Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
Sean McVay: “I do believe that Demarcus [Robinson] has a good heart and never would have any ill intentions. And clearly there was a decision that’s not in alignment with the things that we want to be about. I know he was remorseful about that.”

“I don’t think this makes him a horrible human. I think he made a bad decision and I think we are fortunate that there … wasn’t anything else that occurred as it relates to affecting anybody else in a negative way or himself from just an overall safety and health perspective.”

What was so disappointing in yesterday’s game is how many players who had flashed good stuff before just got flat beat yesterday.

That includes

Speights
Verse
Jackson
Avila
Williams

Plus they basically shut down Kupp.

Yet in the middle of that, Stafford battled on.

Even though he was sacked 5 times he was 21 of 37 for 243 yards with 2 TDs and a 92.4 qb rating.

Though…they were 0-8 on 3rd down.

Rams can’t run with the big-time postseason teams if they can get run over

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5945982/2024/11/25/rams-lose-eagles-matthew-stafford-saquon-barkley/?source=emp_shared_article

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Seasons change, rosters change, coaching staffs change and even quarterbacks change.

If you’re Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, one thing remains a hard truth: Vic Fangio is the Grim Reaper (the scheme reaper?). His ascending Philadelphia Eagles defense mostly handled the Rams’ offense with ease, a throwback to a painful memory in McVay’s mind when Fangio set the blueprint for the defense that could stifle the high-flying Rams of 2018.

OK, OK, more than one thing remains a hard truth. Let’s not obstruct the lede, here — the Rams certainly couldn’t. Star running back Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards and two touchdowns in the Eagles’ 37-20 win, including respective 70- and 72-yard TDs (the former was the first play of the third quarter). It was a career night for Barkley, who added an additional four catches for 47 yards, including a catch-and-run screen on a third-and-10 that essentially summarized the Rams’ defensive performance.

Quarterback Jalen Hurts scrambled 18 yards for a first down on third-and-10 in the third quarter, but both the Eagles and the Rams incurred penalties which off-set. So Hurts tossed the short pass to Barkley on the resulting third-and-10, and he picked it up easily and then some — the Eagles’ offense essentially converting back-to-back third-and-long plays, before scoring a touchdown to go up 27-14.

At different points in the second half, an overwhelmingly pro-Eagles crowd (on a night the Rams celebrated their Legends community at SoFi Stadium at halftime) chanted “M-V-P” at Barkley, and the celebration of his play and a team clearly destined for the playoffs — in control of the game since the second quarter — stayed loud and sustained.

OK, fine, another hard truth: A head coach may go out and get the quarterback who can out-diagnose these wily, career-altering defensive coordinators of his past, but if that quarterback isn’t protected it doesn’t matter.

McVay has had his chance to exorcise a few demons in prime time this season, facing the two coaches who have most famously had his number for the first time with Matthew Stafford. One glaring difference between a 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings, and this woodshed session against Philadelphia? Stafford wasn’t sacked by Brian Flores’ defense in Week 8, and he was only hit twice.

Sunday night, Fangio’s assertive Eagles front often only had to rush four and won its isolated assignments extremely fast.

“It was a tough night,” McVay said postgame, “… We knew that they had some guys that were pretty damn good. But we’ve got to be able to consistently do a better job and give (Stafford) a little bit more time. It wasn’t one person in particular. … But there were some really quick beats and we have got to be able to look at that and see where we can be better.”

Philadelphia sacked Stafford five times and hit him 11 times.

“Just winning some one-on-ones, that’s what it seemed like,” McVay said. “They did a couple of things where they just stemmed to some different looks where they’re covering everybody and you can elicit some one-on-ones. But (it) wasn’t anything different than what we had seen, they were just able to win some of those matchups.”

When the Rams double-teamed second-year interior defensive lineman Jalen Carter, other players (such as Brandon Graham and Milton Williams) won their corresponding one-on-ones. Graham hounded the right side at times, which featured backup Warren McClendon at right tackle. On a third-and-9 in the second quarter, Graham easily swiped McClendon aside to sack Stafford.

“They kind of know you have to (give him extra attention),” said right guard Kevin Dotson, “so they have game plans to try to disrupt the back side of him (meaning the opposite side of where he is getting blocked). Wherever he’s not at. So, just a lot of … they set a lot of games that you’ve got to be able to get quick stuff off. And we just weren’t able to do that. That’s the game plan, to get (the ball) out fast, get it to our playmakers and do what we can. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out perfectly.”

The Rams dug themselves into a hole early in the game. A promising opening drive was fumbled away by running back Kyren Williams, his fourth of the season. McVay noted that the lost fumble “really hurt us, obviously” and then later said “that’s something that we have to be better at, for sure,” a comment that is about as close as he gets to public criticism.

