Finally the Defense is Getting Noticed

Not much has been said about the defense as they quietly rise of the ranks and maybe that's a good thing because then that means the defense is catching some of these teams off guard.

It's nice though to realize though, that we are finally building a defense that other teams are starting to fear and maybe even respect. Here's a little about out new defense.

There's a chill in the air, the leaves are turning, the baseball Cardinals are in the playoffs. Nothing new there when it comes to mid-October in these parts.

But something radically different is taking place on the football field. Two words that haven't been associated with the Rams' defense in a long time are suddenly apropos: Top 10.

Through six games this season, the Rams rank fifth in scoring defense and seventh in total defense in the National Football League. One must go back more than a decade — back to when most of the current Rams players were in grade school — to find the last time that's happened:

• The 2001 NFC championship squad finished seventh in scoring defense and third in total defense.

• The 1999 Super Bowl championship squad finished fourth in scoring defense and sixth in total defense.

• The 1998 Rams finished 10th in total defense.

That's it. In the first 17 seasons of "St. Louis" Rams football, those are the only teams to finish in the top 10 in either category. Otherwise, defense has pretty much been a lost art. The Rams have finished 24th or lower in scoring defense 12 times since the move to St. Louis in '95. They have finished 21st or lower eight times in total defense over that span.

Scoring defense ranks teams according to points allowed; total defense ranks teams according to yards allowed. The Rams are allowing 18.5 points and 311.5 yards a game this season. So even though the sample size remains relatively small with 10 games still to be played, the defensive turnaround has been just short of astounding so far.