Getty Aaron Donald pressures Andy Dalton during the Rams' 34-14 season opening romp of the Bears.
Aaron Donald doesn’t believe the play calling on defense needs to be better for the Los Angeles Rams. Nor does he think there should be a change in personnel — not after enduring a season-worst performance against the Arizona Cardinals.
The veteran All-Pro, however, did mention where the Rams can improve after Sunday’s 37-20 debacle that forced members of the “Rams House” to find the SoFi Stadium exits early.
And where does that improvement lie? In the most important technique to execute on defense: Tackling.
“We’ve just got to tackle better,” Donald told the L.A. media on Tuesday before the team left for the Pacific Northwest. “And I don’t blame that on nobody. That’s all of us because we’ve got to swarm. That’s also me getting off the stack and running down foot if I need to get on and help that place. We’ve got to swarm and tackle better.”
Especially after the Rams missed an astonishing nine tackles against an explosive Cardinal offense according to Pro Football Focus.
Missed Tackles Hurt the Rams
How was a team that lost eight straight previous contests to the Rams — plus struggled offensively in the past — suddenly put up 37 points and accumulate 465 total yards of offense against the league’s top defense from a year ago?
Cards head coach Kliff Kingsbury drawing up favorable matchups certainly helped; from placing the taller A.J. Green on the smaller David Long on the 41-yard connection to zeroing in on Taylor Rapp’s side on the Maxx Williams touchdown.
But there’s another reason behind the disappointing defensive display by the Rams’ standards: The missed opportunities in wrapping up and bringing ball carriers to the ground.
One example: On this Williams tight end screen, the TE still breaks away from the first ankle tackle and forces the second defender to bring him down.
MADDD MAXXXXXXXXX 💪
Another miscue: On this Rondale Moore reception, Jalen Ramsey attempts the diving stop…but Moore shifts his hips toward his right and manages to pick up the first down by maintaining his footing.
Rondale Moore. YAC.
Seven Ram defenders missed 1-2 tackles against the Cardinals…and they took advantage.
Rams Defensive Coordinator Echoes Donald
Morris himself is a believer that the tackling needs to improve in his presser with the L.A media on Tuesday.
“Our execution and our tackling wasn’t good on defense, so we didn’t play well. Those things are easy to correct by speaking and saying and going out and doing what we need to do. So we look forward to doing it.
“All those parts of the game are execution. We can dig and dive into the little things of it all, but if you look at the big picture, it was a lack of execution and there was a lack of tackling,” Morris continued. “We missed a few tackles on some really special players and big-time football players. I know, I get it. But you’ve got to make those tackles. If those tackles are made, the outcome is different.”
The nine misfires on tackles was a season-high for the Rams. They missed six in the 34-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, seven versus the Indianapolis Colts in the 27-24 road win and seven in the season opening 34-14 trouncing of the Chicago Bears.
Does Seattle’s Offense Skillfully Make Others Miss?
We all know by now that the Seahawk offense has a former Rams assistant in Shane Waldron, who is implementing his own Ram-like touch with Russell Wilson, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and company.
Seattle is the type of offense that will force dives at the ankles or use its speed to catch defenders out of position. In the opening victory over the Colts, the ‘Hawks forced an astonishing 14 missed tackles.
That number, however, dropped to five versus the Tennessee Titans in the week 2 loss then seven in the 13-point loss to the Minnesota Vikings. But the number of miscues in tackling against the San Francisco 49ers defense rose to eight on the Niners’ end in the 28-21 road win for Seattle.
Seattle will try to force the Rams to come at the ankles or over-pursue on Thursday. It’ll be up to Donald, Ramsey, Long, Rapp, Leonard Floyd, Sebastian Joseph-Day and the rest of the defense to consistently wrap up to win.