Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

[general counsel]

Without carriker, our highly suspect defensive line just got worse. Name one nfl team with a worse defensive line than the Rams? Our best pass rusher is in his 30's and repeatedly hurt and our defensive tackles are very young, very old or highly suspect. Yell at me all you want for bringing it up for the millionth time, but we never ever should have let Pickett leave for the kind of money he got. I have no earthly idea how we are going to stop the run and given that we have absolutely no depth at the defensive tackle spot, i am truly concerned that the ball is going to be run down our throats for yet another year. I appreciate that some will say we should watch the waiver wire carefully or try to trade for help at the position, but the odds of a contributing defensive tackle getting waived are low and few if any teams have excess at the position. Did you ever in your wildest dreams think you would actually miss Damione Lewis (which may be a bit of an overstatement but you get the point)

In order for this Rams team to have a CHANCE to be remotely competitive, we MUST stay healthy because our depth is just flat out lousy at basically every position. If we get badly banged up, we are going to lose week after week again and losing carriker before the season even starts is not a good sign.

I am thrilled that spags is the coach. A real defensive guru. I remind everyone that in my view, coaching is great at the margain, but talent is key. I hope no one is going to blame spags when this defensive line cant stop the run as that would be really unfair.

Ramming speed to all

general counsel

[Varg6]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

GC, unfortunately, we are going to have to start relying on upcoming drafts and trades in the coming years...just like everyone else. That's why success and wins have been few and far between. I believe we are set with the front office and our head coach, but you are right, talent is something needed in the business. A coach can only go so far, and although Spags is going to make this D a fearsome one, he's going to need some help too. I'd love to see a blockbuster trade get done, and have a stud DT but who would we even trade?

This team is headed in the right direction, that's for sure. But, when we have drafts like the 06' one, you can't expect for much to happen. We need a lot of young guys to step up and hopefully Spags can keep this team motivated and hungry.

On a positive note, we are young and mysterious so hopefully some of these guys are going to step up big.

[LARAM]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

I honestly don't think it's as bad as everyone thinks. I believe the combination of new coaches, new schemes, and a few no names, is going to surprise alot of people. I'm not expecting a Ravens like defense this year, but all these guys are athletes and train to play football. I think these guys are gonna be solid, and thats all anyone can expect this early in rebuilding. Everyone needs to quit complaining and just wait and see what were working with at the Squawks......GO RAMS DEFENSE.

[Warner4prez]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

Makes me really wish that someone up top would have pushed harder to execute that Kris Jenkins trade that was being rumored a couple years back. He tore the league up in NY last year.

[Azul e Oro]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

The Raiders are worse, if that helps, GC,.. LOL

The DL is suspect with or without AC but the DESpags approach was clearly to stop the long gainers first and that is on LBs and DBs as much as DL. We invested our limited resources there, ie J. Butler, Laurinaitis.

Hasn't paid off so far in pre with 10 run plays over 20 yds. Let's see how it goes when they play all together for a few games.

I agree we are still too reliant on Little for pass rush but let's give Long,VA,and Hall a chance.

On the bright side,neither The Whiners nor The Hags look that great on the DL . Far fewer big plays and yet a 4+ yd average per run on both teams for the preseason.Their good LB units are saving their DLs' collective bacon.

And we have SJ, Karney, and J. Brown to help level the field, if not seriously tilt it in our favor.

The depth/health issue covers the whole team. What else is new? Is AC's loss as significant as ,say, Long or Little going down? I don't think so.

[eldfan]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

I don’t think AC made our line any better than it is now. We were bad with him, so I don’t think we can get any worse. Someone else is going to have to step up. I don’t think we were playoff bound this year anyway so this makeover will take sometime

[TekeRam]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

The Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos and Lions all have defensive lines worse than the Rams. And that's just off the top of my head. Having an over 30 year old as our best pass rusher isn't that bad, and Long will come on strong this year now that he's used to an NFL schedule. As for our tackles, yes they could be better, but Rome wasn't built in a day. We picked up two promising guys in Scott and Gibson this offseason who could be starting by year's end, who knows. Gibson already is. Don't get all rain cloudy just because Carriker's hurt. He'd already lost his starting spot due to his ankle injury.

