The defense

[thirteen28]

It's not as if Jourdan's evaluation is coming off of looking at the stat sheet though, she arguably has better insight than anyone here because not only can she see what they're doing from the box, she's there at practice getting the behind the scenes look at things. McVay and the coaches count 4th down stops as turnovers as well, and the Rams stopped the Bears on 4th down every single time, not on some 4th down plays. Every 4th down play, that's pretty good if you ask me. The Rams defence played that way intentionally, they dictated the game in that way.

That doesn't mean that the team wont want to improve, that's always the name of the game. However the idea that the Rams defence didn't really perform that well or was sloppy as many here are trying to claim, doesn't seem to mesh with what she is saying, and I trust her insight.

I think people get too caught up in the little dink and dunk stuff. Rams used to dink and dunk down the field too, and didn't win shit. Bears were unable to break the backs of the defence like the Rams were able to, they really didn't have a shot in this game.

I listened to it too, and I think Jourdan and Rich made great points.

In summary, the Rams

- Held da Bearssssssss to 14 points
- Got two turnovers
- Were 4-4 on 4th down stops (which is good irrespective of whether you agree with our coaches counting a 4th down stop as a turnover)
- Gave up only 2 plays of more than 11 yards

Not that there isn't anything the D can't improve on, there is plenty. But I also think a lot of us were spoiled last year by the way they just absolutely shut some teams down, Bears included.

And still, it's not like the Bears did a lot. After all, they are debating on switching to a rookie QB already, which they probably wouldn't be had they really had a great offensive performance.

 

[shovelpass]

This. Way too early to tell after just 1 week. I would have liked a more aggressive defensive approach but let's see how the defence evolves as times goes on before getting down on Morris. First day on the job and people are already writing him off as not being good enough for this roster. Harsh. And hasty.

Absolutely, and much like last season's opener it's on the players too. It's hard to shut the offense down when players are sloppy and missing tackles.

 

[So Ram]

This. Way too early to tell after just 1 week. I would have liked a more aggressive defensive approach but let's see how the defence evolves as times goes on before getting down on Morris. First day on the job and people are already writing him off as not being good enough for this roster. Harsh. And hasty.

LMAO -
For just that thought.

 

[BonifayRam]

Rams’ subpar run defense vs. Bears doesn’t have Sean McVay concerned

Sean McVay explained why he's not worried about the Rams' struggles against the run on Sunday, expecting an improvement in Week 2.

sports.yahoo.com

Rams’ subpar run defense vs. Bears doesn’t have Sean McVay concerned
Cameron DaSilva
Wed, September 15, 2021

There was a lot to like about the Rams’ Week 1 win over the Bears. Matthew Stafford lived up to the high expectations he was facing, Darrell Henderson Jr. looked good in the starting role at RB, three receivers caught touchdown passes and the offensive line held up well against Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicksand Robert Quinn.

The defense allowed just 322 net yards, too, sacking Andy Dalton three times and limiting Allen Robinson to just 35 yards on six catches (11 targets). But one area of slight concern was the run defense. David Montgomery rushed for 108 yards on 16 carries, and the Bears as a team gained 134 yards on 26 carries.

Sean McVay isn’t worried about the subpar performance against the run, however. He mentioned the fact that the Bears were running the ball well, in addition to the fact that this was the first game action for the majority of the Rams’ defenders after sitting out the preseason.

“I think you give credit to the Bears. I thought they did a nice job. They’re a good football team. I thought they had some good plans, but I think we can tighten up the execution,” McVay said Monday. “I also think when you look at yourself critically as a coach you say, ‘OK, balancing not really getting a chance to have those guys play full tackle football,’ you can never really simulate that in a practice type of setting. And you say, ‘All right, well, have you really put your players in a position to be sharp as they could be in regards to some of those things that they had some success with last night.’ And I think that falls on me. I think we’ll see improvement moving on from Week 1 to Week 2, but that’s something that we’ll definitely have some urgency addressing. But I don’t sense that’s anything for us to worry about. It will definitely go addressed and it’ll be something that we’ll try to be intentional about making sure that it’s a point of emphasis for us as we move forward.”

