After adding Trent McDuffie, Jaylen Watson, Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald this offseason, the Los Angeles Rams looked like a team that could finish 2026 with the best defense in the NFL. Then the injury bug hit.
Of those four big additions, only McDuffie has played all four games up to this point.
Watson missed a game and a half due to a shoulder injury and isn’t certain to play against the Bills on Monday night. Garrett is on injured reserve after having knee surgery and has to miss at least one more game, which will be his fourth. Donald sat out Week 1 and missed Week 4 due to a back injury, though he could be back for the Rams’ next game.
That’s a total of 6.5 games missed by those three players alone. Add in the two games Kam Kinchens missed and
it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen the best version of the Rams’ new-look defense yet.
Despite all the absences on that side of the ball, Los Angeles has still performed exceptionally well defensively.
The Rams have allowed the ninth-fewest points per game (20.8) and second-fewest yards per game (247.5) in the NFL, ranking second against the pass and 11th against the run in terms of yards allowed.
They’ve been excellent on crucial downs, too. The Rams are allowing opponents to convert only 33.3% of the time on third down, the seventh-lowest rate in the NFL. On fourth down, it’s the same story; they’ve allowed 33.3% conversion rate, good for the ninth-lowest.
Pro Football Focus has given the Rams an overall defensive grade of 78.9, the highest of any team in the NFL. Their coverage grade of 85.0 is No. 1 by a mile, with the second-best team's grade being 75.0 (Seahawks). And in terms of other underlying metrics, they're fourth in defensive DVOA and third in EPA/play allowed.
The Rams defense ranks...
— Blaine Grisak (@BGMediaOnSI) October 5, 2026
🔵 4th in DVOA
🟡 3rd in EPA/play
🔵 7th in Success Rate
🟡 2nd in Yards Per Game
🔵 9th in Points Per Game
Ya...Chris Shula is doing pretty good.
Points decide wins and losses, but it’s not entirely the defense’s fault that they’ve given up 21 points per game. The Rams rank 31st in average opponent starting field position, in large part because of the interceptions Matthew Stafford has thrown and the special teams blunders that have given opponents great field position.
In their last three games, the Rams have allowed 182 yards, 257 yards and 172 yards. After giving up 379 to the 49ers in Week 1, the defense has bounced back in a big way.
It helps that they faced Jameis Winston, Bo Nix and Jalen Hurts in those three games, but that shouldn’t diminish the job Chris Shula has done without some of his best players.
In Garrett’s absence, Josaiah Stewart and Wesley Bailey have stepped up. Without Kinchens, it was Jaylen McCollough playing more snaps. After Watson went down, Josh Wallace was thrust into a starting role. And the defense barely missed a beat in the last three games without them.
Shula has made the necessary adjustments to help his unit thrive. More man coverage, more blitzing and overall, a more aggressive approach.
If/when Shula gets his full complement of stars back together, the sky is the limit for the Rams defense. We have yet to see Garrett, Donald and Byron Young all rush the quarterback together. We only saw Kinchens and Watson in the secondary together for one game.
Soon enough, the Rams will hopefully be at full strength and able to show their full potential defensively.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams defense dominating despite missing key players in first 4 games
