Little fixables from LA Rams Week 4 L can create Week 5 W

Little Fixable III: Shaky secondary

When the LA Rams faced the 2021 NFL season, they did so without veteran defensive backs Troy Hill or John Johnson III. Both had signed on with the Cleveland Brown, leaving the Rams to sort through their depth chart and rookie crop to find suitable replacements.

The team settled on David Long Jr. to assume Troy Hill’s role and added Taylor Rapp to the secondary over Terrell Burgess.  After four weeks time, the experiment is failing, and someone needs to intervene now and let the powers that be know it. It has been a point of contention all season, and it’s the simple fact that those two players are better in supporting roles than filling in as the starters.  Here is one example, where David Long Jr. fails to use the sidelines as a second defender, allowing the veteran wide receiver A.J. Green to get the inside position and give his quarterback a huge target. The result? A 41-yard touchdown strike.

It’s even worse for Taylor Rapp, who seems hellbent on allowing the reception so he can knock the stuffing out of the receiver in a highlight reel tackle. Umm…about that. How about breaking up the pass instead?

Little Fix III for Week 5: Give Robert Rochell and Terrell Burgess a much larger rotational role

The Rams made an educated guess and got it wrong. They did the same thing when initially deciding upon benching Brian Allen in favor of starting Austin Corbett at center and Bobby Evans at right guard. Getting it wrong is perfectly fine and acceptable. Blindly sticking to an initial error in judgment is where the problems begin.  Taylor Rapp has an abysmal 58.0 grade from Pro Football Focus this year. David Long Jr.’s is not much better, as PFF has graded him 61.3.

Enough with awarding bonus points for Rock’em Sock’em Robots in the secondary. The Rams need guys back there who actually defend passes. If they don’t get it right the first time, at least play somebody who can learn from their mistakes for the next time.  The Rams need to get both Robert Rochell and Terrell Burgess actively involved in this defense in Week 5 and grow their roles throughout the season.

I’m not out to burn anyone at the stake here. Rapp and Long Jr. have established roles as competent contributors in a nickel or dime defensive package. But for the day-to-day pass defense? I am not sure what the heck the coaches are seeing, but it’s not showing up on my television screen. And it will only get worse if the Rams fail to act now.