to why he appears to not be in position to make plays. I think Wade changed the roles of the Safeties a bit since last season. I see Lamarcus much closer to the LOS this season than last. It is making him and the entire defense look bad when when teams go over the top. Wade is expecting the CB's to run with WR's all over the field, sometimes with no Safety help. Instead Joyner is patrolling a much closer area to the LOS. For example, on the Chiefs first TD to T. HIll last night, you can see Joyner about 12-15 yards deep as T. Hill and Sam Shields ran past him. He doesn't follow, but patrols that intermediate area. Later, in the second half, Joyner broke up a pass intended for T> HIll on the left sideline, which looked to be in the 15-18 yard depth range. Again, he was not over the top , he was patrolling a much shallower depth of the field.

 

[Steve808]

I noticed that when the Rams Defense lined up in 4-3 formation with Ebukam, Suh, Donald and Fowler, the pocket collapsed faster and there's nowhere to go for the QB or RB.

The Seahawks used an eligible OL in their 6-OL formation and they gashed the Rams D for huge chunks of yards on the ground. And when Wade had the line of Ebukam, Suh or Brocker, Donald and Fowler, the quick pressure on RW was instant causing him to hurry and overthrow his receivers.

The same thing happened against the Chiefs on the last few defensive series as the Rams Defensive front 4 (I called it the 4-Horsemen of the Rampocalypse), the pocket collapsed and Mahome did not have time to find his receivers and the result was Ebukam got a hand on Mahome's throwing motion and resulting in a wobbly interception.

With the 3-4 Defensive formation, the Rams run defense were easily bulldozed over because it was 5-OL on 3DL. But with the 4-3, this Rampocalypse front four can push back the pocket and cause sacks or hurried throws for an interception.

Wade needs to switch up to a 4-3 Defense with the beef and speed up front.

I noticed that too. What I also saw was that Joyner often looks and hesitates where to go and winds up arriving too late to cover either the middle or the sideline. I think there are times where he needs to be decisive and commit one way. Against the chefs, he should have roamed over to help cover Hill and take our chances. Better to take away one target than to take away none.

 

[Mackeyser]

This offense could very well be great enough to keep bailing out the defense week after week.The Rams have every reason in the world to be happy that they won this game but they cannot possibly be happy about giving up 50# points and nearly blowing the game twice not to mention the fact they have kept teams in the game everytime they have faced an elite quarterback.

I want to hear Phillips and every Ram player on defense come forward and admit they have not done their jobs this year and need to have all their salary taken away from them.Donald the exception of course who carried the team last night. this defense is about the most embarrassing defense I can ever remember having as a Rams fan while winning.

I am sure there were worse than this when they were losing but for an offense to have to CONSTANTLY bail out the defense all the time week in and week out to win is downright embarrassing to me as a fan who loves the Los Angeles Rams fan so much and never stopped cheering for them in the early 90's when they had losing season after losing season always watching them back then everytime they had games that were televised any chance i got. sure its a much better alternative than what we saw their first year back in LA which was painful to watch but THIS is painful as well to see a team that has so much history in LA having great defenses be exposed along with the chiefs as having the two worst defenses in the NFL.

Its embarrassing and Im tired of every elite quarterback torching them only winning cause the offense out torches the other teams defenses.

I know I am going to get some chill alerts but facts are facts and these facts cannot be denied.

Firstly, as as been noted by me and a number of other posters, we've faced some of the top offenses.

As of right now, we've faced based on yards the #3, #4, #7, #11, #14, #17 and #20 offenses.

Based on scoring, we've faced the #1, #2, #10, #13, #14, #15.

Out of 11 games, we've only played TWO games with offenses in the bottom half of the league in scoring.

In games where we are facing a top 16 offense, we're 8-1 with the ONLY loss being at home to a Saints team that has traditionally be SUBSTANTIALLY better at home.

So a) for most teams, they are treating us as their Super Bowl, so yeah, we're getting each team's best effort of the season and still winning and b) I dunno if any other team has faced as many high powered offenses as we have.

Also, NO team is allowing LESS than 18 ppg. NONE. The lowest is 18.7 ppg.

When we had Talib, our D allowed 13 to the Raiders in the first half with almost no knowledge of their O since Gruden was an unknown, we shut out the Cards and allowed 23 to the Chargers who are probably the #3 team in the AFC.

