The best of the best on defense this season pic.twitter.com/iyX1Nms7T9

— PFF (@PFF) October 10, 2026

from https://ramblinfan.com/josh-wallace-quickly-emerging-someone-rams-want-keep-around

[Josh] Wallace has worked his way up the depth chart. This season he has been the first defensive back off the bench. And with the team carrying just four cornerbacks and Jaylen Watson hurt, that’s significant.

Thus far Wallace has one interception, was robbed of another, and has allowed only a 50 percent completion rate. He has six tackles and has broken up two passes, per Pro Football Reference, without allowing a touchdown.

Wallace was thrust into a significant role last week with Watson’s injury. He’s been playing remarkably well, despite difficult circumstances. Although he’s made his mistakes, Wallace is almost always in position to make a play on the ball and forces quarterbacks into tough throws. He has been better than his 56.8 Pro Football Focus grade suggests.

The Rams have to have one eye on the future. Both Trent McDuffie and Watson are under contract throughout at least 2028. But Wallace is an extension candidate himself, if only because he projects to be a restricted free agent. That means LA can tender Wallace a $3.8 million qualifying offer, preserving the right of first refusal to any offer sheet.

***

from https://ramblinfan.com/rams-pass-defense-overcome-injuries-rank-among-nfls-best

Undrafted cornerback Josh Wallace has allowed just 50 percent of passes to find their target. He has one interception and was robbed of another by atrocious officiating. Quarterbacks have posted a dismal 27.6 passer rating when throwing his way.

***

His stats, laid out:

• Tackles: 8 combined (6 solo, 2 assists)
• Interceptions: 1 (with 26 return yards)
• Passes Defended: 2
• Opponent Passer Rating When Targeted: 27.6
• Completion Rate Allowed: QBs have completed just 50% of passes thrown his way

SFdata9ers@sfdata9ers
Which teams keep their defenses off the field the most?

Offensive – defensive snaps per game:
1. CHI +28 (!!)
2. NO +11.0
3. LAR +10.5
…
28. Buf -8/0
29. Den =8.5
30. SF -9.0
31. PHI -9.2
32. TEN -11.0

Brian Winter@TheGoldenBlazer
Weird football quirk I never realized until I just saw it.

4th and 3 from the 50 yard line, defense jumps offside. First down.

4th and 3 from your opponent’s 4 yard line, defense jumps offside. Half the distance to the goal, making it 4 and 1 and not a first down. Feels like you should still get the 1st down??

David@gr8friendlawyer
Not a quirk, just the rules. If they gave you 5 you’d get a touchdown on an offside call. Not how it works. Just replay the down 2 yards closer. As it should be. They don’t have half the distance at the 50 yard line because that would be stupid.

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
defense – offensive tds allowed
thru week 4

4 min
5 jax
6 sfo
7 tam, sea, kan, cin, chi
8 rams, ten, pit
9 nyj, nwe, cle, atl
10 bal, den
11 phi, lvg, nyg, mia, hou, ind
12 car, lac
13 buf, gby, dal
14 was, ari
16 nor
17 det

Your Rams mail is here
How can Rams improve on special teams, and should Kyren Williams get more carries?

Nate Atkins

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7672769/2026/10/09/rams-special-teams-improvement-kyren-williams/?unlocked_article_code=1.HVE.MNm4.FGPtTMDSRhch&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Rams finally got the monkey off their back by beating the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a dramatic, 10-point fourth-quarter comeback.

They are 2-2 at the quarter pole of the season. It’s already been a year of highs and lows, hype and adversity, and they have 13 more games before a potential postseason run.

It’s a good time to take stock of the questions people have about a team with these kinds of expectations. And readers had plenty about special teams, Chris Shula’s defensive approach, Kyren Williams’ usage and why the rookies aren’t seeing the field much.

(Note: Questions have been edited for length and clarity.)

***

* Matthew Stafford threw over 50 passes in Weeks 3 and 4. For the season, Williams is averaging 5.4 yards per carry and has yet to reach 20 carries in a game. Why do you think Sean McVay has seemingly moved away from running the ball so far into the season? —

ATKINS: The main reason that jumps out is that it doesn’t feel like McVay has the personnel or the scheme to run the ball at the volume he would like right now, or the way they did late last season. If you remember, the Rams were the heaviest three-tight end offense in the league, and that culminated with Blake Corum’s second-half breakout.

Something feels off about how Corum is running in these single-tight-end sets over the past two weeks with Terrance Ferguson and Colby Parkinson hurt, and the playing time has shifted heavily to Williams, who outsnapped Corum 70-13 on Sunday.

Part of that is leaning into Williams, given how great he’s playing in every facet. Part of it is the blocking stress on the receivers, which was more challenging than usual in Puka Nacua’s first game back after two weeks off. But it’s notable that Corum started the year with 133 rushing yards on 11 carries per game in the first two weeks and has dropped to 29 yards on 5.5 carries per game the past two weeks.

Williams has emerged so much as a receiver that he’s this team’s de facto No. 3 option behind Nacua and Davante Adams, with 21 catches for 173 yards. Between that and his immense value as a pass protector to keep a 38-year-old Stafford upright, the Rams feel challenged to give him 20-plus carries in a game. So if they don’t have a quarterback rushing threat, Corum isn’t producing, and they don’t have a third running back they trust with Ronnie Rivers on injured reserve, the natural result will be a pass-heavy script.

