Rams Chris Shula is Instituting New Pass Rush Schemes

When asked about their identity, Braden Fiske kept it simple.

“For one, we're young. And two, we're relentless. We get after it," exclaimed Fiske. "I think we're just hungry. We got a lot of guys that are hungry to take that next step in their career and just get after it. As a whole, as a team and as a defense, we just appreciate being able to go out there together because these things don't come often when you have a group like we have. I'm just excited to get after it with these guys. We got a really, really solid group.”

Back in OTAs, Jared Verse spoke about how important it was for him to learn how to modify his pass rush attack when paired with certain players, developing new strategies and approaches to be a more effective unit. Fiske at training camp doubled down on Verse's statements.

“I think it's huge," said Fiske. "Last year there was a lot…between our rush group, tiptoeing around, trying to feel our way through of just who is going to be this, who's going to be that, who's going to be the guy? And I think we've kind of molded into our identity and who we're going to be. Coming off last year, we finished pretty strong. I think just growing on top of that is going to be huge going forward. I love the group that we have. We have a lot of fun. Aside from just the way we play the game, just off the field, enjoying being in each other's presence, it's hard to come by. It’s a lot of fun being with this group.”

While the players continue to put in work, scheme plays the ultimate factor. Scheme puts players in position to succeed so I asked Byron Young yesterday about changes Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula has made from year one in the position to year two.

“I would say the difference is having designed plays for certain players and knowing that type of player for that play," said Young. "At the beginning, I'd say it was more of him trying to feel it out. But then he kind of leaned towards, ‘okay this player right here is good for this play and this is how he plays’. So, he tries to do that for the sake of the defense. He’s definitely trying to design certain plays for certain players that could take advantage of that [opportunity].”

This is a coordinator that was in his bag last season, taking a collection of individuals, walking through the growing pains with them as they evolved into one of the most efficent defenses to end the season.

Shula was sending pressure from every angle so we're talking about custom plays for the defensive linemen, almost like it's basketball, and Shula's isolating matchups with the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year, plus the top rookie sack leaders over the past two years, and the runner-up in 2023.

It appears Shula is going to deploy them in a new way that targets strategic weaknesses within the offensive front.

Rams fans should be excited about what they'll see on defense this season. They're not playing on the back foot.