Do the St. Louis Rams Have a Top 10 Defense in the NFL?

A season ago, the St. Louis Rams made a tremendous leap on the defensive side of the ball. They improved from 29th in the league in yards allowed to 14th a season ago. For the 2011 NFL season, can the Rams finish in the top 10 in yards allowed per game?

To analyze whether or not the Rams can make this leap into the category of elite defenses, I will look at whether or not the Rams defense has improved this season, how free agent additions will help, and how the schedule will effect the St. Louis defense.

Rams' Defense as a Whole

Last season, if you told me the Rams defense would finish 14th, I would've called you a fool. Unexpected contributions from veteran and young players alike made the Rams defense as good as they were.

Veteran defensive lineman Fred Robbins and James Hall played huge roles in St. Louis' success.

When Robbins came to town it appeared that he would be a short term fill-in and a mentor to the young Ram defense. Fred Robbins had other plans.

Robbins was the anchor of what was otherwise a suspect group of defensive tackles. James Hall was able to have a career year at defensive end, totaling 10.5 sacks. It wasn't just the sack numbers though. His improvement made Chris Long better on the other end.

Chris Long and Bradley Fletcher were the two key young players that made huge strides last season. Long set new career highs in sacks with 8.5 and forced fumbles with three.

In the secondary, Fletcher collected four interceptions and 75 tackles. The most impressive stat with Fletcher is that opponents broke his tackles only 1.5% of the time.

This season, I believe the Rams will take a step forward in the run stopping department, but there is potential for a step back in pass defense.

The free agent additions that the Rams have made so far this season have been primarily to help out their run defense.

They have added defensive tackles to create some competition, and have added several outside linebackers with the hope that one will step up.

What they have not done, however, is address the secondary. Losing the ball hawking OJ Atogwe could come back to bite the Rams. 

Adding Quintin Mikell to the secondary will help the Rams get better against the run, but he isn't an excellent pass defender.

This wouldn't be an issue if there was another safety on the roster who could focus on the pass.

The projected starter opposite Mikell is either Darian Stewart or Craig Dahl. Both players, like Mikell, focus on playing in the box and stopping the run. Steve Spagnuolo probably knows what he is doing, but having no ball hawking presence at safety worries me.

As a whole, the Rams defense is probably more talented this season. They addressed their major needs on defense at defensive tackle and outside linebacker through free agency. The improvement in pass defense will have to come from a constant pass rush created by Chris Long, James Hall, and Robert Quinn.

Free Agent Acquisitions

Through free agency, the Rams were able to replace talent with talent and average players with talent. By doing this, the only gripe is that they have become an older team.

Replacing talent with talent was the biggest achievement by far by the St. Louis Rams. When news broke in the spring that OJ Atogwe had signed with the Redskins, it left St. Louis with a huge hole in their defense.

The best option would have been to add another young ball-hawking safety. That option wasn't available, so the Rams grabbed the best safety on the market in Quintin Mikell. He won't play the same role that Atogwe did, but he is a proven veteran that will help stop the run.

Defensive tackles Justin Bannan and Daniel Muir will likely rotate at defensive tackle along with Fred Robbins and Gary Gibson. Bannan could prove to be a steal for the Rams. He is a veteran lineman, similar to Robbins, who has been undervalued for most of his career. He started a season ago for the Broncos, and was a consistent rotation player while he was with the Baltimore Ravens.

Ben Leber and Brady Poppinga may be the short term answer at outside linebacker. Both are guys that have been around the league and have a lot of experience. We know that they can play, it's just a matter of are they better than the linebackers of the past. I believe that they are better than the previous linebackers, and that it will show in the stat sheet.

Schedule

Is there a more dreaded schedule in the NFL than that of the St. Louis Rams? If there is than I want to see it.

There is no doubt that it will be tough to overcome the schedule, but it appears to be very doable for the Rams. While they likely won't shut down every team they face, they will have their moments of greatness.

After getting blown out by the Detroit Lions a season ago 44-6, the Rams held the Chargers to 287 yards and 17 points. That Chargers team averaged 395 yards and 27 points a game. Talk about resilience.

While at first glance the Rams schedule looks terrible, they could be in a lot of those games until the end.

Let's look at week 1. The Rams will take on an Eagles team that is really struggling to find themselves this preseason. Mike Vick has not been the same as he was a season ago. The Rams could very well take advantage of some early season mistakes.

The very next game the Rams will play the Giants. Steve Spagnuolo has the advantage of knowing some of his old team's tricks. Not to mention that Eli Manning turned the ball over 30 times a season ago. It could be a field day for the Rams defense.

In week 7, St. Louis has to play the Saints. I'll admit it, I think that the Rams could have a lot of trouble in this game. The reason to be optimistic is that Drew Brees threw a career high 22 interceptions a season ago. Plus, this Saints team got beat by the lowly Cleveland Browns a year ago.

Wrap-Up

Most NFL fans would never think to categorize the St. Louis Rams defense as elite. With all of the headlines around the Ram offense, the defense tends to go unnoticed. Here's a heads up that this St. Louis defense will be good this season. Really good. It wouldn't shock me, and it shouldn't shock you after reading this article, if at the end of week 17 the Rams are in the top 10 defenses for total yards allowed.