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Week 1 will bring surprises. But to be Professional Grade is to be consistent. @SBNation: Who will be consistent all season? #GMCPlaybook
— Marshall Faulk (@marshallfaulk) September 4, 2014
Good question, Marshall.
If there's a rock for this Rams team, it's that defensive line. Loaded with talent, and capable of changing the course of a game in a single play.
Check out how regularly Chris Long generated pressure on quarterbacks last season. He finished the year with eight and a half sacks. Also important and more telling was that he had 10 QB hits and 46 pressures (per PFF). The year before that, he had 64 pressures to go with 11.5 sacks. He set a career high in sacks in 2011 with 13, adding another 70 pressures for good measure.
Those numbers are particularly frightening when you factor in Robert Quinn's production last season. He had 72 pressures to go with his 19 sacks.
Their stats are impressive, but it's way more important that they're able to perform like that on a week-to-week basis.
Join the #GMCPlaybook discussion at sbnation.com/sponsored-gmc-playbook and on Twitter by following @thisisgmc & @marshallfaulk.