The Rams aren’t the only team that rests their starters during the preseason, keeping them out of harm’s way and hopefully avoiding serious injuries. But they are one of the few around the NFL, and McVay was one of the first to adopt this approach.

He’s not changing his mind on holding his starters out, however, even if there are minor struggles to be had in Week 1 when it comes to tackling.

“Yeah, let me think about it. Hell no,” he said, laughing. “I would say this, it’s something that you always do balance, all kidding aside. It’s so important, in my mind, for us to try to be healthy and ready to go and do everything that we can in that form or fashion. I think what I’d really look into is, are there ways of safely implementing tackling types of teaching progressions or activity that could maybe have you more ready, if you will, to simulate that game-like action? But I don’t think that the risk-reward would be worth it. I know that approach isn’t for everybody. I think there’s a lot of people that would disagree with me on that, but that’s what I think is best. And that’s what I’ll always try to do, is make decisions that are best for our football team. That’s kind of the approach that I think we’ll continue to take, but you never know.”

The Rams really have no reason to change their preseason plan after seeing the way the offense moved the ball, and the way the secondary locked down Chicago’s passing game. Playing Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey in the preseason wouldn’t have benefited the team in Week 1, but it certainly would’ve put all three players at risk of injury. That’s what McVay doesn’t want from his biggest stars – or any of his important players, for that matter.

 

[FarNorth]

I listened to it too, and I think Jourdan and Rich made great points.

In summary, the Rams

- Held da Bearssssssss to 14 points
- Got two turnovers
- Were 4-4 on 4th down stops (which is good irrespective of whether you agree with our coaches counting a 4th down stop as a turnover)
- Gave up only 2 plays of more than 11 yards

Not that there isn't anything the D can't improve on, there is plenty. But I also think a lot of us were spoiled last year by the way they just absolutely shut some teams down, Bears included.

And still, it's not like the Bears did a lot. After all, they are debating on switching to a rookie QB already, which they probably wouldn't be had they really had a great offensive performance.

What Rodrigue is saying is that the D ran exactly the scheme they wanted to, and with two exceptions (giving up a 41 yard run and a 16 play drive) the scheme worked.

Basically you can't throw the ball downfield against it. The star role for Ramsay is expanding with obvious effect, including forcing the offense into bad choices. When the D is played correctly (after players shake off the rust or get used to their roles) the D allows short runs and dink and dunk drives, but so what?

In short, at least one sharp analyst who has watched all of training camp thinks the D is basically right where it should be.

 

[WestCoastRam]

View: https://twitter.com/Nate_Tice/status/1438153511020089344


Good self-scouting. That play KILLED us in that game!

 

[BonifayRam]

Scouting Report: Week#2 RAMS Defense, loaded with talent from top to bottom​

By Chris Shepherd

2021 Opponent Scouting Report: Week 2 Rams Defense, loaded with talent from top to bottom

Overview On September 19th, 2021 the Indianapolis Colts will host the Los Angeles Rams In this Week 2 match-up, I sought to understand our opponent and get a better idea of how they may attack our C...

www.stampedeblue.com

Overview​

On September 19th, 2021 the Indianapolis Colts will host the Los Angeles Rams In this Week 2 match-up, I sought to understand our opponent and get a better idea of how they may attack our Colts.

This offseason the Colts and Rams competed off the field for the services of quarterback Matthew Stafford. In the end Stafford went to LA and now the Colts will try to make Stafford regret his trade destination. Soon we’ll know if they can do just that.

Let’s see what we can expect in week 2.

---

Defensive System​

A season ago the Rams brought in Brandon Staley to be the teams defensive coordinator. Staley responded by turning a unit that was middle of the pack in 2019, into the top ranked defense in the NFL. In the offseason Brandon Staley was hired as head coach (as all Sean McVay coordinators eventually are) of the Los Angles Chargers. To replace the 38 year old defensive whiz the Rams decided on Raheem Morris. Morris comes to LA after most recently filling in for Dan Campbell after his firing last season in Atlanta.