“The ball, that’s the most important thing (and I) have to take care of it no matter what the situation is,” Williams said in the locker room postgame.

Still, the game didn’t yet feel out of reach. Stafford and the Rams executed a well-planned touchdown drive deep into the first quarter, punctuated by a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Williams, that featured a blend of run and pass plays that clearly aimed (via blocking structures and pre- and at-snap misdirection) to get the Eagles’ defensive linemen and linebackers flowing in the wrong direction.

But they adjusted quickly, getting linebackers and defensive backs into blocking layers and stifling Stafford and the Rams through the second quarter to the point where they netted minus-6 yards out of four consecutive possessions.

When Barkley ripped open a 70-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the third quarter, the game already felt over.

“We were running a little pressure, (and) one of our guys got out of the gap backside,” said defensive tackle and captain Kobie Turner. “He was supposed to be B-gap, went to the C-gap and he hit it through the B-gap. Once you give (Barkley) space to run, and now he’s up on the second level, he can make guys miss and he has the speed to break away.

“That’s on us, again, as a defensive front — not staying true to what we do.”

The Rams’ defense didn’t just struggle to contain Barkley. Between his effectiveness against their second and third levels, receiver A.J. Brown’s ability to make defenders miss to create big plays and Hurts’ success when escaping pressure and getting the ball downfield — it seemed all game that the Eagles could make explosive play after explosive play. Brown finished with 109 yards and a touchdown on six catches, averaging more than 18 yards per catch. The Eagles totaled 481 yards of offense to the Rams’ 290.

The NFC West is still relatively open after San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals losses earlier Sunday. But honestly, if the Rams’ coaches and players even take more than a second to think about that point (though they were asked about it postgame) they’re missing the plot. There are more pressing matters to address.

This simply is a team that can’t currently hang with the big, physical, tough-dude teams. That touchdown in the first quarter was all well and good for them, but it’s only the second first-quarter touchdown they’ve scored all season. A team that got pushed around as its quarterback was hassled, that couldn’t stick to its technique on defense got run over in its own house — as that house got run over by fans in green jerseys.

“You get yourself up off the mat, you look at the things that (we) can control, you look at the things that we can correct,” McVay said. “You just go back to work. I don’t know any other way to go about it, other than to say ‘tonight it didn’t go down for us.’ And there’s a lot of reasons for it. You do give Philadelphia the credit they deserve. But we’re gonna come back swinging, I know that much.”

What a throw. What a catch. Sheesh.

📺: @SNFonNBC | #RamsHouse pic.twitter.com/UpVYencpOj

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 25, 2024

‪Adam Grosbard‬ ‪@adamgrosbard.bsky.social‬
Jared Verse put a lot of the blame for the Rams’ defensive performance on himself: “I was putting us in a bad hole in a lot of positions. I didn’t put my DBs in a good position when they were rushing. A couple times I took the inside just cuz I felt like it was open when I gotta stay on the edge”

Rams stop the Tush Push on third down just to get drawn offsides on fourth
.
‪Blaine Grisak‬ ‪@bgrisaktst.bsky.social‬
Everybody wants to keep comparing this Rams team to the one that went 7-1 down the stretch last season.This team has not shown any level of consistency to do that. This is just a team that’s hurt on one side of the ball and
…
The Rams signed Tanner Brown as a UDFA…cut him before the season.
They signed Havrisik…and cut him midseason

They signed Maher…and cut him midseason.

They drafted Karty and now he’s struggling.

Either the FO can’t identify a kicker or it’s a coaching issue.

from https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5945821/2024/11/25/eagles-rams-score-result-takeaways/?source=emp_shared_article

Too many mistakes, too much Barkley

It’s tough for a team to climb out of a hole of its own making, and the Rams dug themselves deep on Sunday night. They turned the ball over on their first possession (Williams’ fourth fumble of the year) and netted minus-6 (yes, minus-6) yards over four second-quarter drives. They also allowed a 70-yard touchdown from Barkley on the first play of the third quarter.

Missed tackles particularly in the second and third levels and another big Barkley game (302 total yards — 255 rushing, 47 receiving) were the story of the day for the defense. The Eagles had 407 yards of offense with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter. By the time the clock hit 2:44 in the fourth quarter, Barkley had notched another 72-yard rushing touchdown and the Rams had allowed 316 net rushing yards as the Eagles closed in on 500 yards of offense. — Jourdan Rodrigue

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Kobie Turner said DL was not gap sound and that the yardage they allowed tonight “was embarrassing”.

