Practice Report 11/29: Defense Looking for Bounce-Back Performance
Myles Simmons
The Rams got back on the field Tuesday afternoon to begin preparing for another significant challenge in the 9-2 Patriots, who L.A. will face on the road this Sunday. The session was the latest step for the Rams in moving past their poor performance in Week 12 against New Orleans, a 49-21 loss.
It was a particularly disappointing showing for Los Angeles’ defense, as the unit surrendered 49 points, 555 total yards, 27 first downs, and nine plays of at least 20 yards.
“We just didn’t play gap-sound football. We didn’t really play disciplined, and they did a pretty good job scheming us up to where we couldn’t really get a good rush and get pressure,” defensive end William Hayes said. “They got the best of us. And my goal is to go out there and get ready to compete this week. They did a hell of a job.”
“We just [got] outplayed,” safety T.J. McDonald said. “You’ve got to [take] your hats off to them, they did a good job against us. But for us, we weren’t on all of our details. Everyone wasn’t doing their job. Our eyes were bad. And so, we’ve got to chalk that up, learn from it, and move on.”
Moving on — it’s sometimes easier said than done. Even though the Rams have started implementing their game plan for New England, there’s still a bit of leftover motivation from what happened in the Bayou.
“We definitely [used] the 24-hour rule — we’ve got to put it behind us,” McDonald said. “But we definitely don’t have a good taste in our mouths right now. And we want to come this week with a sense of urgency, working hard, and get back on the right path.”
In fact, the defense apparently addressed how anxious it is as a unit to compete once again.
“I know defensively, that’s something we talked about today and if I could get on the field today, I’d be more than ecstatic to,” Hayes said.
“We were ready to go play yesterday after feeling how we felt on Sunday,” McDonald said.
And there’s a balance of taking what you need from one game but not letting it affect too much of what you’re doing going forward.
“You can’t just forget about it,” McDonald said. “There’s definitely things that we need to fix. So we went through it.”
ut essentially, both McDonald and Hayes expressed that the defense’s performance was unacceptable against New Orleans.
“I just think week in and week out, you just want to be able to put your best performance on the field. And that’s what we didn’t do,” Hayes said. “Like I said, I was embarrassed. Giving up seven touchdowns and just letting them have their way with us — that’s now how our defense is. We really take a lot of pride in our craft and what we put on tape.”
“I know this year hasn’t been going where we want it to go as an overall team,” Hayes continued, “but defensively, I know when we step out there on the field, we can never accept that.”
The slate does not get any easier for Los Angeles’ defense, as the unit will face a New England offense led by Tom Brady — who has been spectacular since returning from his four-game suspension to open the season. He’s completing 68.4 percent of his passes and has thrown 18 touchdowns to just one interception in seven games.
“He’s a great quarterback. Everything speaks for itself — he’s done some great things in this league,” McDonald said. “Their team in general, they do everything right. They stick to what they do and they do it well. So we’ve definitely got a great challenge ahead of us. And it’s a good challenge for us to get back on the right track and feel a lot better of ourselves.”
That’s part of how the Rams have continued to stay positive and focused in the midst of a 1-6 stretch over their last seven games.
“It’s the opportunity each day, as you prepare, to go out and have a chance to win another football game. That’s what it’s about, that’s how our league is,” head coach Jeff Fisher said. “Obviously, we had to put it behind us real quickly and recognize what happened in the game [against New Orleans] and understood why. Now let’s accept this great challenge.”
“Now we’re ready to go back out there and getting back to playing defense like we know how to play — getting back to playing football how we know how to play,” McDonald said. “Our offense did a lot better job this week, and we’ve got to be able to hold our end. We’re anxious to just put it all together.”
[
www.therams.com]
. Your last sentence is right on target. Big big mistake. One to be very costly.
. I hope you don't mean that.
