Rams-Texans Matchup Expectations, Breaking Down Offensive Strengths & More | Between The Horns

Rams-Texans Matchup Expectations, Breaking Down Offensive Strengths & More | Between The Horns

[Music] Well, today is a good day because I am back with my friends Maurice Jones Drew and Demarco Far. Good afternoon, good evening whenever you might be watching this. I’m JB Long and this is a new season of Between the Horns presented by your Southern California Toyota dealers as you know a pair of division champs, the Texans and the Rams to kick things off in week one. But first, it’s great to see you guys. Our 10th year together. Demarco predates us with his Rams tenure. He keep bringing that up. Senior Statesman, not look any older. All that walking you doing in the morning. Jesus. My haircut. I cut the gray out. See when you going to walk with me? Uh, listen. You want to know something funny? You talk about gray hair. It’s starting to It’s starting to come to me, too. I feel I’m going to go baby face soon. JB cut it all off. You got a fresh cut, though. And some new kicks. Oh, yeah. I got a Hey, Rams kicks ready to roll. Nice. You know, nice. ready to get get to stepping. Here we go. Yeah, I like it. Um, you know, you and I just haven’t really sat down and talked Rams in a while. So, when I thought about an agenda for this show, I wanted to keep it pretty open-ended because we’ve been pulled in so many different directions, good directions this preseason that since the roster was formulated, I just haven’t heard from MJD and DeMarco about what you think. What’s what’s got you excited about this season? What’s got you concerned? Losing sleep? Where are we? Uh, well, I’m excited because I mean the team I like the way it’s built, but like I said, when you roll out of bed knowing that you have a quarterback, that spot is filled with a quality athlete. I feel comfortable, but the more I think about it, the more I extrapolate out, it’s not the Johnny’s and the Joe’s on the field. It’s actually Shawn McVey that makes me feel so comfortable and calm. So, this is another season for him. It’s another season with a top flight quarterback with Matthew Stafford. You’ve got a good young defense. So, uh, the way you ended the season in Philadelphia, like you said, 13 yards short from shock in the world. So, it was a great a great cliffhanger. I can’t wait to see how they follow it up this Sunday in Sofi. Yeah, I got to be where my feet are, right? I got to think of right now cuz it we you you kind of text that question. I started thinking like December, November, like what are we going to look like then type of thing. But I I’m super excited about what the Rams have done throughout the offseason that the health of Matthew Stafford getting Devonte Adams. Not really worried about the kicking game, special teams looking really well throughout preseason defensively, seeing those the Dlineman and and that whole defense come together and what they did uh how they grew last year and what they can become now and the new additions in in that part. So to me, I the biggest thing that I’ve my only concern is health, right? It’s like you have all the pieces to do what you need to do. Yes, those guys have to play, but if you win the injury report every week with, which we know that’s Sean’s thing, win the injury report, you have a great chance of winning every game. And so, the health and then the travel gets me too. It’s a lot of traveling. You know, we’re going to we’re going to do a little bit of traveling this year. Second most in terms of miles in the league behind the Chargers who are in Brazil this week. And that takes that t starts to take a toll as you have older guys. It takes a toll on you as well on the flights and different things like that. I know the Rams do a great job of, you know, sleep and all the other things, which is awesome. Um, but it’s going to be important for guys to take care of themselves and guys to perform when it’s time to perform. Few things on the health front. They’re going to win this week’s injury report, which is great. Can’t can’t do any better than the starting line. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. Um, I want to ask you about Stafford and where you are with his back in a second, but one of the refrains I’ve heard several times from Shawn McVey this off season is that the lessons of the last couple of years have informed his thinking where, you know, he’s always said adversity is going to hit. It’s how you handle it. But right now, more than ever, it feels like their ability to withstand that adversity has become one of their attributes, one of their superpowers, one of their competitive advantages. He’s now bracing for we know it’s going to happen. We don’t know when, but now we know with this group how we’re going to respond. And I like that. Um, let’s hope that they don’t have to withstand as much as they have had to in previous years, especially not as early. But when you go up against this defense, and we’ll talk plenty about Houston, where are you with respect to Matthew Stafford? His back. He’s talking a good game, saying he’s going to play the way he’s always played. But, yeah, to me, you have to, right? You have to go out there and be you. You can’t be anyone else. Uh you can’t go out there and shy away from throwing the ball. Uh guys around you have to play your game because that’s why you’re Matthew Stafford. Um I do think if you’re Shawn McVey, you’re going to max protect a little bit more, right? We’re not going to have tight ends blocking these defensive ends like we did against Chicago last year. That we’re not doing that, right? We’re going to make sure we have linemen on lineman and then back chip help, tight end chip help, and then try to get our guys open in space. understanding that if you can if you can handle those two DNs, you have a great opportunity to really op uh have some ops downfield with your receivers. Now, they do have a great corner and and Derek Stingley, but I still think that you have the advantage of that secondary. So, my biggest thing if I’m it’s not nec it’s ne not necessarily about Matthew Stafford. I need you to be Matthew Stafford and play like him. As the play caller though, I have to make sure that I’m calling the