Rams struggles versus mobile QB’s & what they mean against Jalen Hurts

Rams defense is improving, but ugly games versus Kyler Murray, Brock Purdy still in rearview

The Los Angeles Rams defense has markedly improved since the start of the season, though one remaining question about this unit is whether they’ve truly moved past their earlier struggles against mobile quarterbacks.

Rams missed tackle problem is improving

One key element of the defense’s turnaround was cutting down on missed tackles. It doesn’t take a numbers person to know that LA is getting better on this front, and it’s raised the floor for the defense overall:

Week 1 at Detroit Lions: 10 misses; loss

Week 2 at Arizona Cardinals: 21; loss

Week 3 vs San Francisco 49ers: 27; win

Week 4 at Chicago Bears: 10; loss

Week 5 vs Green Bay Packers : 11; loss

Week 7 vs Las Vegas Raiders: 7; win

Week 8 vs Minnesota Vikings: 2; win

Week 9 at Seattle Seahawks: 14; win

Week 10 vs Miami Dolphins: 10; loss

Week 11 at New England Patriots: 7; win

The missed tackle figures on defense also coincide with rookie phenom Jared Verse’s improvement in this same facet. We saw over the first part of the season that Verse was winning his pass rushing reps, but he just couldn’t finish with sacks. He has 3.5 sacks over the last four games, so that trend is changing.

Will tackling issues persist with mobile QB’s?

It’s probably no coincidence that the Rams’ two-worst tackling performances came against two of the better mobile quarterbacks in the NFL in 2024: Kyler Murray and Brock Purdy. LA allowed 41 points to Arizona and 24 to San Francisco in those games.

The unfortunate news for LA is that Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are coming to town for Week 12.

Strictly as a passer, Hurts is nothing to write home about. He’s average to below average in most measures, including Pro Football Focus (PFF) passing grades which would rank him 23rd of 27 signal callers with more than 227 dropbacks.

But on the ground, Hurts has the third-best rushing grade of this QB crop at 88.8. This trails only Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Drake Maye of the New England Patriots, who the Rams saw this past weekend. Hurts averages nearly two-full yards after contact on his rushing attempts and has forced 13 missed tackles, both according to PFF.

Is Rams’ improvement real?

With LA missing only seven tackles against Maye and the Patriots in their most recent game, it’s fair to conclude that they may be improving since their early season matchups against Murray and Purdy. There are also reasons that suggest the game against New England posed different circumstances, that Maye’s poor supporting cast and an offense that lacked talent at receiver and along the offensive line wasn’t the same type of challenge for this Rams defense.

We’ll get our answer this upcoming Sunday night whether the Rams have truly made improvement in the missed tackling department against these running quarterbacks. Hurts poses a unique problem for the LA defense, both on the ground and through the air.

With Los Angeles at .500 on the season, they could really use a win to make the NFC West divisional race and NFC playoff picture interesting. Can they get the job done at home versus Philly?