Sitting at 3-2 after back-to-back losses, the Los Angeles Rams have some issues to solve on both sides of the field.
The offense has struggled to protect Jared Goff, which has resulted in some errant throws and turnovers, while the defense has been susceptible to long passes that have forced the Rams to play catch up.
Marcus Peters is one of the first names that comes up when discussing Los Angeles’ struggles to contain the big play as he was on the wrong end of touchdown passes to Mike Evans and D.K. Metcalf the last two weeks.
However, according toGary Klein of Los Angeles Times, Peters believes there is a simple fix to the issue:
“Sometimes, we’ve been out of position, the last couple weeks, trying to do a little too much on the back end,” he said. “Just as a defense as a whole, we’ve just got to get back to the little things, the details, the communication.”
In their recent game against the Seattle Seahawks, Metcalf was able to get behind Peters and scored on a perfect throw from Russell Wilson. Peters receiver a lot of criticism for that play, but safety Eric Weddle actually took responsibility for the miscue:
“I got sucked up on run,” Weddle said. “I’ve got to be underneath it, and to buy M.P. time to get there. And I didn’t do that.
“Everyone looks at M.P. It’s like, ‘Nah, it’s I didn’t help him at all.’ It wasn’t his fault. More so mine than anything else.”
The Rams defense looked excellent in the first three games of the season as they only allowed one passing touchdown and limited most of the receivers they faced to minimal yardage. However, Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson both managed to throw four touchdown passes each against them, thus leaving some questions about what the secondary can do to improve.
Some more push upfront could go a long way given that Wade Phillips has leaned on Aaron Donald to generate pressure against opposing quarterbacks. Donald’s ability to push the pocket and blow up plays is integral to the defense and so far the two-time Defensive Player of the Year has found it difficult to get past some of the double and triple teams offenses are throwing at him.
If Peters and the rest of the defense can get back to playing sound coverage and forcing a turnover or two, the team should be able to turn their fortunes around. Hopefully, they can break through when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.