plays necessary when we do want to take shots. There’s seven guys blocking and two guys are on those DNS for the most part. We got four guys on two guys and make sure that we can protect our quarterback. Does having a guy who can win against any coverage help in that philosophy? Like if you need to release fewer into the pattern for sure if one of them is Devonte, you’re saying we’ll take our chances. Oh yes. Yeah. Oh yes. Absolutely. Yes. No doubt. Uh quarterbacks can escape with their legs and escape through that guy. If he’s always winning, I know I can get the ball out to him just to save me from getting a hit. Even if it’s incomplete, it’s in the area. If I put it on him or near him, there’s a good chance he gets it. That’s going to help Matthew Stafford. That’s going to help any offense. Devonte Adams being on the football field will draw eyes and it will help you big time. But I am so with you. Uh Matthew Stafford has to be Matthew Stafford. But for this week, even with those defensive ends, and I was telling JB earlier, I’m glad you’re getting the Texans here and not there because they don’t have the benefit of crowd noise. And I would absolutely try to bully them. They’re fast, but they’re not very big. So, another way to protect the quarterback is to run the football. No question. Be physical. Come off the rock. Uh I would make them I would take them all the way back to week one training camp. You’re going to be hitting blocking sleds for the first quarter. Absolutely. And then if you get through that, let me see if you can earn the right to get to Matthew Stafford. if you got anything left. Uh, so I would definitely slam my bigger line at your smaller D line and try to stay out of those third and third and whatevers. So, first and 10, the Rams are paying running backs again, which is awesome. There’s continuity there. So, beautiful thing. I would definitely try to slam the football at the Texans and see if they can stop it. You won’t hold your breath the first time he gets hit, though, in a different way than you did. I’ve been doing that since he got here, especially after the Super Bowl. Um, whenever Matthew Stafford takes one and he’s so confident and he will stand down the barrel of a of a rush to deliver a football and take a pop. Every time he gets hit, I wonder, is this going to be the one? That’s what happens when you have a quarterback that’s 37 years old. But for the most part, the guy gets up and he dusts himself off and plays the next snap. But it’s not it’s not the doubt about him dusting himself off. It’s just that can he be the Matthew Stafford that differentiates him from other quarterbacks, which is hanging on to the bitter end, reading that thing all the way through and beyond completion and still being able to get a shot off. And especially with I think Maurice always wants like more keeper game, more 2017 18 offense. If he’s feeling good and comfortable and he can do that and flip his hips and boot and waggle, great. If they shy away from that, is he the quarterback that we’ve come to know and love? You mean boots, right? You don’t mean running him on the option keeper game. Oh my god. Okay. I’m like, whoa, whoa. What planet did I No more zone read against. No, I I I will say this. I I think two things. First thing is because of his injury, I I believe and I feel in talking to Sean that they’re super confident and comfortable with Jimmy Garopppolo running their offense. And let’s remember going back to last year, week 18, they put up what 20 some odd points against the Seahawks and their starters, right? So, you feel comfortable in that aspect. He had the single game passing lead. Jimmy G did. There you go. Not saying anyone wants to revisit that, but more you’re comfortable in that situation. Um, the reason I want Sean to go back to 2017 and 18 is it was very runheavy and it was very specific pass plays that the ball you knew these plays were coming, right? And they couldn’t stop it. And and so when you’re an offense that’s clicking like that, when you have specific plays that you know you can run three or four times a game and that they’re going to be completions, they’re going to be this, then you take a lot of the the the the stress off the quarterback and the O line. I just remember was it 18 where we used to used to play fake girly weak week and then whip around and hit cooks on the deep end and it was like it was literally like a handoff like here you can take this right like every and I only and so if you could do that four or five times a game with Devonte and Matthew Stafford all of a sudden it’s like okay I can go down here and protect like get my guy in a rhythm let him get going let him start feeling good and the boots always work as well. So again, what you said, the running running game is all to me. It’s this game is about Shawn protecting Matthew, not Matthew protecting Matthew. Well, I think the season could be said too in terms of how efficient and explosive can you be with your running game. That’s a big talking point year-over-year with respect to Kairen. And I think leaguewide too, I think explosive runs have become a key to success again. And in this matchup, which offense are you more confident in staying on or ahead of schedule with the running game? I think that’s maybe LA’s biggest advantage. But but zooming out, Maurice, where are you with respect to Kairen, both in terms of ball security and explosive runs this year? Ball security is one thing you have to work on. Um, and I I’ve talked to coach Gould about it and they’ve really harped on it. Obviously, they’ve done it before, but this has been a very a big emphasis this year, really getting him to focus on keeping the ball in the outside hand, making sure he’s protecting it. Um, because they they I know they believe and I believe that if they don’t turn the ball over, they’re a tough offense to stop, right? um explosive runs. I think Kairen, we’re not expecting Kairen to break the 60ers, but to have 12 yard runs, 15 yard runs, 20 yard runs through a drive, that sets up play action pass, that sets up the screen game, that gets your offensive line going. And I think he can do that. We saw we I mean, let’s just look at what the Rams did in the preseason against starters, right, with