Significant blips aside, the Rams’ defense is keeping the team’s season alive

By Rich Hammond Dec 1, 2019

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Tempted to teeth-gnash at times when it comes to this Rams defense? That’s fine, but also remember where the Rams would be right now without it.

Remember when the Rams were tied with New Orleans at halftime? When they trailed Cleveland at halftime? When they held only a three-point lead over Chicago after three quarters and led winless Cincinnati by only seven at halftime? The defense carried the team to victory each time.

There are two very glaring, very ugly games on the ledger for the Rams defense: a 55-point torching by Tampa Bay in September and last week’s embarrassing 45-7 loss to Baltimore. That’s 100 points in two games. Unacceptable. In the Rams’ other 10 games, they allowed a total of only 150 points.

That’s winning football. Don’t forget that the Rams secondary underwent a near-complete transformation after the injuries to safety John Johnson and cornerback Aqib Talib and the trade of Marcus Peters. The Rams also have been playing with a third-string middle linebacker, and the defense has been backing an often moribund offense that regularly commits turnovers or can’t stay on the field for long.

The Rams defense dominated in Sunday’s 34-7 victory over the Cardinals. Arizona didn’t cross the Rams’ 40-yard line until its initial drive of the fourth quarter. The Rams’ first-string defense remained on the field, clearly itching for a shutout after being drawn and quartered by the Ravens six days earlier.

“It’s funny,” defensive tackle Michael Brockers said, “just how you can bounce back from a game like that and just have a total team game, where we truly lock in and we’re in front of the motions and we communicate. When we do things the right way, man, most of the time the games end up looking like this. When we beat ourselves and we have offsides and pre-snap penalties, things that kind of kill drives and kill our momentum, you’re going to have games where you get humbled.”

Much of the attention from Sunday’s game probably will go to the Rams offense, which put up 200 yards in the first quarter and shredded Arizona’s defense in the air. Quarterback Jared Goff passed for 424 yards and two touchdowns, and the Rams collectively rushed for 132 yards.

That’s good. The thing is, the Cardinals defense is prone to that type of meltdown every week. The unit can’t defend the pass and, in particular, can’t defend tight ends, which the Rams exploited by throwing to usual run-blocker Tyler Higbee seven times for 107 yards and one touchdown.

Give the Rams offense a solid B-plus grade for Sunday’s game. Even against a bad defense, 34 points and 549 yards is nothing to sniff at, and Goff looked more comfortable in the pocket, and in many of his intermediate-level throws, than he has all season. Goff also was sacked only once and the Rams’ oft-critiqued offensive line held up well enough for the backs to average 4.9 yards per carry. Those are not small things and not to be overlooked.

In context though, what mattered more was that the Rams defense mauled the Cardinals offense, which recently had shown signs of improvement with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray and first-year (offensive-minded) head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Arizona came in with a 3-7-1 record, but also with three consecutive losses by a total of 16 points, all of which included good-enough offensive play to win.

The Rams held the Cardinals to season lows in points and yards (198) and sacked Murray six times. That’s notable against a mobile quarterback such as Murray, given that less than a week earlier, they had zero answers for Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. The players aren’t identical — and Jackson is much better right now — but the Rams held Murray to 191 yards from scrimmage, his second-lowest total of the season.

Murray also had thrown only one interception in his past seven games, but Rams rookie safety Taylor Rapp easily read one of his attempts midway through the third quarter, dropped into coverage, picked off the ball and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown and a 34-0 lead.

And even though the Rams offense turned this game into a blowout, there were eyebrow-raising moments early. The Rams easily drove into the Arizona red zone on their first two possessions but then stalled and settled for two field-goal attempts, one of which was missed. Imagine if the Rams defense had been porous early and the Cardinals had been able to capitalize with an early touchdown or two, the complexion of the game could have changed dramatically.

“Having a game like this is great for you to look at,” Brockers said, “but we’re supposed to do this. We’re supposed to beat teams like this. We should win the games we’re supposed to win, when we’re playing like this, playing team ball like that.”

All of this begs a reasonable question: Why can’t it always be like this? If the Rams are this strong on defense, with all-world players on the line (Aaron Donald) and in the secondary (cornerback Jalen Ramsey) and solid depth across the board, what excuse can there be for the Baltimore game?

There isn’t one, which makes it all the more frustrating, but there’s plenty of evidence that it was a blip. Look at some of the Ravens’ touchdowns. More than once, while the Ravens celebrated, Rams linebackers and defensive backs looked at each other and gestured. Clearly, some breakdowns were taking place. How many tackles did Jackson break? How many times — as safety Eric Weddle admitted after the game — did the Rams clearly have no idea whether Jackson still had the ball or had handed it off.

That’s not stuff that should happen to a good defense, but the idea that somehow coordinator Wade Phillips had lost the script was ridiculous. Phillips has been around the NFL almost as long as the forward pass. It’s not as though he got fooled by the Ravens.

“It’s definitely a game you should throw out,” Brockers said. “It wasn’t a thing where guys didn’t give effort for the whole game. It’s just that guys weren’t in position to make the plays. We just had to come back together and get on the right track and know where everyone is. It goes back to communication and executing our plays and just going out there and playing for each other. That’s what we’re about, going out there and giving 100 percent effort because you’ve got your brother next to you doing the same thing.”

For most of the season, that’s what has happened. Yes, the Rams have played some weaker offenses of late, but they can’t help the schedule. After 12 games, they have allowed an average of 3.7 yards per rush (tied for third-best in the NFL) and 6.7 yards per pass attempt (tied for fifth-best). Remember when the Rams’ run defense was a significant problem? Not much is said about it these days.

That starts with the front seven, which never let the Cardinals establish any momentum on Sunday. From the game’s first series, the Rams’ linemen and linebackers swarmed the ball-carrier. The Cardinals averaged only 3.5 yards per rush. They were below that only once in 11 previous games this season. The Rams didn’t miss tackles, unlike a week earlier, when Jackson and Mark Ingram seemed to be greased up.

“We knew we had to show up, so we just moved on and stuck to the game plan,” Donald said. “I feel like we played good as a team today. That’s what we’re going to have to keep doing for these next couple games, and we’ll see what happens.

With four games remaining, it’s still unclear whether the offense will be productive enough for the Rams, now 7-5, to make a late run for a wild-card spot. Games against Seattle, Dallas and San Francisco remain on the schedule, and each has a defense that could cause the Rams offense to revert to previous (poor) form.

The defense, though, is a bright spot. The performance against Murray raises hope that the Rams might be able to handle Seattle’s Russell Wilson next week, at least better than they did in the teams’ first meeting when Wilson amassed 300 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns.

If nothing else, the Rams defense showed it wouldn’t be defined by the disaster against Baltimore.

“I thought it was really just a great plan by our coaches,” coach Sean McVay said, “but I also thought our players’ ability just to come in and be physical and understand exactly what we wanted to get done. There was a mindset that this group had really throughout the whole week, that I thought was special. There was kind of an opportunity that they couldn’t wait to really take advantage of in terms of just competing again.”