Rams' Raheem Morris On Defensive Struggles: 'Teachable Moments!'
Coming out of the Los Angeles Rams' 34-17 loss to the L.A. Chargers on Saturday, one of the biggest storylines was how much the run defense struggled.
The Rams allowed 214 rushing yards against their cross-town counterparts, by far the most of any team in the first week of the preseason. Undrafted rookie running back Elijah Dotson led the Chargers with 92 yards on just six carries, including two long touchdowns in the fourth quarter, while Joshua Kelly added 54 yards on nine attempts. Even with star back Austin Ekeler not playing, the Chargers ran wild over the Rams' defense.
Of course, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris had some thoughts about his unit's struggles. Morris emphasized that the defense is still very much a work in progress, and despite a poor showing on Saturday, he still has faith in the unit to get better.
“I don't really know if you get as deep into it as like run defense, it's more about just situational awareness of people that are in and how you want those guys to play," Morris told reporters. "So how you want to set the edge, it wasn't the standard, so you got to do some of those things better that the people did that when they got in and had their opportunities to make those plays...
"‘What are your impressions on the run game?’ It's really more about our technique, it's about us, it's about our process and going through that process to get it better.”
The good news for Morris and the Rams is that there's still time to improve the run defense before the regular season starts next month. With such a young defense, which is exacerbated even further in the preseason, Morris recognizes that it's only natural for there to be some growing pains.
"Like their first to the second game is always such a big response, particularly with the people that's going out there for the second time and not what happens or the result of the play, just the way that it got to the being a part of that part of the play and it's just so much fun to watch that stuff happen," Morris said. "That's part of the game I love, those teachable moments, those correctable moments, those things you can change to see how quickly they can transfer those things and it’s awesome.”
The Rams will have an opportunity to show how much their defense has improved when they host the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday.
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