3 reasons why Omar Speights is perfect teammate for Christian Rozeboom

(1) - Rozeboom's role is clearly defined now

Confusion for a defensive player kills production. If a defender hesitates for any reason, the offense gains an instant advantage. So ensuring that linebackers have clearly defined roles is a huge boost to production. After the team so cleverly teamed him up with Omar Speights, that is what has happened.

Let's be clear, though. The synergy in the Rams defense is not some magical enchantment that was cast on the linebackers, dictating that Rozeboom focus exclusively on pass coverage and Speight focus exclusively on run defense. The two players line up side by side, and that translates into Rozeboom and Speights trying to provide defense against anything the offense runs or throws their ways.

Rozeboom is simply the stronger defender in pass coverage. That fact alone limits what a quarterback, and the offensive coordinator, can reasonably expect from this defense. But the fact that Speights salivates at the though of crushing impacts with running backs in the hole has given Rozeboom a significant example of how to play the run. In fact, the two are not just complementary players for one another. They appear to be raising the level of play for one another. That is how Christian Rozeboom has managed to record 11+ tackles in four of the past five games.

He is noticeably far more aggressive now. Even his missed tackles rating has improved dramatically.

Don't always rely on data analytics alone

I haven't touted data analytics in this one. You see, the premise with data analytics is that the engineer designed the statistic to be both objective and dead-on accurate to the fundamental football matter that he or she is trying to represent. The finer the level of detail, the more obscure the picture becomes. Why do I say that?

Either the statistics effectively measure the efficiency of the team, such as NFLSavant.com, or the statistic attempts to measure a player against a subjective standard. In either case, there is a risk of being misled by poorly designed statistics. Do you recall how the ESPN Data Analytics department rolled out a new data set, that concluded that Rams All-Pro DT Aaron Donald was simply average at run defense? Even as the data proved that point, the data was so askew from reality that Donald's on-field production ultimately devalued the hard work of those NFL data analysts.

I'm not diminishing the work of Rams sites that rely on data analytics exclusively to prove a point. I'm simply pointing out the obvious. If what is being measured tells a differing story that what is happening on the football field, then it's simply time to rethink the use of that data.

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