Lessons Learned for Rams Defense

Brian Stull (@StullySTL) is a special contributor for Riverbender.com and is a former sideline reporter for the St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams defense is coming off its best game of the year—holding Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos to just a lone touchdown. Over the last three weeks, the Rams defense has allowed opponents an average of only 45.3 yards rushing—down from the 144.7 teams averaged against St. Louis prior.

And as they prepare to travel to San Diego for their Week 12 matchup, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis says the experience from the first half of the season is finally paying off.

“The more you understand the scheme, the faster you play,” pointed out Laurinaitis. “For the guys that were here two years ago with Blake (Williams)—we’ve been able to play the scheme the way it’s played, we’re used to it. But there’s a lot of guys that are young that weren’t a part of that. For whatever reason, it’s just a better understanding.”

Twelve defensive players are either in their rookie or second season for St. Louis.

“I think guys have learned, experience is invaluable,” continued Laurinaitis. “When you have a ton of experience—now that these guys are building back there. The rookies are half way through the season now, they’ve seen a lot of football at the pro level so they can start to play things faster. That’s the important thing, we have a lot of guys that are getting experience and really getting more experience playing with each other.

“There wasn’t any magic fairy dust, we all stick to the script and just kept practicing the way we knew how to and we’ve just gotten better results.”