It’s been a tale of two halves for the Rams defense this season. They’ve allowed 88 points in the first half this season, which is ninth-most in the NFL. After halftime, however, there’s been no better defense in football.
The Rams have given up just 26 second-half points in six games this season, which is 13 fewer than the next-closest team, the Steelers; Pittsburgh has only played five games, too. Their average of 4.3 second-half points allowed per game is three points better than the second-best team, and in their last three games, they’ve given up just six total points in the final 30 minutes.
As poorly as the Rams played in the first half against the 49ers on Sunday night, the defense once again stepped up after halftime adjustments were made. They gave up only three points to San Francisco, allowing the 49ers to gain just 99 yards in the final two quarters.
The offense had every opportunity to win this game in the second half, but there were simply too many mistakes made down the stretch. This isn’t to excuse the defense from blame – San Francisco moves the ball much too easily in the first half with 291 yards and 21 points scored – but it kept the Rams in the game after it seemed like the 49ers would run away with it.
It’s great to see Brandon Staley and Sean McVay making second-half adjustments, but the Rams can’t keep relying on the defense to dominate after halftime each week. It cost them against the Bills in Week 3 and again on Sunday night, with both Buffalo and San Francisco scoring 21 points in the first half.
It’s unreasonable to expect the Rams to allow 4.3 points per game in the first half like they are in the second. However, they do need to play better in the first half if they want to compete with the best teams in the league.
If the Seahawks, Buccaneers and Cardinals jump out to big leads against the Rams later in the season, second-half adjustments will only do so much. Slowing those offenses down in the second half will be much tougher than doing so against the Giants, Washington and 49ers.