Bill Belichick Reveals Three Big Rams Changes Since Super Bowl LIII

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his players will play against the Los Angeles Rams, and the legendary coach used the opportunity to talk about the changes they made since Super Bowl LIII.

The 2020 Rams team looks pretty similar to the 2018 NFC Championship team. Well, it’s not really identical.

“There’s some carryover offensively from the Rams,” coach Belichick said Monday in a video conference. “Defensively, they’ve changed coordinators from Wade (Phillips) to (Brandon) Staley and changed special teams coordinators from (John) Fassel to (John) Bonamego. So I’d say there’s some pretty significant changes there in two of the phases.”

Bill Belichick lists the greatest Rams changes

Offense

Quarterback Jared Goff is leading the 8-4 Rams, playing under head coach Sean McVay. Slot receiver Cooper Kupp missed the Super Bowl due to a torn ACL, and his presence is a big change. Kupp leads Rams receivers with his 74 catches on 105 targets for 836 yards and two touchdowns. Pro Football Focus ranks him as the 20^th-highest-graded receiver.

Robert Woods (71-764-5), Josh Reynolds (39-509-2), and rookie Van Jefferson (15-170-1) round out the Rams’ receiving unit. Tight ends Tyler Higbee (32-345-4) and Gerald Everett (34-342-1) played with the team in 2018.

“Offensively, it’s a lot of the core things that we saw a couple years ago, but Sean’s broadened the offense,” Belichick said. “He’s brought in some different things, and of course seeing Kupp in this game. We didn’t see him two years ago. He certainly makes a big difference.”

Rams replaced Todd Gurley with Darrell Henderson, rookie Cam Akers, and Malcolm Brown.

Defense

Defensive tackle Aaron Donald is in the middle of another brilliant season. The two-time NFL Defensive player of the Year will enter Thursday’s game ranked second in the NFL in sacks (11) and ties for fourth in quarterback hits (22). PFF ranks him as the fourth-highest graded player. He trails Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, and Wyatt Teller.

“He’s an outstanding player,” Belichick said Tuesday. “He’ll wreck a game. There’s no play he’s not a factor on, and he’s right in the middle of the defense. You can’t really get away from him on any run or pass play. You’ve got to deal with him and block him on every play. So he’s definitely a major factor in the game.”

New coordinator Staley has Los Angeles ranked in the top five:

Yards allowed per game (second)
Yards allowed per play (first)
Points allowed per game (fifth)
Rushing yards allowed per game (third)
Yards allowed per carry (fifth)
Passing yards allowed per game (first)
Yards allowed per pass attempt (first)
Sack rate (fifth)
Third-down defense (second)
Defensive DVOA (fifth)

“They’re obviously a very good defense,” Belichick said. “They are the top of the league in almost every category. They’re hard to move the ball against.”

Special teams

Los Angeles has Johnny Hekker. He is the best punter in the NFL. However, their kick/punt coverage is pretty suspect this season. Los Angeles ranks 30^th in yards allowed per kickoff return and yards allowed per punt return. New England has great success in the return game. The Rams are on their third kicker. They moved from Sam Sloman to Kai Forbath to Matt Gay.