Brandon Staley and the Rams run out of answers

This season Brandon Staley took what was a good Los Angeles Rams defense – ranked ninth in Total Defense DVOA in 2019 – and made it great. Entering Division Round Weekend the Rams were fourth in Total Defense DVOA (and first overall in the Weighted DVOA, which emphasizes recent play). That success made Staley one of the hot commodities in this year’s head coach interview circuit, and the Rams a dangerous team to face in the playoffs.

But on Saturday afternoon, Staley and the Rams ran out of answers against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

One of the things that made the Rams defense so tough was their ability to stop the run despite using a variety of two-high safety alignments before the snap. By implementing a lighter box, Staley was almost daring teams to run the football. Yet the Rams could still stop the run out of those alignments, as evidenced by their third-overall ranking in Run Defense DVOA, and the fact that Los Angeles allowed just 3.8 yards per carry this season (third-fewest in the league) and 90.5 yards rushing per game, also third-fewest in the league.

Well, if Staley was daring Matt LaFleur to run the football, the Packers were willing to comply. In the first half Green Bay ran for 74 yards on 18 attempts, averaging 4.1 yards per carry. Not flashy, but LaFleur would keep calling running plays against those lighter boxes.

Aaron Jones rewarded that faith on the first play of the second half:

This is just an inside zone running play, but as you can see Los Angeles plays with a light box here. That allows blockers to flow up to the second level almost immediately after the snap, enabling Jones to get into the secondary with ease. From there he puts a move on the safety in the open field, and it adds up to a 60-yard gain to pen the third quarter.

Jones would camp off the drive himself with this touchdown plunge to extend the Packers’ lead:

Of course anytime you start having success on the ground, that opens up the potential for the big shot play over the top of the defense. That would come midway through the fourth quarter, after the Rams cut the Green Bay lead to seven. Facing a 2nd-and-6 at the Packers’ 42-yard line, LaFleur called for the deep shot off of play-action. Notice how the Rams have a bigger box up front, and drop a safety into the front late before the snap:

In the blink of an eye, the Packers were up two scores again.

Thanks to the wonderful “dots” from NFL’s Next Gen Stats, you can see how the play-action worked to perfection on this play:

You can see how the two safeties – Jordan Fuller (#32) and John Johnson III (#43) – get sucked downhill, giving Allen Lazard (#13) a leverage advantage against the outside-aligned cornerback and over-the-top of the defense.

Despite their success of the season, Los Angeles’ defensive luck had run out.

Leading up to this game, this was the matchup people wanted to see: How Staley’s defense would try and stop Rodgers and the Packers. Would Jalen Ramsey be on an island all game long against Davante Adams? How would the Packers’ offensive line handle Aaron Donald?

On this night the Packers had all the answers, and the Rams were left to just ask more questions in the end.