Rams Defense Answers Tough Questions Against Offensive Genius

WOODLAND HILLS, Ca. The Los Angeles Rams defense was tasked with a difficult challenge on Sunday and that challenge was to stop the San Francisco 49ers offense enough to win. While there were ups and downs, the Rams' defense came through, establishing their answers to the questions posed to them before the game.

1. Can the pass rush get home?

No, because Mac Jones' average time to throw was 2.8 seconds.

2. Will the Rams be able to control the pen?

No. In fact, the 49ers might have displayed the key to defeating the Rams. Any team that can strike a short passing game and then supplement it with a slow and methodical rushing attack will quickly drain the Rams of energy and considering their limited resources on the line of scrimmage in terms of reserves since they rotate everyone in, as the game goes on, the defenders will struggle to maintain valiant efforts due to natural fatigue.

Jul 31, 2024; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula speaks to the media after training camp at Loyola Marymount University. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

There's two problems to doing that. One is that it's a difficult thing to accomplish in practice and the Rams defense always gets a boost in the fourth quarter. At least they kept the pen out of Chris Shula's hands.

3. Jared Verse...what do you want to say?

Can't say much when the ball comes out that quick but the greats always stay in the fight and find a way to make a statement. That's what Verse did. While his numbers don't pop off the screen, he does all the little things that create a winning product.

Verse is great at ruining someone's day. That means he's tackling well, hitting players, collapsing pockets, and pretty much being a menace to society around the line of scrimmage. On Sunday, Verse blocked a 49ers' PAT attempt to keep the Rams' lead at eight in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. The 49ers never got close to cutting into the Rams' lead again.

4. What is the reality of the cornerback situation?

Pretty decent. Mac Jones didn't dare to target the outside while Emmanuel Forbes picked off a tipped ball, and with Cobie Durant nearly had another. The big test for them will come this week against Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Rashid Shaheed, Cooper Kupp and the Seahawks because they run a similar offense to the 49ers but they have better wide receivers and more consistent quarterback play.

However, they continue to pass test after test.

5. How do you avoid a repeat of last time without exposing another weakness?

You don't. Kyle Shanahan is an offensive genius who realized his short-yardage passing attack needed to go from horizontal to vertical and that's exactly what he did. He attacked the seams within the Rams' defense, using his rushing attack to keep Nate Landman on the field, not allowing Shula to continuously bring on Jaylen McCollough and Josaiah Stewart to replace his starting linebackers, using the gap between Landman and the safeties to find areas to place the football.

On top of that, the 49ers had George Kittle this time and he would give Kam Curl problems all day. Shanahan will exploit weaknesses, but the Rams got the critical stops so....wash?

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