The most interesting part of this hire is the fact that the defenses Morris has been in charge of in the past are nothing like the defense that the Rams had so much success with in 2020. Brandon Staley brought a defense to the NFL unlike any other at the professional level. It’s been noted time and time again that it looks like a college defense but blended with what Vic Fangio taught Staley during their time together.

Morris on the other hand was accustomed to the Dan Campbell (Seahawks) cover 3 and cover 1 heavy defensive systems. So seeing how Morris plans to adapt will be interesting. If week one is any indication of Morris’ long term plans for the Rams defense, it seems he realized that taking over the top ranked defense from a year ago and changing everything they do at a fundamental level might be a bad idea. So far the 2021 Rams defense looks much the same as it did a year ago.

Morris claims that these Rams use a base 3-4 and while it’s true they do line up in a 3-4 from time to time, these Rams were in a 3-3-5 the majority of the time against the Bears. Here’s what that looks like:

While in this formation they sent five rushers, six times, by my count. For context they were in the 335, 35 times and they sent five rushers 12 times, total. They never sent more than five pass rushers regardless of formation. The Rams were content to use this formation regardless of the personnel grouping that the Bears used. Toward the end of the game, when it was obvious the Bears would be passing the Rams used a lot of 2-3-6 groupings. Here’s what that looked like:

The defender lined up over the Bears tight end is a defensive back. The two linebackers in two point stances did rush the passer nearly every time so in effect this is a dime defense.

Otherwise the Rams mixed in some 2-4-5, some 4-2-5 and at least one 4-3 formation.

What do they do from each of these formations? I can give you a lot of information but I can’t tell you what coverages they were in. I charted the game using the TV copy, which isn’t great but the all-22 wasn’t available and even though it’s out now, I just don’t have time to go back and chart all of the coverages. In future articles I hope to be able to do this, but no luck this early in the season.

It is interesting that on third down they split 2-4-5, 2-3-6 and 3-3-5 formations almost evenly. They only sent five rushers twice on the money down but most interestingly of all, the Bears ran 28 first down plays but the Rams only forced them into 11, third downs. Of those 11 attempts the Bears converted five times. Five times the Rams got a stop. Four times the Bears went for it on fourth down, they turned the ball over on downs all four times. The Rams forced one punt and intercepted one third down pass in the end zone.

The Rams didn’t force stops as much as the Bears drives sputtered out and instead of kicking field goals, or in a couple of instances just punting the ball away and forcing the Rams to drive the length of the field, the Bears walked away with nothing.

The last interesting thing about this defense that I’ll write about here, are all of the interesting ways the Rams use star cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Last week the Colts had to deal with Jamal Adams, this week it’s Ramsey. Ramsey isn’t the prolific pass rusher that Adams is but the Rams do like to send him on blitzes and he will line up all over the defense, just like Adams does for Seattle. I’ll talk more about Ramsey in the section on defensive backs but his role for this defensive system had to be mentioned here.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437969648847409152


Did you see that cornerback knock the pulling guard back three yards? That’s a big reason why the Rams have made a habit out of moving their CB1 all over the field.

Let’s take a look at who the Rams will have running this 3-3-5 heavy system.

---

Defensive Line​

The names to know here are Sebastian Joseph-Day, A’Shawn Robinson, Greg Gaines and Aaron Donald. Joseph-Day and Robinson are both dealing with knee injuries they suffered during their week one game. Neither practiced Wednesday but as of right now, both are expected to play. Greg Gaines is a listed nose tackle and played on 36% of the Rams snaps in week one.

I know you’re not really interested in Joseph-Day, Robinson or Gaines. No, I know you’re in this section for the star of this show; Aaron Donald. I don’t think I really need to tell you much about him, you probably already know he is a three time defensive player of the year, six time first team all-pro, seven time pro bowler. Aaron Donald is as good of a defender as the NFL currently has and we will see him on Sunday.

A glancing blow​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437214943548424192

Aaron Donald made Jason Peters look like the toddlers at my kid’s daycare when a big one runs into a little one and somehow the collision sends them flying. Jason Peters is better than Julie’n Davenport. Just thought I’d throw that out there.

