Rams defensive takeaway from first game is about resilience…

Rams’ defensive takeaway from first game is about resilience​

[www.dailybulletin.com]

THOUSAND OAKS — It was looking like a disastrous start for Raheem Morris as the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

Instead, it turned into an early signature moment for Morris and the 2021 Rams’ defense.

On the second play from scrimmage in their season opener against the Bears on Sunday, Chicago running back David Montgomery took a handoff from quarterback Andy Dalton, cut to his right between well-blocked defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Sebastian Joseph-Day, evaded the long arm of outside linebacker Leonard Floyd and burst away from five pursuers. Only the desperate speed of linebacker Kenny Young, who shoved Montgomery out of bounds, prevented a touchdown. The run went for 41 yards, to the 12-yard line.

On the SoFi Stadium sideline, Morris didn’t get angry or pause to figure out what just happened.

He said coolly into his coaching headset: “Let’s go get a turnover.”

Just as coolly, three plays later, the Rams’ defense got it.

Cornerback David Long’s end zone interception of a Dalton pass tipped by Young was one of a series of first-half takeaways and big hits that put the ball in the hands of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and sent L.A. on its way to a 34-14 victory.

“I thrive on adversity,” Morris said of the Bears’ 41-yard run, telling the story between practice sessions Thursday. “When it happened, I thought, ‘Good, let’s go get a turnover.’ That was the first thought that crossed my mind. And not because of a cocky or arrogant thing. It’s just that you’ve got to find ways to make people calm.

“If you get caught up in the emotion of being upset, the next thing you know you’re down 7-0 and you’ve got a problem.”

As the Rams (1-0) prepared to travel to face the Indianapolis Colts (0-1) on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, they looked to improve their defensive performance.

Although they held the Bears to a pair of touchdowns, the Rams gave up 108 yards rushing to Montgomery himself and 134 on the ground overall.

Coach Sean McVay blamed missed tackles and acknowledged that holding starters out of preseason games might contribute to early-season rust.

“I think we’ll see improvement moving on from Week 1 to Week 2, but that’s something that we’ll definitely have some urgency addressing,” McVay said.

It’s especially urgent because the Colts have a strong running game led by Jonathan Taylor (1,169 yards and 11 touchdowns as a rookie last season).

“I don’t know what was going on out there,” said Donald, who wasn’t immune to missing tackles. “I was letting plays slip out of my hands. So I’ve been working on my grip all week, making sure everything will be good. I changed my gloves. They’re not getting away no more.”

To Morris, the problem on the 41-yard gut-punch of a run wasn’t blown tackling but linemen’s failure to contest blocks and the secondary’s poor positioning.

“(Cornerback) Darious Williams should have been on the left side, (safety Jordan) Fuller should have been on the inside, and at most the 41-yard run is a 7-yarder,” Morris said.

But the momentary setback might have helped the 45-year-old former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach and Atlanta Falcons interim coach, hired last winter after defensive coordinator Brandon Staley became the Chargers’ coach, stamp his own identity on a Rams defense that allowed the fewest points and yards in the NFL last season.

Part of that identity is the importance of “make-a-difference plays” like takeaways. The bad moment in the first minute of the season opener set the Rams up to make one of those plays. And then they made more.

Outside linebacker Justin Hollins forced a Dalton fumble recovered by Young on one fourth-down try by the Bears, and cornerback Jalen Ramsey knocked a pass loose from Allen Robinson on another fourth down.

It will be reassuring, when the Rams’ defense inevitably runs into trouble at times this season, to know that a calm voice on the headset will be expecting to find a solution.

There certainly was no panic in Morris last Sunday.

As he put it: “I wasn’t thinking about my legacy as defensive coordinator on the second play.”

NOTES

Defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day (knee), the only Ram injured in the win over the Bears, was a limited participant in practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday.