Rams secondary remains a work in progress

Rams' secondary remains a work in progress

By JACK WANG / STAFF WRITER

[www.ocregister.com]

On the face of it, the Rams’ passing defense looks to be in pretty good shape.

Through two games, Los Angeles has allowed only 409 yards through the air, which puts it safely within the top third of the league. It is giving up only 6.1 yards per attempt, a mark bested by only three other teams in the league. It has surrendered only a single touchdown pass.

But such statistics are hard to divorce from the performance of the front seven. Anchored by disruptive stars in Aaron Donald and Robert Quinn, the defensive line never allowed Russell Wilson to feel comfortable in the pocket en route to a 9-3 win over the Seahawks last Sunday.

The secondary is, well ...

“To be honest with you, average,” cornerback Trumaine Johnson said. “We’ve got to step up back there.”

The Rams placed their franchise tag on Johnson this offseason, making him the de facto leader of their secondary after allowing cornerback Janoris Jenkins and safety Rodney McLeod to walk away in free agency. Along with safety T.J. McDonald, the quartet formed a group that Johnson described as “dominant.” (In their Week 17 rankings last year, Pro Football Focus placed the Rams at No. 5.)

Through two games, however, the defensive backfield has remained in flux.

The Rams didn’t draft any defensive backs, but they signed former fourth-round pick Coty Sensabaugh to a three-year contract this offseason. Sensabaugh started two games, but was benched last weekend in favor of Troy Hill, whose limited career snaps had come mostly on special teams. Lamarcus Joyner – who competed with Sensabaugh in training camp – has settled back into his role at nickelback, but is also playing through a broken toe.

Coaches tweaked the lineup elsewhere too, frequently deploying a three-safety set that increased the usage of Cody Davis – nearly quintupling the safety’s defensive workload from Week 1 to Week 2. Considering that the Rams are visiting the pass-happy Buccanneers on Sunday, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams could get even more creative.

But mixing and matching likely won’t help as much as actual reinforcements, and one could be back soon. Cornerback E.J. Gaines, who started 15 games as a rookie before missing all of last season with a fractured foot, has been on and off the injury list for the past several months. His thigh has kept him out of both games this year, but he returned to practice this week and stayed late on Wednesday to take extra reps.

If Gaines is ready to play in Tampa Bay, he could help stabilize a secondary that he described as a “roller coaster.”

“E.J. is a very smart, cerebral player,” said Rams defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson. “He’s played a lot early on in his career and had success. The biggest thing is, we’ve just got to get him comfortable. We’ll see how it shakes out when he’s fully healthy.”

INJURY REPORT

Unlike most NFL teams, the Rams do not normally practice on Thursdays, necessitating the odd existence of a hypothetical participation report. Because the league mandates injury updates, the team estimates the status of their injured players.

All the Rams who were “limited” on Wednesday remained so on Thursday. In addition to Gaines, the list consisted of safety Maurice Alexander (thigh), receiver Pharoh Cooper (shoulder), receiver Nelson Spruce (knee), running back Benny Cunningham (knee), and cornerback Lamarcus Joyner (toe).