That could be part of the answer.
Another part could be that the Rams were winning (or at least close) in most of their games this season, making teams stick with their passing game a bit more. Teams attempted 583 passes against the Rams this year, only 531 last year. 41 sacks in 583 pass attempts this year works out to a 7.03% sack rate. Last year the team had 38 sacks for a sack rate of 7.16%. (A statistician would say that the sack rate didn't change, but you and I both know it went down a little bit this year.)
Yet another part could be that the defensive backfield is simply better this year. Here are the players - you tell me.
2023
Fuller (1,059 snaps), Yeast (802), Johnson III (518), Lake (453) at safety
Witherspoon (1,060), Kendrick (858), Durant (643) at CB
2022
Scott (984 snaps), Rapp (977), Yeast (113), Fuller (91) and Burgess (82) at safety.
Ramsey (1,077 snaps), Hill (704), Kendrick (403), Long (288), Durant (281), Haley (129), and Rochell (26) at CB.
In 2021 the Rams had 50 sacks, but only 2 guys had 6 or more. Isn't that better than having 41 sacks with 4 guys having 6 or more? Granted, I like what the Rams defense did this year with so many youngsters, but IMO this particular story doesn't have a lot of meat to it.
AlbaNY_Ram
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2024 04:19AM by AlbaNY_Ram.
