Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams did the thing that very few expected in Week 11 against the Seattle Seahawks. With their cornerback group, they held one of the best offenses in the NFL to fewer than 20 points for the first time since Week 1 and held them to one touchdown after going 1-for-4 in the red zone. It was a masterclass from defensive coordinator Chris Shula.
While turnovers can certainly be fluky with a high level of variance and luck involved, there was nothing lucky about what happened on Sunday. Shula took aspects of what worked against quarterback Sam Darnold in the NFC Wild Card game from last season and applied them to Sunday’s game.
A majority of the nine sacks that the Rams had in that game came as a result of interior pressure. Darnold simply didn’t handle the interior pressure well and the Rams defense was able to create negative plays. That game seemed to be in Darnold’s head as he did everything he could to avoid taking a sack against the Rams on Sunday when that may have been the better decision.
It may not have seemed like it during the game, but the Rams defensive line created impact pressures, resulting in negative plays in different ways. It’s easy to look at the stat sheet and see a zero in the stats column. However, instead of sacks, the Rams were getting interceptions. As a defense, you take the turnover 10 out of 10 times.
On the first interception, Tyler Davis walks backup center Olusegun Oluwatimi into Darnold’s lap. The pressure forces Darnold to hold on to the ball for a tick longer than he should. Darnold then throws late over the middle off of his back foot and Kam Kinchens gets the interception.
A lot has been made about how the Rams defensive line has disappeared in recent weeks. Against the Seahawks, many of the impact plays were a result of the defensive line impacting the play. They got to Darnold 13 times on Sunday which was tied for the second-most in a game this season. Seven of those pressures came from Jared Verse who was tied with Myles Garrett for the most pressures in Week 11.
This isn’t to say that sacks aren’t important, but there is also a high level of variance and some luck involved. We need to look at this Rams defense in a different way. How they create pressure on the quarterback can be just as impactful as a sack. On Darnold’s fourth interception, Poona Ford loops around Kobie Turner on a stunt. This could have been a sack for Kinchens, but Darnold tries to do too much with a jump pass and the result is a turnover.
That doesn’t even mention the second interception by Cobie Durant which was very similar to his interception on Darnold last season in the playoffs. Kinchens’ second interception is a high IQ play in which the Rams safety baits Darnold by turning his hips towards...
