When Sean McVay was first hired by the Los Angeles Rams, he made the wise decision to hire an experienced and proven defensive coordinator to run that side of the ball. In choosing Wade Phillips, he allowed the Super Bowl-winning coordinator to put his stamp on the defense, fitting players to his scheme over the last three years.
But then McVay decided to spread his wings and take more control over the defense by hiring Brandon Staley to replace Phillips this year. Staley is still in charge of the defense, but McVay has been more involved in that phase of the game than in years past.
Staley didn’t make drastic changes to the defense that was already in place, but he did do some tweaking. The Rams are running more zone coverage, using inside linebackers less and deploying more split-safety looks.
To put into perspective some of these changes, take a look at the graphic below from Next Gen Stats. The heat map shows the Rams are splitting their safeties deep more often this year, while also utilizing light boxes a ton.
A light box is when there are fewer than six defenders in the box, a sign of frequent nickel and dime packages. The Rams use light boxes on 85% of their plays, which is the highest rate in the NFL.
Although the Rams have given offenses favorable boxes for running the ball, they've been excellent on run defense.
Rams Run Defense on Handoffs (2020)
➤ YPC: 3.8 (7th)
➤ Expected YPC: 4.3 (20th)
➤ RYOE/carry: -0.5 (4th)
➤ Rushes Over Expectation: 25.0% (3rd)#RamsHouse— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 25, 2020
Obviously, the sacrifice with light boxes comes on run defense, with only two inside linebackers typically aligning behind the defensive line. Despite that, the Rams are still sixth in yards per carry allowed, fifth in rushing yards allowed and eighth in rushing touchdowns given up.
The defensive line has stepped up in a big way, as has Leonard Floyd on the edge. It helps that the Rams have great safety depth with strong-tackling players at the position, coming up in run support to help the linebackers.
Considering the way the defense has played through 10 games, it’s hard to argue with Staley’s system. They’ve been good against the run and elite against deep passes, which is a mark of a great defense.