Turf Show Times: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
Around SBN: The USA TODAY/Bloody Elbow Top 50 MMA Fights Ever, I


spread the word

Not their Forte: Rams have to keep Bears runner in check this week

After getting easily brushed aside the last three weeks, the Rams run defense will be feeling some heat to up their performance level.

To right the ship this week, the defensive front will be studying tape of Bears rookie RB Matt Forte. The Tulane product has become the Bears main running threat with 205 carries. Forte's one of only 4 running backs in the league with more than 200 carries. The Bears' next leading rusher in terms of carries is Kevin Jones ('memba him?) with 34, so, yeah, plenty of film on Matt Forte. Here are his stats:


Rushing Receiving
G Rush Yds Y/G Avg Lng TD Rec Yds Y/G Avg Lng TD
2008 - Matt Forte 10 205 777 77.7 3.8 50 4 43 322 32.2 7.5 19 3

As you can see, he's also a receiving threat. The Bears must be thinking they have a pretty good matchup against the Rams tackles and smallish linebackers, especially with Chris Draft out at least another week.

The Bears are so dependent on Forte that he accounts for 33.9 percent of their total yardage.

Forte isn't the flashy superstar running back in the Steven Jackson mold. He's much more of a grinder (a guy I'd use as part of a tandem) who needs his o-line to make things work. Looking at the stats from Football Outsiders, you can see that the Bears have one of the league's lower percentages of running plays going for 10+ yards. The Bears run up the middle about half the time, and have had success in getting yardage through that lane.

The Bears' passing game can't be ignored, but it is such that the Rams can use a few more 8 man fronts to limit the damage. Whatever Xs and Os they use, the Rams front seven all need to make a strong case for the sake of their careers.

0 recs | Comment 0 comments | Share on Facebook Digg!

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about St. Louis Rams.
Start posting about the Rams »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Me_and_riley_small
My new favorite Ram: Mike Karney
Small
Madden rankings for NFC West teams
Small
Let's put some excitement to the organization!
Small
New players for Rams
77687956_small
Brandon Marshall anyone?
Torryholt_small
If The Rams Suck This Year...
Small
Vick to Rams
53208714_small
Rosenbloom= Liar?
53208714_small
Colbert Super Bowl prediction for '09
53208714_small
The Dome and top 25% of stadiums

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini

Cover the web with Turf

Add a little Turf to your internet!

Become a fan of TST on Facebook.

Follow TST and talk more Rams on Twitter.


Managers

Turfshowtimes_small VanRam

Editors

Elvis_andrus_small_small 3k

Authors

Wildcat_small Tackle Box

Uncleface_small taiko

Official Partner of Yahoo! Sports