Rams had the top defense in 2020. Take a look at this....

1. It's fun to look at that defense again lol Truly a special, fun unit.

2. Look at the secondary on most of these naps. Soft shell. Same as always. Sometimes you can't even see the Ram's corners on the screen. But it is working because....

3. The ram's defensive linemen dominate at the line of scrimmage. Pressure from all over. And the secondary is doing a FANTASTIC job of recognizing the route patterns, forcing the QB to hold the ball just a smidge longer than they want to. That is perfect harmony. Secondary is buying the defensive line just enough time. That is the main part that ISN'T happening in 2022. But also no pressure to be found.


















What you can see from these clips is obvious, though. The soft shell in and of itself is not the issue. The Rams ran in a bunch last 3 years. What has changed over the last two years is losing guys like John Johnson, Darios Williams, Morgan Fox, etc who helped get pressure and buy time on the back end. Maybe offenses have just caught on as well. I guess we will see. But it isn't specifically a scheme issue. We need better horses up front and on the back end.