Socci’s Notebook: From focal point to Power Point, Pats face challenge from LA’s new-look defensive front
Entering any of their previous three encounters with the Los Angeles Rams over the past eight years, one player commanded the attention of New England’s entire offense.
Whatever and however many Patriots it took, they knew they had to keep Aaron Donald, the future Hall of Famer whom Bill Belichick called “pretty much unblockable,” from wreaking havoc at the line of scrimmage. Or else chances of winning – and quite possibly their quarterback – could be wrecked.
Tom Brady escaped unscathed from the first two of those contests, including Super Bowl LIII, thanks to guard Joe Thuney tagging up with center David Andrews or, remarkably, taking on Donald by his lonesome. Cam Newton and Jarett Stidham weren’t so fortunate in the third. Donald got to both of them, getting home on two of Los Angeles’s six sacks, among 10 total QB hits in 2020.
Thankfully for Drake Maye and his teammates tasked with protecting him Sunday at 1 p.m. in this next meeting with L.A., there’s no need to worry about Donald. He’s off to retirement in year one of five until his enshrinement in Canton. Their thoughts are consumed instead with the youthful and athletic ‘committee’ the Rams have formed to fill the massive void created by Donald’s departure.
“It’s almost like a philosophical change in my mind because you don’t have the big-name guy up there,” Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said on Wednesday. “At the same time, I would argue to say this is one of the best fronts that we have seen all year. It’s a young group, and they do it the right way. They play the right way. They play together. They hustle. They’re all over the place. Our offensive line, they’ve got to step up.”
That shift in thinking, manifested on the field under first-year defensive coordinator Chris Shula, reflects a 180-degree pivot upstairs in the front office by 13th-year general manager Les Snead.
Starting in 2017, the year before the Rams lost to the Pats in Super Bowl LIII, Los Angeles went seven straight years without picking in the first round of the NFL Draft. During that time, Snead had packaged loads of draft capital in trades for proven stars, including Matthew Stafford, Von Miller and Jalen Ramsey.
When his approach paid off in a Super Bowl LVI win over the Bengals, Snead spelled out his philosophy on the t-shirt he wore while parading with the Lombardi Trophy toward the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. “F*** them picks,” it said.
But I’ll be damned. Two years later, the Rams are coming off a playoff appearance and contending for another (despite Monday’s loss to Miami) as a result of a different investment strategy that’s most evident in their defensive front seven.
Snead has selected 24 players in the past two drafts. In 2023, he landed three defensive linemen and edge rushers among 14 picks, including talented end Kobie Turner (89th overall in the third round). This year, five of his first six picks (out of 10) were spent on defense. Four of them nabbed front-seven players. His top two choices were Florida State’s Jared Verse (19th) and Braden Fiske (39th).
Through nine games in 10 weeks, the returns are yielding dividends noticeable to Mayo on video and traceable for the rest of us in numbers. According to NextGen Stats, the Rams are the only team with four defensive linemen to generate at least 25 quarterback pressures. Against the run, they’ve allowed just 3.5 yards per carry their last four games. And most recently, the Dolphins netted only 3.0 yards a rush.
Turner now has 14 sacks in 26 NFL games, including one apiece the past two weeks. Verse was the Defensive Rookie of the Month in September and has been even better lately, recording 3 1/2 sacks and 10 quarterback hits in his last four games. And Fiske had two sacks two weeks ago in Seattle.
“They’re pretty savvy, pretty physical across the whole line,” New England’s Demontrey Jacobs says. “Their whole defensive line is pretty disruptive.”
Jacobs made his sixth start last Sunday in Chicago. It was his fifth at right tackle and third as part of the group expected to line up against L.A. The quintet of Vederian Lowe (left tackle), Michael Jordan (left guard), Ben Brown (center), Michael Onwenu (right guard) and Jacobs form one of 11 unique combinations – tied for most in the NFL – used by the Pats this season.
They took a small step forward at Chicago, where Maye was sacked once (a week after four sacks at Tennessee) and the Patriots running backs gained 120 yards and averaged 3.9 yards a carry. Not exactly 1978-like numbers in New England. Still, marked improvement over what we witnessed here the previous four weeks, when Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson and JaMycal Hasty combined for 1.9 yards per rush.
“A lot of people say it’s a challenge, but it’s an opportunity for them to, again, shut up the naysayers about not being able to establish the line of scrimmage,” Mayo said. “That’s my challenge to them.”
The challenge for offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt begins with getting a bead on what Shula intends to do from series to series. Grandson of the NFL’s winningest coach Don Shula and son of Cincinnati’s ex-head coach David Shula, Chris played college ball with Sean McVay at Miami University in Ohio.
Since going to work under McVay, Shula assisted Wade Phillips, Brandon Staley and Raheem Morris before becoming their successor. The influence of each, along with that of Staley’s mentor Vic Fangio, is evident to Van Pelt.
“They give you some different looks that I haven’t seen this year or in years past,” Van Pelt says. “There’s some similarities in personnel groupings but the structure of their defense is a little bit different and multiple throughout the course of the game.
“I definitely think it’s (Shula) putting his best players in the best position to be successful. There’s a lot of defense out there, as you go through each week and highlight the things that they do. And they do a lot, so our Power Point was longer than usual.”
Yeah, but at least it doesn’t include Donald. As good as the young guys are, it’s still likely better to master a longer Power Point than try to match up to the former focal point of the Rams defense.
Pop Passes
- Say this for Snead as a drafter, he can pick defensive linemen. Prior to putting together this current Rams roster, he selected Michael Brockers (1st round in 2012), Aaron Donald (1st round in 2014), John Franklin-Myers (2nd round in 2018) and Sebastian Joseph-Day (6th round in 2018).
- Prior to Chicago, failing to contain quarterbacks in the pocket had been a problem for the Pats, most notably against veterans Geno Smith and Aaron Rodgers in Weeks 2-3. Now they confront another veteran who can easily burn them with his arm after buying room and time with his legs. According to NextGen Stats, Matthew Stafford is 21-for-30 with three TD passes and a 128.5 passer rating when outside the pocket this season.
- Saturday’s parting with wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, a top 50 pick in 2022, means only Cole Strange (reserve/PUP list) and Marcus Jones remain as Patriots from a class that featured 10 selections overall. Again, it was only three years ago.
Bob Socci is in his 12th season calling play-by-play for the Patriots Radio Network on 98.5 The Sports Hub. Follow him at bobsocci.bsky.social.
