Rams DC Chris Shula might use more blitz plays; learn about the new scheme from Eric Williams

[Music] I had to get an expert on a good friend uh I guess you could call him somewhat of a former colleague because we are beat reporters covering the Chargers uh but definitely a good friend a close friend uh and he is the expert he is the wise man uh from Fox Sports covering everything AFC West everything NC West he does it all but he has a close eye on the LA Rams and people have been asking about this here on House of horns what's going to happen with Chris schula what happened with Rahe Morris Le what happened with Aaron Donald Le what can you tell us about the defense here for the LA Rams with Chris schula so we got the expert Eric Williams jumping on the show Eric how' you like that Intro by the way man intro was fire dude like I I need to like record that so I can use it later on I appreciate you and you're right we we we shared uh some some some beers in in different countries so we're definitely yeah yeah Mexico uh when Philip Rivers threw forign exception against the Chiefs right Monday Night Football I guess you kind of have to bring that up huh hey but hey it's not what's up B to Fernando and Dan Danny Ramirez it's uh you talking house of horns so people don't care here but uh Eric you know it is interesting because I like to say colleague but I forget that we're you know somewhat competitors at the time but B reporters feel like colleagues right we're together all the time on the road uh traveling we had a good time at Mexico City esta I forget we're brought together 2018 2019 maybe no not Kobe year right 2018 and 19 I believe and 2018 was a fun year and there goes Fernando get in the comments going uh he is mine and Daniel's friend not yours actually Eric I didn't tell Fernando about this uh I feel kind of behind his back how do you feel about this uh somewhat podcast cheating here uh I'm okay with it but you know it's a little scary being stocked by Fernando but that's all good yeah Fernando has the notific he's on top of it but uh he does everything foros on the beat so I do appreciate that but Eric to get this interview started I ask two questions here and then we'll have Victor jump in to ask you more but you know we saw your story that you wrote for Fox Sports on Chris schula and honestly it was a good read because a lot of people have been asking like you know what to expect and you know we keep saying like maybe similar like he was around for Brandon Staley and rahee Moore he's been around for seven years so we expect Sim similarities and at least the in the foundation you know I saw you mentioned the three four defense and base but I guess from your overall you know impressions of talking Chris Chula what are you expecting from the Rams defense in 2024 yeah I don't expect it to look a lot different than what it's looked like in the past to be H it be honest because like you said he coasted under Raheem he coasted under Brandon Staley he also coasted under Wade Phillips and all those guys ran a three4 scheme or variations of it so I think we're still going to see a lot of similarities however um because you don't have Aaron Donald there I think that's kind of the key piece is like what is he going to do different in order to generate pass rush because Aaron Donald was such a beast inside and kind of play off of him um when I talked to Chris about that he noted that they knew how teams were going to block them because of having to deal with Aaron they could kind of play off of that now you don't have that you know massive productive guy inside you're G to have to figure out different ways to to can uh to get after the the passer you know they drafted Jared verse and Braden FIS as you mentioned those were their top two P picks they bring back Kobe Turner who had nine sacks last year and Brian Young Who had eight sacks last year so they have some pieces it's just kind of figuring out how they're going to put them together I know uh when Wade Phillips was here the first three years coaching that defense they were amongst the the top 10 in terms of Blitz uh last year I think they were like right in the middle so I think they're probably going to Blitz a little bit more which makes a little bit of sense when you have a linebacker like Ernest Jones who's good as a Blitzer um so that might be one of the the pieces key pieces U you know that they want to do to kind of ignite that pass rush last thing I'll talk about is just the type of of the way that he wants a defensive Chris kind of mentioned that you know his Grand coach in the NFL Hall of Famer obviously talked about keeping things simple you know that it's about shedding blocks pursuit to the football and and having guys not have a lot in their head so they can play fast so I expect to have kind of a simple approach with the illusion of complexity uh to make offenses think in terms of what they're doing schematically that's interesting Eric because a lot of rans fans have been shouting for the last couple years at least the Raheem Morris era to Blitz more get out to the quarterback a little more and maybe I'm could I'm just kind of going off I had another question but I'm going to Segway here a little bit and maybe I could ask a little later the one I had planned but I I feel like with the Aaron Donald era like you had a guy who could give you enough you know push and you could do