Has Rams pass rush underperformed?

The Los Angeles Rams defensive line has been good in moments this season, but they have lacked the consistency to be a dominant unit. This was supposed to be the team’s identity and, while they have talent, they’ve only produced at an above average rate.

Last season, the Rams defensive line was key down the stretch, especially in the playoffs. They finished inside the top-10 in pressure rate at 35.6 percent despite blitzing at a rate of just 23.7 percent. The Rams defense has had good games in 2025, but the overall consistency has been lacking. Their pressure rate of 34.9 percent ranks 12th while their sack rate of 13 percent is 13th. They are ninth in total sacks, but this is a group that many would have expected to be inside the top five.

This isn’t to say that the Rams defensive line has been bad or underwhelming. Again, this is a group that’s made plays in big moments. They were a factor for three of Sam Darnold’s four interceptions in the win against the Seattle Seahawks. Said McVay after the game,

“Oh, they were effective. And that’s where I say stats are for losers because they affected and influenced the game in a huge way. Obviously, Sam is a great quarterback, but he was getting off of his spot. I thought a lot of the pressure that we did get is what led to the decisions where our guys ended up making some great plays to be able to get those four interceptions.

However, they haven’t necessarily met the expectations that many had for them coming into the season. Jared Verse gets a lot of criticism for his lack of sacks, but solely focusing on that aspect of his game is limiting to his actual impact on the Rams defense. There is an analytical balance here and it’s one of those cases where multiple things can be true at the same time.

Yes, sacks are important and the Rams need to do a better job of finishing plays. The Rams have 33 sacks this season and the defense has only allowed four first downs following a sack. A sack finishes a drive at a rate of 87.9 percent. It’s worth almost a full point of impact on a given game. Adding to that, the Rams have also not allowed a touchdown this season on the same drive in which they’ve allowed a sack.

At the same time, that shouldn’t diminish the importance of being able to create pressure as well. Back in 2018, Bill Belichick explained that pressures were more important than sacks. Said Belichick,

“I think if you look at the overall passing game, the statistic that stands out the most in terms of correlation is pressure. So pressure on the quarterback leads to more bad plays than sacks do, in terms of turnovers unless you have strip sacks, obviously. That’s the No. 1. After that, pressures cause bad throws and potentially turnovers.”

Pass-rushers have the ability to affect any given play even if they aren’t finishing the play with a sack. Last season, quarterback accuracy dropped from 79.0 percent in a clean pocket down to 63.8 percent when pressured. Completion rate also went down from 72.1 percent to 48.9 percent. Clean pockets saw a touchdown to interception ratio of 2.7 compared to that of just 1.6 when pressured. The average NFL Rating when pressured was that of 101.6 and just 71.4 when under duress.

This is also true for the Rams. When they have had a pressure rate over 30 percent, they’ve allowed an average EPA per pass of -0.36. However, when their pressure rate is under 30 percent, it’s 0.15. That’s nearly 3.5 times better. A big reason for that is because the Rams don’t necessarily have the cornerbacks to hold up without pressure and therefore emphasizing the need for the defense to win their matchups.

The goal for a defense should be to create pressure and therefore havoc for opposing quarterbacks. However, sacks, like turnovers, also significantly impact games especially in terms of game-script for a particular drive. Even with pressures, the Rams defense isn’t creating ‘havoc’ as much as they should be. Havoc ratings don’t account for pressures, but accounting for interceptions, forced fumbles, sacks, and pass breakups, the Rams are underperforming.

A lot of this will get directed at Jared Verse for being the primary issue. The unfortunate thing for Verse is that he became face of the Rams defense post-Donald. He has played extremely well in 1.5 years, but the expectation seems to be “Aaron Donald.” However, there’s only one Aaron Donald. Every time Verse allegedly doesn’t produce, there’s a microscope on him.

That’s not to say that Verse has been perfect. This season, he’s averaged 65.7 pass rush snaps per sack. However, he’s still seventh in total pressures. That’s slightly down from last year when Verse averaged 60.6 pass rush snaps per sack.

With a full year in the NFL, teams are now game-planning more around Verse and he’s seeing offenses give him a lot more attention than they did last season. However, that’s opened up opportunities for others. Both Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner rank inside the top-10 in pass rush win rate for defensive tackles. Verse has also improved his tackling and run defense. He ranks 10th in missed tackle rate and his run stop win-rate ranks second.

All of that does have an impact on the game. Still, getting back to the main point, sacks are also very important and outside of Byron Young, the defense isn’t finishing pressure plays. Even still, after recording at least a half sack in the first seven games of the season, Young has one sack in his last five games. After averaging 4.3 pressures per game in Weeks 1-7 with eight total sacks, he has averaged three pressures per game since Week 8 with one sack.

Turner ranks 10th in pressures among defensive linemen, but he has just 3.5 sacks through 12 games. The third-year defensive tackle hasn’t been as productive from a sack standpoint as he has been throughout his career. Braden Fiske has just two sacks after leading the team last season.

The Rams don’t just need more sacks from their defensive line and pass rush unit. Again, while sacks are a good thing, they aren’t the only way to impact a play. Even in terms of pressure, the Rams haven’t been as consistent and productive as they should be. This is a team that should rank inside the top-five in pressure rate and they are outside the top-10.

With Verse in particular, he seems to get up for the big games. Against teams with a winning record, Verse has averaged 5.3 pressures per game. When going against teams with a record .500 or lower, he’s averaged 3.8. The outlier there is the game against the Ravens in which Verse had seven pressures while matching up against Ronnie Stanley.

There is certainly room for improvement. Still, last season it wasn’t until late in the year and the playoffs when the pass rush found its form. With games against the Detroit Lions and Seahawks on the schedule, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the pass rush take that next step.