[KChiefs1]

https://theathletic.com/662294/2018/...down-the-rams/

Seth Keysor

How do you stop the unstoppable?

That’s the question the Chiefs’ defensive coaches addressed all week as they prepared to face the Los Angeles Rams, who boast one of the best offenses in league history. Rams head coach Sean McVay is one of the best offensive minds in the league, with quarterback Jared Goff and running back Todd Gurley serving as the focal point.

The Rams are averaging 33.5 points per game, and even that number doesn’t quite sum up how good they’ve been this season. They’re averaging 6.9 yards per play, tied with the Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers for the most in the league. They’re a great running team behind Gurley and have a dangerous passing attack with Goff throwing to receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, as well as a pair of solid tight ends in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett.

When developing a game plan against an opponent, the goal is to identify weak spots and exploit them. But those are difficult to find in the Rams’ offense. I spoke with offensive line guru Brandon Thorn of USA Football, who has spent a lot of time studying the Rams front.

“As far as their offense, that’s harder obviously (than attacking the Rams defense). I think it’s about personnel, having the players upfront to compete with their offensive line,” said Thorn. “All five are good, which is so rare, so it’s really difficult to attack one guy. I think it just goes back to what it takes to generally be successful against any great offense: being fundamentally sound, maintaining gap integrity and holding the point of attack.”

With the Rams’ O-line not having a weak link to go after, it’ll be tough for the Chiefs to pressure rush Goff, a deadly pocket passer.

At times, watching the Rams’ offense is like looking in a mirror of what the Chiefs love to do. They use a lot of quick sideline throws to stretch defenses horizontally. Here, they use a familiar play on 3rd and long to gain a first down.

The Rams are excellent at taking advantage of any space they’re given to pick up easy yardage on the outside. Their line and skill-position players are all excellent at making blocks in space in order to help such plays succeed. They use them both when teams are playing off-man and press coverage, and are very good at creating the space necessary for them to work.

Fortunately for Kansas City, cornerbacks Kendall Fuller, Orlando Scandrick and Steven Nelson see plays like this every week in practice and are some of the better corners in the league at snuffing them out.

The Chiefs will need to be disciplined at the line of scrimmage and either be prepared to switch immediately or deal with picks by anticipating them before they occur. The Broncos generally did a very nice job on those plays against the Rams, and it was part of why they held Los Angeles to a season-low 23 points.

Another thing the Rams do that will look familiar to Chiefs fans is jet-sweep action and touch passes.

The Rams have several players like this per game. And much like the Chiefs, they often fake end-arounds and jet sweeps in order to freeze defenses on runs the opposite direction. The Chiefs are going to need to be both extremely careful to not get sucked too far in either direction and fast to the sidelines. Inside linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, who we featured Friday, could prove very important in this game, as he has the ability to get to the sideline fast enough to counter some of the things the Rams do in this area.

Finally, as noted earlier, Goff is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL with a clean (or even relatively clean) pocket. He also is more than capable of making throws as a pocket is collapsing around him. He has been exceptional this season — but he’s not the most comfortable moving around and navigating a mess of pressure, and he doesn’t seem to naturally “feel” pressure the way Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes does.

On defense, despite having the best defensive player in football on the line in Aaron Donald, as well as having top-level talents such as Ndamukong Suh, Michael Brockers, Dante Fowler, Marcus Peters and Lamarcus Joyner, the Rams have been oddly mediocre. This is even with legendary defensive coordinator Wade Phillips calling the shots on defense.

The Rams have particularly struggled in run D, ranking 29th in the NFL in run defense efficiency, per Football Outsiders. They have a hard time dealing with any sort of misdirection, often flowing the wrong way and lacking the linebacker speed to compensate. They also struggle to contain cutback lanes consistently.

“I think with their defense, it’s about misdirection and heavy outside zones, stressing run fits and getting things outside of the tackle box. That way you avoid their DTs and test the ends and linebackers more to play gap discipline. I also like 12/13 personnel (heavy packages with multiple tight ends) if possible since that can add additional stress to run fits for a defense.”

Reid has been known to break out 12 and 13 personnel against opponents he thinks the Chiefs can run well against. While the Rams’ defensive tackles are exceptional, their ends have had issues with contain and their linebackers lack sideline-to-sideline speed. Running backs Kareem Hunt and Spencer Ware could have a field day with cutbacks and outside zone runs.

In the passing game, the Rams have a very good pass rush but have not been nearly as good in the secondary this season as they were last year. The injury to Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib set them back a great deal. This is especially true because of the way Phillips has been using his corners, asking them to hold up in man coverage on an island more often than other defenses do. Former Chief Marcus Peters’ struggles have been well-chronicled, but the rest of the corner group has not been playing well either. The Chiefs should test them on double moves and deep shots early and often, provided the line can hold up against Donald.

Tonight’s game is likely to be a barn burner, but the Chiefs absolutely have the talent to slow down the Rams’ offense just enough to hand them their second loss of the season. If that happens, the Super Bowl hype train will gain some serious speed.