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[Dare]

What is being shown is what I've been advocating for years. Enough with the quasi-passive Fangio style defensive front. The biggest change on defense has been philosophical as much as anything. Shula is playing a one gap penetration attacking style of defense and it's allowing the Rams to get pressure when under Morris they normally struggled in that regard.

I saw that same dynamic in San Diego with the Chargers when they moved from Ron Rivera's Fangio style scheme to John Pagano's one gap, attacking style. John is the brother of Chuck Pagano who brought the one gap style to Baltimore who has always had a top defense since. Pagano taught it to Wade Phillips and it got him hired in Houston.

Phillip in turn brought that style to LA and that is where Shula learned it. There are a lot of similar elements between the two. It has allowed Shula to play to the strength's of his new DL. When, the Rams took Verse and Fiske I knew then that Shula was going to abandon the quasi passive style of Morris and return to the same style of attacking scheme I first saw under Pagano in San Diego.

One of the benefits of the 3-4 hybrid is the flexibility it allows. It pays huge dividends when a DC needs to make adjustments to his scheme. Morris played his 3-4 personnel like a standard 4-3 never really taking advantage of the scheme flexibility his personnel could give him. This is why Shula's defense is so exciting to watch. It's why after the Seahawk's first two drives he was able to begin making adjustments to shutdown their offense.

Shula's alignments are in part key to this defense's growth. These clips highlight how he uses them to deceive and confuse the OL and QB. Who is coming from where? That was a hallmark of Pagano's style. A DL defender's first step is often key to his success or lack thereof. Deception by alignment allows the DL to take advantage of the OL's hesitation. Shula is proving he's as good as I've heard he is.

Under Morris how many times were they able to make goal line/short yardage stands? That was on full display in Seattle. The continued evolution of this defense will be key to the SB run that the Rams could pull off this year.

[rams74]

Kurt Warner absolutely HATES the Rams

I don't think you're basing that statement on this clip with Eisen, because Kurt didn't say anything unreasonable in the clip. He said the Rams were up and down. That's a pretty accurate description, if you ask me. He said if you give Matthew the ball in the 4th quarter and a chance to win the game, he'll make those throws every time. That's pretty accurate if you ask me.

He didn't say he LOVED the Niners, he said he leans that way in the NFC West.

If he was especially critical of any NFC West team, it was the Cardinals. In a year when most analysts are heaping praise on Kyler Murray, Kurt was critical of him locking onto his primary option on any given play, rather than going through his progressions and finding his #2 or #3 receivers before checking down. For a QB in his 6th season, that's a pretty big indictment.

This is a Rams-hating, Cardinals-loving guy?

[Dare]

Murray has no work ethic, why should he? He's got nothing but guaranteed money. He doesn't go beyond his second read because he can't. So Kyler either dumps off or runs around and hopes for dropped coverage or room to run.

Contain Murray and force him to play from the pocket, and he's toast. That's the book on Murray, and it's been the same throughout his career.

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