LA Rams know Eagles will go 2 TE sets, and they will be ready

The game of professional football has been nicknamed the game of inches. But the LA Rams are playing a brand new style of football: strategic. The team started Jordan Fuller and John Johnson in the season opener. Now, the Rams may have been very wise in doing so. The Philadelphia Eagles have two big tight ends who can catch passes, and the Rams will need to defend both.

The really great thing is that they will be ready, able, and willing to do exactly that. You see, while the Rams were beating the Dallas Cowboys, and the Eagles were losing to Washington, the Rams were saving an ace in the hole. That ace is Taylor Rapp, and he’ll show up in week two.

The Rams have a lot of versatile pieces in their secondary, so does the understanding that they are going to probably see more multiple-tight end work from the Eagles mean they can open up their playbook a little deeper?

Big grin from Jalen Ramsey:

“Perhaps.”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 18, 2020

After all, the Eagles offense is no longer a mystery. It stopped being a mystery at halftime against Washington. They never scored in the second half of that first game because Washington made some great defensive adjustments.

More defensive adjustments

Not to diminish the passion and talent of the Washington defense, but much of that second half ineptness belongs to the Eagles offense. They failed to adjust in the second half. The Eagles allowed key players to rest in that first game while looking past Washington and towards the Rams. Wentz held the ball far too long, and the Eagles could not block Washington’s defensive front.

While the Eagles process how to adjust to the shortcomings from last week, the Rams will be one step ahead of them to stymie what the Eagles offense will try to do this week. Those Eagles’ offensive goals will be: establish the run with Miles Sanders, get high percentage passes to build Wentz’s confidence early, take a deep shot in the first quarter, work both Ertz and Goedert hard early, and run spread offense plays to test the Rams man coverage. The Rams defense did a great job against a Cowboys’ offense loaded with weapons.

Next. LA Rams offensive line has an even tougher task this Sunday. dark

The Eagles offense is not quite as loaded, particularly with wide receivers. That gives the defense a better opportunity to shut down what the Eagles do. Look for the Rams to counter the Eagles heavy TE packages with three safeties for the majority of the game. That means the Rams will be in their nickel sub-package, which is Taylor Rapp, Jordan Fuller, and John Johnson. You may even see more of Terrell Burgess in this one. As long as the Rams do not feel laggy from the three-hour time zone difference, they should do very well in game two.

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