He’s great but he’s not perfect​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1438201127237996545

Here Donald beats his man with a quick swim move and while he redirects the runner some, the left guard is able to get just enough of Donald to prevent him from making the play, while also ensuring that there is no one in the gap the running back is about to squirt through after the tight end crashes inside on the nose tackle.

The Chicago Bears are a poorly coached team from a game management standpoint. There were a lot of really awful decisions made but from a schematic standpoint, they have a lot of interesting plays, specifically run concepts that seemed designed to take advantage of Aaron Donald and his style of play:

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1438129645757534208


Here the Bears target Donald and you can see he believes a trap coming, no one touched him and the ball carrier is coming his way. On a normal trap block the right guard would have pulled to his left to try and kick Donald out of the hole. You see Donald start to square up to try to keep from getting pushed out. Instead Donald gets whammed from behind and instead of going inside of him, the run was designed to go outside of Donald. Wham concepts that target Donald and use his quickness and aggressive nature against him, could pay dividends.

Big Q would have given a better chip​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1438129417415495692

Here Jason Peters is tasked with reach blocking Aaron Donald. Jason Peters best days are behind him, he’s 39. Jason Peters is a 9 time pro bowler, two time first team all-pro and a four time second team all-pro. One day Jason Peters will be in the Hall of Fame, but even when Peters was 29, this would have been a nearly impossible block to make with the help he got from his guard on this play.

Quenton Nelson would have done a better job in that regard but I’m not sure how much it will matter depending on who starts at left tackle this weekend.

Either way, they need a plan​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1438130150403674114

Again, Big Q would have handled that rep better but blocking that up isn’t an exact science, especially when you know you have to get the best defender of his generation blocked.

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437251603036319745


The Bears did a great job keeping Donald off of Dalton, all things considered. His lone sack came on fourth down in absolute garbage time. Rams fans are calling it a “game sealing sack” and in a way that’s true, but this game had been sealed for at least ten game minutes before Donald pinned his ears back on fourth and 10.

Aaron Donald is an amazing player. The Bears did a great job minimizing his statistical impact on the game, but given the fact that they had to plan most of the game around blocking that one player, Aaron Donald still had a huge impact on the game as a whole.

Watching Quenton Nelson and Aaron Donald go toe to toe will be interesting. I expect both men to best the other at times. Just remember that if Nelson has struggled with anything at all in his career it’s been against players with a blend of tremendous size and quickness. This one will be fun to watch up front.

---

Linebackers​

The names to know when it comes to the Rams linebackers are Justin Hollins, Leonard Floyd, Troy Reeder, Terrell Lewis and Kenny Young.

Reeder and Lewis played sparingly in week one but both men got some burn when the Rams brought extra linebackers on the field. Hollis and Floyd will line up on either side of the defensive line and on most snaps one of them will rush the passer while the other drops in coverage, unless the defense only has two traditional defensive linemen on the field. On those plays both men will usually attack going forward.

Kenny Young’s presence on the field couldn’t be missed last Sunday. Young had a good game but more than just that, on most downs Young was standing opposite the quarterback as the Rams only off-ball linebacker. Often a defensive back would drop into the box but as far as actual non-rush linebackers are concerned, most of the time Young is the guy. The Rams gave up a lot of rushing yards but there weren’t many times David Montgomery was able to get extra yards due to a mistake from Kenny Young. Like I said, Young is just one guy and if one of the front five fail to fill a gap or a defensive back doesn’t fill his lane, Kenny Young can’t just magically fix those mistakes. You should expect to see Kenny Young on the field for every Rams defensive play.

This is what I mean​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437795780342030340

He can also do things like this​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1436066012240171010

Kenny Young is a good linebacker who will do what he can to keep Jonathan Taylor in check on Sunday.

Justin Hollins has six career sacks, two of them came in week one against the Bears. Hollins looked good but it’s too soon to say that he will turn into a feared edge rusher. Never the less watching how Hollins performs against a Colts offensive line that struggled in week one will be interesting.