Blake Cororm and um Cody Schrader, Jquz Hunter. Explosive run game is what you saw. So imagine your starters in there doing that against other starters with your starting running back. I think we should expect explosive runs to be a part of this offense. What was your longest rush? 80. Come on, bro. Did I’m just asking. I mean, what set up that longest rush to back? I know you’re fast, but it was more than right to back. Went 80 right before half and then came right out of half and went 80 again. Okay. The Tennessee Titans. Oh, again. Okay. But did you know before that this was going to be a long one? No. I was I was upset because we went into the we’re going into the second quarter. the end quarter I had two carries. I was like it was crazy. Oh, different deal. Okay. Let me ask you something though. Obviously that was your unique ability, but I bet if we went back and checked the tape, you could point to five, six guys along the way that that set that up for you, right? I It wasn’t just you. No, no, no. That’s what I mean. I would suggest that too much of this offseason conversation has fallen on Kairen’s shoulders to be more explosive as opposed to recreating the ecosystem in which you can have an explosive running game. So part of that is your offensive line having it back and healthy. Part of it is the weapons you present to a defense. And and I would ask Demarco, from your defensive lens, when you’re breaking the huddle this year with Devonte and Tutu and Puka and Tyler Higgby back and maybe Terrence Ferguson, how does that change your math defensively, especially with how you can get your box count organized? I’m going to be a step late coming down with a safety compared to where you were in the middle and the end of last season. I just don’t think the Rams were were truly dictating and threatening to defenses last year with with the way they were going off. I I feel like this for running backs, and this is anybody in the National Football League, if you were my lead back, if I get you one-on-one with anybody, you should win. Yeah. If I get you into the open field, if we get a hat on the hat and I leave you one guy to beat, you should be able to beat that guy. And I think that’s why I said like 20, 30, 40 yard runs are good. This when you get to the 80 yard, you have to have that speed to be able to pull away, right? Our job your job offensively is to get you one-on-one with a safety or a corner and then you have to make a miss and let’s go. The way that happens though and what the Rams have done really well and on the on the touchdown runs that I had Tory Holt blocked like a linebacker or a DN like which is insane for him to do it but he was selfless enough to go in and do it on a pitch play and we were able to make a we were able to make a play and then the other time he blocked two guys on a run downfield and so that’s how you have to do it and if you have the speed you’ll get those 80 yarders. Kyrie just doesn’t have that speed to do it and that’s okay. You don’t have to do that. I mean, talking to coach Yarbs in Cleveland, he said, “What? We we we being the Rams, we go after uh quickness over speed.” Oh, yeah. We like quickness, right? And that getting in and out of breaks, make guys miss. We see Kiren duck in and out of holes. And so, to me, if I can get a 12 to 20 yard run, that sets up later down the road for those longer runs to happen. Coach Yarbs, quickness is a luxury. Speed No, quickness is a necessity. Speed is a luxury luxury. There it is. That’s that. We were supposed to put that out there right there. They were talking about that. I like what you said about Tori there because even though I think this pass catching unit is significantly upgraded from where they finished last year, I don’t want to discount the fact that for the last eight years, we have been spoiled by one of the smartest and most willing blockers at the receiver position in Cooper Cup. And we’ve seen moments and weeks where they have not had Cooper Cup and how that impacts the running game. Now it’s life. Now that’s just a reality. And I don’t want to discount what that could mean to this operation. We haven’t talked about winning either. If that takes a dip because of Devonte, I don’t expect him to be a Cooper Cup style blocker. No, no, that’s not his style. I think he’s going to be out there. But I’m with you. They have a culture. They have a standard. They have other options that can do it. And Puk is part of that. But Coupe was special in that way. No question. A guy that can go in and block you, insert in the B gap and block a linebacker, and then insert in the B gap and run a corner route. Yeah. Like that’s just a different type of deal. And I again all that we say all this to say if you have an explosive running game what do you think the passing game is going to look like? It’s going to open wide up. And that’s where I think the Rams understood after seeing Saquon Barkley and the Eagles, right? Saquon has what four over 50 yard runs against the Rams and then all of a sudden now here comes the passing game coming out because you got to put more guys in the box. Should we flip sides of the ball there? You you take whatever topic you want. Let’s keep talking big picture, but is there anything defensive that’s on your mind from the Rams defensively? Uh, come on, man. What? Come on, man. Start it off. Just thinking about the D line, right? Uh, Jared Verse. And you would think that he led this team in sacks and he did not. Braden Fist did. Uh, actually Byron Young had more sacks than he did, but Jared Verse won rookie of the year. So, this weekend versus the Texans, and they’re good. And I respect Nick Chub. I do. I’m I’m assuming he’s the Nick Chub that was in Cleveland. Until you pro until you prove otherwise, I’m with you. I’m going to respect him that way. And I think CJ Stout is one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. Uh their offensive line is in flux, but this game is built for Jared Verse to dominate. It’s here. Uh you’ve got four four new offensive linemen for the Texans. Uh they’re kind of in flux there. So you should dominate this game from the defensive front. I’m expecting Jared Verse to from last season get better at not missing sacks. Not only when you do get