One of three things has to change to shift the dynamic: Either a third pass catcher will need to emerge to limit Williams’ receiving touches, tight ends will need to get healthy to strengthen the hole for Corum, or Corum will need to improve as a runner in 11 personnel and as a pass-down option that doesn’t make the run so obvious when he’s on the field.

Ideally, the Rams will get a mix of all three in due time and return to the balanced, versatile juggernaut they were last season with the same starting unit.

* The special teams are especially bad again this year. Since multiple coaches have produced the same outcomes, what is lacking in Les Snead’s personnel decisions?

* What is wrong with our special teams? It was said to be McVay’s priority during the offseason, but we’re still ranked at the bottom of the league. … It will continue to haunt us all season. … How can they fix this? —

ATKINS: As you can see, many questions this week are about special teams. And it’s fitting because it’s the biggest long-term question the Rams face as they look to contend this season, especially after how their playoff run ended last season.

It’s been a tough start for Bubba Ventrone’s group in several notable areas. The Rams have given up punt returns of 28 and 41 yards, respectively, in the past two weeks to set up short touchdown drives. They released their starting punt returner, Xavier Smith, just one week ago. The seemingly steady rocks of Harrison Mevis and Ethan Evans have struggled some already this season. And penalties continue to pile up for this group.

Ventrone is still new, and he’s attacking different issues at a time. He put a lot of effort into correcting the field goal protection, and that has been the best part of the group so far. But seeing Mevis and Evans struggle despite the addition of veterans like cover man Grant Stuard and long snapper Joe Cardona is a tough swing, and those two will likely have to work through the early issues because it’s hard to find suitable in-season replacements.

I do wonder if Eric Kendricks, whom the Rams just signed to the practice squad, can become a factor on the coverage units as a game-day elevation. The 12th-year pro saw roughly double the playing time on special teams as on defense last year in three games with the San Francisco 49ers. In theory, more veterans playing on these units should mean increased technique to avoid penalties, though that only works if they can get in the right positions and not overcompensate.

The Rams could use a midseason trade for a return man like the Seattle Seahawks found last season with Rashid Shaheed. If not, I think they should try Dean Connors at kick returner, given the wiggle he showed in the preseason.

Ventrone’s success in this league has come with franchises that draft specifically for special teams needs on Day 3, such as in New England and Indianapolis. Without that same approach, his units weren’t as strong in Cleveland. I think the Rams’ front office should take a closer look at this in future drafts.

In the interim, a couple of personnel tweaks and simply playing better have to become the solution. Wholesale changes are hard to make in-season. The structure has to stabilize so confidence and baselines can rise. That will be the bet on Ventrone.

* What adjustment made Shula switch from mainly zone in Week 1 to more man and heavy blitzes? —

ATKINS: Week 1 was certainly a dud for the Rams’ defense — and for Shula specifically — but in hindsight, it was a feel-out game in some ways, like their version of the preseason. I think Shula learned a little more about his personnel in that game — both that the pass rush wouldn’t be the line-up-and-dominate four-man group we expected with a healthy Myles Garrett, and that Trent McDuffie really is that kind of lockdown man cornerback who changes the math on the back end.

Personnel has dictated it, too. The Rams faced Jameis Winston for much of Week 2, and the Eagles were without DeVonta Smith, which limited how much Shula had to fear getting beat deep. The risk in sending blitzes is the big plays that can happen if protection picks it up or a quarterback eludes pressure. That happened essentially once in the Eagles game, when Darius Cooper stole the ball over Quentin Lake for a touchdown catch.

I think we’ll see much more of a mix going forward, because the offensive personnel will rarely be as limited as Philadelphia’s was. The returns of Aaron Donald and eventually Garrett should change the need to blitz, as their presence already manipulates offenses to create one-on-one opportunities. But to gain the effect of unblocked rushers, they’ll need to blitz some, too.

* What’s going on with CJ Daniels and Max Klare not getting any time? — Mark R.

ATKINS: The reasons these two rookies combined for just one offensive snap in four games boil down to two areas: readiness in the scheme and special teams ability.

It’s rare for a rookie to get much playing time in this offense. It’s possible, of course, as Nacua came in and not only played but dominated with 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns in 2023. But I think we know Nacua is an outlier. Corum and Ferguson went through this. Ty Simpson was drafted with this understanding in mind.

McVay runs a complex offense with motions, option routes and, now, a balance between one-receiver and three-receiver approaches. His offense demands physically versatile players — running backs who can run and catch, tight ends and wide receivers who can catch and block so they can bounce between these concepts and leave the keys of optionality to McVay and the man controlling the audibles in Stafford. It’s hard to trust too many rookies to adjust to that early on.

Because Daniels and Klare don’t have built-up special teams skill sets or experience yet, they can get lost when making the game-day roster. If the Rams have receiver injuries, they can activate more veteran tight ends and run three-tight end sets, and vice versa with tight end injuries.

Between the lack of trust in the offensive readiness and the lack of special teams juice, these kinds of players can fall into early redshirt scenarios on a team like this.

LOCK DOWN 🔒

🥇 Trent McDuffie
🥈 Deonte Banks
🥉 Dee Alford pic.twitter.com/aKvliUz5IN

— FTN (@FTNFantasy) October 7, 2026

InvaderRam wrote:

i’d venture to guess that the difference has been turnovers and special teams.

But as for the offense and defense, they’re doing this without Garrett, Donald, and Watson on defense and Nacua (for a couple of games), Parkinson, and Ferguson on offense.

Imagine when they get them all back. 😮

Though yes they also need Stafford to get in sync and for the special teams to at least rise to the level of nearly adequate, ie. mediocre.