defense: completion percentage and points allowed

aeneas1

i really thought the rams pass defense numbers would look quite a bit different under gw, especially completion % allowed, but they didn’t at all, they were almost identical to the numbers booked before he arrived. since fish has been hc the rams have done three things rather consistently when it comes to pass defense: 1. allow a very high completion rate 2. allow a very low depth of catch rate and 3. allow a very low td per pass attempt rate. the numbers seem to imply, and watching the games seem to confirm, that the rams have been content giving up the underneath pass, almost freely (hence the very high completion rate allowed and the low average depth of catch allowed) in exchange for not getting beat deep often, and it has pretty much worked, albeit it can be frustrating as helll to watch.

last year the rams ranked 31st in completion % allowed – in 2013 they ranked 32nd and in 2012 they ranked 30th. conversely they’ve ranked in the top 10 all three years in lowest depth of catch allowed, and have ranked 3rd, 11th, and 5th in tds per pass attempt allowed. in fact, all told, the rams rank dead last in completion % allowed for the 3 years fish has been hc, but also rank 3rd best in td% allowed and 2nd in lowest depth of pass allowed.

anyway, if there’s one thing gw defenses have done well in the past is keeping opponent completion % low – in fact his defenses were top 10 in completion % allowed in 5 of the 7 years he was dc in new orleans and washington (albeit his defenses ranked in the top 10 in offensive points allowed just twice in those seven years). because of this i thought the rams would see a dramatic jump in completion % allowed under gw, but instead ranked near the very bottom again, which makes me wonder how much influence fish has on the defensive side of the ball. that said, i’ll take a low td per pass attempt rate and giving up the underneath pass over a low completion % rate.