WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. — There was essentially a chuckle of disbelief from reporters when Rams head coach Sean McVay announced last Wednesday that inside linebacker Nate Landman would not practice last week and eventually miss the game against the Raiders on top of the slew of injuries he announced two days prior on Monday's virtual availability.
"It's crazy, right?" McVay said last Wednesday while reading off the injury report.
For the front seven alone, the Rams were without three starters against the Raiders that played the week prior in nose tackle Poona Ford for the entire season, defensive end Kobie Turner for multiple weeks and Landman for the week under concussion protocol — not to mention outside linebacker Myles Garrett who hasn't played since going on Injured Reserve after Week 1.
McVay and the entire locker room knew it needed to be a collective effort to step up, and they adopted a next-man-up mentality across the lineup. Against the Raiders last week, the Rams defense held Las Vegas to 48 total rushing yards, 1-for-5 in the red zone, 3-for-14 on third down and 2-for-5 on fourth down.
"It was a great reflection of the collective," McVay said on Monday when asked if the defensive success was a result of one player or the collective group. "I thought (nose tackle) Ty Hamilton did a great job. I thought he was really disruptive on some early downs. I thought (defensive end) Tyler Davis made his plays, which he's earned the right where we consistently have been able to count on him. I thought it was awesome to see (defensive end) Larrell Murchison have some really good productive snaps and then defensive ends (Braden) Fiske and Aaron (Donald), you really felt their presence. All five of those interior defensive linemen were active. You felt (outside linebacker Byron Young) on the edge. (Outside linebackers) Josaiah (Stewart), Wes Bailey had some really good rushes that were encouraging. Then I thought our inside linebackers were excellent. I thought Omar Speights, you felt his presence all day. And I thought Shaun Dolac played really well also."
As evident by McVay's answer, the Rams leaned on everyone to step up in the defensive front. Rather than one individual taking to brunt of the work, it was a showcase of the collective and depth the Rams have.
"Obviously, you're not going to replace Kobie and Poona with one guy," defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. "You're going to kind of rotate guys through, guys step in, switching spots. I thought AD and Fiske kind of led the way, but Murch, he's played a lot of football for us. Ty Hamilton's played a lot of football for us. Tyler Davis has always had a huge role every single week, really since his rookie year. So, a lot of those guys, it wasn't like guys that are new and playing for the first time. Those guys have played a lot of football and they stepped up, just like we expected them to."
Speights ended with five total tackles and two for loss as Dolac played his second-most snaps on defense. Donald and Fiske also contributed heavily to the success of the defense, Donald now with the ninth-best pass rush grade (76.5) among defensive linemen, per PFF, and Fiske adding his first sack of the season against the Raiders.
"We played well. We can always play better," Donald said on Thursday. "We just have to keep building off of that every single week and not allow ourselves to be comfortable nor satisfied. There's a lot of football left. I think we played well last week, but we always have room for improvement so we just have to keep getting better and building off that."
Three players that stepped into even bigger roles were Murchison, Hamilton and Davis. They were all players that were mentioned often about stepping up with absences on the interior. Both Murchison and Hamilton played the most snaps they have all season in the game against the Raiders and all three finished with at least a tackle.
For them, it was simply about stepping up when the team needed it and playing for their brothers.
"We break it down on 'family' every day," Murchison told therams.com. "When one goes down, we got to just be able to step up and take care of our brother. We're just playing for Kobie, playing for Poona. We're just so together that we didn't even blink an eye. ... We have each other's back when one of us falls down. So that's kind of how it is, that's our mindset, just a family mindset, and take care of our business, whoever it is."
"I just want to take this opportunity, do it for them, and be able to do my best part and ability to make an impact for this team," Hamilton told therams.com. "That's exactly what I want to do, I want to go out there, play hard, play tough and produce for my teammates."
As for the outside linebackers, Young and Stewart have both had increased roles and responsibilities with Garrett on Injured Reserve. But Young felt like there was even more of an onus on them to step up their game, in addition to knowing and the three on the interior would do the same.
"It's about understanding the situation that we're in and we gotta keep it going, we gotta understand that at the end of the day it's next man and up," Young said. "Those guys definitely been prepared and they've been just waiting for the opportunity, and it came available."
Across the board, the mindset was consistent heading into the game. Everyone wanted to elevate their game, and the result on the field was a collective showcase of how the next-man-up and family mindset works for the Rams defense.
