10 reasons to believe LA Rams defense makes the difference this year

III- Rams finally have their defensive line, and it’s impressive

While it did take its sweet time in getting here, the LA Rams defensive line is finally a reality.  Now with a huge A’Shawn Robinson at nose tackle, the Rams can stunt and shift the other defensive line around and create havoc at the line of scrimmage. As the line focuses inwards to prevent a jailbreak, the edge rushers have a clear path to the quarterback.

The key was to find strong physical anchors to defend over center. The Rams now have multiple players who can cover the role at nose tackle. All players with the exception of defensive end Morgan Fox can play at the midpoint of the offensive line.  That’s a pretty impressive cast of players right now.

Versatility

The Rams have built this defense upon the principles of versatility. And now, even the defensive front is capable of mixing and matching players throughout the course of each game. That can be huge, as this gives the Rams the ability to test different matchups over the offensive line, and find matchups vulnerable to exploit.

The Rams have been pretty successful of mixing it up at times. For each occasion where the Rams position a player out of the play with a stunt, they are just as likely to place multiple players into the thick of it.  And it becomes very difficult to get into an offensive rhythm when the offensive linemen rediscover who they are facing on each play.