It is not so simple as the Rams placing extra and greater our bodies close to the road of scrimmage to decelerate Barkley. In addition they should cope with probably the greatest working quarterbacks within the league in Jalen Hurts, who rushed for 630 yards through the common season. In line with FOX Sports activities Analysis, Hurts tops amongst all NFL QBs with 64 dashing first downs and 14 dashing touchdowns this season, together with the playoffs.
Add in defending probably the greatest receivers within the league in A.J. Brown on the perimeter, and it is a robust activity for first-year Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
On Sunday, the Rams protection will deal with early downs to attempt to get into extra favorable conditions on third down. In Week 12, the Eagles have been 9-of-15 on third down as a result of they’d manageable distances to maneuver the chains, not permitting the Rams to warmth up their potent go rush.
“They have been in third downs an honest quantity of occasions, and it was a 3rd and favorable,” Shula mentioned. “So, clearly, you do not wish to be in that third-and-4-to-5 vary the place the percentages are clearly tilted slightly extra in opposition to you.
“You must discover a approach to get … them off monitor, get them into second-and-longs the place you get these third-and-longs, and you may earn the correct to hurry the passer.”
Relating to their go rush, the Rams might play it slightly extra conservatively on Sunday. General this season, they blitzed 24.7% of the time, the ninth-lowest charge within the league and L.A.’s lowest since 2018. Nevertheless, within the Week 12 matchup in opposition to Philadelphia, the Rams blitzed Hurts on 34.6% of his dropbacks, their fourth-highest charge in a sport in 2024.
The outcomes weren’t nice. Hurts completed 6-of-9 for 96 yards when blitzed in that sport. He additionally rushed 12 occasions for 39 yards.
“A whole lot of the issues that basically harm us have been issues that we did to ourselves,” Rams defensive sort out Kobie Turner mentioned. “Other ways the place we’re leaping out of our gaps and we must be extra hole sound. Or we’re creating vertical seams and permitting 26 [Barkley] to go discover vertical creases.
“On the finish of the day, we all know so a lot of this stuff come right down to what we will management. And we all know that we’re attacking all the pieces that we will management in order that we come out with a victory on Sunday.”
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for greater than a decade, overlaying the Los Angeles Rams for Sports activities Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma Information Tribune. Comply with him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.
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