Comparing the Rams 2024 defense to last year

A 3-4 record is only one of many similarities with 2023

After a disheartening start, the Los Angeles Rams defense has made an auspicious turn. Standing at 3-4 after two straight wins, the L.A. record now mirror’s last year’s. Will the turn lead towards a similar playoff run?

Two things jump right to mind on L.A.’s recent improvement. One, Chris Shula appears to be settling in at defensive coordinator and two, the Rams tackling has been getting incrementally better each week.

“Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”

Not hardly. Although the Rams defense primarily uses the same 3-4 base and plays in umbrella coverages, the 2023 version shows and plays completely different. While Shula also uses a lot of sim blitz looks, he’s blitzing at higher percentage and has used multiple variants on who goes and who backs out as well as attacking from different angles.

One of the standout changes is Shula’s use of subterfuge, The Rams disguise their coverages at the highest rate in the NFL, but that’s not all. The defensive formations are all over the place, on consecutive plays you may see three standup edges, four cornerbacks, a corner and safety as inside line backers, or three down linemen in front of eight secondary players. The wild part is that the individual players manning these packages are just as varied as the formations. Shula is using a much-deeper rotation.

There is one other big similarity to last year. Early in the season, as losses and struggles mounted, fans were calling for heads on a platter and Shula was at the top of the list, just like Raheem Morris in 2023.

In the blog-verse, it doesn’t really matter if a unit goes through wholesale changes, season-to-season comparison’s are almost unavoidable. Keeping in mind all the changes, here’s how the Rams 2024 defense stacks up (at least statistically) against last year’s after seven games. 2024 in bold.

Points, drives, and conversions

Record: 3-4 / 3-4

Points allowed: 174 / 141

Points per game: 24.9 / 20.1

Touchdowns: 18 / 13

Field goals: 14 / 16

Plays allowed: 425 / 440

Yards allowed: 2462 / 2282

Yards per game: 351.7 / 326.0

Yards per play: 5.8 / 5.1

First downs: 143 / 137

Drives by opponent: 72 / 74

3rd down percentage allowed: 37.8% / 38.5%

Scoring drive: 45.8% / 39.2%

Time of possession: -3:46 / +14:30

Passing

Attempts: 197 / 229

Completions: 128 / 133

Completion percentage: 64.9% / 58.1

Yards: 1602 – 1545

Yards per game: 229.0 / 220.7

Yard per attempt: 8.6 / 6.7

Yards per completion: 12.4 / 10.9

Touchdowns: 12 / 4

Interceptions: 5 / 3

Rushing

Attempts: 214 / 198

Yards: 974 / 819

Yards per carry: 4.6 / 4.1

Yards per game: 139.1 / 117.0

Touchdowns allowed: 6 /9

Note: 2024 stats are from Pro Football Reference and I cobbled together 2023 numbers from NFL Gamebooks.

A defense rebuilt from the ground up and in constant flux

The only full-time starters back are defensive tackle Kobie Turner and edge Byron Young. Although safety Quentin Lake and linebacker Christian Rozeboom both have bigger roles in 2024, they were essentially platooned last season, Rozeboom in base sets and Lake subbing in for him when the Rams went to a nickel defense.

Secondary

Although Lake started the year as the hybrid “star” he’s settled into a more-traditional safety role. In recent games, free agent addition Kamren Curl has been back in his best role as a strong safety with less single-high action and more in the underneath and mid areas. Jaylen McCollough has been doing a lot of his work close to the line of scrimmage, even as a linebacker in some packages, while it appears that Kam Kinchens is going to be stationed deep.

Darious Williams and Tre White were imported as free agents to lock down the corners. Williams started the season on the Injured Reserve List and missed the first four games. His stats don’t match his play, skewed by getting hung with the Packers long touchdown run after a short pass to the tight end. White struggled, fell out of favor, and is currently looking for an exit ramp out of L.A.

Cobie Durant was moved outside because of Williams’ injury. It’s a more comfortable spot for him than the slot and he’s responded by playing well. His tackling is much improved and he’s allowing a paltry 54.5 (around 90.0 is average) quarterback rating. The Rams didn’t bring Ahkello Witherspoon back to camp after starting 17 games last year, but did bring him back into the fold in Week 2, he serves as the outside corner backup. Although Josh Wallace hasn’t recorded much of anything for stats, recently he’s been receiving around 40% of defensive reps.

Off ball linebacker

With Troy Reeder possibly gone for the season, his role appears to have fallen to Christian Rozeboom. Omar Speights and Jake Hummel finally get their look in a game setting, but DC Shula has shown he’s not afraid to put out a package with two secondary players in as linebackers.

Edge

Obviously a Rams strong spot. DC Shula is rotating all three, Byron Young, Jared Verse and Micheal Hoecht, often aligning all on the field together. Verse and Young offer a thunder and lightening complement, while Hoecht has shown off his versatility. Each are active and are effort-driven.

The ability of all three to be moveable pieces makes it that much harder to zero in on stopping one. Numbers show the L.A. edges are not dropping into coverage as much this year and it appears they are being used akin to the way Ernest Jones and Aaron Donald were last year. Sliding them in and out and up and down the line, isolating them, and sim blitzing.

Defensive line

The interior has played more of a complimentary role to the edge unit this season. By that I mean that last year, getting AD 1on1 matchups was paramount. This year they are tasked with keeping the outside players clean.

Don’t get me wrong, Kobie Turner is stacking another good season, even if his production numbers are slightly down. At under 300 lb. he’s been tethered to the nose tackle position the past handful of games because the Rams bigger linemen haven’t been able to fulfill that role. Rookie Braden Fiske has also been quietly doing the inside dirty work, ESPN rates him as #14t in pass rush win rate and #5 in run stop win rate.

Going forward

There are no guarantees the defense will continue to get better, but the four of the Rams next five opponents are in the bottom half of NFL offenses. It’s a good time to stack hay. A huge help to the Rams defense would be the offense staying on track. It would help limit the exposure and allow the defense to play more aggressively. Time of possession is not in favor of L.A. this year, actually a big drop off from 2023.

This Rams defense is playing to form with what many fans believed before the season, having invested in both a new DC and a young crop of talent. Patience and growing pains as all develop have been obvious, but their recent improvement has been just as obvious.