Von Miller has played two games with the Rams since arriving in Los Angeles in a trade with the Broncos. He doesn’t yet have a sack, but he’s still made a handful of impactful plays with his new team.
There were high expectations for the pass rush with Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd and Miller, but none of the three has a single sack in the last two games. The Rams’ only two sacks have come by Taylor Rapp and Greg Gaines, two players not necessarily known for their pass-rushing ability.
Sean McVay was asked Wednesday why the Rams’ pass rush hasn’t taken off with Miller in the mix and he had a very simple explanation. It comes down to opponents getting the ball out quickly and staying on schedule, which has also allowed them to run the ball consistently against the Rams.
“I think the first thing is, is that we’re not doing a good enough job of controlling the tempo of the game and getting leads where you can really unleash your pass rush,” McVay said. “Where you see it expressed in its best form is when you get people into their playing from behind, they become one dimensional, unfortunately like we’ve had to become in these last few games. Teams are being efficient. They’re able to kind of get the ball out in a quick manner on some of these third-and-manageables. You look at Aaron, I thought the Niners did a nice job. Even Tennessee being able to control it. It really goes back to, we’ve been giving them short fields. Those teams have been able to get leads and then they can slow the pace of the game, which minimizes the approach. You look at these good coaches in this league, too. Everybody’s going to always have a plan for Aaron. You see some of the most unique ways of protecting and doubling and tripling him and lending extra presence for those interior players wherever 99 is. And then you see the ascension of Leonard Floyd over the last couple of years. He’s garnered attention. And then obviously Von, his resume speaks for itself. But I think in its simplest form, we haven’t had enough opportunities where you’re forcing teams to have to hold the ball and really get into those known passing downs frequently enough. I think a large part of that is because of some of the turnovers offensively where we’re really playing from behind. That allows those teams to be able to control the pace of the game and you’re not getting as many rush ops.”
Aaron Rodgers said on the “Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday that the Packers went into Sunday’s game with a plan to get the ball out quickly because of the presence of Donald, Floyd and Miller. They executed that perfectly, with Rodgers averaging only 2.64 seconds from snap to throw – seventh-lowest in the NFL for Week 12 and slightly below his average of 2.68 seconds.
It’s tough for pass rushers to get near the quarterback when he’s getting rid of the ball so quickly, and it’s not as if the Rams were playing tight coverage on the outside, either. The combination of a soft zone defense and quick passes is deadly for a pass rush, making it almost impossible to generate any pressure.
If the Rams jump out to a lead against the Jaguars this week, Miller, Donald and Floyd should get chances to pin their ears back and rush the quarterback – a struggling rookie in Trevor Lawrence. But if they fall behind (again), the Jaguars will dictate the pace of the game, just like the Titans, 49ers and Packers did.
