What the Rams' and Bengals' defenses have in common
Quarterbacks and offenses get much of the adulation during Super Bowl week, especially when both teams feature former No. 1 overall picks, ostentatious receivers and bruising running backs.
But for the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals, the defense is what helped delivered them to Super Bowl LVI. Both sides gave up fewer than 20 points per game allowed so far this postseason — the Rams allowed 18.33, while the Bengals allowed 19.66 — and their respective defensive coordinators have a tendency to make solid in-game adjustments that bolster their chances of winning.
The pair put together two defenses that have stifled some of the best offenses in the league over the past month. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo held the Las Vegas Raiders and the Tennessee Titans to one touchdown each and famously allowed just three second-half points to the Chiefs in the AFC championship. Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, meanwhile, crushed Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals, held the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to three first-half points before staving off a Tom Brady comeback and then held the San Francisco 49ers to a season-low 50 rushing yards in the tight NFC championship win.
While the Rams have major star power in All-Pros Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald and Von Miller, the Bengals' lesser-known players are no less scrappy. Edge rusher Trey Hendrickson’s 14 sacks in 2021 are 1.5 more than Donald’s 12.5, while cornerback Chidobe Awukie allowed fewer yards per target (5.4) than Ramsey did at 6.4 yards. That, as well as Anarumo’s and Morris’ innate ability to flip the script depending on the opponent, is what’s helped both teams reach the Super Bowl.
Anarumo famously switched his defense against the Chiefs when he dropped at least eight defenders into coverage on 45 percent of Patrick Mahomes’ dropbacks in the second half, per NextGen Stats, a 44 percent increase from the first half. That move spectacularly stymied Mahomes and helped the Bengals win in overtime. That wasn’t the only time Anarumo changed his defense, either. He deployed a three-safety look in the Bengals’ Week 1 overtime win against the Vikings and blitzed more against the run-heavy Ravens in a Week 7 win — neither of which were staples of his base defense.
“I haven’t been on a defense where we have this many looks as a defense,” Awuzie said during the Bengals' bye week in mid-November. “[Anarumo] gives us a lot of trust, not just as players, but as professionals. He gives us the keys, and he trusts you.”
Morris did something similar in the NFC championship game. After a year of running a 3-4 base defense with two-high safety shells on 72 percent of snaps, the Rams deployed a single-high safety shell on 63 percent of snaps against the 49ers, while loading the box a season-high 49 percent of the time, per NextGen Stats. The result: A season-low rushing mark for the 49ers and a 10.0 percent rushing success rate, which was second-lowest in a game this season.
It’s no wonder both Anarumo and Morris were both head-coaching candidates this cycle and will likely be next year as well.
Defense matters — just ask the 2018 New England Patriots and the 2013 Seattle Seahawks — and Anarumo and Morris should be very busy this Sunday against two of the most star-studded offenses in the league. The Rams have Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr., while the Bengals boast an equally impressive but youthful core of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Mixon.
So while the offensive playmakers will get a lot of the hype, the defensive players are the ones who could affect the game the most. Especially with two of the most brilliant defensive minds this season running the show on both sidelines.
