Here’s oldnotdead…
There is something fundamentally wrong when Morris uses his elite CB in low percentage blitzes instead of taking away the QB's best weapon. It's simply the arrogance of a DC who hasn't done his film work on the opposing QB. Murray is a two-read QB. Take away his first read, i.e. Hopkins on the vast majority of his plays is huge in defending the Cards. Simple film work would show that.
But it's not only this game. This defense has sucked in every game and made to look better simply by Stafford outscoring the opposition. For god sake I've been saying since game one that if the Rams get behind or Stafford has a bad game, the defense will fold.
This is no different than watching Kromer's inept coaching of the OL. People were blaming the players and everything else except the root cause. This is simply a DC who doesn't understand he has elite talent on this roster if he simply uses it correctly. Like the OL a coaching change is required or the coach must change his scheme and admit he's wrong. What makes this so stupid is that Morris was handed the blueprint but his ego wouldn't allow him to simply build upon what Staley had installed.
All you need to do is look at the Charger game on Monday to see the difference Staley is making with less talent. His pre-snap disguises allowed his pass rush to make a huge difference. Morris in his arrogance has eliminated that from the defensive scheme because he didn't understand how to use it and never took the time to study it.
Staley was facing a strong run attack with the Raiders. He played his defense with 6-7 in the box for most of the game. His LBs would drop to cover that short zone taking away Carr's quick options. Staley allows his defense to read and anticipate the play allowing them to play faster not as Merlin pointed out flat-footed. Drop, read, react is a loser scheme. It's why so many teams dropped zone defenses. Teams are now beginning to use zone again but now it's aggressively played.
Morris' scheme is obsolete and is a complete loser as demonstrated over the past 4 games. Morris has returned the level of play of this defense back to what it was before Staley, i.e. if the offense can't outscore the opposition the Rams lose. There is only one option for McVay. Demand that Morris reinstalls Staley's scheme or fire his ass. Morris is a fool to think stats don't matter. The fact that his scheme is so freaking far behind the level of play established by Staley with lesser players is testimony that can't be ignored. The Rams are in win now mode. To allow Morris to piss it all away is beyond belief.
Look at how upgrading the OL coaching has made the same unit that floundered into one of the better units in the NFL. Look how Staley took a middle of the road defense and made it into the best in the NFL. Now Morris has taken that same defense and made them average. WTF? The remedy is clear. Either force Morris to abandon his foolish ego driven scheme and return to the scheme that was proven to work, or fire his ass. I have no problem with moving Ramsey around if he's taking away their best receiver. But to use him like a blitzing LB is stupid beyond belief. He's weakening his secondary for a low percentage play. It's pure BS.
Why is Rapp looking so weak? Because he's being played like a LB instead of the SS he is. Rapp's strength is play recognition. Morris isn't playing to his personnel's strength and it's been proven by the results. His scheme is allowing over 71% completion rates. I don't freaking care what Morris thinks, but that is completely unacceptable compared with 63% last year.
Run defense is equally downgraded. Staley's unit gave up 3.8 YPC and Morris is allowing 4.7 YPC. Why? Because there's only the DL defending the first 5 yards as everyone is dropping back 7+ yds to keep everything in front of them. WTF? Morris said he doesn't care about stats only results. Well his stats stink and the results stink just as much. FIRE MORRIS
