http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-rams-sidebar-20171001-story.html

Rams defense comes through after shaky first half vs. Cowboys

Wade Phillips stood on the sideline at AT&T Stadium, his play card in his left hand, his right hand on his hip.

The Rams defensive coordinator watched as quarterback Dak Prescott lined up the Dallas Cowboys inside Rams’ territory, facing fourth and 10 with 36 seconds left.

Prescott completed a short pass to Ezekiel Elliott, who turned to run as linebacker Connor Barwin dragged him down.

Rams players signaled Elliott short of a first down. Phillips looked around, waiting for confirmation.

Officials measured, and the chains proved Barwin made the tackle with less than a yard to spare.

Phillips’ defense finished the job in the 35-30 comeback victory, which marked Phillips’ first appearance against his former team since he was fired as head coach in 2010.

“Guys made plays when they needed to,” linebacker Robert Quinn said after the game. “And we made plays at the end to seal the deal.”
Rams prove they’re the real deal by beating Cowboys

The Rams (3-1) are in first place in the NFC West and return home next week to face the Seattle Seahawks.

Coach Sean McVay presented Phillips with a game ball after the victory as players surrounded their 70-year-old coordinator and ruffled their hands through his hair.

“I can’t say enough about the defensive effort,” McVay said.

The Rams struggled against the run the last two weeks. Even Phillips made an unprompted jab about his unit’s need to fix the issue during a weekly news conference.

The secondary and pass defense, through three weeks, appeared solid.

But in the first half against the Cowboys, every aspect of Phillips’ 3-4 scheme appeared broken.

Phillips started rookie Tanzel Smart in place of Ethan Westbrooks in an attempt to slow the run. The change didn’t initially help.

In the first half, Prescott passed for 155 yards and two touchdowns, Elliott rushed for 56 yards and backup running back Alfred Morris broke off a 70-yard run.

And three-time Pro Bowl receiver Dez Bryant caught two passes for 50 yards against franchise cornerback Trumaine Johnson.

“They were making plays,” Quinn said, “keeping us on our heels.”
Rams vs. Cowboys

Said Johnson: “We made a couple mistakes.”

Phillips huddled with the defense at halftime, and Alec Ogletree delivered an impassioned speech, according to safety Maurice Alexander.

After allowing the Cowboys to score in each of their four first-half possessions, the Rams made four consecutive stops, followed by an interception.

“Guys stood up,” McVay said. “And they were much more efficient on early downs.”

Prescott struggled to find a rhythm as the defense brought pressure.

“They had a solid rush,” Prescott said.

Lineman Michael Brockers forced Prescott to make an errant pass that linebacker Mark Barron intercepted. The turnover was converted into a field goal that gave the Rams a 32-24 lead.

“We locked in and came out and played better,” Barron said. “We weren’t satisfied with the first half. Just came in and tried to reset everything.”

Barwin and Brockers each sacked Prescott. Lineman Aaron Donald recorded two quarterback hits and a tackle for a loss.

Prescott completed 20 of 36 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns. Elliott rushed for 85 yards — only 29 in the second half .

“I’m glad how we bounced back,” Johnson said. “All those plays were fixable.”

zn wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

They brought Short into play the NT and moved Brockers to DE/DT, whatever call it. Brockers, Short, Donald or Donald, Short, Brockers, instead of starting with Westbrooks, Brockers, Donald.

This suggests they have problems with Westbrooks.

Of course the DE opposite Donald was originally supposed to be Easley.

Could be or they just liked Brockers there better than Westbrooks to get a bit more pressure and/or that sort of line up also gave them a bit more in the run defense?

You have a bit of this and a bit of that(free lancing, reminded to play correct football, this stuff happens all the time to some extent.), but mostly, I think is just the defense jelling more as guys who didn’t play together this summer start playing together more. Just like what happens on the offensive line, but to a lesser extent.

Farr said Donald would sometimes get up field to fast and as a result leave a gap for the RB.

.@rams @AaronDonald97 ruins another play; this time using his absurd quickness. #Baldybreakdowns pic.twitter.com/k8I0Hw1pC3

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) October 2, 2017

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt. 😉

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Agamemnon.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Agamemnon.

The Rams can win. I would feel better if we had played a couple more games first. Get the defense up to speed. Eliminate some mistakes. More reps for the offense and the offensive line. Dallas isn’t playing dominating. They have score 64 and given up 62. The Rams, with all the stuff on defense, have given up 75.

I liked the long pass to Watkins. I have seen all Goff’s throws and that is the first time he has thrown a ball over 50 yards in the air.

This is my least favorite pass. The down the seam pass to the TE. This pass is typically thrown over the defense. This is the second time Goff has thrown it low. In preseason a PI call bailed out the throw. If the pass is delivered high, the DB is taken out of the picture and we take advantage of our 6’6 ” TE.

The Jags are beating the Ravens 30 – 0. That doesn’t sound right.

Arizona vs Dallas, but that is Monday night. I would like to see Seattle lose.

zn wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

I am going to trust Wade to get the defense going. I blame most of their problems on the starters who didn’t practice or play much in preseason and training camp, some because of injuries, some because the starters just didn’t play in preseason. This slowed down the install of Wade’s defense. Although it can be considered close to their old system, it is still new. I expect them to do much better against Dallas.

Remind me who missed time. It includes Barron, Quinn, Donald obviously, and I think Alexander.

I think Barwin rested alot and it seems that Webster had some kind of nagging injury. I would count them to some extent even though they have played for Wade before. Easley went to IR? Does that count?
Ebukcam just now got healthy.
Walker was cut because of domestic violence problems and just recently cleared and brought back.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Agamemnon.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by Agamemnon.