LOS ANGELES — Defensive line coach Giff Smith didn’t sugarcoat anything.
The Los Angeles Rams had just lost back-to-back games, first in overtime against the Detroit Lions and then in a blowout to the Arizona Cardinals. Detroit ran the ball on seven of eight overtime plays including the game-winning touchdown. The Cardinals put up 231 net rushing yards. A Rams defensive line that faced questions all summer about its quality after superstar Aaron Donald’s retirement looked unprepared and overpowered.
They were embarrassed. Smith and assistant defensive line coach A.C. Carter were blunt in meetings later that week, but didn’t let the players wallow.
“Coach made some adjustments, he called me out,” said nose tackle Bobby Brown III, who said Arizona was his worst game. “He took my starting spot and basically was like, get on my stuff and get better. Me personally, I took that (as) I need to do as much as I can and be better for this team and not play selfish ball.”
It was hardly just Brown. Rookie defensive tackle Braden Fiske noted that players admitted to themselves and each other that sometimes they acted individualistically on certain snaps, trying to make plays instead of executing the collective plan. Second-year nose tackle Kobie Turner, a team captain this season, reminded teammates and himself that they “earn the right” to rush the passer by first stopping the run.
Out came the large gray trash cans, flipped over by Carter on one of the practice fields and arranged in a way so as to imitate the gaps they’d face from opposing offenses. Late into the workdays over the next few weeks, at Smith’s instruction, the defensive linemen walked through their assignments and their technique — over and over again, chatting to each other as they went.
The extra studying was intended to improve their fundamentals. It looked rudimentary. But it brought them all closer, in part because they all had to reckon with what needed to improve as a group.
“Part of that comes with humility,” Turner said. “Each person has to truly believe that they are not better than the rest of the 11. … I do think that guys have continued to be more and more humble.
“We’re all first and second-year guys. … I think that has also lent itself to have a certain humility. The way that we all look to each other is like, ‘Wow. These guys are ballers.’ It’s not, ‘Oh yeah, I’m the baller of the group. I’m the man.’ All along this front, anybody can eat. … Ultimately, when you have a humble mindset and you’re ready to give, and you’re not thinking, ‘How can I make this about me?’ the whole group flourishes.”
Through Weeks 1-5, the Rams had allowed the most rushing yards in the NFL and the second-worst rushing defense EPA. They allowed 4.8 yards per carry, which tied other teams in the bottom third of the league.
Through Weeks 7-11 (after the Week 6 bye) the Rams are No. 3 in total rushing defense EPA, fifth in opponent yards per carry (3.6) and No. 11 in total rushing yards allowed.
The Rams also rank No. 1 in the NFL in pressure rate according to Next Gen Stats, attaining pressure on more than 40 percent of pass-rush snaps. They’re slowly climbing up the sacks rankings, and are tied for seventh through 10 games with 27.
Similar to their improvements in the run game, re-learning core fundamentals also helped bring their pass rush to life. Turner said that Smith, Carter and outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio have helped the group read and react to the protections set by an opposing offense because they teach them from the latter point of view. What are the ways an offense will avoid a pass rusher and why? How can the Rams’ entire defensive line adjust to it before the ball is snapped?
“When Joe first came in (in 2023), (in) his rush meetings he’d be like, ‘This is their protection, this is Jet Pro, this is Scat Pro.’ Everybody would be like, ‘OK, OK. Get to the good stuff, how they block and whatnot,’ ” said Turner. “But now, we know (for example), ‘We have a chipper — we’re running this stunt that is not going to be good into a chipper look (so) we can ice it.’ Or we can call another stunt. …
“Because of that, that allows us now — it’s not just the coach calling the game on the sideline and just (hoping) that we end up in the right spot. He calls the game on the sideline and if we see that we’re not in the right spot we can check into another one.”
When defensive coordinator Chris Shula and the assistants started adding more complex concepts to the pass rush, they didn’t use language players weren’t already accustomed to even though some of the plays were new. They built those packages up using core principles from their four-man rush and all of the interconnecting moves within it. Players’ ability to pick up those concepts quickly has resulted in small evolutions of their scheme.
For example, over the last few weeks the Rams have deployed a package called “Cheetah” that features a five-man front. Veteran outside linebacker Michael Hoecht is a multi-position player in this package, who can rush with the group off of the edge or just inside the edge, blitz from the interior gaps, drop into coverage on rare occasions, become the inside linebacker (usually inside linebackers come off the field in this package, to make room for extra rush and coverage players) or spy the quarterback.