it because you need a lot of help in the back end especially the last couple years with such a young uh defensive back group you lost Jaylen Ramsey last year and maybe you know what if you Blitz you might get burned and and and you'll get in trouble but you know to go off of that like is that something like that you got a good sense or did he mention it a lot you know the blitzing and having more pressure they do have more guys now like you mentioned Jared vers you got Fisk and Kobe Turner and you got Byron young you know Michael Hoy can now be coming off as a rotational pass rush through those situations but do do you get that sense that or more like you know what let's wait and see but do you feel confident about the blitzing being up more in 2024 I think you have to wait and see I think everybody wants to Blitz but you got to be able to hold up in the back end so if you can't hold up in the back end defensively you can't send guys if you're if you're not really sure that you're going to be able to get home and so I think they they're going to experiment during training camp during these preseason games to see what it looks like see if it makes sense you have two older Corners there on on the edge though when you're talking about Darius Williams coming back and and and Trey if he's going to be healthy enough and then same thing with the safety situation you know not a whole lot of experience so that would Le me to believe that maybe they're going to focus more on trying to get there with their front four and maybe there's going to be a lot of pressure on Kobe Turner even though they're trying not to to put him in that role they're already saying he's moving this three Tech so I mean whether or not you wanna you know kind of embrace that I think there's gonna be there's gonna be a lot of pressure on him to kind of be able to generate um you know pass rush on his own one last thing I'll say about that I did talk to Wade Phillips for this story and my sense was that you know from watching from just kind of a reporter's perspective is Aaron Donald would draw double teams and that would free up guys to to get singles to be able to be successful we saw that with with Leonard Floyd he had one of his best seasons as a pro you know because he was getting singled up on the edge but when I talked to to coach Phillips he was like no we're trying to get Aaron singled up so he can win so schematically they're trying to do whatever they can whether it's move Aaron to a tackle to get him to one-on ones or trying to free him up with um with with schemes so that he can win because they know he has the the best chance of of winning and I had never really thought about it like that so if that's the case I wonder if going into this year they're going to be trying to do things to get Kobe Turner singled up so he can win because he's probably their best pass treasure coming back Eric I was I was gonna I had a question for you as well but uh you know listening to you talk about Wade Phillips he you know in the story you mentioned the the uh that he took Chris took uh a lot of you know some things from the different coaches whether it was Brandon Staley whether it was Wade Phillips and then of course Rahe Morris for yourself like just talking to him how do you think all those philosophies can come together in what he wants to implement for this defense well I think the first thing you have to start with is relationships and I think coach raw was so good at getting guys motivated and kind of building that trust on a day in day out basis with the way that he was on the field and then when you talk to guys in terms of his relationships in those meeting rooms so I think in talking to you know sources about Chris that's one of his strengths is he's he's a good relationship Builder you know Ernest mentioned that you know that he felt that Chris kind of got the most out of him as a position coach so I think he kind of brings that with him as a guy that's moving from position coach to now defense coordinator where you're standing in front of everybody and addressing all the guys from all the different uh position groups you know as the defense coordinator I think it helps in terms of chemistry and kind of keeping things similar that he's been there for seven years and knows exactly what Shawn McVey wants he's also you know one of Shawn mcvey's homeboy he played with them at college so those guys probably think similarly in terms of their approach to football and big picture what they want but then I also think you kind of have to add those other experiences obviously with with Coach Phillips because that's who he was with initially when he was with um when he came over from the Chargers to the Rams he actually coached with a year with John Bano who's uh who's also a disciple of Wade Phillips defense so he had that first year with bagano and then came over to the Rams in 2017 once McVey got the job so I think you can't um leave that out either just in terms of you know being with Coach Phillips and everything he learned from him and then you know I think the the key piece with Staley is that Vic fangio defense and kind of keeping the a top on the defense keeping the lid on the defense the the the quarters coverage or or the You Know cover two in ter of having two safeties back um so it's kind of a mixture all that you you don't want to give up explosives so I think you kind of