[Goldenfleece]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

Yeah, Raiders and Lions came to mind right off the top of my head. I don't know who the Browns have on their line, but I'll bet it's not real stout. Honestly, though, it's hard to say who has a good line and who doesn't until we play a few games. Back before the Giants won a Super Bowl, their interior linemen were not very highly regarded.

[ManofGod]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

Actually guys the Raiders defense was better than ours last year, the only team that has a worse D-line is the Lions, but even with Carriker (God bless the guy), we were still going to be 5-11 at best. We simply DO NOT have enough talent & depth.

[Goldenfleece]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

Actually guys the Raiders defense was better than ours last year, the only team that has a worse D-line is the Lions, but even with Carriker (God bless the guy), we were still going to be 5-11 at best. We simply DO NOT have enough talent & depth.

The Raiders were exactly one spot ahead of us in yards allowed on defense last year, and I don't think that was because of their defensive line. They were actually two spots below us against the run. While they did put up 2 more sacks than we did last season, Kalimba Edwards and Derrick Burgess contributed 9 of their total of 32 sacks. Both players are no longer with the team.

[r8rh8rmike]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

There is no doubt that the Rams defensive line has often looked bad, but I want to give these guys a chance to get used to each other, to learn to function as a unit and to develop some chemistry before I acknowledge that they are the worst line in the NFL. There is also this guy named Spagnuolo who might have something to say in the matter.

[dgr828]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

There is no doubt that the Rams defensive line has often looked bad, but I want to give these guys a chance to get used to each other, to learn to function as a unit and to develop some chemistry before I acknowledge that they are the worst line in the NFL. There is also this guy named Spagnuolo who might have something to say in the matter.

Yes SPAGs will have alot to say in the matter of the Rams D -line, I agree, give these guys a chance to gel together.
Later this year, the term "YOU'VE BEEN SPAGGED" will become synonymous with Rams Defense. Arch of Defense or Gateway Goons will be a few of the many TAGS bestowed on the new and improved Defensive Line.

[blood85]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

It's his first year (spags), I expect alot of problems, Carriker going down is one of them. Give him some time and talent, no doubt we will get better. We can cry and moan all we want, we have to roll with what we were "dealt", the Seahawks are right around the corner, so we better "bring it" as Seattle will NOT feel sorry for us, neither should we.

[AvengerRam_old]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

How can anyone say they know how good or bad the line will be?

Long, Ryan, Gibson, Ah You and Scott all have two or fewer years in the league. Look at the best DL players in the league. A very high percentage of them showed NOTHING in their first two years. How can anyone say that they know how these guys will play.

With them, the Rams have Little, Thomas and Hall, who both are veterans who have had a lot of success in the league. While neither is likely to be an every down player, either can have an impact.

Rounding out the group is Victor Adeyanju. I'm going to go on record and say this is going to be a breakout season for Victor.

I wish Carriker was in the mix too, but I don't buy that his loss makes the Rams DL the "worst in the league."

[RockinRam]

Re: Name an NFL team with a worse defensive line than the Rams

I'm going to have to agree with GC on this one.

For pass rushing, we have Little. He's the only one that can pressure the QB "consistently" better than everyone else on our team. Hall never did much when he played DE for us, Long is just not getting to the QB fast enough to get a sack, but that may change with Spag's coaching. Adeyanju has always been a better run stuffer than pass rusher, but that may also change with coaching. I'm saying "MAY" because nothing is guaranteed. Players may get better with coaching, but some just don't.

I think people are overrating Hollis Thomas. I agree this guy will be serviceable, but in my honest opinion, I don't think he's going to be a "dominate" run stuffer as people say he is, and we will have to replace him sooner or later.

I think we are going to be looking at DL come the draft this year. The problem is that we need talent. We need more talent. That's the problem. If the young no name guys don't step up, then we're in big trouble.



Some people say that "oh give the young guys time, they'll develop in a year or two." That's fine and all, but we need guys to step up now. I'm not being unrealistic or impatient, I just want guys to want to start, and want to play football that badly that they will want to try harder than they can to win.

Who knows, maybe in a couple years our young d linemen may be dominant. But as of right now, we're just not at that level yet.