sacks, get the ball out, make gamechanging plays. Yeah. change the math. So, take it up a step from what we saw last season and to bring guys with you. I think Puna Ford is going to be a huge upgrade, a huge upgrade for this football team. Uh, he’s like the Hoover Dam really. He is that stubborn and that solid that you can build cities behind him and at some point he can straighten out and rush the passer. So, I think this defensive front has a chance to be one of the best in football and you have a chance to prove that this Sunday versus the Texans. So, as I was doing my due diligence on the game, uh, I I stumbled across De Mo Ryan’s press conference where he was talking about, uh, this game is going to be won in the trenches, and he didn’t talk about the Dline. He said, “Whoever’s offensive line holds up the longest, that’s who’s going to win this game.” Um, and then it got me thinking like as I was going more, I I was on uh, one of these social media and they were showing all Jared versus uh, rush plays, right? And I was like, I just remember watch I was like I just remember him bull rushing people. But then when you started to really dive into all these plays, he had some stuff with that. Had some stuff. And if he can get better off of that and then you’re adding all this other stuff on the other side. Here’s the crazy thing. Some of his best rushes he missed. That’s the thing. You can’t waste those. You can’t waste those rushes. Now turn those into sacks. Every win that you had needs to turn into either a pressure or a sack or get the ball out. I mean, I saw him do a pushpull, dip, rip, like all I’m like, I’m just used to seeing him just bull guys back. Like, no, he has he has a repertoire of of moves that he can use. Like you said, when you use your moves, you got to go. But the other part is this. If you if you know the Houston Texans, well, one, they have a double agent. We’ll get to that later. They have a double agent, but you know this offense because it’s a it’s a it’s a coach from here that’s running it. You know, Demo Ryan’s what they’re going to do. So, you have to go out there and prepare if you’re the Rams defense saying, “Okay, we know what they’re going to try to attack us with because this is what we got in practice every day.” And you have to assume that that’s going to happen. And you have to kind of sh up those holes or those those weak points you have in your defense. But if your defensive line can take care of of that offensive line, it doesn’t matter what they do. This is true. Who’s secret squirrel? Who’s the double agent? Nick Haley. Yeah. The secret squirrel. Okay. Go ahead. Sorry. Couple follow-ups. Who do you think when all is said and done leads this team in sacks? I think Kobe Turner does. No. And I’m going to tell you why. Oh. Is that what you thought? No. But it does remind me this is kind of the 23 rookie of the year revenge game. Yeah, Puka and Kobe both just missed because of some Houston Texans. But anyway, go ahead on the Kobe. I like that. The reason I say Kobe is because he’s like the one that no one’s talked about. Which is crazy cuz I think he’s got all pro upside. Everyone’s talked about verse and Fisk and how fast Young is and and Puna Ford and for whatever reason we just haven’t talked about the conductor, right? It’s just and that’s what happens, right? You had a really good year, but there’s too many guys. Like somebody can’t Everybody can’t What’s the movie with the the singers and they had the lead singer and they’re beefing all the time. The Temptations. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s like they’re beefing all the time. Five. The five heartbeat. There it is. Everybody What’s the guy’s name? Oh. Uh can’t sing like Eddie Kane. Yeah. And everybody can’t be Everybody can be Eddie Kane. You know what I mean? But those other guys put in a lot of work. I You know, I would not be surprised if Kobe Turner leaves this sacks. I think like you said, he has all pro potential. But I mean, we’re talking about this is going to be an edgeheavy team and you are set to go. I haven’t given up on the Veloca Raptors. I still think they exist and they’re going to get better. So, it’s coming off the edge here and they’re going to get more opportunities. But you got to think they’re going to get double teamed, right? How do you double edge? Oh, trust me. I played against Dwight Freeny and Robert Matthysse. We double team all day, right? Chip help. You’re going to have all Give me a Braden Fist then. Somebody’s going to get singled up. You don’t think they’re going to slide the fist? The one guy that’s gonna get singled up, I think, is Kobe Turner. And that’s going to be where he takes advantage of it. And then when he gets going, guess what? Someone else is going to get singled up. What about with respect to the run defense? And I want to preface this by saying big picture, the Rams were not good enough against the run last year, start of the season, especially last game of the season. But between the Saquon games, they actually were much improved. And I hope that’s a sign of what’s to come. Especially when you bring in Puna Ford and when you have a full year of Omar Spates and Nate Lanman is named a captain and came in and took the green dot the moment he arrived. What is your level of optimism that year two under Chris Schula leads to a big step forward in that regard? And you can earn more known passing situations for Demarco’s Veloci Raptors. You you beat me to it. uh year two of Chris Schula, he’s going to get better as a coordin I thought they got better as he got better as the season wore on. Towards the end of the year when you had the trust and everyone understood what this defense was about, they turned into one of the best defenses. Had they got past Philadelphia, I think they would have been rolling on that side of the ball. So, I think they hit the ground rolling. So, um are they couldn’t they be better stopping the run? I think they ranked 22, so they’re in the bottom third of the league. But I think they need to get more consistent. Uh just don’t let these quarterbacks jump out the window that kind of change or skew your your your rush defense numbers. Uh get those guys on the ground, be better on third down. Get off the