Brandon Staley is a great story, but he is an even better defensive coordinator. He was coaching at John Carroll University in 2016 and 4 years later is the defensive coordinator of the LA Rams. But, based on what Ive seen he is one of the great young minds in the NFL.
After 5 weeks the Rams Defense is playing at a very formidable level. They are leading the league in various categories and statistically very solid.
Statistically:
#1 leading the league in sacks
#4 defense for total yards
#1 in yards per reception
#2 in receiving yards per game
#9 in the league in rushing defense (yards per game)
They are really getting after the passer and causing havoc for opposing offenses. They show multiple looks and have various adjustments that cause problems
**He does a great job getting 1 on 1 situations on passing downs for Aaron Darnold which is probably the best thing he is doing. Here is an example of that.
2nd and 12 vs the Bears.
They show here and the right guard has to block Darnold 1x1 in empty. They end up dropping the right end into a 4 man man free pressure.
The other minor coaching point is they send the mike who is showing opposite a to give Donald #99 more room to operate.
3rd and 12: Get good pressure, Foles has to dump it off for 7 yard gain and the bears punt.
For example, last game they were playing Jalen Ramsay in the slot and blitzing him on several occasions. This is an all pro cover guy. Staley does a great job of playing matchups but also knows his personnel very well. They play great situational football. They do what it takes to win.
Against the Eagles, they didn't blitz once in the first half and played coverage. They were not pressuring out of respect for the Eagles run game, screen and play action game. Once they got up they brought 5, 5 man pressures and 1 simulated pressure in the 2nd half. They had a very solid game plan, adjusted it to handle what the Eagles do well, realizing that Wentz is very efficient against 5 man pressures and didn't run many early. But, once up in the 2nd half they brought a lot more pressures.
I put all 6 pressures from that game on the clips below. All came in the 2nd half. Again, no blitzes in the first half and they went on to win the game 37-19.
Also, very impressed how he uses Jalen Ramsey in the slot. He will blitz him drop him in coverage, match him against there best wr at times. He moves him around and plays him both inside and outside. There's times in the 3-4 where is playing against a tight end wing in 12 personnel. (may get him in trouble later in the year when teams run at it).But right now is working great.
The other thing they do a nice job of is they roll many different players which allows them to stay fresh throughout the game.
Lets first take a look at them on the early 1st and 2nd downs vs the NY Giants in week 4.
BEAR Front: The Rams play a lot of bear, some 3-4 and 4-2-5 on early downs.
The first front they use is the bear front. They played it a lot vs the Giants vs 11 personnel.
They play 2 three technique DT and a nose guard with 3 linebackers in the game. When there is a tight end in the game, the 3 technique becomes a 4i(diagram #1 below)
When you get a 2nd tight end, you will get a shaded nose and a 5 technique with the Rams.
(diagram #2 below)
They play some cover 3 and cover 1 with it but can easily play cover 2/4, cover 6 and 8 which is a 2 look one side with 4 look the other. Different people call it different coverages. Below is a cb roll to the passing strength. cb to passing strength playing cover 2
The Cowboys did catch them in the coverage but later in the game the Rams made some nice adjustments to combat that. Here you see the wheel route by #2 puts the outside linebacker in limbo. Good route concept by McCarthy
Back to the fronts:
diagram #1. (notice the 4i when a tight end in the game)
LE 90 CB 31
RE 99 SS. 43
NG 69 FS. 24
ROLB 50 CB. 22
MLB 59 Nickel 20 Ramsey
LOLB. 54
The 2nd front vs the Giants is the 4-2 front.
They sub and bring in 45, 41 and 97 at times. They rotate inside but they are playing 3 additional players and playing them to their strengths.
LE. 54 Nickel 20 Ramsey
LDT 97 LC. 31
RDT. 99 RC. 22
RE 45 FS. 24
ILB 59 SS. 43
ILB. 41
Against the Redskins and Eagles they went 3-4 with an eagle look to the weakside vs 12,21 personnel and brought the extra lb in the game. So, he is flexible and varies his packages game by game.
