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Battering Rams

[Photos: AP] New Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, formerly of the Bucs, has strengthened St. Louis’ personnel and simplified its game plan.

By DARRELL FRY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 7, 2001

With its offense in place, St. Louis fell in love with the idea of improving it's defense.

ST. LOUIS -- Sitting at his locker at Rams headquarters, defensive tackle Tyoka Jackson is talking about the team's defense, about the new scheme and the new personnel.

Frankly, he's starting to get a little carried away.

Sure, the Rams' defense figures to be better this season, but Jackson is going on and on about greatness and Super Bowls and making history.

"If we can make this defensive football team great, then the sky's the limit," Jackson said. "I mean, you've got to be a fool to not see what the possibilities are."

Jackson may be stretching it a tad, but with the explosiveness on offense, the mere thought of packaging quarterback Kurt Warner and running back Marshall Faulk with a fierce defense is enough to put fear into the rest of the league.

After all, the last time the Rams had a good offense and defense was 1999, the year they won the Super Bowl. But here's what is really frightening: The Rams aren't intent on having just a good defense. They're hellbent on being extraordinary.

First-round pick Ryan Pickett brings toughness to the Rams front line.

"It's been said so many times that I'm sick of hearing it. All that stuff about, "If they're just an average defense, they'll be back in the Super Bowl,' " defensive end Grant Wistrom said. "There's not one guy on the defense that feels that way. We want to be the best in the league."

Say this for the Rams, they've drawn up a pretty impressive blueprint. They cut bait in the offseason, discarding virtually the entire defensive coaching staff and a handful of veterans from a unit that served up 471 points last season, the seventh-highest single-season total in league history.

Among those ditched were former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kevin Carter (traded to Tennessee), defensive tackle D'Marco Farr (cut), cornerback Todd Lyght (not re-signed) and Super Bowl hero Mike Jones (not re-signed at linebacker).

Then the Rams lured linebackers coach Lovie Smith away from the Bucs, who have been known to play some pretty skull-rattling defense, and eagerly placed their defensive reconstruction in his hands.

What materialized was pretty predictable: a defense in scheme, personnel and (the Rams hope) performance that looks an awful lot like a defense that wears pewter and red.

There are three former Bucs (linebacker Don Davis and defensive linemen Chidi Ahanotu and Jackson) within this unit. And the gap-control scheme is similar to the Bucs', although other teams use it too.

"Basically, it's the exact same (defense as the Bucs)," Jackson said. "The terminology is different and there are a few tweaks here and there just because there's some personnel that's different here. But overall, I'd say it's about 95 percent the exact same defense."

But will it perform like the Bucs' defense?

The Rams say just give them time.

"We don't have a Warren Sapp on this team, but they don't have an Aeneas Williams either," Jackson said. "When you look at the names in the locker room, this thing is setting up to be something really special."

Williams, the perennial Pro Bowl cornerback with the Cardinals, is the Rams' prized acquisition from a frenetic offseason that landed seven defensive free agents and five defensive draft picks. Among the other free agents are linebacker Mark Fields, defensive back Kim Herring and defensive end Cedric Jones.

At least five of the free agents are expected to start along with two rookies -- safety Adam Archuleta and defensive tackle Damione Lewis -- giving the Rams seven possible new starters. Jones would have made it eight if it weren't for a season-ending injury in preseason.

As it is, it's believed to be one of the most comprehensive overhauls since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

"When people come to that dome, we want people to talk about how hard that defense played," Smith said. "If you do that, everything else will take care of itself. Turnovers will come. Big plays and all that will come."

Smith's primary task now is getting the assembled talent to thrive in his system, which is built around each player being responsible for one gap or lane. There's minimal blitzing and lots of zone coverage.

It takes speedy, tenacious, self-composed players to have optimal effectiveness, traits the Rams had in mind when they scouted free agents and rookies. Look for eight-man fronts on first and second downs, and an aggressive style with all 11 players swarming to the ball.

"You need a disciplined player in this system to trust his teammates," Smith said. "Everybody is responsible for something. It's a chain that's connected and if anybody breaks down, we have problems."

The system is much simpler than the Rams' old one, which players said was too complicated. They said that led to confusion on the field and, ultimately, a 23rd place standing among the league's defenses.

A defensive playbook that had about 30 plays a season ago has been stripped by Smith to about 12 to 14.

"It's like night and day," cornerback Dexter McCleon said in comparing last year's defense to Smith's new scheme. "This is a very non-complex scheme. Basically, you line up and play football and the best man wins."

"We were looking at some film of (the Rams) last year and, I mean, when one guy moves, then that would change their whole defensive style. And you just can't do that," Davis said. "You can't play sound football when the linebackers have to guess and make a hundred calls that you can't hear anyway, especially in the dome."

The other thing Smith did was deliver a message soon after his arrival that still reverberates in every player's mind.

"He said, "If you don't play hard, if you don't run to the football, you're not going to play in this defense,' " Wistrom recalled. "And that really set the tone right away."

For what it's worth, St. Louis' defense was strong during the preseason, allowing an average of 14 points in four games against Miami, Buffalo, Tennessee and San Diego.

Perhaps even more impressive is that it has held its own every day in practice against the Rams' electrifying offense.

"We have to get our minds right every day," Smith said, "otherwise our offense will embarrass you."

Indeed, the Rams have had more than their share of defensive embarrassment. They are going for a new look this season, one where being good is not a destination but rather a starting point. And that, the Rams believe, can only lead them to one place.

The Super Bowl.

"It would be easy to come in and say if we can just play 20-point defense, hey, we'd have a chance to win almost every game," Jackson said. "But nobody with pride would ever really want that. I mean, who wants that? That's not Lovie's style. He's got too much pride. (Defensive line coach) Bill Kollar? Way too much pride for that. Ron Meeks, our secondary coach? Way too much pride for that. Our linebackers coach (Mike Haluchak)? Too much pride for that. Aeneas Williams? London Fletcher? Grant Wistrom?

"Nobody wants to play middle-of-the-road defense. We want to be great. And that's our standard. Once we get there, you look back and see what our record is. That's going to take care of itself."

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