field when you should, right? And not have to defend those 12 to 15 extra rushing plays because you messed up on third down. Be more consistent. Get off the field. your rushing numbers will will I will say this too like as a running back having a running quarterback is is like the cheat code. I remember playing and David Grar was mobile but he wasn’t Vince Young. And I remember when Chris Johnson rushed for 2000. I was jealous. Chris, I was jealous because Vince Young had two sets of eyes on him all times, right? And if you remember this, the last game against Philly, what really sparked everything? It was a Jaylen Herz touchdown run, right, for 40 yards. Now all of a sudden, we have to worry about you, right? Now, if you don’t have a a running quarterback, I don’t have to worry about the quarterback and I can play regular defense instead of playing 11 on 111 football. So that’s what makes Philadelphia special. I I think that’s what where the Rams struggled is when they had those running Kyler Murray, they struggled against Kyler because again, you have to have eyes on that guy. And so once you figure out how to play that type of football, um and I think the Rams, they’ve had a whole year to kind of figure out how we’re going to play these mobile guys, you’ll have a better opportunity. But last year it was just I mean Jaylen Herz broke that run early in that game in the divisional round and then it was like we got to focus on him and now everyone’s out of gaps because you you lost a gap to the front side. It’s a math advantage. You you have one extra guy you have to account for in the run game which is going to make you short somewhere. That’s the problem with running quarterbacks. Uh the only way to recreate that with a quarterback that doesn’t run is using a lot of 12 two tight ends. It keeps the defense off balance, which leads us right to back to the offense with Tyler Higgby and Ferguson on the field at the same time. That will create the same sort of mathematical problem that a running quarterback does because you don’t know which way the which way do you call strength depending on who’s out there, right? Plus Puka and Devonte Adams are still on the field. It creates a lot of indecision. So, that’s the way I would recreate that. But running quarterbacks, it’s always they’re a nightmare. Uh the problem is once you blunt the run attack, sometimes those guys can’t throw and the game is yours. Well, that’s the key. Stop the run and beat you. You know who else plays a role in stopping the run though? And I want to bend this back to the offense because the way that you can take an opponent’s running game away is by going up two scores. And the Rams just simply did not do that enough last season. They didn’t start games well. They played a lot of close games. They closed out a lot of games with their defense. I think I speak for this entire footprint, this entire building. It would be nice to get back to putting up some points this year to not be in the 20s in scoring offense. And I think that’ll change a lot of your defensive fortunes as well. Yeah, I think it was it’s so funny when you go back to the years where the Rams were scoring 30 35 points a game that all of a sudden the defense was really good, right? Aaron Donald had 20 sacks, right? Yeah. Aaron Donald had 20 sacks. It’s like And that’s what happens, right? By the way, do you know who the biggest cap hit on this defense is to this day? Aaron Donald. Oh, yeah. So, it’s a young ascending defense. Yeah. Wow. But where are the resources on this team? Where does this team need to be led from? I think it’s still an offensive driven team. And as efficient as they were last year, their next level metrics looked really good. They look like a top 10 offense at times. It did not translate to points because of turnovers at some times because they did not finish drives well enough in the red zone. That’s one for me. Mhm. I think Red Zone offense is a huge step forward this year. That was solved when they went and got Devonte Adams. I think that’s one piece. Hope so. And the reason I’ll tell you that is I it goes back to 2021 when they went and signed Odell Beckham Jr. He goes to Arizona. He’s out by himself at wide receiver. He runs a slant, catches touchdown. The next week fade, right? Is those two routes are the those are the hardest routes to cover uh in the tight red. Well, guess what? You have the guy that does it all the time. I just like their options down there better. I don’t know which one they’ll choose. Dvonte’s clearly the leading one, but Puka Nakua I think will finally crack the code. Like for all he’s done, he’s not scored many touchdowns through two years. I think they will run in pass, utilize him in that short red zone area. I think Terrence Ferguson by year’s end is going to be a huge asset down there in finishing drives. And then Kairen Williams is that hammerhead shark that can still get in from the five or inside the five. I I like going up by two scorers with this young defensive line. you’ve if you just take the training wheels off and just say light your hair on fire and go get them, they’ll win. Oh yes, they’ll win. Absolutely. If there’s a scenario Sunday where Chub and that offensive line are not manufacturing much by way of a running game and you go up 10 points or 14 points, that’s an that’s a game that I want to see in the second. No doubt. And you could. It’s a possibility that you could, but you just have to get around that defense. Just let me say this for the Rams offense. Understand when you’re playing the Houston Texans, they’re slam. They’re the different team than the Niners. Demo with the Niners. Demo just let those guys go. This team, they’re stunting and slanting every They know they can’t hold up against the run. So, you just have to make sure that you have your eyes where you need to be cuz those guys are wherever they start, they’re not finishing there. Does Coleman help? Oh my god. Oh, no. But I’m just saying just you’re going to have guys when we used to play teams and the only reason I remember this is because I played against the Miko Ryan. If they’re not big and stout, they’re slanting guys. Everybody’s slanting, stunting. They’re doing ETSs or some type of run slant to get your lineman so