Hollins:​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437245000727687170

How did Aaron Donald miss this sack? The only explanation I can come up with is that the Bears must have covered Andy Dalton with butter on the sideline and Dalton spent all offseason working on his forearm shiver, because nothing else makes sense. Dalton’s buttery jersey was no match for Hollins who avoided Dalton’s (obviously potent) forearms all together.

I could show you a lot of Leonard Floyd clips but this is my favorite​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1051523313997103104

2020 was Floyd’s first season with the Rams and he turned in a 10.5 sack season, which was three and a half more than Floyd had in his two years with the Bears. Given the clip above I hope Paris Campbell steers clear of Floyd this weekend.

---

Defensive Backs​

This section of the article is a lot like the defensive line section, I’m going to tell you all of the “other” guys before I get to the star of the show. Sorry, it’s just how I like to do things around here.

Darious Williams, David Long and Robert Rochell are the “other” cornerbacks you can expect to see on Sunday. Williams went undrafted out of UAB in 2018, at just 5’9” and coming from UAB it’s not that surprising that he went undrafted. What’s more surprising is how good Williams was in 2020 (and also in 2019 but in a more limited role). He had four interceptions and allowed just a 54% completion rate, per Pro Football Reference. Just so you have some context Xavier Rhodes allowed a 52% completion rate a season ago. Not bad for a guy they picked up off of waivers.

David Long played 57% of the Rams defensive snaps and came away with their lone interception on the day. Long is a good young corner who we should see plenty of on Sunday. Robert Rochell was a fourth round pick in the 2021 NFL draft out of Central Arkansas. Rochell is 6’2” and the word on him before the draft was that he was an athletic marvel given his size. We’re just one game into his pro career so there’s no way to know if Rochell will be able to maximize the use of his tremendous physical gifts but his first game went as well as anyone could have hoped. He was in on 39% of the Rams snaps, was targeted twice and registered one pass break up. Rochell is young and will no doubt have some struggles, we’ll see how he does this week.

In 2019 Taylor Rapp was a talented prospect coming out of Washington. A lot of people believed he would be taken in the first round just due to the football he put on tape in college. Then he ran a 4.76 40 yard dash time at his pro day, which is pretty slow for a safety and insanely slow for a safety you might have been thinking about taking inside the first 32 picks. As a result he fell all the way to the end of the second round where the Rams took him with the 61st overall selection. Since his selection it seems like the concerns with his athleticism were somewhat founded. He has struggled in coverage but has been very good stopping the run and as a tackler in general.

Jordan Fuller is a really interesting player. A sixth round pick in the 2020 NFL draft out of Ohio State, Fuller has exceeded all expectations. In his second season Fuller was named a team captain by his teammates. You might notice that Fuller is the Rams defender who has a green dot on the back of his helmet which signifies that he is the player getting the defensive plays in from the sideline and calling the plays in the huddle. Normally this is a role that is filled by a linebacker. In LA, it’s filled by Fuller. You should expect to see him on every Rams defensive snap,

Jalen Ramsey is arguably the best cornerback in the NFL. He’s excellent in coverage, he’s good against the run and he doesn’t shy away from contact as he is a very good tackler for the position. Ramsey is a two time first team All-Pro and a four time pro bowler. He is an elite defensive back and the Rams will use him all over the field in as many ways as they can dream up. Here are some Jalen Ramsey clips:

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437237749493473285


View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437215540532191236

I don’t like this​

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1057059798351597568

This group is headlined by Jalen Ramsey but it’s a deep group filled with very good players the Rams found that no one else seemed to want. The Colts receivers aren’t more talented than this group. Anything could happen but I don’t believe we’ll see a ton of Colts receivers getting open unless they have been schemed that way.

---

Final Thoughts​

The Rams were content in week one to sit back and let the Bears drives fizzle out on their own. It seemed like they knew Andy Dalton wouldn’t be able to make plays once the field shortened up the closer he got to the goal line. This Rams defense was elite a season ago, and they still might be but the Bears did everything they could to hand the game to the Rams from a coaching standpoint. Frankly I’m not sure how Adam Ga... I mean Matt Nagy still has a job as a head coach in the NFL.

