After starting 1-3 and struggling badly against the pass on defense, the Los Angeles Rams thought it was a good time to shake up the secondary. They made several changes to the defensive backfield on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers, including the decision to bench Tre’Davious White by making him a healthy scratch for the first time in his career.
Offensively, the Rams mostly kept the status quo. However, Blake Corum did take over as the No. 2 running back behind Kyren Williams. He replaced Ronnie Rivers in that role, playing a season-high 11 snaps in the 24-19 loss.
We broke down the snap counts below, starting with the offense.
Offense
After playing the third-most snaps of the Rams’ receivers last week, Demarcus Robinson played most of the game on Sunday, only missing two snaps. Jordan Whittington was a close second with a 92% snap share, and that was with missing the end of the game due to a shoulder injury. Tutu Atwell was WR3 again, with Tyler Johnson (11 snaps) and Xavier Smith (8 snaps) operating as the reserves.
At running back, Kyren Williams played 86% of the snaps, which is about his average for the year. Corum, not Ronnie Rivers, was his backup, with the rookie playing a season-high 11 snaps. He touched the ball six times on those 11 plays, rushing for 25 yards on five carries and catching an 8-yard screen pass.
Colby Parkinson remains the No. 1 tight end, playing 79% of the snaps. Hunter Long played 22% and Davis Allen played 4%, so the Rams did mix in some 12 personnel again on Sunday.
All five starting linemen played the entire game again, which is a good sign for their continuity.
Defense
The defense is where the biggest changes were made by the coaching staff, specifically in the secondary. White was benched after four games of being a starter, sitting this game out as a healthy scratch. In his place, the Rams gave Ahkello Witherspoon a prominent role (81%) and Darious Williams played 49% of the snaps in his season debut. Cobie Durant was a major factor in this game, playing all but three snaps.
Josh Wallace was also given a big opportunity as an undrafted rookie, playing 31 snaps, mostly as the nickel corner in the “star” role. That allowed Quentin Lake to be a more traditional safety, once again playing every snap on defense alongside Kamren Curl.
You’ll notice Kamren Kinchens’ name is missing from the list above and that’s because he was the other defensive back benched by Chris Shula. The rookie had been struggling in place of John Johnson III, so the Rams took him out of the lineup and gave him zero defensive snaps. That opened the door for Jaylen McCollough to play more, getting on the field for 15 snaps, coming up with a key pick-six on one of those plays.
At inside linebacker, it was still Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom manning the middle, but Reeder played just 86% of the snaps despite being the signal caller with the green dot. Rozeboom played 71% of the game as the No. 2 linebacker.
Byron Young continues to be the top option at edge rusher, playing 80% of the snaps. Jared Verse and Michael Hoecht were almost an even split, with Verse playing 69% and Hoecht plating 64%. They were the only three edge rushers again.
Kobie Turner played 81% of the snaps as the top defensive lineman, with Braden Fiske being the next-closest player at 51%. Bobby Brown, Neville Gallimore and Tyler Davis continue to rotate along the front, with Jonah Williams playing one snap in his debut with the team.
