LA Rams Trick or Treat? It’s our Halloween edition

Treat: Rams Red zone defense

If you are going to do just one thing very well on defense, the top objective has got to be keeping the offense out of the end zone, right? So let’s talk about something that the LA Rams defense is doing incredibly well so far in 2021. Yes, that’s right. This Rams defense absolutely snuffs the offense when they are defending in the Red Zone.

Per teamrankings.com, the LA Rams are the second-ranked defense in the NFL in the Red Zone. They only allow opponents to break the plane of the goal line on 42.31 percent of their attempts. This year, only the New Orleans Saints are better. One of the most obvious and recent examples is the showing in Week 7 when the Rams shut out the Lions’ offense in five trips to the Red Zone.

Giving up yards but not surrendering points is a huge win for the LA Rams defense. For comparison, the 2020 defense allowed their opponents to score touchdowns on 59.62 percent of their appearances in the Red Zone. That was good enough to be the 12th-ranked defense in 2020.

Oh, and by the way, Brandon Staley’s defense with the LA Chargers allows opponents to score touchdowns on 68.18 percent of their trips to the end zone. So, while so many are bashing the Rams defense and calling for the Rams to fire Raheem Morris, why not pause on that vitriol for a moment. Perhaps that outcry to get rid of the guy is not because he is underperforming, but the ability to understand how well he is truly doing?