The problem with our defense lies with our safeties

[Mojo Ram]

If it makes anyone feel better, Staley's D is last in the league in rushing at 157 yds/g

 

[Kupped]

If it makes anyone feel better, Staley's D is last in the league in rushing at 157 yds/g

It just shows that it's hard to stay on top, year-to-year, in the NFL.
No one had tape on the Rams' D last year... now they do.

 

[Merlin]

I think Fantastic is too strong of a word to describe Fuller’s play last year. He was fantastic for such a late round pick, but I don’t see All-Pro in his future.

Well he can kiss All Pro goodbye for now thanks to the way he's played so far. But last year he was pretty good man. I nuked a lot of All 22 last season and had zero complaints with him, the guy was consistently in position and had a good feel/anticipation over the top.

He's not a great athlete but I don't care about that with safeties. Truth is a guy who gets a jump a half second quicker or more than the great athlete will often beat him to the play. A great athlete who can't get the feel for when a fast wideout is gonna torch him is still gonna get torched because nobody can flip their hips and run with a guy on the move if they get caught too late with their feet set.

Guys who play up the middle, IMO, require instincts. So at this point I'd replace Rapp and see if things get better. With players when they know someone next to them is struggling they'll try to compensate. Not saying that's what's happening here but either way solve the worst problem first, see how it affects things, and go from there.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

The Browns don’t seem to be doing very well against the pass this season with JJ. Yesterday in particular there were some really bad missed assignments and blown coverage. No idea how JJ factored into that - just saying though….

It could be that he doesn’t fit what they do as well or not being used to the best of his ability.
We saw that with Corey Littleton and with Lamarcus Joyner in Oakland.

This could be the driving reason that teams that develop and retain their own drafted players tend to be good more consistently and why they say that free agency isn’t the answer.

Good teams draft players looking for specific traits that fit their scheme. Just because a player was very good in one scheme it does not mean he fits other schemes just as well.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Well he can kiss All Pro goodbye for now thanks to the way he's played so far. But last year he was pretty good man. I nuked a lot of All 22 last season and had zero complaints with him, the guy was consistently in position and had a good feel/anticipation over the top.

He's not a great athlete but I don't care about that with safeties. Truth is a guy who gets a jump a half second quicker or more than the great athlete will often beat him to the play. A great athlete who can't get the feel for when a fast wideout is gonna torch him is still gonna get torched because nobody can flip their hips and run with a guy on the move if they get caught too late with their feet set.

Guys who play up the middle, IMO, require instincts. So at this point I'd replace Rapp and see if things get better. With players when they know someone next to them is struggling they'll try to compensate. Not saying that's what's happening here but either way solve the worst problem first, see how it affects things, and go from there.

Maybe that is what’s happening. Rapp had some struggles early last year as well. With JJ nobody had to worry if he was doing his job.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

It just shows that it's hard to stay on top, year-to-year, in the NFL.
No one had tape on the Rams' D last year... now they do.

They don’t have AD on their DLine either. Maybe they lack solid tackling from the DBs too?

 

[Kupped]

Well he can kiss All Pro goodbye for now thanks to the way he's played so far. But last year he was pretty good man. I nuked a lot of All 22 last season and had zero complaints with him, the guy was consistently in position and had a good feel/anticipation over the top.

He's not a great athlete but I don't care about that with safeties. Truth is a guy who gets a jump a half second quicker or more than the great athlete will often beat him to the play. A great athlete who can't get the feel for when a fast wideout is gonna torch him is still gonna get torched because nobody can flip their hips and run with a guy on the move if they get caught too late with their feet set.

Guys who play up the middle, IMO, require instincts. So at this point I'd replace Rapp and see if things get better. With players when they know someone next to them is struggling they'll try to compensate. Not saying that's what's happening here but either way solve the worst problem first, see how it affects things, and go from there.

I wonder how much fixing the corner situation could help the safeties, overall?
If Rochelle can grow up fast, I gotta think this D takes a significant step forward.

 

[Kupped]

They don’t have AD on their DLine either. Maybe they lack solid tackling from the DBs too?

Bosa is an All-Pro level player. He's not Donald, but he's damn good.
And their DBs certainly weren't tackling Chubb.

 

[Merlin]

I wonder how much fixing the corner situation could help the safeties, overall?
If Rochelle can grow up fast, I gotta think this D takes a significant step forward.

Maybe so I mean who knows. But I will say that quarters requires both guys on a side to make the same read based on route depth. If they both make the same read they seamlessly take the right guy and are in position to pattern match long enough to cause QBs to go through their reads.

If they don't both make the same read then one guy will usually be wide open. Rapp has had trouble with that, and he's also been flat-footed with WRs blasting at him which is more concerning. It sucks because he's a good kid and all, a smart player for sure, but it's just not his thing to play over the top.

