Rams Fans United - Los Angeles Rams Fan Discussion Forum

By Venie Randy Soares

Two things jump right to mind on L.A.’s recent improvement. One, Chris Shula appears to be settling in at defensive coordinator and two, the Rams tackling has been getting incrementally better each week.

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”

Not hardly. Although the Rams defense primarily uses the same 3-4 base and plays in umbrella coverages, the 2023 version shows and plays completely different. While Shula also uses a lot of sim blitz looks, he’s blitzing at higher percentage and has used multiple variants on who goes and who backs out as well as attacking from different angles.

One of the standout changes is Shula’s use of subterfuge, The Rams disguise their coverages at the highest rate in the NFL, but that’s not all. The defensive formations are all over the place, on consecutive plays you may see three standup edges, four cornerbacks, a corner and safety as inside line backers, or three down linemen in front of eight secondary players. The wild part is that the individual players manning these packages are just as varied as the formations. Shula is using a much-deeper rotation.

There is one other big similarity to last year. Early in the season, as losses and struggles mounted, fans were calling for heads on a platter and Shula was at the top of the list, just like Raheem Morris in 2023.

In the blog-verse, it doesn’t really matter if a unit goes through wholesale changes, season-to-season comparison’s are almost unavoidable. Keeping in mind all the changes, here’s how the Rams 2024 defense stacks up (at least statistically) against last year’s after seven games. 2024 in bold.
Points, drives, and conversions

Record: 3-4 / 3-4

Points allowed: 174 / 141

Points per game: 24.9 / 20.1

Touchdowns: 18 / 13

Field goals: 14 / 16

Plays allowed: 425 / 440

Yards allowed: 2462 / 2282

Yards per game: 351.7 / 326.0

Yards per play: 5.8 / 5.1

First downs: 143 / 137

Drives by opponent: 72 / 74

3rd down percentage allowed: 37.8% / 38.5%

Scoring drive: 45.8% / 39.2%

Time of possession: -3:46 / +14:30
Passing

Attempts: 197 / 229

Completions: 128 / 133

Completion percentage: 64.9% / 58.1

Yards: 1602 - 1545

Yards per game: 229.0 / 220.7

Yard per attempt: 8.6 / 6.7

Yards per completion: 12.4 / 10.9

Touchdowns: 12 / 4

Interceptions: 5 / 3
Rushing

Attempts: 214 / 198

Yards: 974 / 819

Yards per carry: 4.6 / 4.1

Yards per game: 139.1 / 117.0

Touchdowns allowed: 6 /9

wow crazy analytics.. whomever "authored" that, did some work.. thx!

Last 3 games in the 2nd half.

Las Vegas 9 points (3 FGs)
Minnesota 6 points (2 FGs)
Seattle 7 points

That's an average of 7 points. Keep that shit up and we might have something. If the offense scores points.

What's up with Havenstein? Was he back in OT or did McClendon represent himself well? I don't know.

McClendon finished the game and did ok but MCV protected him.

The D is just getting better and better and Shula knows what he is doing. Having JJ3 back will really help the communication. I bet they start blitzing Omar soon as well dude has a nose for the ball. Kinchen’s confidence now should help him settle in when he’s called upon. He’s really good in the redzone. lol

Here's the differences on the stat sheet through 7 games:

2023 /2024

Sacks: 12 / 14
Int: 3 / 5
FR: 2 / 3
Def Scores: 0 /3 (Pick 6, FR TD, Safety)

And after that showing in Seattle, through 8 games:

Sacks: 15 / 21
Int: 4 / 8
FR: 2 / 3
Def Scores: 0 / 4 (Pick 6 (2), FR TD, Safety)

Actually the biggest problem early last year wasn't so much the defense. It was the lack of offense and after starting 3-3, missing Kyren games 7 through 10.