they can’t get to those linebackers. Um, and those linebackers aren’t big either. They’re smaller guys, too, that can run. And so, if you can if you can zone that off or find a way to get up on those backers with your lineman, you’re going to have some run running lanes. You’re going to guess wrong at some point. Just be be there. But I I’m with you with the Coleman Shelton thing. It’s that’s an experienced driver. Uh, you you could take a nap if you wanted to read a book. You don’t have to keep looking where he’s looking. Um, it takes a lot of pressure off Matthew Stafford. It takes a lot of pressure off those two guards right next to him and the whole offensive line. Just talking to him about ball is like talking to a quarterback the way he sees it. Uh, he he can recognize coverage just by where you are. You know, you’re not supposed to be there if he’s going to be there. Hey, Matthew, watch this. You know what I mean? Hey, we’re going to go this way. I thought I don’t worry about it. We’re going this way. He’s got that kind of cred. So, uh, that’s one thing you lacked last year. Center was kind of in flux. He was green until Bo Leur kind of settled it down and he’s green. Like you said, this is a whole different animal which should make your offense your offensive line and your offense better. Let’s stick with Rams offense against Texans defense as we start to transition more into a week one preview. You mentioned Demo Ryan has had some great success against Stafford and McVey um when he was with the Niners. You could argue his personnel is as good or better right now in different places, but as good or better. Um, you know, on defense, they got two elite corners. Yes. I think adding CJ to their safety room is a big deal. That’s huge. Listen, Bosa, is there a better pass rushing tandem on the edge in the league? Let me just say, and Bosa was like during that time, Bosa Bosa was unblockable. Unblockable. Let’s fine. Let’s agree to not argue about that and say the fact that it’s even a conversation means good things. He’s got a talented defense on their defense. Again, I I think two things. I don’t Fred Warner roaming the middle of the field is a big They don’t have that. They’re a guy that can run. You don’t think El Shier is that guy? He’s good. I think he’s good. He’s great. Great. He’s a good player, but he’s not running like Fred Warner. Like Fred Warner would run through the middle of the field and that would take away those digs. I don’t see him doing that. I He’s a physical guy though. He’s gonna come and he’s the one that again they brought him over because of his physical presence, right? Dre Green Law, right? That’s their Dre Green law. Um I do believe that their DNS are special, but the DTackles are different, right? Those DTackles are different in San Francisco. Um which I hope we feel that on Sunday, especially if Demarco wants them to, what’ you say? Go up against the the sleds. I would, like I said, I would take them back to early August. You are banging a run sled for the first quarter of the game. Yes, I want all 350 pounds on that. Yes, I I agree with kind of a a downhill bully ball approach, but I think I would just include in that run game anything quick, quick game, perimeter throws, speed outs to two, I would anything horizontal that’s fast and keeps Matthews time to throw down, I would I would consider in that same section of the play sheet. I think a screen to Puka, getting him running on those DBs cuz they’re they’re they’re really good guys. tackle the big your big back, right? Uh I will say this, the one the difference Stingley’s really good. I just don’t know how their safeties are though. And I think that’s where you’re you’re you’ll be able to take advantage a little bit with those tight splits. The other thing is this too, and I actually um Henry Tau, he’s uh his dad I coach with Medal. So I went to the the other linebacker, the other linebacker. So, I went to go talk to his dad and I was like, “Make sure you tell Henry, you know, he has to have his eyes right cuz there’s going to be a lot of moving going on there.” And and I think that’s where they’re going to be able to take advantage cuz this team flies around, they play fast. They do have a lot of eye violations. They’re out of position a lot. When you said they move and they stunt, that’s the only thing that screws that. I’ve been in those defenses where everything’s a stunt, everything’s moving. But when the offense starts to move, we have to communicate. And that gives that quarterback a lot of data before we even move cuz we have to change everything. Which way are you going? I thought I had to do this. Now they moved over there. Which way are you going? You know what I mean? That gives you some sort of indication as to where the pressure is coming from. If I had to choose between elite edge rushers or stout defensive tackles, I would prefer this matchup actually for for the McVey Rams. Am I wrong in that regard? Like I think back to uh Minnesota Thursday night football like going up against that Brian Flores defense and the way that this building knows how to neutralize some of that compared to when you’re just outmatched in the middle. More of um maybe a Miami game from Cox back in the day. Yes. You know what I’m saying though? Like if you’re saying that the strength of this Houston defense is not down the spine of the field, then I’ll take my chances going into Sunday. Yes. You’re going to get a lot of that coming down the road. But this one here like and Shawn McVey has been through this like you said uh no matter what the game plan is or what the complexion of the game is they he has found a way to adjust to just about any plan. It’s it’s a rarity when he gets run out of the gym or doesn’t have answers. You know what I mean? Well, you’ve gone against De Mo before, so you know what he’s going to run and vice versa. And vice versa. So, it’s going to literally be what plays work for you and what plays work for them. Except other than when you had OBJ really going, I don’t know that you’ve seen a McVey offense with that, you know, maybe in the height of Brandon Cook’s power or something. I love I love Brandon Cooks. I love the Archer, but no, this is different. I I do think you know what is this