St. Louis Rams Defense Coming To Form and Showing Consistency

While the St. Louis Rams did lose a disappointing game to the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night 12-6, there is one thing that fans should be happy, and that is the play of the defense. While the unit did struggle for much of the first half of the season, they have began to come to form over the past two months.

There is no question that the St. Louis Rams don’t have an elite offense to say the very least, heck they barely have an average offense. Therefore, despite regularly being put in a bad position week in and week out, the defensive unit has done a great job, and we are finally starting to see the potential that this defense has had under Gregg Williams.

Since losing to the Kansas City Chiefs 34-7, the St. Louis Rams defense has not allowed more than 20 points in game. In the past seven games the Rams defense has allowed an average of nine points per game, granted, two of those games were shutouts, but still, thats not an easy task to do.

The Rams defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in three consecutive games, something that hasn’t been done since the Miami Dolphins in 2011. Not to mention the only red zone possession they allowed is one in which Tre Mason fumbled at Rams’ 27-yard line and the Cardinals only had to travel seven yards.

There’s no question that the Rams defense has turned a corner. It seems like weeks since we’ve seen a blown coverage in the secondary. In the Rams’ first seven games they had only six sacks which fewest in the NFL, since then the Rams have 30 which is the most in the NFL.

The Rams turned a corner following that embarrassing loss to Kansas City in Week eight. Robert Quinn has found his 2013 form, Aaron Donald sets up shop in opponents’ backfields on a weekly basis, and linebackers Alec Ogletree and James Laurinaitis are thriving in Gregg Williams’ relentless scheme.

At one point the Rams had the league’s second worst run defense, as it stands right now, the Rams have the 12th ranked run defense and last week against the Washington Redskins, the Rams had more yards in sacks(53), than the Redskins had in rushing yards(26).

The Arizona Cardinals gashed the Rams for 143 yards on 33 attempts, but for the most part, Aaron Donald and the Rams run defense has been solid. Gone are the days when Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Bobby Rainey rushed for 144 yards against this unit. Rainey by the way has only gained 250 yards on 68 carries since then.

The Rams defense is starting to find consistency, and that has been proven over the past seven weeks. It is disappointing that the Rams offense couldn’t put up 13 points and get the win for the defense Thursday Night against the Cardinals, but if it’s one thing that is for certain, this team looks one solid quarterback and an offensive lineman or two away from being a viable contender.