Hard hitting is in LA Rams defensive back Nick Scott’s DNA

Secondary substitutions

Of course, synching up was not a realistic goal for the LA Rams secondary when they entered the playoffs without either starting safety: Jordan Fuller (whose ankle was stepped on by San Francisco 49ers offensive center Alex Mack) and Taylor Rapp (who was knocked silly against the same San Francisco 49ers offense and was placed on the NFL’s concussion protocol for three weeks).

That development truly put a lot of pressure on the entire Rams organization. The Rams were not set up to handle both starting safeties dropping off-line simultaneously. The solution that the team assembled was perhaps the turning point of the entire season.

The LA Rams re-signed veteran DB Eric Weddle, newsworthy in itself because he had been retired from the NFL for two seasons. The plan was for Weddle to handle the pass defense, and platoon with DB Terrell Burgess. But Weddle quickly played himself into a three-down starter.

Nick Scott slides into starting role

The other safety position fell upon DB Nick Scott, a player who had started just one game on defense in three seasons for the LA Rams. That start occurred on Week 14 against the NFC West Rivals, the Seattle Seahawks. Scott’s performance in that game was quite noteworthy for two reasons First, he was starting in the Rams secondary against a rather capable passing attack. In fact, he played quite well.

And secondly, he helped the Rams defense win despite a patchwork short-handed secondary.  Coming into a game cold-turkey is a rather difficult task. But Scott demonstrated the ability, if not the experience, to compete and to generate enough pass resistance to frustrate the offense. That’s pretty good for a secondary that was looking for future starters. But that search would need results sooner than expected.