Against the Pass, This Defense Fails : Rams: They are tied for first in the standings but rank last in statistics.
In the files of the National Football League’s department of statistics, some teams that are first shall also be last.
The Rams, unbeaten for so long but now mere mortals at 5-1, suddenly find themselves open to minor inquiries, such as explaining the paradox of their high ranking in the standings and their last-place ranking in pass defense.
Are Ram defenders actually backpedaling on Achilles’ heels, or is this just another case of over-analyzing raw statistical data that, in the proper context, are meaningless?
Safety Vince Newsome wonders.
“We’re 5-1 and we’re the worst pass defense,” he said. “If we become 7-9 and have the best pass defense, is that good? Funny things happen along the way, and we’ll just take the heat for now, because we know our time is going to come.”
The Rams contend that pass defense statistics are among the most meaningless in the sport and could not be more contradictory in their case.
Yet, their 28th ranking sticks out of the league’s weekly statistical packet like a sore thumb and, of course, is distributed nationally for re-examination.
“Oh, we’re definitely concerned,” Newsome said. “Because we have a secondary coach that’s concerned.”
But what does it really mean? Are the Rams mere patsies for the Frank Reichs of the world? How did they win five games?
In fact, the raw numbers are damaging: The Rams are allowing an average of 272.5 yards a game through the air.
In some football textbooks, though, the Rams have executed a philosophy efficiently. Teams are passing more because they’ve been behind. The Rams have taken leads into the fourth quarter in all six games. The Green Bay Packers almost rallied from a 38-7 halftime deficit but didn’t.
The team has a respectable seventh ranking against the run.
“If anything, what you want on defense is to stop them from running, get ahead, get points on the board and make them throw,” Newsome said. “Usually, a team wants the other team to have to end a game making a throw.”
Coach John Robinson admitted that the secondary needs improvement and said the rankings aren’t that far out of line.
“If I could have my way in this league, I’d like to be first against the run and somewhere in the middle against the pass,” he said.
Yet, the league doesn’t distinguish meaningful yards from the meaningless.
Naturally, the defense drew considerable fire for its play in the closing minutes of Monday night’s game against Buffalo, in which the Rams allowed Reich, the Bills’ quarterback, to drive 64 yards on seven consecutive completed passes toward the game-winning touchdown.
Still, the defense has allowed only four touchdowns in the past three games. “All of a sudden, everything jumps up to be a problem again,” defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said. “It was a problem in the last 2 1/2 minutes of that game; otherwise, I’ll take that game statistically and play everyone the exactly the same way. It’s more a lack of consistency than anything else. And we’re obviously not rushing the passer as well as we need to. You can’t divorce the two, rush and coverage.”
The problems of a defensive secondary must be shared by all, Shurmur said. And there have been problems elsewhere. The Rams have been forced out of their aggressive Eagle defense for much of the season. Fred Strickland, who plays nose tackle in the scheme and may be its most crucial member, was stricken first by arthroscopic knee surgery in August and now is hobbled by a severe ankle sprain.
Starting linebacker Larry Kelm hasn’t played a down yet this season because of a foot injury. Mel Owens, a veteran outside linebacker, has been forced inside because of the injuries. Frank Stams, the rookie from Notre Dame, has also been switched inside and is just now catching on to the system.
The Rams’ inside pass rush has been greatly disrupted by Strickland’s injuries and the slow development of first-round draft choice Bill Hawkins, a defensive end in college who has been asked to play tackle.
Remember, veteran Gary Jeter, who went Plan B to New England in the off-season, had 11 1/2 sacks in Hawkins’ role last year. Hawkins is still seeking his first NFL sack.
This, in turn, has affected the overall pass rush. And if rushers aren’t getting to the quarterback, who gets punished? The secondary.
Through six games last season, the Rams had 36 sacks on their way to a league-leading 56. Through six games this season, they have 12, one-third as many. Linebacker Kevin Greene, the NFL’s second-leading sacker in 1988 with 16.5, has six this season, but three of those sacks came in the opener against Atlanta.
Shurmur said the Rams are concerned with the statistics if only because they are constantly reminded of them.
“You can’t lose sight of the target,” he said. “Everyone’s trying to knock you off the wall and shoot at you because of a statistical number, even though everyone made more out of it because of how we lost this last ball game.”
Ram Notes
Ram kicker Mike Lansford signed a two-year contract worth a reported $610,000. Details of the deal were not announced, but Lansford reportedly will receive a $25,000 signing bonus this season, a salary of $275,000 and $310,000 in 1990. He could also earn another $60,000 per season in incentives. . . . Lansford was on the phone to his agent, Leigh Steinberg, in Berkeley, just before the Bay Area earthquake struck Tuesday. Steinberg told Lansford that he had decided at the last minute not to attend the World Series game at Candlestick Park. Had he gone, he might have been on the Nimitz Freeway at the time of the quake. The double-decked freeway in Oakland collapsed and is believed responsible for most of the deaths caused by the quake. . . . Greg Bell has slipped to third place in the NFL rushing race with 556 yards, trailing the Bears’ Neal Anderson (599) and the Redskins’ Gerald Riggs (559).