year nine now for Shawn with all that his uh coaching tree has expanded it’s tough to find that next iteration and I don’t know that you can just do it on a whiteboard but you can do it with personnel and and my hope for this season is that it does evolve and it does look different and it does look prolific because Devonte is the most accomplished receiver he’s ever worked with. No question. And I and I think that’s the difference, right? They’re going to they’re going to have to go one for one or two for one on him, which is going to open up for everyone else. Guaranteed. Yes. Uh, anything else on that side of the ball or should we flip it? All right. Houston offensively, a reworked offensive line. Is it improved? We’ll see. I I mean, you talk about the comparative advantage that goes to Demo’s press conference. Yeah, they’ve changed a lot up front, but you have to give the edge to the Rams offensive line going into week one. No, I I think so. I mean, you anytime you lose Laramie Tonsel, you trade your guard who gets cut by the Eagles, like your first round, like they they have some issues, right? And and they and they they made a decision because they couldn’t run the ball last year the way they wanted to, right? So, you know, coming in, they’re going to want to run the football. Um, it’s going to be on this Rams defense to shut that run down early and often. Make sure Nick Chub and the thing about Nick Chub, terrific running back, if you get him off his track, he struggles. If he can stay on that track, oh, he’s he’s a world beater. So, you got to make sure you make him stop his feet and go sideways and not north and south and you’ll have a great opportunity there. How about starting a rookie left tackle on the road in Ursery against Jared Verse? You I told you earlier he should eat. Absolutely. Uh if Jared Verse wants to take his place and they’re paying money to top flight pass rushers now in the NFL. They just started doing that. We see that now. I mean, the money is going up. You’re getting quarterback money. 31 teams are there’s one in Texas that’s if you want to get into that paygrade then you should eat this sort of situation up. Uh if you can go into Philly and you saw it, we were all there and knock them around and talk trash to them and their fans and back it up, you should eat the rookie alive. This rookie should say 10 years from now, this was my welcome to the NFL moment. Well, that’s what he did with the Dolphins left tackle Terron Armstead. Made him retire. So, and now you’re in year two. Yeah. Absolutely. other defensive keys, other things that you’ll be watching, you know, get off the field. Um CJ Stout is a guy that can run. Uh he’s a guy that can jump out the window and pick up first downs. He can get out of third and 14s if you’re not disciplined, right? Uh so the last thing you want to do is to have teams make you pay for being aggressive. Uh go from being aggressive to overaggressive, as in you’re wasting your gas and you keep giving them first downs and you wear yourself out. So when you have a chance to get off the field on third down, get off the field, make the play, move on, get Gatorade, and then come back. You can help yourself that way. Yeah, it really is Nico Collins. And then who else? I I think that’s a question that remains to be answered. Uh Christian Kirk is on the injury report with the hamstring. He was going to be their clear number two. We’ll see about his status this weekend. Dton Schultz, he’s solid starter, but they’ve only rostered two. They’ll probably promote one from the practice squad, but they’re thin at that position. And then they got the two Iowa State rookies. We’ll see how much they give them early. But my biggest thing is is don’t allow Nico Collins deep. Force CJ Stra to come off of that read, right? Because he’s always going to look to Nico Collins first. That’s his guy. Even when Stefon Diggs was there, they had all those guys. He looked at Nico first. Um if you force him to hold the ball and kind of move his uh feet a little bit and slide in the pocket, he’s not as accurate. M it’s a little bit different when he has to move and he’s feeling things and his eyes are downfield. Uh when he can get back on that fifth step or seventh step and Nico striking down the field, he throws the prettiest pass in the world. It’s it’s it’s one and that’s what he did his rookie year. That’s what he did his rookie year. He was on fire. Um last year he struggled and so I think a lot of it is people realize Nico was out for a couple weeks. He started to struggle. They started to take him away. They kind of didn’t do well. Take Nico out of the picture. Make him go somewhere else. make him have to play left-handed, then you’re good. I’m fascinated to see defensive back snap counts when we’re here next week, aren’t you? Like, what is what does Emanuel Forbes week one workload look like? How do they platoon those safeties and where do they align? How many of them exactly how many of those looks do they play against this Houston offense? 37% I’m thinking. I don’t know. Uh Darius is going to start and play. Uh Aello is going to play. He’s a different guy. Uh, I I hope what we see out of that confidence with him, the way he looks and the way he’s playing, I hope that translates to game day. I really do. I think Aello finished the year very strong. I hope he picks up on physical. He finished the year physical and not afraid to make plays getting in there. So, uh, I hope that translates to something special, a late bloomer. But then you got to roll in the other guys. How do you play Forbes and the safeties too and Q Lake? I think Q Lake has done everything except make the wow plays. I mean, really, when you think about where he is in his career, year four, right? This is big for him. Contract year for both your nickels and Kobe Durant. Big nickel and small nickel. I think they give you a lot of optionality. Big time. But the only thing that he hasn’t done is make a game-changing play. Yeah. Kobe Durant has Yes. He’s the Demarco far this defense. Sack and the pick in the same game. We’re still waiting on Captain Q’s first interception. It’s coming. It’s coming. He had a great training camp. He really did. Yeah. Yeah. Uh quick word on special teams. You talked