reporters set up the PATZ game (including, Belichick impressed by Goff & Donald)

Bill Belichick drops heavy praise for Rams’ Aaron Donald, who is capable of ruining Tom Brady’s day

http://www.masslive.com/patriots/index.ssf/2016/11/bill_belichick_drops_heavy_pra.html

The New England Patriots matchup well with the Los Angeles Rams, and should be heavy favorites heading into the game. With the talent on their roster, the Patriots should be well equipped to deal whatever threats the Rams present.

Except Aaron Donald.

The third-year defensive tackle is the exact type of player that can give the Patriots fits: an explosive interior pass rusher that can get into Tom Brady’s face quickly and force him to hurry and make mistakes.

The Patriots are well aware of the threat that Donald presents. Speaking to reporters on a conference call Tuesday, Belichick had high praise for Donald, calling him “one of the most disruptive players in the league.”

Even when the Patriots are playing well up front, they still have issues with talented interior pass rushers. Just look at last week’s game against the New York Jets, when Sheldon Richardson make a habit of slashing into the Patriots backfield and making sure Brady finished passing plays on his back.

The ultimate example of this is the Seahawks’ Michael Bennett, who was a force to be reckoned in Super Bowl XLIX. Usually, the Patriots’ solution to this problem is to play with fire, putting up with the interior rushers and relying on Brady to get the ball out quickly (sometimes with split-second decisions) before a defender comes crashing down on him.

Donald can do that like few players in the league. There were concerns about his size when he entered the league (he’s just 6-foot-1, 285 pounds), but he’s since brushed those aside. Scouts knew he’d be fast, but they didn’t know that he’d also be throwing around NFL linemen that have 30 pounds on him.

And he will throw them:

Won't show up on the stat sheet, but Donald tosses Armstead into the RB here. Being both a frontside & backside force vs the run is rare. pic.twitter.com/4eIb9LM4uz

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) November 29, 2016

Many players in the NFL have power like that. However, they’re rarely the same guys that flash in like a lightning bolt, blowing up plays from the backside.

Case in point:

Aaron Donald is a mutant pic.twitter.com/nMLc6mKIz8

— Brandon Thorn (@VeteranScout) November 29, 2016

Here’s Belichick’s full comment on Donald, in which the Patriots coach gets into the minutia of what makes a player like him stand out in the NFL:

“I’d say [Aaron] Donald is one of the most disruptive players in the league, maybe kind of like Geno Atkins that we played against with Cincinnati. He’s got good quickness, good playing strength. He’s got very good countermoves, so a lot of times he wins on his initial move, but if you happen to block his initial move, then he’s got a counter move and a quick counter and they’re hard to stop. He’s very instinctive. He’s got a good knack [for] knowing kind of when to do the right thing. He changes it up on his opponent, on those guards quite a bit. They don’t always get the same thing from him; he keeps them off balance. He’s really a very disruptive player. He makes his share of plays in the running game too, it’s not all pass rush. He does a good job in the running game and makes a lot of negative plays. He’s just a hard guy to block.”

The Patriots will have a tall task Sunday in blocking Donald. Either the offensive line steps up, or at some point, Brady will get eaten alive like Cam Newton did on this play.

#Rams Aaron Donald w/ the sack. Stutter steps then throws a perfectly timed club/swim when OL punches. AD gets💰 pic.twitter.com/lTVpf2HxB7

— DLineVids (@DLineVids) November 20, 2016

Practice Report 11/29: Defense Looking for Bounce-Back Performance

Myles Simmons

http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-practicereport/Practice-Report-1129-Defense-Looking-for-Bounce-Back-Performance/b02e783b-3cc9-420a-b775-532772d0d831

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.”

But 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.”

Rams defense looks to restore its swagger at New England

http://www.vcstar.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2016/12/03/rams-defense-looks-restore-its-swagger-new-england/94812664/

Having surrendered nine touchdowns over the last 15 times they’ve been on the field, the last thing the slumping Los Angeles Rams defense needed was a matchup with the New England Patriots and their future Hall of Fame quarterback quarterback Tom Brady.

Asking a Rams defense to capture its swagger against Brady is like asking a slumping baseball team to wake up its bats against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

Rams defenders openly accepted blame for their horrendous showing last week against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, in which they surrendered 49 points and 555 yards of total offense.

“Any time you allow a team to score 49 points on you, you’re going to be down,” defensive tackle Aaron Donald said. “That is not the way we play. We were on our high horse on the defensive side of the ball for a minute but they knocked us off. Sometimes you need stuff like that. We’re hungry so we know what we need to do this week.”

Defensive end William Hayes was even more blunt.

“We should’ve played for free, the way we got our (butt) kicked,” Hayes told reporters. “Defensively, I know when we step out there on the field, we can never accept that.

“I won’t be happy until Sunday comes around. It was just embarrassing all the way around.”

Head coach Jeff Fisher believed the defense played hard against the Saints but simply was unable to make plays, adding there were some issues within the scheme. But Fisher believes the Rams have ironed out the issues.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said the defensive breakdown was a result of Brees making a lot of nice plays and his defense making a few mistakes.

“A couple of those point-of-attack mistakes were explosive and point producing,” Williams said. “Our guys have really, really responded well this week to that. Sometimes you get a wake-up call. We’ve been pretty dominant for four or five weeks and, all of a sudden, that wakes you up. I haven’t had any problem holding their attention in the meetings this week.”

Both Fisher and Williams admit that it’s a little easier to get their defensive players focused knowing Brady is going to be under center Sunday.

“They understand the challenge this week,’ Fisher said. “We’re certainly not looking ahead to next week or the following week, but we’ve got some good quarterbacks on our schedule. They understand this challenge and they know they need to be right.”

The Rams appear excited to test their skills against Brady.

Having been in the league just three years, defensive back LaMarcus Joyner has not had a chance to face Brady on the playing field. His familiarity with Brady comes from playing the Madden video game.

“If you have him as your quarterback (in Madden), you are going to be in the Super Bowl every year,” Joyner said. “To go against a great quarterback like him could not be a better challenge for me personally.

“He is one of the best in history. When you have a quarterback who can make the guys around him just as good as he is, you have to play disciplined, sound football. You have to keep fighting.”

Teams like the Denver Broncos and New Your Giants have had success against Brady and the New England offense by using a strong pass rush to disrupt the timing between Brady and his receivers. The Rams have enough talent on the defensive line to put some pressure on Brady.

Donald says the main goal is to get after Brady, but he knows it won’t be easy.

“They will try to do stuff to slow us down but we have to find a way to get pressure on him and get sacks,” Donald said. “We have a game plan; we just have to execute.”

As one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, Donald takes pride in taking on the challenge of top quarterbacks like Brady and Brees. He managed to sack Brees last week and has his sights set on an in-game meeting with Brady.

“He’s one of the best that has ever played the game so you want to get him,” Donald said. “When you play against a quarterback like that, you have to eliminate mistakes and play smart.

“Guys like that (Brady and Brees) do a lot of different things to slow a good pass rush down. They start blocking you by themselves by getting the ball out faster and sliding protection. They are the best. You have to understand they will do different things but you still have to get to them.”

Stopping the Patriots offense got a little easier after All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski had back surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

But Williams said there’s still plenty to worry about even without Gronkowski.

“Every game takes on a different personality within the game, but they’ve been practicing all week without him anyway, so they’ve got a plan,” Williams said. “Martellus Bennett is a pretty good tight end. He can pretty much do everything that Gronk was doing anyways. Probably all of us won’t see a whole lot of change because this is the profile that’s best for them. If it does change, then we have to react in the game to see what people they bring out there.”