And for the record I hope he settles in and kills it. It's possible too. I just don't think the guy has the talent to do it so hope I'm wrong.

 

[dieterbrock]

Staley's defense got lit up to the tune of 42 points and 535 yards of total offense on Sunday. It happens even to the best of them. Rams D looked amazing against Seattle, long season.

 

[Mackeyser]

For all the Morris lovers out there... /sarcasm... Vic Fangio is on the hot seat and if the Broncos go on the losing streak my really good friend who's a massive Broncos fan thinks they will... I could see the Broncos firing Fangio only for us to fire Morris and bringing the Granddaddy of the 3-4 hybrid defense.

Honestly, because of the McVay effect (the only team to hire an older HC is the Texans...for obvious reasons), it's unlikely Fangio gets another HC shot, at least immediately, and would be willing to be an HC...and being able to coach AD and Ramsey is a huge draw for any DC.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Bosa is an All-Pro level player. He's not Donald, but he's damn good.
And their DBs certainly weren't tackling Chubb.

The trouble with a great DE or OLB is that they can decide to run to the other side.

I think the Rams DBs would have trouble tackling Chubb. He's runs hard and has a good run blocking Oline.

 

[Merlin]

For all the Morris lovers out there... /sarcasm... Vic Fangio is on the hot seat and if the Broncos go on the losing streak my really good friend who's a massive Broncos fan thinks they will... I could see the Broncos firing Fangio only for us to fire Morris and bringing the Granddaddy of the 3-4 hybrid defense.

Honestly, because of the McVay effect (the only team to hire an older HC is the Texans...for obvious reasons), it's unlikely Fangio gets another HC shot, at least immediately, and would be willing to be an HC...and being able to coach AD and Ramsey is a huge draw for any DC.

What I would do there is hire Fangio and give him a BS job to finish out the season like Defensive Quality Control Supervisor. Having him teach Morris and gameplan and shit then let some team snap Morris up as a HC which would net us a round 3 pick would it not?

Then roll to more Super Bowls with Fangio as our DC who probably won't be hired away for at least a couple years given his failure in Denver.

 

[FarNorth]

We‘ve played some good passing offenses, but our defense doesn’t feel changed enough (personnel-wise) for some of what we are seeing.

For the year, we are top 13 in ppg… which isn’t garbage…

But its hard to ignore the early season swap with the Chargers in defensive ranking. That must raise eyebrows with McVay. Are we getting our best play out of this unit?

2020

View attachment 48845

2021

View attachment 48846

The Chargers are for real. Talent on both sides of the ball. Maybe the best young QB. And coaching matters.

 

[FarNorth]

What I would do there is hire Fangio and give him a BS job to finish out the season like Defensive Quality Control Supervisor. Having him teach Morris and gameplan and shit then let some team snap Morris up as a HC which would net us a round 3 pick would it not?

Then roll to more Super Bowls with Fangio as our DC who probably won't be hired away for at least a couple years given his failure in Denver.

Best idea I've heard about how to fix the D.

 

[Loyal]

That's the only question on Murray, imo... can he last 17?
The Rams need to throw the kitchen sink at hitting him hard and often, early, the next time they play.

He's already a little dinged up.

The next time we play Murray, the Rams Dline needs to beat him like a rented mule....

 

[Loyal]

If it makes anyone feel better, Staley's D is last in the league in rushing at 157 yds/g

I realize that even the vaunted Staley defense wasn't so hot in the first few games last season. I'm willing to suspend judgement on Morris for a few more weeks as our teams "gets it together" against bad teams...

 

[TexasRam]

JJ was hurt a lot last year and our D never suffered without him.

The problem is scheme.

You are probably thinking 2019 when JJ played only 6 games.

In 2020 JJ played all games including playoffs.

 

[TexasRam]

What I would do there is hire Fangio and give him a BS job to finish out the season like Defensive Quality Control Supervisor. Having him teach Morris and gameplan and shit then let some team snap Morris up as a HC which would net us a round 3 pick would it not?

Then roll to more Super Bowls with Fangio as our DC who probably won't be hired away for at least a couple years given his failure in Denver.

Or bring Fangio on as a "consultant". Which really means acting DC.

I remember the Rams doing this in the distant past. Maybe the 80's under Robinson. I think they brought in Fritz Shurmer in a consultant role when the D was struggling. They might have done this with an OC as well. Maybe Coryell or someone.

Hell I can't remember, been on this earth too long

 

[TexasRam]

For some of you talking about trying depth guys at safety, another out of the box thought is pushing Rochell to deep safety and moving Fuller back to his 2020 spot. Then move in Burgess to slot corner. I think the skill set of Rochell translates to safety (Fast, big and instinctual) and Burgess quick reaction would be good in the slot. If a team comes in with an AJ Green in the slot you go billichek on them and bump him with at the line while sending an outside blitz. Or anything else besides letting them run free reign downfeild against your smallest corner.