about it early on. Feel good about the kicker game. I think I’m comfortable with the the kicking game and I think that’s the most that was one of the things we’ve we haven’t last year was kind of like yes no and then it got going. I’m comfortable and then the fact that you don’t have to worry about the kicking game. The punter can punt the ball out of you know to for to the forum if you need him to or he could drop it inside the tin and your kicker’s good from I would say what 48 against the Seahawks last year. 55. You’re you’re confident in that. That’s where you Yeah. Last year was about going from worst to average in the kicking game. I wonder if you can weaponize it this year. I wonder if you can really tilt field position. Um yeah, I’m confident in Should be a weapon. Should be a first preseason game. He kicked like a 70 yard or a missile. Should be a weapon. Yes. No doubt. And the dynamic kickoff. I wonder what they choose to do this year. Kick that thing out of the endzone. stealing. No, you can’t get out of No, not out of the end zone. Get that thing out of the end zone, man. We’re not even Boof. Don’t be scared of it. Come on. Kick it out of there. I’m team Cardi off the tea. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I think you get that thing on the ground in the landing zone. Yes. Yeah. I’m I’m I’m team Evans. Kick that thing into the throw. Let’s knock. I think you’re bigger and faster and deeper on your special teams portion of the roster. I want to see those guys go work. I want to see a Why do you want to put me on the field with a short field? Come on now. Short field. 10 yards. What do you that? See, 10 yards. There it is. I mean, if you give away the 35, they’re two first downs or a chunk play away from having three on the board. Kick that thing. Or you could do the dynamic kick and the guy could be running down the sidelines cuz someone’s take my chances. Come on. You know, let’s make sure we do it the right way. Last chance. Last call. Anything you want to say before we we break for the week? No. Uh, just I’m happy that the whole Matthew Stafford back drama has kind of died down some. if he plays well on Sunday, I think it goes away until it comes back up again. Uh, but I have to give a shout out to the quarterback room. Um, I think this is the healthiest that room has been and the most talented it’s been in a while. When you go out and watch them practice, uh, even Stson Bennett, um, they are very athletic and they’re competitive. They compete with each other. Uh, it’s not just Matthew Stafford who is far and away the best like over everyone. Everyone has something to say. So, uh, if something bad does happen, knock on wood, it’s not the end of the world. Although, you’d rather have nine out there. So, I I think that’s the best thing you can say. Uh, that’s another thing that I woke up thinking. Uh, that is something else that gives me calm about this year. Jimmy Garopppolo. Jimmy Garopppolo. And just the health of the quarterback room. It’s interesting. You started by backing yourself out of December. Like, I don’t want to get to the end of the journey until we take care of the front end. I’m kind of the other way around where I came into this thinking I’d like to see the 25 Rams compete for a one seed spot and like I think they’ve got that in them and whether it’s Aller Jackson’s deal or Stafford’s deal or the Packers trading for Micah Parsons I’d still like to see that but that’s not primary for me anymore. I think this group is about just getting back in the dance and being the tough out that they’ve always been. Stafford play 17 or not, are you good to go come wild card weekend or division run weekend? If so, I like the the possibility of ending the season at Levis’s. I I’ll say this, not many teams have a backup quarterback that played in the Super Bowl, started in the Super Bowl, right? Not many teams have a quarterback that beat you six times, right? Like, so you forget about that. Forget about those how good Jimmy was when he played us. And so I that’s what makes me sleep well at night. But to be honest, I’m just happy football’s back. Yes. Right. Like I’m happy to be back here and to talk about the Rams and to have a game on Sunday, a game tonight, a game Friday. I’m happy to see this marathon again. You know, I know it’s it’s not the New York Marathon. It’s bigger than that, right? And to see how the the eb and flows of the game and, you know, being in Detroit a couple years ago and being on the tarmac for 5 hours, not even having idea that we’re on the tarmac for 5 hours. You know what I mean? Like all those things. That’s what I love about being here. That’s what I love about this. It’s just so many different things that are going to happen. And I can’t wait to That’s what I hate about you. You keep bringing that up. You can sleep on an airplane. I can sleep anywhere. I’ll always remember about that flight. Aaron Donald knowing he was done. Yes. Tyler Higgby’s knee shredded. Oh man. And MJD sleeping. Sleeping the whole time. It was like 10 hours. Have we landed? No, we haven’t left yet. Okay. No, I woke up like, why is the sun out? And Demarco’s like, what do you mean? The only thing we know for certain is that half of what we said here today, we will not want to revisit in January because the twists and turns that will go down throughout this journey are unpredictable and uh the Rams are well equipped to handle them. The Rams are well equipped to handle them. Demarco Far Maurice Jones Drew. I’m JB Long. Glad that you can join us all season long right here on Between the Horns presented by your Southern California Toyota dealers. [Music]

Between The Horns crew, J.B Long, D’Marco Farr and Maurice Jones-Drew sit down to discuss standout players they expect to make big plays against the Houston Texans as well as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive strengths. 

0:00 Introductions
0:59 Season outlook
4:09 Matthew Stafford starting vs. Texans
9:19 Creating an efficient running/passing game
14:51 Defensive strengths/ improvements
24:01 Getting 2 scores ahead of opposing team
27:23 Rams offense vs. Texans defense
32:26 Texans offense
37:15 Special Teams
39:05 Final thoughts

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