The much-anticipated debut of Terrell Lewis came on Sunday afternoon against Washington after the rookie pass rusher was activated off the non-football injury list after spending four weeks on it. After receiving rave reviews in training camp, fans couldn’t wait to see Lewis on the field in a regular-season game.
And although he didn’t have much of an impact on the game, he did earn more playing time than Samson Ebukam and Justin Hollins, which shouldn’t go unnoticed. Despite his limited action, Lewis left a positive impression on coach Sean McVay.
“I saw some good stuff. He had I want to say around 14 snaps, all of them kind of in our nickel pass-rush situations,” he said. “We know he’s capable of being able to play in our base. Yesterday’s game, we weren’t in a lot of those base packages just based on some of their personnel groupings and just the way that the game kind of unfolded, but I thought Terrell did a good job. I’ve really been impressed watching him just work with Coach Shula. Even just talking to some of our veteran players to be able to pick up on the little nuances of the game. He’s got ability, he’s got the makeup and I think yesterday was a start, a positive start in the right direction. Looking forward to seeing him just increase his load and continue to make an impact as we move forward.”
The Rams have high hopes for Lewis, even though he’s a third-round rookie. His combination of size and speed alone make him an imposing threat on the edge, with the ability to set the edge in the run game and disrupt quarterbacks in the backfield.
Of course, in order for him to get more opportunities, someone has to lose playing time. On Sunday, Ebukam was that player, seeing a season-low five snaps. Lewis tied with Ogbonnia Okoronkwo by playing 14 snaps, but Okoronkwo had to leave the game with an elbow injury. If he can’t play Sunday against Washington, it could be Lewis’ time to shine.
McVay shared some insight on why Ebukam only played five snaps against Washington despite being the starter opposite Leonard Floyd.
“Yeah, it was more a result of just the personnel groupings. He’s playing a lot in our base personnel groupings,” McVay said. “I thought (outside linebackers coach) Chris (Shula) did a great job getting a rotation of – you’ve got Obo, Jachai Polite, you’ve got Terrell Lewis. Leonard Floyd played almost every single snap. I want to say he played 53 of the 54 defensive snaps, but I thought it was a good rotation of some of those guys. And then just some of the personnel groupings that we were activating on defense, led to Samson having a limited workload. Wasn’t anything he didn’t do, but to his credit, just his spirit on the sideline, his communication and just his engagement is why you love guys like him. Sometimes just those packages that you’re a part of, you’re not playing as much based on how we want to match up to the offensive personnel, the way that the game unfolded and that was what happened in that situation yesterday.”
Ebukam has struggled this season, so that most likely played a part in his lack of playing time against Washington. With so much competition at the outside linebacker position, it’ll be hard for him to carve out a significant role ahead of Lewis, Okoronkwo and even Polite, who had a sack in only four snaps Sunday.
The Rams’ pass rush is improving, but it’s not at the point where the team should be fully satisfied. Hopefully Lewis’ emergence can change that.
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