[aeneas1]

no surprise that the rams are dominating in offensive stats but the rams are also doing some good things on defense - the defense ranks 9th best in 3rd down conversions allowed, 6th in takeaways, 10th in qb rating allowed, 6th in completion % allowed, 5th in sack rate, 7th in picks, and 8th in 1st downs given up by runs, not too shabby at all.

the thing that's killing the rams defense are big plays given up, plays of 15+ yards.

here's the rub - big plays of 15+ yards only account for 10% of all offensive plays run and defended, yet they account for a whopping 48% of total yardage, 34% of total tds, and 35% of all 1st downs.

if you remove big plays from the nfl stat sheets and only look at the 90% of plays that gained 14 yards or less, the rams defense would rank league best in yards per play allowed instead of 29th.... in short, the defense is kicking ass 90% of time in terms of offensive yardage given up, but are getting worked 10% of the time.

and what about offense? the rams rank 2nd best in yards per play gained and 2nd best in big plays of 15+ yards... again, if you remove big plays from the nfl stat sheets and only look at the 90% of plays that gained 14 yards or less, the rams offense would rank 24th in yards per play instead of 2nd.

fwiw, the rams currently rank 24th in fewest penalties per game (assessed, declined and offsetting) - only 8 teams have drawn more flags.... the crosstown 0-3 chargers? they rank 9th in fewest penalties per game, only 8 teams have been flagged less. weird, eh?