Down and distance, 1st and 10
Here the Redskins run jet motion, Watch the discipline of the linebackers(know before you go) and the gap responsibility up front. No one getting blown off the los, everyone doing their job. Solid run defense.The difference in the Redskins game is instead of going bear with 1 ilb they went to more of a 3-4 look vs 12 and 21 personnel. Again, Coach is flexible and knows how to adjust.Did he think the Redskins were a better run offense than the giants so he played with an extra lb?
2 clips of the variation of the odd front to more traditional 3-4 vs the Redskins
Dime 26 comes in as the extra defensive back.
3 defensive lineman 2 lb 6 dbs and the Rams run some really good pressures.
Below are some 3rd down situations and the creativity in pressures:
This clip is vs the Giants,
Down and Distrance: 3rd and 12
Giants personnel:11
Pressure: 5 man
Coverage: man free with one blitzer and other lb blitz engaging the rb.
overload situation to put #99 Donald, one on one with their worst pass blocker. They do this alot with Donald to create matchups.
3rd and 27
Most teams arent going to blitz, not the Rams they are showing and bring the slot off the edge, Jalen Ramsey who plays in the slot often in nickel situations.
Down and Distance: 3rd and 27
Giants Personnel: 11
Rams Personnel: Dime
Pressure: Sim with Nickel blitz
Coverage: 3 Roll to the strong side
Giants dump to the tight end for an 8 yard gain
3rd and 13
Giants Personnel:11
Rams: 4-1 dime
Pressure: mac loop
Coverage: cover 3 hole(safety plays middle hook and replaces the blitzer)
Here are the clips of the blitz concepts displayed above.
A few Redskins games where they get 1x1 with Donald again in the overload front (3 def lineman to the same side
Here is a load 4 man pressure with lb delayed blitz. Good luck trying to block him 1x1.
Down and Distance: 3rd and 13
Washington: 11 personnel.
Personnel:4-1 dime
Pressure: delay blitz with lb
Coverage: 3 hole
coverage associated with the pressure above:
later in the game they run a game on 3rd and 9 out of the overload front.
Down and Distance: 3rd and 9
Washington 11 personnel
Blitz: none , e and T stunt with the tackle and end. End goes first
They run a game with the nose and left end.
Rams vs. The Bears.
Heres a 3 play sequence vs the Bears early in the game. I will show the 3 play sequence after the explanations below.
3 and out for the Bears.
1st and 10
The Bears are in 12 personnel.
The Rams go to their 3-4 package.
Watch the front and how 41 stays in phase for the cutback. 50 does a good job setting the edge.
#41 does a good job because the bears rb cuts it back way too early. RB needs to push the ball to the edge a little more so the safety cant come underneath and maybe the wing can block the ss. They hold them to 3 yards on the play. Bears wonder why they cant run the ball, rb needs to get to their landmarks!(conversation for another day) 3 yard gain could have been more.
After an incomplete pass(see video)
its 3rd and 7
good adjustment, and reaction to the rb with the safety coming to make the play. (could have been him man on #2 but I think it was weasel which means Ramsay has 12 no matter where he goes and play zone with everyone else.
More Rams in the run game.
Another great job by the Rams defense on 2nd and 7
Bears stay 12 personnel.
Rams go to their bear front and play nickel. Bears try to run patterson up the middle.
Jimmy graham gets beat bad, the left guard gets driven back and there is really no place to run.
sets up 3rd and 6
Against the Bucs, he makes a great call to seal the game.
It s good disguise showing 2 man and robbing the hole and going man free to seal the game. Brady never sees the safety from the other side and tries to hit Cameron Brate on the vertical.
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| Guard helps inside, leaves tackle one on one with Donald |
Donald beats the tackle clean and gets the sack for -9. Pugh should have helped the tackle. They had the right call, Guard screwed it up.
Like the Patriots. the week before, they bring inside pressure on 3rd and 10. Force the scramble and Murray throws it away. They punt.
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