For all of the problems the St. Louis Rams had on defense - and there were many - one thing you can't fault the players for is faulty tackling. In fact, according to Football Outsiders' research examining broken tackle rates for all 32 NFL teams, the Rams defense had the fewest percentage of plays with broken tackles.
Here's FO's Aaron Schatz:
According to our game charters, St. Louis had the fewest percentage of plays with broken tackles. Quite a surprise, as they were a terrible defense overall, but this data would seem to suggest that there is something to build on there.
Only 4.7 percent of plays against the Rams defense featured a broken tackle.
In recent years, prior to Spagnuolo's coming on board I remember tackling being citing often on this site and other media outlets as a big problem for the Rams. It's anecdotal evidence, but it would seem to suggest that current Rams coaching regime has moved the sticks as far as instilling the fundamentals in their players. Improvements to personnel have also helped...I'm looking at you James Laurinaitis.
Like Schatz suggests in the quote above, it's definitely a good sign for the Rams defense going forward. In the months ahead we'll know what difference the team's offseason moves and individual player growth have had on the defense. I suspect that if the offense can stay on the field with some success, we'll see a much improved unit on the other side of the ball.