Rams Defense Shows Its Mettle  

(News4usonline) – The Rams were in an urgent defensive mood against the Philadelphia Eagles. They didn’t really have a choice. Down 10 points at the half, the Rams dialed up the pressure against the Eagles in what was already a must-win game in Week 4. 

Lose and the Rams would be placed in a 1-3 hole. Win and the Rams would break even at the .500 mark (2-2), giving the team some momentum and a decent mounting point to move forward. Sean McVay’s team chose the latter. 

Using a stifling defense and an opportunistic offense, the Rams rallied from a 20-10 second-half deficit to secure a 24-20 road win. The caveat to this victory was the amount of pressure the Rams defense brought against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense. 

Byron Young led the charge with 2.5 takedowns out of the total of four sacks the Rams had of Hurts. 

“I felt our energy from the collective the whole day,” McVay said. “I thought they were excellent. It was great communication, great sense of urgency. You show me a good defense, you have to be able to apply pressure on the quarterback. 

“I thought we were able to do that in a variety of ways whether it was giving pressure and being able to play some different coverage contours behind it with some of our fire zoner mans. Then even being able to do it with some four-man rush stuff. Our guys did a great job,” McVay went on to say.  

With Myles Garrett on the mend and Aaron Donald skipping the trip, the explosive potential of the Rams defense was on full display. The Rams didn’t let Philadelphia earn a single third-down conversion in 12 attempts. 

In layman’s terms, the Eagles went 0-12 on third down attempts. 

On top of that, the Rams only allowed the Eagles one (1-for-4) fourth down to be converted and held Hurts to 93 passing yards. Hurts was sacked four times while completing 12 of 27 passes.

After scoring 20 points in the first half, the Eagles were kept out of the endzone in the third and fourth quarters. During his weekly Zoom call with reporters, McVay talked about the key to the Rams putting on the defensive clamps on Philadelphia’s offense in that second half.  

“I think the consistent pressure and the competitive stamina to make them snap it one more time,” McVay remarked. “You never know what would have happened on that third down where they ended up having a little bit of an exchange issue. But then the fourth down stop was big. 

“I thought [Defensive Coordinator] Chris [Shula] called the game aggressively. I thought our guys answered the bell. For them to be one-of-14 on conversion downs and have the one fourth down conversion, that’s so big,” McVay added. 

For whatever reason, every play between the Rams and Eagles seemed to matter. Every snap counted. The gravity of this game, even in Week 4 of an 18-week schedule, felt like the weight of a heavyweight championship match. 

The Rams prevailed because they brought a little bit more physicality to their defensive play. That was the difference in the ballgame.    

“Somebody sent me something that at one point there was a three percent chance we win that game. But those defensive guys, they didn’t give a [expletive] about those chances,” McVay said. “They kept playing and make them snap it one more time. Then the next thing you know, it leads to a stop. Offense goes 98 yards. They get another stop. Offense goes 78 yards. Then before you know it, you’re taking a knee and you’re like, ‘Holy geez, that was awesome by the D.’ They did a great job. I was really proud of them.” 

Dennis J. Freeman

Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com