LOS ANGELES — The Rams’ pass rush has a little bet going. Of the five – Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner, Byron Young and Michael Hoecht – whoever finishes the season with the most sacks will come away unscathed. The other four will have to shave their beards or, in the smooth-faced Hoecht’s case, their head.
“Verse, for sure,” Young says when asked who in the group he most wants to see shave, “because he’s got the nicest beard, for one, and because he talks so much trash.”
It’s not uncommon to see this young group talking trash to each other in the Rams’ locker room, frequently about who would win a theoretical pickup basketball game. Or joking about boxing out to prevent the other from getting a sack.
But despite that inner competition that bubbles to the surface, the Rams’ pass rush is now, 10 weeks into the season, hitting its stride as a unit, not a collection of individuals.
“All those guys, they want to be the best but that never gets in the way of their excitement and love for each other,” Rams outside linebackers coach Joe Coniglio says. “I think one of the coolest things that we’ve done over the course of the season is that is a tightknit group, that is a tightknit pass rush group. Those guys love each other, they love watching each other’s success. But it’s still like there’s always competition. So it’s kind of like, everybody’s happy for each other but at the same time you want to keep up.”
As the Rams sputtered to a 1-4 start, the pass rush unit was showing signs of its youth. The group was still learning how to play next to each other. Pressures weren’t amounting to sacks as quarterbacks escaped the pocket. The rookies, Verse and Fiske, were adjusting to the variety of fronts that NFL offenses presented to them.
As a result, the Rams’ defense as a whole struggled. It ranked 31st in the NFL in estimated points added (EPA) allowed per play in dropback situations at 0.271, while opposing offenses had the fourth-highest success rate (50.7%) in dropbacks.
But in the last five games, in which the Rams (5-5) have four wins, the script has flipped. The Rams’ defense ranks sixth in EPA per play on dropbacks (-0.034) and fourth in overall defensive EPA per play (-0.110).
And that turnaround has been sparked by a more cohesive pass rush unit.
“It’s just we’ve kind of learned each other,” Verse said. “We got to know each other, not just football-wise, like how to do you move to this, how do you move to that, but got to know each other outside of football, got to know them as a person, because that translates directly to the field and how you’re going to play.”
Reps go a long way in building that chemistry along the front, as players can understand when they have the best opportunities for a sack as opposed to absorbing blocks to create a better opportunity for a teammate. But the Rams’ coaching staff has made a point of creating opportunities for each member of the quintet.
During the week as the defense installs first and second downs into the game plan, such as this week before facing the Philadelphia Eagles (8-2), Hoecht, Verse and Young meet with the outside linebackers while Turner and Fiske are with the defensive linemen. But when it comes time to install third down, the groups reconvene and Coniglio walks them through the pressures they expect to see.
In those meetings, the group goes over different rush calls, with at least one designed to get each guy open for a sack opportunity, while asking the players for feedback so they know which play calls to emphasize to defensive coordinator and play-caller Chris Shula.
“I think that’s kind of the coolest thing too, that we talk with our guys about all the time, is, if you like the call, you run it a little bit faster,” Coniglio says with a chuckle. “So I think that’s the cool thing, these guys feel like they’re a part of it and it’s unique, we feel like we can get them lined up in different spots and they feel like it is an advantage for them.”
But it’s not always the guy who the play is called for who ends up with the sack, and that helps everyone be willing to play their part, too.
“Even though it might not be your opp to win clean, that could be your opp to get a sack because you have to stay alive because as soon as the quarterback sees someone win clean, he’s trying to escape and that’s where you go get your sack,” Hoecht says. “The way things are going, the cleanup guy has been the guy getting the sacks. The penetrator wins clean and they have the cool move and then all of a sudden the quarterback sees it, escapes out of the pocket and somebody else gets the sack.”
Hoecht’s positional versatility has added some extra dimension to the Rams’ defense, too.
A former defensive tackle, Hoecht played a fairly traditional role through the first five games, lining up either at outside backer or occasionally inside. But after the Rams’ bye week, the team installed a Cheetah package on first and second downs. It’s essentially a dime package with six defensive backs behind the front five, with Hoecht lined up at inside linebacker.
Because of his ability to either rush the passer or drop into coverage, it helps keep defenses guessing as to what comes next.
“It’s cool because it’s put them in really good spots and guys in one-on-ones,” Hoecht says. “If you look at the one Fiske had the sack-fumble on [against the Patriots in Week 11], we’re lining up five down and you see me go up the B gap, pull that guard and because usually if I’m a normal-size inside linebacker, as soon as I drop that guard is going to slam back down on the wrapper coming across. But because I’m a bigger body, they have to account for me, his eyes stay up there, that allows Fiske to go wrap.”
The current sack leaderboard has Young with six, followed by Turner and Fiske with five, Verse with 4.5 and Hoecht three. They may jaw about who deserves credit for which sack, or who stole which sack from another, but behind it all is a respect that stems from similar origins.
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Turner, Young, Verse and Fiske all started their college careers at small schools before working their way up to the Power Five. Hoecht was an Ivy Leaguer throughout his college days. And with that comes a similar work ethic that has fueled the group to where they are now.
“You have guys who are used to flexing the muscle of, ‘I have to work to get this.’ When you come from a small school, nothing’s just given to you. You don’t just show up and you’re just like, ‘OK, I’m going to make it to the NFL.’ Each of us has had to work our way to be able to earn this opportunity,” Turner says. “These are guys who have proven their entire career that they are workers. That’s what they do. And so they’re going to figure out a way to make sure that it’s right by the time we get there on Sunday. So that’s something that is really, really powerful.”
“We all honestly have that mindset of we’re all underdogs,” Verse adds. “It doesn’t matter if anybody in the media gives us our props or anything like that, we’re still going to think the same thing. Doesn’t matter if we win this award, doesn’t matter if we lose this game, win that game, our mindset is still, ‘We have to be better.’ There’s no satisfaction in any way.”