I spent yesterday watching 4 Rams games (all of the poor performances by Goff). It's clear that the Rams NEED speed on offense.
The defense does not fear the Rams. The RB's are not good. Even if they break the line they have no end speed. No one cut ability. You do not have to stop them.
The Rams have really good WR's but they are redundant. Route running and awareness. There is not deep threat. If they get by the DB'S it's usually because of a breakdown. McVay knows this and rarely calls the deep ball. They do not keep the defense honest.
I spent 10 years playing LB and S in HS, college and arena. I can say unequivocally that these are the matchups that you salivate over. All you have to do is play bend defense. Defend the short and middle. Less to look out for.
The jet sweeps are not a concern. I'll give up 8 yards every 3 series in exchange for less variables to consider on defense. Since they don't stretch the field that jet sweeps is going to run into traffic.
The Rams offense had not been the same since before Cooks started getting injured. Goff has a good deep ball. When he does throw deep his guys just are not deep. I'm not trying to defend Goff but when you are throwing 40+ yards you can't take something off of it. It promotes bad mechanics. Goff can't sit and wait for the WR'S to get the the bomb spot.
For all of Goff's flaws that is not one of them. McVay knows this and has removed it from the script. It was a major part of the offense.
To summarize. The Rams have no RB'S that causes fear on the ground. They can't block and they can't catch.
They have zero deep threats which eliminates PI's and offers yet another thing defense does not have to worry about.
All you have to do is blitz and protect the short to mid.
They need SPEED
