Run Defense?

from off the net

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aeneas1

The Run Defense?

so just how bad is the rams run d? through week 4 it currently ranks 29th in yards allowed per carry and 30th in rush yards allowed per game. no bueno.

the thing is the rams also rank best in the nfl at stopping runs for zero gain or a loss – a whopping 33% of the runs the rams have defensed so far have been stuffed, shut down, snuffed out, the league average is just 20%, i.e. the rams are stuffing runs for no gain or a loss every 3 carries while the rest of the league is doing it every 5 carries. moreover the rams are league best at stopping runs for a yard or less, a whopping 46% of the runs the rams have have defensed have been stopped for a yard or less, the league average is just 32%.

so what gives? yep, big runs. runs of 10 yards or more allowed. although such runs only account for 16% of the carries the rams have defensed so far, they also account for an incredible 74% of the rush yards the rams have given up. league average: 11% of the carries defensed have gone for 10+ yards, and they’ve accounted for 44% of rush yards allowed.

so why are the rams at a whopping 74% in terms of runs of 10+ yards accounting for such a big chunk of their total rush yardage allowed while the league average is just 44%? two reason: many of the 10+ yard runs the rams have given up have been doozies, and because the rams haven’t given up many yards on runs that don’t go for 10+ yards.

looking at runs defensed that don’t go 10+ yards, the lions share, in the rams case 84% of the runs they’ve defensed, the rams are rockin’ the nfl world – teams are averaging just 1.6 yards per carry against the rams on runs that don’t fetch 10+ yards, which is by far the league’s lowest average allowed on such runs, runs under 10 yards (league average is 2.7 yards for runs under 10 yards).

anyway, point is, there’s some good in the bad imo, it’s not as if the rams have been a bunch of cream puffs against the run, they’ve actually been very stout, outside of a handful that they’ve let get away from them. the league average for runs allowed of 10+ yards is 1.1 per every 10 carries, the rams are at 1.6 per every 10 carries, fix this and the run defense should start looking good. better second level tackling would be a good start.