“We got a lot of work to do. But again, it comes down to us really trusting what we have. …All of the big runs, that’s on us not being in our gap.”

Jim Youngblood 53@53_jim70721
I thought Eagles were bad matchup vs Rams. I never imagined it would be worst rushing defense in franchise history

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Saquon Barkley had 255 yards rushing but but but if you take out his two long runs he only had…

…113 yards

Rams are now 5-for-28 on third down in their last three games and 8-for-41 in their last four

That includes 0-for-8 tonight

Pete Prisco@PriscoCBS
Eagles and Lions are proof that you build with big people. There are only so many big people who can play offensive line well. Find them and the rest will work. It’s simple, really — provided you have a quarterback.

GB and Seattle win.

]Looked at the schedule. A lot of uninteresting matchups today. The only other games I have any significant interest in are SF-GB and AZ-SEA, both on FOX in the late time slot.

Those 2 games are indeed interesting. I too will check scores without watching either one.

I do want the Patz to beat Miami.

How Rams’ young ‘5-headed monster’ changed course ahead of toughest test yet

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5939399/2024/11/22/rams-defensive-line-production-kobie-turner-verse-fiske/

LOS ANGELES — Defensive line coach Giff Smith didn’t sugarcoat anything.

The Los Angeles Rams had just lost back-to-back games, first in overtime against the Detroit Lions and then in a blowout to the Arizona Cardinals. Detroit ran the ball on seven of eight overtime plays including the game-winning touchdown. The Cardinals put up 231 net rushing yards. A Rams defensive line that faced questions all summer about its quality after superstar Aaron Donald’s retirement looked unprepared and overpowered.

They were embarrassed. Smith and assistant defensive line coach A.C. Carter were blunt in meetings later that week, but didn’t let the players wallow.

“Coach made some adjustments, he called me out,” said nose tackle Bobby Brown III, who said Arizona was his worst game. “He took my starting spot and basically was like, get on my stuff and get better. Me personally, I took that (as) I need to do as much as I can and be better for this team and not play selfish ball.”

It was hardly just Brown. Rookie defensive tackle Braden Fiske noted that players admitted to themselves and each other that sometimes they acted individualistically on certain snaps, trying to make plays instead of executing the collective plan. Second-year nose tackle Kobie Turner, a team captain this season, reminded teammates and himself that they “earn the right” to rush the passer by first stopping the run.

Out came the large gray trash cans, flipped over by Carter on one of the practice fields and arranged in a way so as to imitate the gaps they’d face from opposing offenses. Late into the workdays over the next few weeks, at Smith’s instruction, the defensive linemen walked through their assignments and their technique — over and over again, chatting to each other as they went.

The extra studying was intended to improve their fundamentals. It looked rudimentary. But it brought them all closer, in part because they all had to reckon with what needed to improve as a group.

“Part of that comes with humility,” Turner said. “Each person has to truly believe that they are not better than the rest of the 11. … I do think that guys have continued to be more and more humble.

“We’re all first and second-year guys. … I think that has also lent itself to have a certain humility. The way that we all look to each other is like, ‘Wow. These guys are ballers.’ It’s not, ‘Oh yeah, I’m the baller of the group. I’m the man.’ All along this front, anybody can eat. … Ultimately, when you have a humble mindset and you’re ready to give, and you’re not thinking, ‘How can I make this about me?’ the whole group flourishes.”

Through Weeks 1-5, the Rams had allowed the most rushing yards in the NFL and the second-worst rushing defense EPA. They allowed 4.8 yards per carry, which tied other teams in the bottom third of the league.

Through Weeks 7-11 (after the Week 6 bye) the Rams are No. 3 in total rushing defense EPA, fifth in opponent yards per carry (3.6) and No. 11 in total rushing yards allowed.

The Rams also rank No. 1 in the NFL in pressure rate according to Next Gen Stats, attaining pressure on more than 40 percent of pass-rush snaps. They’re slowly climbing up the sacks rankings, and are tied for seventh through 10 games with 27.

Similar to their improvements in the run game, re-learning core fundamentals also helped bring their pass rush to life. Turner said that Smith, Carter and outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio have helped the group read and react to the protections set by an opposing offense because they teach them from the latter point of view. What are the ways an offense will avoid a pass rusher and why? How can the Rams’ entire defensive line adjust to it before the ball is snapped?

“When Joe first came in (in 2023), (in) his rush meetings he’d be like, ‘This is their protection, this is Jet Pro, this is Scat Pro.’ Everybody would be like, ‘OK, OK. Get to the good stuff, how they block and whatnot,’ ” said Turner. “But now, we know (for example), ‘We have a chipper — we’re running this stunt that is not going to be good into a chipper look (so) we can ice it.’ Or we can call another stunt. …

“Because of that, that allows us now — it’s not just the coach calling the game on the sideline and just (hoping) that we end up in the right spot. He calls the game on the sideline and if we see that we’re not in the right spot we can check into another one.”

