8 enticing adventures emerging after 1 week of LA Rams 2024 Training Camp

I: Rams defense is sneaky good, prepare to be amazed

Thrilling reactions from events that happen in our lives is not about what happens exclusively. Rather, it is the difference between what does happen compared to what we think will happen. Let me explain. If you think that a birthday card contains over $100 cash inside, then you will not be as grateful or happy about finding a $50 bill inside. But if you expect no money, and find a $20 bill inside, you will be delighted.

Just listen to how easily HC Sean McVay gets excited over this defense:

Right now, the Rams' defense is very much like that birthday card that nobody expects to find any cash inside. But think about how the Rams defense approached the 2023 NFL season. This was a defense that was projected to be a dumpster fire. This was a defense that featured DT Aaron Donal, and then the obscure category of 'all others.' And yet, this defense played far better than expected, and far surpassed the amount of compensation.

And those same forces are aligning for 2024, even down to the same proud and loud confidence voiced by starting inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV:

As Ernest Jones says in no uncertain terms:

" I'd love to have A.D. (Aaron Donald), but it gives those guys an opportunity to show who they really are."

ILB Ernest Jones

There are some under-the-radar heroics on the defensive line already. Braden Fiske is a versatile magician on the defensive line, a guy whose speed and agility allows him to get past offensive linemen before they are truly set and in position to block him. Bobby Brown III, knowing that his could be his last stand, has all the makings of a man possessed. He is far more urgent and overpowering in his presence on the defensive line of scrimmage.

There are the dynamic duo of 2023, as both Byron Young and Kobie Turner take what they gained in terms of knowledge and experience and apply that on every play in 2024. And then there is the off-misunderstood passion of OLB/DT Michael Hoecht whose versatility to play in either a two-point or three-point stance gies this team tremendous options to stack against opposing offenses.

And we haven't even gotten to Ernest Jones or a much improved secondary.

There is a comforting uneasiness about this Rams roster right now. If I felt too confident about the team, I would be alarmed as nothing is that good. But if I had as low expectations as 2023, then even exceeding those expectations would fall short of a Super Bowl victory.

This team has the lulling sound of an electric dynamo. A sound of power that sounds like the drone of honeybees. And yes, the 2024 NFL season is going to be sweet indeed.

As always, thanks for reading.