By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

It has been quite awhile since the Rams last put a game in the hands of their defense, but that’s exactly what they did Sunday afternoon in Arizona.

And to the credit of that revamped St. Louis defense, it did the job when it needed to. The Rams held the Cardinals to four field goals and were able to keep Arizona from scoring on a last-minute drive to preserve a 17-12 victory at Sun Devil Stadium.

“It would have been nice to hold them to three or four and out in their territory and let our offense take a knee,” strong safety Adam Archuleta said. “But this was a good test for our defense. I think we kind of needed that to get some confidence. I’m glad it ended up this way.”

There have been few Rams’ teams in recent years that anyone would rather see the defense on the field than the offense with the game on the line. Of course, anytime a team has a lead it would prefer to have its offense on the field to run the clock out, but it’s a change of pace to hear one of the Rams’ defensive leaders saying that they wanted to be on the field.

That is the type of change that could pay huge dividends down the road for a team that has spent the better part of the past year searching for a defensive identity. That’s not to say that the Rams boast the best defense in the league, but after a couple of weeks, it certainly stacks up among the top half of the league.

With a pair of Monday night games still to be played, the Rams sit at No. 15 in total defense, allowing 298 yards per game. But a further glimpse at where those yards have come from would seem to indicate that St. Louis has been even better in those two games against San Francisco and Arizona.

The 49ers boosted their yardage total with the help of a number of trick plays, including a pass by receiver Arnaz Battle that netted 24 yards. The Cardinals had modest numbers in Sunday’s game until they were able to post almost 80 yards on their frantic, last-minute drive.

But the biggest difference so far for the Rams defense resides in the front seven, where the defensive line is getting push on passing downs and eating up blockers on run plays and the improved linebacker crew is hitting its fills and punishing the running backs.

Before Monday night’s games, the Rams ranked fourth in the league against the run, allowing just 58 yards per game on the ground. Some might scream that is because St. Louis has yet to play a premier back the likes of Shaun Alexander or Priest Holmes, but the fact is that the Rams still have to do their job against the run, something that was difficult a season ago.

“Who knows?” coach Mike Martz said. “You still have to play, and if you are good, you still have to make those plays.  They are competing very well, and they are getting better every week.  So, that’s all you can ask for.”

The performance of the defensive line has clearly set the tone for the rest of the defense. Take Sunday’s victory as an example. Defensive end Leonard Little and defensive tackle Jimmy Kennedy probably would have earned the team’s Most Valuable Defensive Player of the Week any other week, but they were forced to defer to a teammate. That teammate? Defensive tackle Ryan Pickett, who posted four tackles, five assists, two sacks, a forced fumble and a quarterback hit in the official tape-reviewed statistics.

The front four has wasted no time in establishing itself, pushing opposing lines around and making the rest of the defense’s job that much easier. After the Arizona game, Martz said his group on the line is almost unblockable right now.

“There’s no comparison, our defensive front is light years ahead of where it was a year ago,” Martz said. “I think the combination of [Brandon] Green and [Anthony] Hargrove on that end has really helped us replace Grant [Wistrom], in that respect.  It keeps us fresh.  Leonard [Little], right now, is playing better than he’s ever played.”

Pickett says that’s how it should be.

“That’s how we feel,” Pickett said. “We feel like whenever we come out and play we are going to have a good game. We feel like there is nobody that should be able to block us.”

It hasn’t hurt the defensive line to have a stouter group of linebackers backing it up every week, either. The offseason additions of Dexter Coakley and, especially middle linebacker Chris Claiborne have paid immediate dividends.

Claiborne has been everything the team expected inside and has provided the type of physical presence at middle linebacker that the Rams haven’t had since the days of London Fletcher.

“Anything inside the tackle, he just kind of splatters it,” Martz said.

Claiborne’s presence has helped Pisa Tinoisamoa be more active on the outside and given the youngest member of the linebacking corps more freedom to fly to the ball.

“The linebacker play makes all the difference in the world,” Martz said. “It’s paramount to everything. They know the defense that much better and they’re disciplined at what they are doing. It’s not even remotely the same.”

With the front seven getting that kind of credit, it could be easy to overlook the play of a secondary that has faced its share of problems before the season even started. When cornerback Jerametrius Butler was lost for the season with a knee injury, the concerns about the secondary increased immediately.

But DeJuan Groce has been a pleasant surprise in the first two games. He was solid against the 49ers and again against the Cardinals and made a phenomenal interception in the second quarter to help keep momentum for the Rams.

Archuleta is stout against the run and looks more like the Archuleta of old at his more natural strong spot. While the secondary has fallen victim to a number of injuries, including enough against Arizona to force Chris Johnson into action, it has been able to hold up fine, allowing 240 yards per game, which is 22nd in the league. Those numbers aren’t great, but they are buoyed by the defense’s ability to get to the quarterback (seven sacks and three forced fumbles).

“When you’re playing that well against the run it affords you the ability to play more coverage type things in the back end,” Martz said. “It’s significant. If you can play the run with seven guys, that’s a big deal.”
Little and Co. know that the Rams are only two games into the season and have plenty left to prove, but that all goes with the territory.

“It’s just two games in the season,” Little said. “We’ll see in week 10, week 11 if it’s the same way but these first two weeks we have played great.”