Sorry for this thread, but. The D tackles have zero sacks in 6 games this season. Nothing. Donald will get some of course, but where the hell is the interior pressure this season.
D Tackles
- Thread starter Tumak61
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methomas50
Pro Bowler
I'd say Aaron looks about 70% of his old self. Fiske has dissappointed again. Turner has been up and down. Poona been middling and is really a run stuffer. The rest are pretty much jags. Pockets need to collapse with more regularity to move this defense forward.
I believe Fiske and Kobie Turner have been over rated for some time. Do not, I repeat do not give Turner a second Ram contract.
Poona hasn't been stuffing runs. The DL is underperforming for sure.
methomas50
Pro Bowler
Put it this way. Not getting Jalen Carter or Jeffrey Simmons vibes from either one.
Man the way Kobie played last season, I was prepared to see him absolutely explode this year. Still time but man. It’s been quiet.
OntarioRam
Hall of Fame
Turner has regressed badly. Wouldn't pay him. Fiske was never getting a 2nd contract. He's a JAG. That's been clear for a while.
AD is a shell of his former self.
Turner is very inconsistent.
Fiske is an interior pass rush specialist.
Poona is old and tired.
This entire DL group was built, by the RAMS, to rush the passer. But they made the assumption that with our offense other teams would be in full pass mode most of the time and they are not, because our offense is not great. So we are left with a DL that are not interested in doing the work vs the run unless the staff has browbeat them to do it.
If you want a great defense, you must be able to stop the run and put teams in third and long. Rams are 21st against the run, giving up nearly four and a half per carry. Last season Ford held that down until he got hurt, then the defense looked suspiciously like the one we saw today. This season he is a lesser force and now we have what we have.
Rams should have drafted a big ass NT. Or failing that another interior DL at the least who can do more than shoot a gap vs a good line. And that lack up front is obvious now. It is glaring. Our defensive front doesn't scare anyone. And our overhauled DB room is injured.
Chalk it all up and this is not a deep playoff contender. This is a "get in the playoffs and quickly go home" level team.
Per ESPN, entering the Week 6 games, Kobie Turner ranked 15th among interior DE in pass rush win rate at 17%. Fiske was almost tied with him, ranking 19th at 16%. So, both of them placed in the top 20 of the NFL at their position.
Jeffery Simmons was 1st in the NFL in PRWR at 30% but per SISDatahub stats, both Turner and Fiske have better QB pressure rates than Simmons.
Per SIS stats, after Byron Young, Fiske and Turner are the next 2 best Rams in generating QB pressures. They were both way better than Aaron Donald. The SIS stats appear to be updated for most week 6 games, but it is unclear to me whether every player has been updated yet.
Some notable DL with very similar pressure rates, per SIS (I'm listing them in descending order of QB pressure rate):
Quinnen Williams, 10 pressures, 9.8% pressure rate, 1.0 sacks
Calijah Kancey 13 pressures, 9.7% rate, 18% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Akheem Mesidor 9 pressures, 9.5% rate, 2.5 sacks
Braden Fiske 11 pressures, 9.4% rate, 16% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Leonard Wiliams 14 pressures, 9.3% rate, 19% PRWR, 3.0 sacks
Byron Murphy 11 pressures, 8.9% rate, 19% PRWR, 3.0 sacks
Alim McNeill 17 pressures, 8.9% rate, 3.5 sacks
Kobie Turner, 9 pressures, 8.6% rate, 17% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Jeffrey Simmons 18 pressures, 8.5% rate, 30% PRWR, 4.0 sacks
Chris Jones 12 pressures, 8.2% rate, 0.5 sacks
Notice that per these metrics, Calijah Kancey from the Bucs is one of the best pass rushers in this group (he was also 21st in PFF pass rush grade among DTs) yet he also has zero sacks on the season. Per SIS stats, Aaron Donald has 6 pressures and a 5.4% pressure rate, trailing well behind Fiske and Young. The pressure rates for Fiske and Young are close to that of Josaiah Stewart at 9.9%.
Over the last 5 NFL seasons, per SIS stats, Myles Garrett has never had a season with a QB pressure rate below 16.4%. The worst mark of his career was 11%. Byron Young's current 18.5% would be a nose better than Garrett's best season.
IMO, the missing piece is Garrett. If we had a "normal" Myles Garrett, our defensive front would be formidable rushing the passer. There's nothing wrong with Fiske and Turner in terms of their individual pass rushing production.
Jeffery Simmons was 1st in the NFL in PRWR at 30% but per SISDatahub stats, both Turner and Fiske have better QB pressure rates than Simmons.
