Rams Film Review: Eagles prove to be too much in the trenches

The Rams’ Week 12 struggles highlight OL issues and areas for Jared Verse’s growth.

The Los Angeles Rams were completely outclassed by the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night in Week 12 and that was especially the case in the trenches. For the Rams to have any chance, that’s a battle they needed to stay competitive in and it simply didn’t happen after the first quarter. Usually I try to point out positive performances in my film reviews, but there weren’t many of those to discuss in the loss to the Eagles. While the film wasn’t great, it also emphasized why Sunday’s loss may have been more of an outlier than a sign of things to come.

Eagles dominated the trenches

Coming into the game on Sunday night against the Eagles, the Rams needed to win the battle up-front. For the first quarter and a half, they managed to stay in the fight in that department. However, around the middle of the second quarter, that completely changed as the Eagles started to wear down the Rams offensive and defensive lines.

There were a few times, especially on defense, where the Rams were simply blown off of the ball. In the play below, Tyler Davis gets completely taken out of the play and Omar Speights gets yeeted into another dimension.

At times, it looked like the varsity squad going up against the JV. Simply put, the Eagles were simply on another level. The Rams have been injured and therefore not played a lot of snaps together on one side of the ball and then they are young and inexperienced on the other. That was evident going up against a team that has built a near flawless system of developing players in the trenches.

Let’s not overreact to what was probably an outlier

It’s easy to look at the performance in the run game on defense against the Eagles and get discouraged. The Rams did allow the most rushing yards to a single player in franchise history as Saquon Barkley rushed for 255 yards. However, at the same time, it’s important to also take that performance with a grain of salt. Some of the things Barkley did, the Rams won’t face another running back capable of doing those things the rest of the season outside of maybe Christian McCaffrey.

It’s very possible that the Rams could give up a lot of rushing yards again next week. However, based on what was seen the previous six weeks, Sunday was more of an outlier because of the player that they faced. From Weeks 5-11, the Rams defense ranked sixth in run defense EPA and were eighth in success rate. For now, there is more reason to believe that the Rams are closer to that than the one that got gashed against the Eagles.

Where Jared Verse still needs to improve

Jared Verse had some very good moments against the Eagles. Verse’s strength has been discussed many times this season as his power is nearly unmatched. That was on display in the first quarter when he put Jordan Mailata on his back. Earlier in the game, Mailata tackled Verse to the ground to prevent him from getting inside.

However, Verse is still winning primarily with his athleticism. For a raw athlete that has consistently won that way throughout his career, it’s no surprise that he’s doing that at the NFL level. With that said, for him to take that next step and be discussed among the top defensive players in the league, he needs to get smarter. Too many times, he gets sucked inside in the run game. He also had a few reps where he was undisciplined in his pass rush lane, leading to Hurts being able to step up and take off with his legs.

That’s not to say that Verse is bad or will never improve. It’s extremely likely that he will continue to get better and improve on those things with more reps. At the moment, it’s these small things where he needs to get more consistently. He has been better in the run game recently, but Sunday showed that there is still room for improvement.

Honorable Mentions

There weren’t a lot of positives to discuss on Sunday against the Eagles. That’s going to be the case in a 37-20 loss. With that said, there is one player that deserves a shoutout and it’s Michael Hoecht. Hoecht is very quietly having a great year and it’s going mostly unnoticed and under appreciated. The Rams edge rusher has been fantastic in the run game this season and because of his athleticism, Chris Shula has utilized him in various positions. When Hoecht is not on the field on running downs, his presence is missed. Hoecht has done much better as a role player than a featured one this year and it will be worth having the conversation to bring him back again next year.