And the Defense Shall Lead Them …

I feel really good about our defense this year.

I probably felt good last year, though I don’t remember distinctly. But, in retrospect, that defense had some shaky foundations. We brought in some rent-a-studs in Suh, Peters, and Talib. But the former two were immensely talented but prone to erratic play. We had a LB corps that was shaky against the run and sub-standard in its pass rush. We weren’t consistently sound.

This year, we have added more, albeit aging rent-a-studs. But guys like Matthews and Weddle are above all SOUND defenders. Assuming decent health, the combination of J J, Talib and Weddle should provide a foundation which will allow Peters to do what he does best in a secondary that will be very hard to fool. And Matthews ought to stabilize a LB corps that was headlined by a play-making Littleton who was nevertheless often unsound against the run.

And then there are the youngsters. As unsettling as the OL play was in the PS, the youngsters on D shone brightly. Taylor Rapp … I mean, really. Doesn’t he just make you smile? And he is a perfect fit: a S/LB hybrid who is always in the right place and makes tackle after tackle.

We all worried about LB and edge. Well, we finally got to see Obo, and our frustrated hopes sprang back to life. With Fowler, we have the prospect of excellent edge production. Then we have guys like Patrick, Allen (hard to grasp his not being on the 53) and others making play after play. Honestly, I think we have a really fine bunch at LB now, an interesting mix of age and youth. Those lads can play, and Wade will know what to do with them.

Which brings us to the hole left by Suh. Obviously, we have no one who can give us the elite power and athleticism Suh did. But as we all know, Suh played with sporadic intensity. I watched JSD and Gaines pretty closely. I really liked what I saw. These guys played tough and with both intensity and discipline. We won’t scare OLs with these guys, but OLs will be in a war all game long. I think their consistent effort will complement AD better than Suh did outside the plays in which he chose to play hard.

But for me the best part of the D in the PS was the unit discipline. I’m not speaking of flags (I thought we got burned by a lot of weird and suspect flags. 2 defensive holding calls in rapid succession on running plays? Come on.) but rather of disciplined deployment, reaction, and tackling. Obviously, these were not starters. But there was a broad, group commitment to disciplined execution that strongly suggested to me an emphasis in the unit culture Wade is building this year. I have a strong feeling we will also see it in the starters.

I hate bad run defense. I know that some people argue that it doesn’t really hurt in today’s NFL, but I ain’t buying that. A defense that gets gashed over and over, yielding big running lanes and failing to pursue is not a sound defense. Last year, with all of that talent and AD penetrating, it was maddening to see us just yield against the run. We tightened up late, but during most of the year we seriously under-performed. My knowledge of defense is pretty low, and I dunno what happened, apart from sporadic effort. I assume Wade hated it, and this year he will surely want to shore us up to be at least sound and containing against the run.

In the PS, our backups and scrubs played hard, with discipline, and with containment virtually throughout. Oh, we won’t be #1 in YPC yielded. But we were SOUND. Gaines and JSD tied up the middle of the OL as they should. And LBs and safeties (Taylor Rapp, my beloved!) contained. We gave up 1 scramble to that guy Webb (do I remember that right?) and that was about it. Some 9-11 yarders and mostly gains under 5 yards. AND WE DID IT CONSISTENTLY!

Gawd, I loved that. I’ve been disgusted by Ram run defenses for years and years. In PS games we’ve been a mess and we’ve been erratic in real games. Year after year. Last year, seeing us humiliated by Pete Carroll--worse the 2nd time than the 1st!—drove me insane. And it was always about ill discipline, as proven by the fact that we COULD tighten it up in the playoffs! This late summer, however, I saw a sound, tackling defensive unit that contained and more or less neutralized the running game.

I can’t prove that the play of these scrubs is evidence of anything with our starters. But it wasn’t just 1 or 2 guys and I just strongly sensed that the whole unit was focusing and believing in sound deployment. And the pass defense was damned good as well. Again, sound containment, challenges on many balls, and excellent tackling.

As I understand it, that is Wade Phillips’ preferred formula. Contain and be sound. Force the offense to execute really well time after time to move the chains. And pounce on mistakes. We haven’t really seen that in his 1st 2 years with us. I think he has had the time and now has the personnel to get the defense he wants.

When I think of our year, trying to re-animate our title hopes in the wake of a SB loss, I smile most about our defense. I think our skill guys on offense are as good as any in the league, but there are question marks in the OL and in McV finding ways to wrong foot defenses that have studied him intensely. You have to get BETTER in some area to mount a refreshed assault on the hill. I think we may have done that with our defense. I actually look forward to seeing it play. And other than AD, I haven’t felt that was about our defense in a long time.