How good can LA Rams become after the NFL Trade Deadline?

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Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports /

Upgraded linebacking corps

Raheem Morris’ defense places a greater emphasis upon the linebackers on the defense, and through the early games of the 2021 season, there were lapses from that group. Sure, the play of Kenny Young flashed at times. But the overall performance of the defense did not show favorably.

The Rams boast the 11-ranked run defense in the NFL. But they did not get there because they are run-stuffers. Rather, the team is the 19th-ranked run defense in terms of yards-per-carry. The fact is that the Rams offense forces opposing teams to abandon the run. So too that the LA Rams pass defense is the 26th-ranked defense in passing yards allowed.

The fact of the matter is that the Rams are the 13th-ranked passing defense in terms of yards-per-attempt. The defense simply faces far more passing attempts.

In his debut in starting for the Rams, rookie Ernest Jones appeared to make a difference. Even though the Houston Texans’ offense was hopelessly outgunned, Jones helped to hold the Texans to a scoreless three quarters before the backups came in and allowed the Texans to put up 22 unanswered points. But one factor that the Rams did improve at, the Rams held the Texans to just a 33 percent (4 of 12) success rate on third-down conversions.

It was an incredible showing for his first NFL start and certainly promises to deliver more in upcoming games.

Name                   Def Snaps      Sacks     Tkls
Ernest Jones               99               0.5         17
Troy Reeder              273               0.0         35
Travin Howard (IR)    10                0.0           3

Right now, the LA Rams have just Troy Reeder and Ernest Jones as healthy inside linebackers. Travin Howard has been moved to Injured Reserve. But the Rams have been working on moving Safety Taylor Rapp up into a linebacker role on nickel and dime packages and backfilling with Terrell Burgess. The technique seemed to play well against the Texans. Now, here comes the Tennessee Titans

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