The Los Angeles Rams defense had served as the saving grace for this team time and time again throughout the course of the 2020 NFL season.
The Rams boasted the No. 1 defense in the NFL in yards allowed per game (281.9) and points allowed per game (18.5) going into their divisional round matchup against the Green Bay Packers. Despite going up against the highest-scoring offense led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, their track record indicated that they were more than up to the task under coordinator Brandon Staley.
Unfortunately, L.A. allowed a season-high 484 total yards of offense during the 32-18 loss to Green Bay. Meanwhile, the offense had flipped the script with a solid outing as head coach Sean McVay delved into the playbook to keep his team in the game.
Despite their disappointing performance, McVay credited the defense for being the driving force behind their success all year, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times:
“This defense has been stout and phenomenal all year,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “It’s a tough result and it’s a tough finality of the season.
“But I don’t think it takes away from how great they were and how instrumental they were in us even getting to this point as a team.”
McVay admits that there is no getting used to the realization of going into the offseason earlier than expected:
“There’s never a good way to have feelings right now, when there’s such finality to it and you’re not expecting it,” McVay said.
The Rams’ defense was clicking on all cylinders in Staley’s rookie year. While they may have been facing a tall task in Rodgers, there was good reason to be optimistic considering this group was first in passing defense and second in sacks.
Although star defensive tackle Aaron Donald managed to play, he was severely limited by his torn rib cartilage after playing on just 55 percent of the snaps on defense. Without any consistent pressure, Rodgers was able to take full advantage of a clean pocket by completing 23-of-36 passes for 296 yards.
The defense is expected to undergo some major changes this offseason with Staley being hired as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Meanwhile, safety John Johnson III, linebacker Leonard Floyd and cornerback Troy Hill are set to test the waters of free agency as well.