When defensive coordinator Chris Shula and the assistants started adding more complex concepts to the pass rush, they didn’t use language players weren’t already accustomed to even though some of the plays were new. They built those packages up using core principles from their four-man rush and all of the interconnecting moves within it. Players’ ability to pick up those concepts quickly has resulted in small evolutions of their scheme.

For example, over the last few weeks the Rams have deployed a package called “Cheetah” that features a five-man front. Veteran outside linebacker Michael Hoecht is a multi-position player in this package, who can rush with the group off of the edge or just inside the edge, blitz from the interior gaps, drop into coverage on rare occasions, become the inside linebacker (usually inside linebackers come off the field in this package, to make room for extra rush and coverage players) or spy the quarterback.

“Necessity is the mother of invention so you’re just trying to find different ways to get your best players on the field,” said Shula, smiling. “We always talk about how (to) get your best 11 on the field? … We definitely think Hoecht is one of those guys.”

Against Miami in Week 10, Hoecht’s job on certain plays was to disrupt the early parts of the ultra-fast Dolphins receivers’ routes, because the defensive backs behind him would be covering a spot on the field where quarterback Tua Tagovailoa intended to throw at a specific time. Hoecht dropped as if he were spying Tagovailoa as an inside linebacker, but positioned himself in the route path and bumped the receiver. Because he was facing Tagovailoa the contact appeared accidental — but it forced Tagovailoa to hold onto the ball because the receiver was a hair late to his spot and it resulted in a sack for a 13-yard loss.

Another Rams captain, Quentin Lake, wears the “green dot” for the defense — meaning he has a small speaker in his helmet that allows him to receive the defensive play call from Shula and then communicate that to the rest of the defense. In “Cheetah”, Hoecht takes over communication up front. Without a speaker in his own helmet, Hoecht coordinates the call he gets from Lake with what he sees the offense do pre-snap in reaction to the defensive look.

The way the defensive line reads and fits the run varies depending on where the quarterback collects the snap (such as from the shotgun or pistol formations, or from under center). In “Cheetah” that means Hoecht’s job also changes, and it’s also his responsibility to set the run fits accordingly along the rest of the defensive line similarly to how a center would set protections for a quarterback.

“He’s able to get us exactly where we need to be,” said Turner, “he knows all of the drops. He knows the run fits when it comes up.”

All five pass-rushers — Hoecht, Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate Jared Verse, Fiske, second-year player Byron Young and Turner — bring this package and their overall rush plan to life with impact plays.

Young leads them all with six sacks, and has forced a fumble and batted a pass. Turner and Fiske each have five sacks — both players rush from the interior of the defensive line — and Fiske leads the team with two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Turner has also deflected three passes. Verse has 4 1/2 sacks, has forced two fumbles and recovered one. Hoecht has three sacks and last week in New England blocked an extra point attempt.

JaredVerseFC@jaredversefc
Omar Speights Season Grade per PFF (78.6), Ernest Jones Season Grade per PFF (63.2)

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
DE Kobie Turner (@TurnerKobie) has recorded six-or-more tackles in four consecutive games, the longest streak this season among interior defensive linemen. He has five games of 6+ tackles this season, the most among interior defensive linemen across the NFL.

…

from https://www.therams.com/news/second-year-star-kobie-turner-is-leading-the-defensive-line-and-performing-like-a-veteran

Turner doesn’t act like a second-year player out of Wake Forest – he’s a team captain with a high football IQ. In the locker room, he often talks through techniques with linemen on both sides of the ball, and even veteran players look to him for guidance. He’s a leader of the Rams’ defense who has earned increased playing time from his stellar rookie season, and he’s adjusted his mindset accordingly.

This season, Turner has played the third-most snaps of any interior defensive lineman in football while accumulating sixth-most pressures (35) and most stops (30) at the position, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s been one of the most complete interior linemen, outperforming some of the league’s elites while leading a defensive line with the best pressure rate in football (41.7 percent, per Next Gen Stats).

‪Stu Jackson‬ ‪@stujrams.bsky.social‬
Rams RT Rob Havenstein (ankle) will be listed as doubtful for Sunday Night Football vs. Eagles, per Sean McVay

McVay said there was not a setback for Havenstein.

“He just hasn’t made the progress that … He looks good, but is he quite ready to be the Rob that we’re all accustomed to seeing? That’s why he’s listed as doubtful right now.”