So with Talib, we allowed 12 ppg. In that respect, only AD is more valuable as a defender. However, it's forced the D to find people to make plays and come together as a unit which will help come the playoffs.

Also, in every game except the Saints game where in uncharacteristic fashion, the Rams had a letdown after tying the game and holding the Saints to 3 points for more than 20 minutes of the 2nd half. Short of that moment, this D finds a way to make the critical play at the critical time and THAT is the mark of a champion.

Also, with Asshole Face and Drew Brees, their home record is 66-31 which is obnoxious and one of the best home records in the NFL over that time period (it's almost unfair to consider the Pats as their division over that time period has been just awful).

I think we'll see an entirely different D against the Lions and that Bears game looks awfully different with and without Talib.

If Talib remains healthy, I dunno that there's a team that can beat us because no one has really stopped our O and we showed how tough we are with Talib in the lineup.

 

[Mackeyser]

If I may say this.
The Cardinals went to play the Chiefs THIS year IN ARROWHEAD ... and held the Chiefs to ... wait for it .... 26 points.

We seriously need to chew on that before we start offering excuses that our defense doesn't have major problems.

Styles make fights.

We also went INTO AZ and shut them out while scoring 34 and if we had Payton as an HC, it coulda been two TDs more because he's a douchebag.

AZs defense has always been solid and when they had competent QB play, they went to a SB and multiple playoffs with Warner then Palmer.

Also, and I don't say this lightly, anyone who doesn't think that the Coliseum turf doesn't hurt us just doesn't understand. On several plays, our guys would fall down because the turf would just come up in chunks. It was infuriating to watch. I think FedEx field is the only worse surface.

The idea that we're undefeated at home this season is almost miraculous considering how bad the playing surface is.

 

[BonifayRam]

I noticed that too. What I also saw was that Joyner often looks and hesitates where to go and winds up arriving too late to cover either the middle or the sideline. I think there are times where he needs to be decisive and commit one way. Against the chefs, he should have roamed over to help cover Hill and take our chances. Better to take away one target than to take away none.

LJ since being drafted has played many roles in the defense. Started @ both outside corner posts/ Nickle Corner/ Dime Corner/ SSLB'er in Williams D/ Strong Safety & deep safety. Overall he has been excellent in displaying his versatility. LJ had a very good season in 2017 when he started only 12 gms. I might need to remind myself that in 2017 half the gms LJ started was @ the CB Nickle post. Safety Cody Davis started @ high safety for a half dozen games as Wade had to deal with starting CB injuries all 2017 season.

The same can be said about his entire Ram career. This is LJ's first complete season playing mostly high safety. Thus what we see is him being a high safety for the first time & as we all know it's been a failure from the overall point of view when taking in what Ram $$$$$$ resource's went too having LJ start @ safety. In college LJ played primarily @ strong safety.

Here's what I have seen from LJ since 2014 ...has great NFL demeanor, when playing the Nickle/Dime corner posts he is confident & makes plays. When playing near the LOS LJ plays much bigger than a over 5-7 190 lbs frame. His best perfromances comes when his assignments require good short area burst. Near the LOS he has proven to make the subtle pre-snap adjustments to diagnose plays. LJ has been seriously better in coming down hill rapidly to make the hit. His production since his arrival has been outstanding until this season.

This year he shows little instinctiveness nor does he anticipate the plays. He seems not to understand in advanced his assignments in the back end. With the added pounds LJ now lacks the foot speed, thus resulting in constantly being placed in situations where he is distressed :eek::help::notsure:alm:in downfield coverage. It's obvious that neither Countess nor Christian are better than LJ at this time @ high safety or we would see them starting.

I would expect Snead to remidy this problem in the 2019 Ram draft.

 

[LesBaker]

- Inconsistent LBer play

Anyone missing Ogletree yet?

This is who the team is this year.

Things do change year to year and I am afraid you are right this is what it is for 2018.

I'm not worried about our Rams defense because, I have faith it hasn't reached it's full potential like it will during the last month of the regular season.

I'm also not too concerned because we have a field general that can get a game winning layup when the defense has to overcome some adversity.


"layup"

Technically it was a finger roll, and I smiled when he did it.

It's been bad, but last night really exposed how bad. Can Joyner improve? Meh.

IMO he's gone after this year.

Unless he is playing with a nagging injury that we don't know about but the coaches do he can't stay.

Wade needs to switch up to a 4-3 Defense with the beef and speed up front.

