Breaking Down What Makes the Rams’ Defense So Effective

Gordon McGuinness is a sports writer for Pro Football Focus, and he broke down which individual plays received the highest grades according to PFF. For the Rams, they made the list based on Jared Verse's dominant bull rush against the Colts' starting center, Tanor Bortolini.

"One of the wildest visuals of the weekend came from Rams edge defender Jared Verse. Lined up over Colts center Tannor Bortolini, Verse timed his rush perfectly and drove the rookie lineman onto his back, earning a +1.5 PFF grade for the dominant rep", said McGuinness.

As shown in the clip above, Bortolini stood no chance of preventing Verse from getting pressure on Jones and ruining the play for the Colts offense. In a game where the Colts were predicted to pull off the upset, seeing those types of plays from your defensive star must've been a sigh of relief for the Rams coaching staff on the sideline.

Verse's performance against the Colts was the best he's had this season, and may be up there for some of his best performances in his young career. He had six quarterback pressures, which included a sack and even a tackle for loss.

The Rams' defense is top ten in all of the major categories, including being tied for second for most sacks in the league. A lot of that is due to Verse's pressure, even if he can't always convert them into sacks.

His individual numbers aren't anything to write home about, but it's thanks to his impact on the defensive line and the attention he takes up that his teammate, Bryon Young, is able to have the most sacks of any player in the NFL at the moment. He's one of the biggest reasons why the Rams' defense is as great as it is, and if he stays healthy, he should be a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

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