Per SIS stats, after Byron Young, Fiske and Turner are the next 2 best Rams in generating QB pressures. They were both way better than Aaron Donald. The SIS stats appear to be updated for most week 6 games, but it is unclear to me whether every player has been updated yet.
Some notable DL with very similar pressure rates, per SIS (I'm listing them in descending order of QB pressure rate):
Quinnen Williams, 10 pressures, 9.8% pressure rate, 1.0 sacks
Calijah Kancey 13 pressures, 9.7% rate, 18% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Akheem Mesidor 9 pressures, 9.5% rate, 2.5 sacks
Braden Fiske 11 pressures, 9.4% rate, 16% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Leonard Wiliams 14 pressures, 9.3% rate, 19% PRWR, 3.0 sacks
Byron Murphy 11 pressures, 8.9% rate, 19% PRWR, 3.0 sacks
Alim McNeill 17 pressures, 8.9% rate, 3.5 sacks
Kobie Turner, 9 pressures, 8.6% rate, 17% PRWR, 0.0 sacks
Jeffrey Simmons 18 pressures, 8.5% rate, 30% PRWR, 4.0 sacks
Chris Jones 12 pressures, 8.2% rate, 0.5 sacks
Notice that per these metrics, Calijah Kancey from the Bucs is one of the best pass rushers in this group (he was also 21st in PFF pass rush grade among DTs) yet he also has zero sacks on the season. Per SIS stats, Aaron Donald has 6 pressures and a 5.4% pressure rate, trailing well behind Fiske and Young. The pressure rates for Fiske and Young are close to that of Josaiah Stewart at 9.9%.
Over the last 5 NFL seasons, per SIS stats, Myles Garrett has never had a season with a QB pressure rate below 16.4%. The worst mark of his career was 11%. Byron Young's current 18.5% would be a nose better than Garrett's best season.
IMO, the missing piece is Garrett. If we had a "normal" Myles Garrett, our defensive front would be formidable rushing the passer. There's nothing wrong with Fiske and Turner in terms of their individual pass rushing production.
As an example of the importance of interior pressure, watch Lake's INT. This turnover is almost entirely caused by Fiske's pressure on the QB. Oddly, the result of the play is better for the Rams than if Fiske had sacked the QB or deflected the pass for an incompletion.
I think a much bigger need than DT is a MIKE that can do it all. This way we aren't in our Dime package when there's 2 or 3 TE's on the field.
I love Landman, but he's just an above average dude. If we could slide him over to the WILL on those downs it'd be awesome.
I love Landman, but he's just an above average dude. If we could slide him over to the WILL on those downs it'd be awesome.
I was the only one pushing for reinforcements on the starting DL in the draft this year. There were several who wanted a NT but whoever we drafted at that position was going to back up Poona. Not sure how that would have helped this year. And...we drafted one.
I think the better plan would have been to move off Fiske as a starter since he's so bad as a run defender. If they had drafted a 5T who is good in run defense and can rush the passer, they would have had a better DL.
This is not even a topic if MG was healthy and playing.....
fearsomefour
Legend
The interior pass rush has been a drag for sure.
Running a lot of stunts that take some time to get there. So, not winning a lot one on one so running stunts. Designed to work with man coverage mostly so the little 8-12 yard zone beaters aren't easily there.
The bigger concern to me to the run D.
It allowed the Cardinals to sustain long drives multiple time yesterday.
Ford has always been one of the better NT against the run and he is way too often getting washed out by one on one blocks. Poona has been a shadow of himself from last year.
Its not always giving up big runs but over and over converting runs for first downs.
This season is asshole.
Running a lot of stunts that take some time to get there. So, not winning a lot one on one so running stunts. Designed to work with man coverage mostly so the little 8-12 yard zone beaters aren't easily there.
The bigger concern to me to the run D.
It allowed the Cardinals to sustain long drives multiple time yesterday.
Ford has always been one of the better NT against the run and he is way too often getting washed out by one on one blocks. Poona has been a shadow of himself from last year.
Its not always giving up big runs but over and over converting runs for first downs.
This season is asshole.
No you weren't. Many of us discussed NT in particular as a need for this defense, due to the on field evidence of what this defense looked like when Poona went down the previous season.
But the Rams also have a problem in that they don't value power in their defensive linemen. They value penetration.
You ever hear that saying that you need to do the work on early downs to get to third down so you can pin your ears back and have fun attacking the QB? Yeah. The Rams DL has never heard that either.
LARAMSinFeb.
Legend