LA Rams pass rush is beginning to find its range at the right time

Pittsburgh Steelers v Los Angeles Rams, Aaron Donald, Kobie Turner, Byron Young
Pittsburgh Steelers v Los Angeles Rams, Aaron Donald, Kobie Turner, Byron Young / Harry How/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 8
Next

The Conductor

Rookie nose tackle Kobie Turner may not be an edge rusher, but you cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that he is one of the key contributors to the Rams late surging pass rush. As offensive linemen have begun to notice the impact of rookie outside linebacker Byron Young, Kobie Turner has turned up the heat from the middle of the Rams' defense.

Turner also showed up in a huge way against the Green Bay Packers, recording 10 tackles, 1.0 quarterback sacks, one tackle for a loss, and one quarterback hit. While his teammate, OLB Byron Young, has gotten more attention from offensive linemen, Turner has thwarted double teams with veteran-like moves and has improved at getting the quarterback.

In the past two games, NT Kobie Turner has been on fire, recording 3.5 quarterback sacks, nine tackes, three tackles for a loss, and four quarterback hits.

His two game performance is a bit noteworthy too, as he is the first Rams rookie defensive lineman to record 2.0 quarterback sacks in one game since rookie DL Chris Long did so in 2008. Keep in mind that Chris Long was drafted in the 2008 NFL Draft with the second overall pick.

Turner has been so effective at getting after the quarterback that he is hot on tail of All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald. Even more promising is the fact that Kobie Turner platoons with NT Bobby Brown III, and as a result has just 486 defensive snaps this season. That is just 60 percent of the total defensive snaps that he could have played so far.