Rams defense reaches top 10 status/PD

[RamBill]

Rams defense reaches top 10 status
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ce3cdefd-db1b-5e4c-bcc3-5d61532d89bb.html

After holding San Francisco to 189 yards in Sunday's 27-6 victory, the Rams have moved up to sixth in the NFL in total defense. It has been 12 years since the Rams have been ranked that highly this late into a season.

Total defense ranks teams according to yards allowed per game, and the Rams are allowing 328.1 yards per game through seven contests.

The Rams haven't been ranked as highly in total defense since the 2005 team was ranked fourth, but that was only after Week 1. One must go back a couple of seasons further for a truer indication of defensive rank. In Week 11 of the '03 season _ the Rams' last winning season _ the team ranked 6th in total defense.

The 2015 Rams also rank fourth in the NFL in scoring defense (17.9 points per game), first in red zone defense (31.3 percent TD rate), eighth in third-down conversion defense (34.0 percent), and are tied for second in sacks (26).

Some other statistical notes for the Rams:

• Running back Todd Gurley has moved up to fifth in the NFL in rushing yards with 575, and the Rams rank third in the league in rushing offense. Gurley has four of the NFL's top 20 rushing games this season.

• Johnny Hekker is sixth in the league in gross punting (48.8 yards) and third in net punting (43.7 yards).

• Tavon Austin is tied for second in the NFL for scoring among non-kickers with 42 points on seven touchdowns.

• The Rams rank last in the league in passing offense (179.6 yards) and are last in third-down conversion offense (25.9).

 

[SuperMan28]

Just amazing on so many fronts. The good and bad lol

 

[jjab360]

It feels like we've been dreaming of being top 10 ever since Spags got here. Now that we're there, I'm not satisfied, I want to be the best.

 

[bskrilla]

Tavon Austin is tied for second in the NFL for scoring among non-kickers with 42 points on seven touchdowns.

And yet I still see people on other sites arguing he wasn't worth the high pick because he's only projecting out to 700 receiving yards and that's not first round WR production... ok.

 

[TXRams86]

those are eye opening stats.
if the defense keeps wreaking havoc, we should be top 3 by the end of the season.
now we just need the offense to pick it up a bit; passing game to be specific.
but i like what we're doing this season.

 

[junkman]

Pessimistic assessment. Doesn't take into account how anemic the Rams offense - "the three & out generator".

Pro Football Focus has the Rams ranked as the #1 defense, passing Denver. #1 against the run. #4 for pass rush. #6 for pass coverage.

Also:

#1 in touchdowns allowed per game despite the anemic offense.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-touchdowns-per-game

#3 in opponents points per play
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/opponent-points-per-play

And so forth... lots of good stats on this site

 

[fearsomefour]

Thanks for the good stats....
With putting up 27 points this past Sunday the Rams point per game jumped from 18 ppg to 19 ppg....so, there you go.

 

[brokeu91]

Just think about how good we'd be with just an average offense. We'd be at least 5-2 maybe 6-1 right now