New Defense - Ongoing season discussion

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Speights keeps looking more comfortable.
He flashes some explosiveness that's fun to see and I think we'll start to see him get home on the QB as he gets a little more experience.
He doesn't have the arm length and swim move Jones had developed.. but he's more sudden than Ernest.
 
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Steve808 said:
Agreed. I believe the management may have under estimated how much AD wrecked opposition.

Our rookies are studs but it took some game experience for it to show. Verse is looking like he'll be a beast. Imagine if we had a stone wall linebacker. I must say Speights and Rozeboom is a better combo that having Reeder in there.

The defense is improving, now the offense has to score more touchdowns.
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If Speights and Rozeboom were a bit faster, this defense would be much better. One area it lacks is closing on the crossing receivers and outside runs. Drake Maye was able to manipulate both LBers all day in the passing game.
 
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NFL Pro breaks down a player's snaps by alignment. I was curious about guys like Hoecht and Lake because they move around a bunch.

I do question the accuracy or how they tabulate it. I think some of Hoecht's DT snaps are actually LB. Situations where he's standing directly over the center/lineman, a mugged LB. Which would explain why the ILBs and DBs have snaps at DT as well.

Hoecht
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Lake
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dieterbrock said:
Did they let Seattle score a TD in 1 minute with 0 timeouts? That's the point.
The offense sucks balls and is the reason why the team is losing more than winning. Looking at the defense from where the season started, they have made great strides and are really coming together. BUT there are areas where they need to improve, closing out games (and 1st half) and starting slow. When they clean that up, and I believe they will, the defense will be ELITE
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The numbers show improvement over the course of the season. Nobody expected them to be a great defense early on. Hell, decent was about all we should have expected. Over the first 5 games they allowed 16 TDs and had 4 takeaways. Over the last 5 they've allowed 9 TDs and have 11 takeaways. First thought might be 'the quality of opposition' isn't as high. That's true. There was only 1 beatable team (Chicago) over the first five. Over the second 5 there were two (Las Vegas, New England). Perhaps the initial 5 games prepared them for these last 5 games and they've done what they're supposed to do.

Yes, they allowed Seattle to drive 73 yards for the game tying score late in the 4th. Seattle got the ball with 1:54 remaining at their 27 and no timeouts. Ironically, against a better, more experienced defense Seattle got the ball at their 20 with 2:38 remaining, 1 timeout and did the same thing vs San Francisco. They did it quicker vs the Rams but that's only a complaint point. The real point is, they did it against both defenses. The difference is they only tied the Rams.

This defense isn't great or elite. They're good and getting better. Which is all we could have expected coming out of camp. We've managed to hover at .500, so now with the offense healthy and the defense still improving, we're in position to earn a playoff spot over the final 7 games of the season. It's funny how things play out. We expected our offense to be studs out of the gates. A new and improved OL, Puka, Kupp, Kyren and Stafford. We just had to survive the growing pains and development of the defense. And the latter was a "hope" with a lot of new young guys, no AD and a rookie DC. Instead what we got was a lethargic, injury riddled offense over the first 5 weeks, that has been inconsistent over the last 5 weeks and a defense that has developed perhaps a bit ahead of schedule.
 
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PARAM said:
The numbers show improvement over the course of the season. Nobody expected them to be a great defense early on
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Yep. That’s why this is an ongoing conversation.
The slow starts are concerning but by the same respect there now should be an expectation of the team figuring it out and turning it around. They’ve proven that time and time again.
 
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dieterbrock said:
Yep. That’s why this is an ongoing conversation.
The slow starts are concerning but by the same respect there now should be an expectation of the team figuring it out and turning it around. They’ve proven that time and time again.
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Slow starts or not, late TD drives or not, I think they're right where we reasonably could have expected them to be, probably even better. Just like last season, some expected we were in a rebuilding year and some expected all those new moving parts (replacing Ramsey, Floyd, Wagner, A'Shawn, Gaines, Rapp, Scott, etc) to be a bit confused early on and get better as the year passed. I think both happened. And I think it's happening again this year. Last year's progression and turnaround might be the reason they unloaded Jones so easily (with apologies to AD, "hell we lost a lot more last year and were fine"). I'm not concerned. I'm anticipating continued improvement.
 
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PARAM said:
Slow starts or not, late TD drives or not, I think they're right where we reasonably could have expected them to be, probably even better. Just like last season, some expected we were in a rebuilding year and some expected all those new moving parts (replacing Ramsey, Floyd, Wagner, A'Shawn, Gaines, Rapp, Scott, etc) to be a bit confused early on and get better as the year passed. I think both happened. And I think it's happening again this year. Last year's progression and turnaround might be the reason they unloaded Jones so easily (with apologies to AD, "hell we lost a lot more last year and were fine"). I'm not concerned. I'm anticipating continued improvement.
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Like I said, they clean up the slow starts and late meltdowns, they are looking elite.
The run defense looked like the worst in the league out of the gate and now it’s among the best. The pass rush? Amazing. From inside and edge. It’s a special group no doubt. And I’m here for it.
 
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PARAM said:
The numbers first 4 gp / last 5 gp

First 4 GP:

219.8 pass yds/g ; 1 int, 7 sacks
165.5 rush yds/g ; 5.0 y/c
13 TD, 6 FG; 109 pts; 27.2 PPG

Last 5 GP:

219.4 pass yds/g ; 7 Int, 17 sacks
97.2 rush yds/g ; 3.6 y/c
10 TD, 11 FG; 103 pts; 20.6 PPG

I think we'd have to believe, they are improving.
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I’m sorry I don’t know a shorter way to say this, but I’ve been thinking of this as I’ve watched this defense slowly minimize its flailing and missing:

Every year there is an annual hatching of seabird chicks on the coast of a Hawaiian island. This brings in a breed of shark that is not typically seen that close to shore and certainly not in those numbers.

The game is simple. The baby chicks float around while clumsily figuring out how to take off and fly while the equally inept sharks try to figure out the best approach to snatching these chicks for a quick meal.

The beginning favors the baby chicks because they can hop out of the way of the shark’s jaws until the bird eventually leaps into flight. As time goes on, the sharks relearn the correct approach that forces the baby birds in a direction not conducive for takeoff. This allows the shark to keep at a singular bird until it is caught.

Those birds into the water first, like kyler murray, escape more frequently than not, while the birds who go in later, like geno smith, do not. The Rams defense is now catching more than they miss when the opportunities present themselves.

This is a scary group the Rams have up front and they’re getting better.
 
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Remember, for years, all we had was Aaron Donald and every couple of years we'd acquire an experienced edge rusher. Dante Fowler. Leonard Floyd. Von Miller. Now, from AD's last season to the first without him, we have a young group of edge rushers (and Kobie), as well as a consistent pass rush that rivals, if not surpasses any of those years. And we may have those guys, under contract and productive as long as we had those 3 experienced edge rushers. Ironic? Incredible? Perhaps by next year, we'll have a back end equally impressive (which we're already putting together; Lake, Kinchens, Durant, McCollough, DWill, etc.). This could be the start of something BIG.
 
Ellard80 said:
Two straight games in the 2nd halves the defense has not forced any punts - that wont work against our next opponent.
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Now THAT is concerning because you can’t count on getting those timely INTs every week.
 
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fanotodd said:
Now THAT is concerning because you can’t count on getting those timely INTs every week.
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We don't have enough quality, experienced depth yet to sustain having the defense on the field so much. The offense has to be better at holding onto the ball longer.

This will improve with experience.
 
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