Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams will finally kickoff the 2025 season on Sunday when they take on the Houston Texans. This will be a matchup between two defenses with a handful of proven pass rushers ready to take over the game. Both teams have Super Bowl aspirations, but only one will start the season 1-0. Here are five keys to victory for the Rams to get the win against the Texans.
There is a very good chance that this game between the Rams and Texans is a defensive battle. The over/under for the game is 43.5 which is tied for the third-lowest of the week. DeMeco Ryans has one of the better defenses in the league while the Rams defensive line against the Texans offensive line might be one of the more lopsided matchups of Week 1.
The Texans have talent at wide receiver and CJ Stroud is one of the more cerebral quarterbacks in the NFL. For the Rams to win this game, the defensive line has to win its matchups. Jared Verse will be going up against a rookie left tackle in Aireontae Ersery who was very raw coming out of Minnesota. Tytus Howard is fine on the right side, but Ed Ingram comes over from the Minnesota Vikings and ranked 61st out of 65 guards in pass-blocking last season via PFF. Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske need to cause havoc inside.
Last season, the Texans offense ranked 31st in success rate and a lot of that was because of the offensive line. It’s hard to see a lot of improvement. That’s something that the Rams should be able to take advantage of on Sunday. The Texans will likely try to mitigate the pressure with screens and quick-game passes. In passes under 2.5 seconds, Stroud ranked 19th in EPA per dropback. He was pressured on 18.8 percent of those dropbacks which was the fourth-highest rate in the NFL.
In 2024, the Rams generated consistent pressure when blitzing, recording the fourth-highest pressure rate at 46.4 percent. Meanwhile, the Texans struggled to protect against the blitz, allowing the sixth-highest pressure rate. Stroud ranked 24th in EPA per dropback against the blitz. For the Rams to win this game, the defensive line has to take over.
Overall, the Texans were a good defense against the run in 2024. They ranked sixth in run defense EPA and ninth in stuff-rate. However, they had a tendency to allow explosive runs. The Texans defense had a six percent explosive run rate allowed which was the fourth-highest in the league. However, they were just 14th in success rate and 11th in yards per carry.
This Texans defense is somewhat boom or bust in the run game. They have the linebackers who are more than capable of stopping the run. We’ll find out very quickly whether or not Kyren Williams has gotten more explosive in the offseason. The opportunities should be...
