Here’s Jourdan…
Coaching point: One of Raheem Morris’ top goals when taking over as defensive coordinator last spring was sound tackling and surer containment upon first contact. Seventeen games later, the Rams rank around the middle of the NFL with 103 missed tackles (Pro Football Reference). Advanced TruMedia statistics show 12 occasions from Sunday’s loss in which a Rams player/multiple players made first contact with a ball carrier and did not contain them (a slightly different quantification than the Pro Football Focus or Pro Football Reference metrics of singular misses, and also has the Rams at 207 “misses” by this metric). Six of their 10-worst outings in this category have come against NFC opponents this season, with their worst a 24-miss effort against San Francisco in Week 10, per TruMedia. Week 18 tied for their 10th-worst game, and they’ve missed 10 or more first-contact containment opportunities in all but three games this year (Vikings, Colts, Titans).
Surer tackling and aggressive, assertive positioning in the run game and on catch-and-run plays is going to be crucial in preventing the long, ball-control drives that teams who have beat the Rams this year have utilized effectively against them (and became the blueprint against them whenever Stafford turned the ball over early or threw a pick-six).