If the Rams come out and let the Colts march down the field the same way the Bears did, it will be up to Frank Reich to make sure his team can convert those drives into points. The Colts need to convert long drives into points, eliminate turnovers and know when to try to pin the Rams offense deep and when to try to convert on fourth down.

 

[shovelpass]

So some people have access to all 22. I seriously hope that it isn't going to be restricted to media personnel and analysts

 

[Kupped]

View: https://twitter.com/Nate_Tice/status/1438153511020089344


Good self-scouting. That play KILLED us in that game!

Loved seeing this.
So many pointed to ILBs as the problem in that game. What I saw was poor tackling, team-wide, and an offense that schemed our defense out of position.
GREAT adjustment by the Rams.

 

[BonifayRam]

Loved seeing this.
So many pointed to ILBs as the problem in that game. What I saw was poor tackling, team-wide, and an offense that schemed our defense out of position.
GREAT adjustment by the Rams.

Check one on your "defense out of position" thoughts.......

Did you catch the call from signal-caller JJ for the two DB's to move up way closer to the LOS in the middle?

#33 Nick Scott & #22 Troy Hill must have not been paying attention to JJ, both remained back in the secondary leaving a massive hole right behind the LOS.

JJ #43 did not have the time to recheck back with safety Nick Scott or Troy Hill to see if they moved into the proper position that he called for.

I would say that was an "Out Of Position "issue on that play by Nick Scott!

 

[WestCoastRam]

@BonifayRam - fantastic piece, sadly we still don't know what the coverages looked like without the All-22 except for Ramsey oddly since he was in Star. Curious to see, my guess is quarters and cover 6 a lot of the time with little safety rotation.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Check one on your "defense out of position" thoughts.......

Did you catch the call from signal-caller JJ for FS #33, Nick Scott to move up way closer to the LOS in the middle?

Scott must have not been paying attention to JJ, he remained where he was back in the secondary leaving a massive hole right behind the LOS. JJ #43 did not have the time to recheck back to see if Scott moved into the proper position that he called for.

I would say that was a "ut Of Position "issue on that play by Nick Scott!

Great freaking catch!

 

[Merlin]

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1437795780342030340

This is the big run I discussed in the other thread, that SJD was the main culprit. He jumps his gap right away and the play flows away from him creating the gap. When it's zone run you gotta flow and create that picket line. Had he done that the back would have bounced it backside needing to beat Floyd who is very tough to beat on a backside seal. Basically he made it easy on the OL there.

But that said the Rams did adjust. And McVay I am sure has run tackling drills this week because goddamn they need it.

 

[tklongball]

It was game one. LOL. And, we held them to 14, and no pre-season snaps, and a new DC. Also, I would assume that we will see individual Game plans for each opponent. And I am hoping that McVay and Morris collaborate and have an integrated Offensive/Defensive game plan, which changes week to week based on the opponents.

 

[dang]

I believe what we saw Sunday night was some serious rust that won’t be removed for a couple more weeks. There were too many missed tackles and wrong angles taken by too many players to think it will be fixed quickly. Hell Donald missed 2 sacks and several tackles that slipped right through his hands. I do expect improvement weekly but it may be painful for several more weeks.

 

[fearsomefour]

The Beats helped the point total by going for it over and over on fourth down and not hitting FGs.
I really believe Nagy is an idiot.
Anyway, the D executed the game plan.
The Bears weren’t allowed big plays and the Bears D couldn’t stop the Rams big plays.
The pressure got better throughout the game even without blitzing.
If the Bear D stopped the Rams on a few possessions you would probably have seen the approach change.
The D executed the game plan and the game plan worked.
Long term.....still don’t know what the D will be this year, but, under 20 points equals a win most weeks.

 

[majrleaged]

I think Ramsey's biggest value is shutting down receivers. I worry about 2 things when we use him in star. More contact, more chance for injury and that our 2nd and 3rd corners will not shut down anybody. I hope when we play a team with better receivers, he plays corner.
If it ain't broke don't fix it.