Rams Film Review: Does Omar Speights have future as a starting linebacker?

Rams LB Omar Speights made a strong first impression in his debut

The Los Angeles Rams enter Week 9 looking to make a strong run at the NFC West. As the team gets healthier and with the changes made after the bye week, the Rams look as good as they have all season. The Rams did a lot of good things against the Minnesota Vikings that they’ll look to carry over into the coming weeks. They’ll also continue to get a look at linebacker Omar Speights who made his first start. Let’s dive into this week’s film review.

What to make of Omar Speights’ debut

All season many have wanted to see what Omar Speights or Jake Hummel could do at linebacker in place of Troy Reeder. With Reeder ending up on injured reserve, the Rams got a good look at Speights and Hummel against the Vikings and will continue to over the next three weeks at least.

A few things can be true when it comes to how Speights performed against the Vikings. The first is that it’s important not to overreact simply because it’s something new. Speights played well, but there’s a reason why the Rams rotated him off the field in the red zone and he also need to get more comfortable in coverage. At the same time, it was also really nice to see a new, energetic body at linebacker.

Speights did a good job filling gaps and rarely just accepted the fact that he was getting blocked. He did a nice job shedding blocks in the run game and on the play above, he runs underneath the guard and wraps up Aaron Jones in the backfield. It’s that type of aggressive play that the Rams have lacked at the position. It will be exciting to see how he improves, but his debut was promising.

Matthew Stafford was really good, but credit to offensive line

The Rams came in needing a strong performance from Matthew Stafford, but for that to happen it was going to start up front with the offensive line. Vikings defensive coordinator seemed to have a strange game-plan against the Rams that didn’t seem as aggressive as past weeks. The Los Angeles offensive line blocked up well up-front, which allowed Stafford time to sling it from the pocket.

Stafford made several impressive throws and had the Vikings secondary with their heads on a swivel. However, once again, that doesn’t happen without the work of the offensive line. They deserve so much credit for the win because how the blocked in the passing game was going to play a huge role.

Undrafted free agent Justin Dedich and sixth-round pick Beaux Limmer especially deserve a shout. Dedich got his second consecutive start at left guard and played admirably. He handled Harrison Phillips in the run game, and displayed some good pass-block moments. However, there is room for improvement there. The fact that the Rams found him as an undrafted free agent is impressive. Limmer is another player worth mentioning here. Filling in at center for most of the season, he’s shown that at the very least he is a valuable depth piece at the position.

Was Vikings game a turning point for Jared Verse?

At times through the first seven weeks of the season, Rams rookie Jared Verse has been frustrating to watch. The physical talent and athleticism has clearly been there. He continously has popped off the tape and looks the part on the edge. However, the missed tackles and missed opportunities have been a bit of a dark cloud over what has been a very impressive player otherwise.

The pressures and pressure rate have been there for Verse all season, but he has simply been missing production in the sacks column of the stat sheet. Once those started coming along, it was always going to be over for opposing offense. Well, they finally came against the Vikings. Verse had two sack contributions, but even more impressive was his ability to take over the game in the ways that he has all season and disrupt the offense by pressuring the quarterback.

On the play below, that’s exactly what happens. Verse displays his strength and walks David Quessenberry directly into Sam Darnold. With time, Darnold is able to get to a second read. Instead, he has to force a pass to a bracketed Justin Jefferson and it leads to an incomplete pass and field goal in the red zone. Verse took over the game and he was playing well even before Christian Darrisaw left with an injury.

Rams Missed Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua in red zone

It is amazing what can happen when the Rams get two of their best players at wide receiver back from injury. The red zone woes that were seen week after week all of a sudden disappeared and both Kupp and Nacua played a role in that. That’s not to say that the Rams will never settle for a field goal again in the red zone, but they were clearly missed.

The touchdown to Kyren Williams on the opening drive was evidence of that. Minnesota bracketed Cooper Kupp in the end zone which left Williams 1-on-1 with a linebacker. Williams cut underneath Ivan Pace Jr. and was wide open over the middle of the field. Safety Harrison Smith was completely focused on Kupp. Hopefully this positive trend in the red zone continues.

Sean McVay got in his bag against the Vikings

Once the pieces start coming back, we might get the chance to see what the Rams offense was supposed to look like in it’s final form. There was a glimpse of it against the San Francisco 49ers in which the Rams ran 12 personnel on 44 percent of their offensive plays. That was again the case against the Vikings. The Rams played in a heavy dose of 12 personnel. Kyren Williams had a league-high 13 rushing attempts out of 12 personnel in Week 8 and Stafford had six passes with two tight ends on the field. The Rams also ran two plays out of 13 personnel.

With the use of pre-snap motion and different personnel groupings, the Vikings defense didn’t know what hit them. Several times you could see the active confusion on the backend of the Minnesota defense. The first drive included the play-action screen shown above and a counter run out of 12 personnel to Kyren Williams that went for 13 yards. The Rams offense mixed it up against the Vikings and it paid off as McVay got his first win over a Brian Flores coached defense.