think about that in terms of the secondary coverage but then I also think one last thing I'll add to that is the connectivity from your defensive line to the linebackers to the secondary he's Coast at all three levels and so he understands how all those things are intertwined together which I think is important I think if you remember the conversation with the Niners last year with their defensive coordinator is they didn't feel like there was a connectivity between their secondary and their defensive line that's one of the reasons Shanahan moved on is because really the front seven wasn't happy with what was happening with in that defense and felt like there there was a disconnect and that's why they didn't play well as all 11 I think with the Rams you can feel comfortable that there's going to be connectivity with all three levels of those defense because schula's been there for seven years and he's Coast all three levels and I think that will help them kind of you know learn that defense fast in terms of what he wants to do yeah and that kind of gets me to my next question in terms of we know they lost coach Henny on the defensive line and as you talked about but how important was it for them to keep our rep pleasing we've heard now in the past week that he was now named uh uh you know what was he a coach as well so how does that how did that help for for schula to be able to keep Aubrey Pleasant I think it was huge um you know Aubrey obviously was a guy that interviewed for the job didn't get it the fact that you're able to still keep him on the roster and then you give him like he said that added title of uh Associated head coach or assistant head coach which I'm assuming means more money you got another title um you know those those guys work well together and they know each other and that's one of the things Sean mcve talked about was the experience in terms of the position coaches on that defense you mentioned Obby presant Pleasant who's been with that McVey for a long period of time they bring over GIF Smith who actually was uh the mentor for Coach Henny coach Eric Henderson coach with him uh with the Chargers so you could expect I would think a similar approach with Coach Smith who was a interim head coach for the Chargers it's been around a long period of time uh Greg Williams who actually was a secondary coach with the Chargers and chil and new there you now bring him in to coach linebackers so there's continuity there in terms of those guys know each other and and coach Williams has been in the league a long time and then Chris beak is another guy that's been coaching for a long time as well he was actually uh coaching defensive line with the Seahawks when I covered that team a decade ago so he's been in the league uh a long time as well so just a lot of experience on the defensive side of the football which I think again will help in terms of getting young players up to speed quickly so you can get the the most out of them gilber okay uh Eric I was I was wondering because you know again like me and Victor had a bunch of questions written out and then like we talked to you I like okay let's go this way and go this way because you're giving us so so much information but you know I don't know if it's a good question or not but just hearing you talk about all these different schemes and backgrounds that he's come from you know we mentioned Wade and and Brandon and Raheem and and in the NFL like obviously it's a copycat league and right now that the trend is before it was fanger right now the trend is Mike McDonald and Jesse Mentor you want to have that but like sometimes it's okay to be ahead of the Cur like be ahead and people don't know what to expect like you're you're not known for this type of scheme or whatever and do you think you might get some of that sense where like he's trying new things a lot you you brought that up with the blitzing and the whole Personnel stuff being new players but those different backgrounds is that you know something you think may could be a benefit after the season I think the key thing is versatility it's being able to change week to week based on who you're playing so if you have all these different Tools in your tool bag and you could bring them out and be effective running those things I think it makes you hard uh as a defense to prepare for I think that's one of the strengths for McDonald is he can give you a lot of variations a lot of different types of looks but then they can still get to what they want to get to out of those different pre-nap looks which makes them uh dangerous and so yeah I definitely think Chris can do something similar because of all of the experience they have get as a as a group of coaches um and they're all in the same page it's not like they're they're coming in and they're throwing a bunch of coaches together that have to kind of learn each other first and learn their strengths and weaknesses and then they could kind of go after that these guys already know each other they they know this this defense inside and out and I think that will help as they coach these young guys get up to speed quickly in terms of their approach how they want to coach how they want them to play Down In and down out and then on a week to week basis being able to make adjustments and you know guys are gonna get hurt so it's going to be important that you have depth at those positions that