The Eye Test is Lying: Why This Defense is Better Than You Think.

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If if if, the rush can hold contain on Williams and not let him get outside we should be okay. No stunting, just drive your man back into the QB. We have the speed outside, and inside to run him down.
 
kmramsfan said:
The Rams defense is ranked much better than Chicago's D, and of course we have the top ranked offense according to the ESPN stats page for the '25 season.
I'm liking our chances on Sunday, if the Rams can play up to their abilities and don't make the big mistakes.
Having some balanced officiating will help too ........ unlike the Carolina game refs, who called 9 for 83 yards against the good guys and only called 4 for 35 against the enemy.
The turnover battle is the other wild card that we need to win in order to move on.
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That is exactly how they keep the games close. It is how the Bungles were able to stay close in the SB. It is also how SF won yesterday. They allowed them to hold constantly. Have you ever seen the Eagles number one D not get to the QB? They looked as bad as the SF D line. The least amount of pressure and sacks in the NFL this year.
 
OldSchool said:
I think Seattle had what a 35 or 45 yarder? Nothing compared to what we gave up last year especially against Philly. That's a large reason why we have given up less YPC this year compared to last.
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Bijan Robinson 93 Yd Rush (Zane Gonzalez Kick). 1 play, 93 yards, 0:13
 
lilshapta said:
The secondary is definitely not average. Average means they are around ranked #13-17 in the league. An average secondary has at least one top tier defensive back. We have none. Lake is above average but everyone else is below average.

Do you all remember how we lost against the Eagles, Seahawks, Niners, Panthers? We blew leads against the Eagles and Seahawks because the defense gave up big plays in a short amount of time. Mac Jones and Bryce Young had their best games against us.
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Lake is elite. Don't let his first game back from injury dissuade you from that.
 
OntarioRam said:
From Dec 1 last season, to Nov 23 this season, our defence was routinely holding teams to 15 points or less, often 10 or less. That is absolutely insane, and defies NFL reality. It's just not an NFL level scoreline. And that is a very good sample size.

It feels to me like Shula's defence has been figured out schematically, or teams just have figured out how to exploit our personnel weaknesses, and Shula has no counter-punch. Very worrisome.
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Quentin Lake was injured Nov 13th
 
OnceARam said:
Yeah, Forbes would make a great backup. From what I have pieced together, he is the same guy. The difference is how on target the QB has been. He is always in a trail position. If the QB throws behind the WR, then Forbes is able to make a play. If the QB is on target, not so much. So Forbes is able to keep up, but isn`t an elite guy that is going to shut someone down. But he seems to be top two on our roster currently, so fingers crossed he stays focused and sticky (like he was against JSN).
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Forbes is a zone coverage CB not a good man coverage CB.
 
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majrleaged said:
How would you like for snead to give up a 1 or a 2 for young?
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Can't ask my opinion, I'm a biased fan. I, along with many others here, was mad about the cost for Ramsey, Stafford, and Von Miller.

The question isn't about our feelings, the question is what's the market say a good edge defender with a year remaining on their rookie contract worth?

The advanced metrics and stats say that BY is an edge defender on par with the 2023 version of Brian Burns who was traded for a 2nd after his rookie contract ended.
 
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dang said:
Forbes is a zone coverage CB not a good man coverage CB.
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I feel a lot of the complaints about our secondary are really about the coaching philosophy and scheme. Our scheme doesnt do much man coverage. McVay seems to favor the soft zone.
 
DzRams said:
Good research. I'm guessing its even better than this since I suspect you didn't subtract offensive and ST scoring allowed. Pick 6s, punt returns and such are hard things to remember for every game after the fact.

The Lake injury undeniably affected the effectiveness of the D.
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You are absolutely correct! I just did a cursory once over at the opponent TD log and it looks like we gave up a total of 3 tds due to such errors. I'll did a little more later to try to find the FGs given up in error.
 
DzRams said:
I feel a lot of the complaints about our secondary are really about the coaching philosophy and scheme. Our scheme doesnt do much man coverage. McVay seems to favor the soft zone.
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I'd be pretty scared of this group in anything more than a handful of man snaps. That being said, they do play a lot of zone-match which has a lot of man principles in it.

I think the scheme is fine, the talent at boundary and field corner is severely lacking. Lake is very good. The safeties are above average.
 
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Tumak61 said:
If if if, the rush can hold contain on Williams and not let him get outside we should be okay. No stunting, just drive your man back into the QB. We have the speed outside, and inside to run him down.
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Containment on the LT side was awful against Carolina. So I doubt they will be better against Williams.
 
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majrleaged said:
Young reminds me of Lenard Floyd holding the edge on QBs trying to escape outside. He is fast
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He's the best contain edge I can recall in horns. Not something I usually would focus on with the position in the past, so maybe I just don't recall accurately. But he is truly exceptional at it because he can keep contain in space by himself.

Yesterday one of the Young (the QB) runs he was competely isolated with him and didn't bite on the move, tracked him to the sideline. You can probably count on one hand the edges in the league who could have done that. Nearly any of them would end up giving up yards to that QB in that situation.

WestCoastRam said:
I think the scheme is fine, the talent at boundary and field corner is severely lacking. Lake is very good. The safeties are above average.
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Precisely how I see it.
 
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Merlin said:
He's the best contain edge I can recall in horns. Not something I usually would focus on with the position in the past, so maybe I just don't recall accurately. But he is truly exceptional at it because he can keep contain in space by himself.

Yesterday one of the Young (the QB) runs he was competely isolated with him and didn't bite on the move, tracked him to the sideline. You can probably count on one hand the edges in the league who could have done that. Nearly any of them would end up giving up yards to that QB in that situation.


Precisely how I see it.
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I remember that play. Young didn't go after him for a sack. If he did Young probably woulda juked him and took off. He kept containment and forced Young to throw it away. A lot of guys want that sack and end up whiffing. That is what they will need to do with Williams. Don't let him get outside.
 
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WestCoastRam said:
I'd be pretty scared of this group in anything more than a handful of man snaps. That being said, they do play a lot of zone-match which has a lot of man principles in it.

I think the scheme is fine, the talent at boundary and field corner is severely lacking. Lake is very good. The safeties are above average.
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Agreed that this group isn't good at man coverage. What comes first: the chicken or the egg?

I never said there's something wrong with the scheme. I submit that it's the coaching philosophy and scheme that drives them to acquire CBs that can play zone but are not necessarily good in man coverage.

CBs that excel in man coverage cost a lot more to obtain - they require higher draft picks and are more expensive on the free agent market. Over McVay's tenure, 90% of the Rams CBs were mid round draft picks or bargain bin free agents. Why? Because you can find someone who excels in zone coverage in the 4th round, but you're gonna need a 1st to consistently find someone who can live by themselves on an island. And the evidence shows they don't want to spend a 1st or 2nd on draft day for the position.

Until their preference for soft zones changes, there may not be huge change in the amount of resources they put into the position.
 
DzRams said:
I never said there's something wrong with the scheme. I submit that it's the coaching philosophy and scheme that drives them to acquire CBs that can play zone but are not necessarily good in man coverage.
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I don't think this collection of corners is anything more than them doing the best with what was available while they addressed bigger concerns.

This offseason will be that point where the corner room is the bigger concern. And also I think it's high time they stacked this secondary to be able to shut Shanahan's underneath fucking bullshite offense down.
 
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