“Necessity is the mother of invention so you’re just trying to find different ways to get your best players on the field,” said Shula, smiling. “We always talk about how (to) get your best 11 on the field? … We definitely think Hoecht is one of those guys.”
Against Miami in Week 10, Hoecht’s job on certain plays was to disrupt the early parts of the ultra-fast Dolphins receivers’ routes, because the defensive backs behind him would be covering a spot on the field where quarterback Tua Tagovailoa intended to throw at a specific time. Hoecht dropped as if he were spying Tagovailoa as an inside linebacker, but positioned himself in the route path and bumped the receiver. Because he was facing Tagovailoa the contact appeared accidental — but it forced Tagovailoa to hold onto the ball because the receiver was a hair late to his spot and it resulted in a sack for a 13-yard loss.
Another Rams captain, Quentin Lake, wears the “green dot” for the defense — meaning he has a small speaker in his helmet that allows him to receive the defensive play call from Shula and then communicate that to the rest of the defense. In “Cheetah”, Hoecht takes over communication up front. Without a speaker in his own helmet, Hoecht coordinates the call he gets from Lake with what he sees the offense do pre-snap in reaction to the defensive look.
The way the defensive line reads and fits the run varies depending on where the quarterback collects the snap (such as from the shotgun or pistol formations, or from under center). In “Cheetah” that means Hoecht’s job also changes, and it’s also his responsibility to set the run fits accordingly along the rest of the defensive line similarly to how a center would set protections for a quarterback.
“He’s able to get us exactly where we need to be,” said Turner, “he knows all of the drops. He knows the run fits when it comes up.”
All five pass-rushers — Hoecht, Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Jared Verse, Fiske, second-year player Byron Young and Turner — bring this package and their overall rush plan to life with impact plays.
Young leads them all with six sacks, and has forced a fumble and batted a pass. Turner and Fiske each have five sacks — both players rush from the interior of the defensive line — and Fiske leads the team with two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Turner has also deflected three passes. Verse has 4 1/2 sacks, has forced two fumbles and recovered one. Hoecht has three sacks and last week in New England blocked an extra point attempt.
Turner calls the Rams’ front a “five-headed monster”, in part because of its connectedness and in part because they’re all so close together in sack production. They’re all competing with each other for the highest tally by the end of the year, and the loser has to shave their beard (or similar such punishment if it’s the beardless Hoecht).
“We’re all hungry,” said Turner, smiling, “… We’re just a group of hungry guys who are trying to do everything the right way and trying to affect offenses in the right way. We’ve earned a lot of confidence and we’re trying to roll with that.”
The offensive strength of early opponents such as the Lions, Cardinals and 49ers juxtaposed with some of their later opponents are a factor in the Rams’ improved defensive statistics.
But reality is also all over the film: After a tough start, this young defensive line isn’t just playing above expectations in a post-Donald world. It’s a bonafide group.
Sunday night in prime time, they’ll get one of their toughest tests of the season.
Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is second in the NFL in rushing yards (1,137), is averaging a whopping 5.8 yards per carry and is tied for fourth with 10 rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Jalen Hurts is No. 2 in the NFL in rushing touchdowns, and has particularly excelled on throws made while on the move or working outside of his pocket this season — areas where the Rams’ defensive line and outside linebackers struggled early in the year.
Further, the Eagles’ offensive line, regarded perennially as a well-coached and experienced group, features right tackle Lane Johnson and left tackle Jordan Mailata who are allowing the fourth- and seventh-least pressures at their respective position groups, according to Next Gen Stats.
Turner called the upcoming battle between both fronts “an opportunity.” His emphasis as well as coaches’ all week has been to stay as one unit, playing with urgency and within their fundamentals — the same points that helped them all improve so dramatically over the last month and a half.
“Coach (A.C. Carter) preaches to us pretty much every day: ‘We train to standard, not to wins and losses,’ ” Turner said.
“When you’re playing to competition that might not be where you believe you are, that’s especially important — and (Sunday), when you’re playing against really steep competition (that) is also important. And it’s important to remember that it’s not about, ‘Oh, let me just go out of the framework of the defense to go pick up this win.’ It’s about (training) to our standard. How can we emphasize our standard? How can we have the urgency to go and get the task done? The only thing that matters is coming out with a win on Sunday night.”
(Top photo of Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske and Byron Young: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