could come in and play close to the potential as a charge a big part of your story Eric was uh uh his grandfather Don schula and you know obviously when you have a name like that in your family you being the grandson of the the old time win head coach of the NFL you would think it would it would be a quicker rise in the in the coaching ranks to be a coordinator and like he took his time and you know did that come about like you know this kind of long rad for you know somebody who has a popular last name like that iconic last name in the NFL and is there some added pressure to being Don schula's grandson you think yeah well I mean he's 38 so that's pretty young to be I forget you know he just started really quick and he started right out of college you know and start you know working his way through um I know he talked about the importance of him being a defensive coordinator at that D3 school at John Carrol which you know there's been a number of guys that have come from that school and and gone on to coaching the NFL Josh McDaniels uh Brandon Staley who he actually replaced at the defense coordinator Tom Tesco who we know played at John Carroll you know there's been a lot of names that have gone through that small division three school which is you know kind of odd The Stadium named after Don Chuka that's that's where he played um but I think for him just being able to to be in control of a defense call plays and be in charge of position groups and kind of setting the tone even though it's at a much smaller level at least gave him a taste of what he's you know he's going to deal with you know now a decade later um you know I think it's kind of part for the course in terms of his rise as a position coach to where he's at now you know he put his time in and you had to you know give him credit for that he started as a quality control coach with the Chargers then you know kind of worked his way up uh as a position coach at at a couple different uh position groups before you know taking over now you know mcfay feels like he's ready for the job um in terms of his grandfather I think he just sees it as an honor you know to to have that schula last name and kind of wants to live up to that Legacy but I don't think he sees it as any added pressure I would say the last thing is is this guy's been you know preparing to be a football coach even though he probably didn't realize it since he's three four years old you know being around his grandfather you has so much knowledge and asking and questions and having that access from such a young age and I mean it's it's probably just been his expectation you know to do something like this and he probably has just a lot of knowledge that he maybe doesn't even realize that he has because of those those conversations he's had with his grandfather over the years we'll ask a couple more Eric and and we'll get you out here but really appreciate the time but Victor you know anything else you want to ask before I kind of give him a little more rapid fire kind of questions yeah yeah and I'll just say this in terms you know we we've seen with the coordinators that it takes them a couple years to implement their defense what is a reasonable expectation for Chris schula this season for the Rams because we know what to expect from the offense but we have no idea like as you said I mean you know you made some great points in terms of you know it's been good to see that you you know going back to one of the things that you pointed out was the team that I thought about was the Panthers last year where it was a bunch of completely you know different coaches here you have a lot of con connectivity with you know between the defensive uh backs coach and then your linebacker coach and now you're defensive coordinator so what is what is a a reasonable expectation for for Chris schula and that defense I think a reasonable expectation is to have a top 15 defense with this group you know if I'm being honest and the reason I say that is because I still look at that secondary and I I still feel like they need they need they have some holes that they have to to replenish there so if the secondary plays better than expected then I think the def def will be be better I think the front Seven's going to be pretty pretty good you know even with with Aaron Donald not being there if Kobe Turner comes back and plays like he did last year along with Bryan young and then you get what you expect from those top two rookies in vers uh in and Braden Fisk one thing I'll say about those two rookies is you know when I covered the 49ers they had Justin Smith and Alden Smith and fist reminds me a little bit of Alden Smith with the way he plays inside and those two guys guys really played well off of each other so if you can get similar type of play in terms of the connectivity of those two guys coming from Florida State and being on the same team now in terms of being able to run games and kind of play off each other which you've seen some of if you've watched some of their YouTube highlights they could be pretty dangerous up front so I think this team is going to be led from their defensive line play if they're as good as I expect they they're going to be up front that's going to help their backend I think top 15 is a is a reasonable expectation because of you like you said new defensive coordinator no Aaron Donald I think this is going to be a team that's