I wonder how often he is playing a 3-4 versus a 4-3?

 

[BonifayRam]

I wonder how often he is playing a 3-4 versus a 4-3?

I was thinking the same thing. I see Wade utilizing a wide ranging mixer of DL'ers & Lb'ers lined up many times. There seems to be no repeating pattern. Even our NT Suh ends up playing DE often. This 4 man DL is highly effective when utilized. Rookie John Frankin Myers has made most of his impact plays from this 4 DL combo.

 

[Rmfnlt]

I want to hear Phillips

He's already come out and said he is accountable for the play of the defense. Didn't help much Monday night.

need to have all their salary taken away from them

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't on the table... and never will it be.

Missing a healthy Talib

Although I do not share the sentiment that when Talib comes back all is going to be well.

I agree... I keep reading here about how Talib will cure our ills. I'm just not so sure. First off, he'll have to get re-acclimated to real game football. Second, he's good... but he's no Superman. I'd expect some improvement after maybe his second game is done... but the defense's issues run deeper than just one man.

Let's face it, Phillips will likely be stepping away from football

Ya know... last year, I feared this tremendously. The way this defense has played this year has me much more open to the idea of Phillips retirement. There are a lot of young, creative defensive minds out there. I'd thank Phillips for being there and helping get the ball rolling. But, maybe a change isn't such a bad thing.

I think we'll see an entirely different D against the Lions and that Bears game looks awfully different with and without Talib.
If Talib remains healthy, I dunno that there's a team that can beat us

More of the "Talib will fix us" stuff... careful... careful... careful.

 

[sjm1582002]

Never been a fan of the 3/4 and won't be surprised with the defensive personnel and coaching changes this offseason.

McVay will not tolerate bottom of the barrel performance.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense

 

[MadGoat]

If I may say this.
The Cardinals went to play the Chiefs THIS year IN ARROWHEAD ... and held the Chiefs to ... wait for it .... 26 points.

We seriously need to chew on that before we start offering excuses that our defense doesn't have major problems.

That game was played at a fraction of the pace of the Rams game and it never really felt like the Cardinals had a chance outside of a few minutes at the end of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th. Mahomes went for 21-28 250 yds and 2 TDs with no turnovers. Hill had 137 yds and 2 TDs. Had the Cardinals really threatened with any kind of offense, the Chiefs would have put up their usual 35+.

 

[Ewe83]

The D made some amazing plays this game and came up big time when it was needed. Honestly some of the complaining and negativity when we are 10-1 is so spoiled, ungrateful and ridiculous. It's like taking your kid to Disneyland and having them cry because you only got them an ice cream and not also a balloon

 

[Merlin]

IMO he's gone after this year.

Unless he is playing with a nagging injury that we don't know about but the coaches do he can't stay.

Without a doubt. What I meant is whether he can improve in the scheme down the stretch. We don't have any other option really at safety. I suppose they could try moving Johnson to the deep middle but suspect getting Joyner to understand wtf he's doing has been their priority since there's more defensive upside in him improving.

A dynamic safety could probably impact this defense more than any other position. Right now I am feeling like it is our biggest weakness, which is crazy given how bad we are in other areas. Now the big question is: will Talib help Joyner when he returns. It's actually possible, and not just limited to Joyner.

 

[Florida_Ram]

Technically it was a finger roll, and I smiled when he did it.

Well Mr. @LesBaker..... Technically it might have actually been a finger roll, but that doesn't mean it didn't touch the backboard and drop in like a layup......

Don't technicality me sir. I won't be corrected based on a judgement call like a stubborn NFL referee

Love You

 

[LesBaker]

Well Mr. @LesBaker..... Technically it might have actually been a finger roll, but that doesn't mean it didn't touch the backboard and drop in like a layup......

Don't technicality me sir. I won't be corrected based on a judgement call like a stubborn NFL referee

Love You

I know my emeffing fingarolls, they were from my era.

And the butterfly collar was the shit then too. Don't let @Selassie I tell you it was the cutoff fishnet manshirt. It wasn't ever that.

 

[kmramsfan]

I have always felt Joyner was a bit of an underdog who made good but he is not sticking his nose in on tackles like last year. Is it possible he is trying to avoid an injury this year that will affect a contract next year?

I'm thinking him playing like crap would be a larger barrier to a nice deal than a potential injury. Same with Suh. So far, color me unimpressed with his impact. These two aren't worth half of what they're getting this season.