going to be led by their offense Sean MC um and then the defense is going to get better as the season goes on but I still I think they'll be in top 10 in sacks I think they were in the bottom third in sacks last year I think they had 41 they were kind of in the middle in terms of their pressure rate I think they're going to be which is kind of weird to say that because Aron's that here but I do feel like they're going to be able to create more consistent pressure because of the pieces they had in the draft Eric you've been very efficient with your answers because I wanted to ask you earlier I remember now about Kobe Turner and you you nailed it saying hey they're going to make a one-on-one matches with him move him all over the line so we appreciate that response and and then right here with your answer you know you know you're a little see sounds like you're a little concerned about the second there you like the defensive front but uh how about you know to end here just to give us your overall view of of the Rams you know they surprised many teams last year to to win 10 games you have that close game against the Detroit Lions but when they when you make the playoffs and you win that many games there there's high expectations to do it again obviously they lost you know Aaron Donald but like you mentioned they had some pieces to the front with Jared vers Braden Fisk and last year puka nula the rookie sensation you got unfortunately kyri Williams is dealing with injuries again but he had a nice season last year Stafford had a nice bounceback Year from 2022 with all the injuries uh but do you see them going back to the postseason do you see them pushing the San Francisco 49ers what's kind of your overall view for this team after the offseason yeah I do see them going back to the postseason again um I was a little higher on the Rams last year than maybe some other folks nationally just because I have so much respect for Shawn McVey as a head coach and I just didn't see him having a team under 500 again because of his approach and I know he was pretty salty with the way that the season went this year before at 5 and 12 and I think that was kind of eating at him so I thought they would win seven or eight games going into it so they exceeded my expectations in terms of getting 10 wins getting into the postseason um and I think Sean's like ready to just continue to hit the gas so I predicted them to go 10 and seven again just because I think the schedule is tough and because of the the the changes on defense I think they might have some hiccups early um it'll be hard for them to press the ners because the Niners roster is so talented in my opinion uh and they bring everybody back but the games that they played against the ners were close they were they were they were right there um so I expect to be competitive um I would be surprised if they win 11 or 12 games but I I feel like um 10 wins to me is is the floor for this team um and I expect them to to not only get in the postseason but to potentially make a deep uh postseason run if things you know go well for him well Eric as you know uh you know our good friend Dan Ando likes to call me a curse so that one year that sha mcve had a losing season I got to cover the team so when I left the beat to go to work for SI I should have known that the rounds are going to be better cuz I think I picked them seven and 10 last year so that's my bad Rams Fans I was the Grim re Reaper in Seattle the first two years I covered the Seahawks they went four and 12 and 5 and 11 and everybody blamed me because it was the first two years I covered the team so I understand your situation G okay uh and then they won Super Bowl right not too long after that wait when when I left okay yeah that's that's tough Eric But Eric last thing anything you want to promote you're doing a great job for Fox Sports and again you're covering the AFC West and the NFC West you got a lot on your play but anything we should be looking out for uh doing a story on on Ricky piol their first round pick for for San Francisco uh and just kind of you know the transition he's making from you know college to pros and just you know kind of getting more of an opportunity because you know Brandon auk is not uh in OTAs right now because he's that in contract talk so I'll have that up uh coming up in a day or two and then also doing something on Trey Benson the running back for the Cardinals and they you know kind of adding to the running back room guy that could be a home run hitter for them in terms of the running game see I like Trey Benson that's why I'm high in the Cardinal people think I'm I'm little little local here on House of horns and comos on the beat because I have them winning nine games maybe that's a little too high uh but I like what they're doing offensively I got him at 8 n i mean I think they're gonna dou their wi to they pretty good yeah the defense is a problem but they added a little more pieces to that to that unit so this is why we could talk Eric to to Eric for days because he covers all all these teams here but Eric I told you 20 minutes it's 25 I'm sorry about that but I'm I'm sure you you had more fun here than what's up B so I think I think we're good I enjoy it either way and I'll enjoy the beer that you buy me when we see you later hey there you go for sure thank you Eric appreciate the time man thank you Eric have a good one guys