Analysis of the Los Angeles Rams, the Detroit Lions’ opponent in Week 1
Nolan Bianchi and Richard Silva of the Detroit News analyze the Detroit Lions’ Week 1 game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Allen Park — Considering he played college football not far from Ford Field, it’s no surprise that the Detroit Lions, looking for a running back this offseason, knew former Michigan star Blake Corum very well.
Corum was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft in April, and the Lions selected Utah’s Sione Vaki in the fourth round. Detroit will no longer have to view Corum as a prospect but as an opponent, as he and the Rams look to beat the Lions in Sunday’s season opener.
“Another player we really liked,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Friday. “We really liked Corum. We brought him here, we had the local day and all that, got to sit with him. And of course he was in our backyard, so we certainly saw a lot of him.”
Scottie Montgomery talks about former Michigan RB Blake Corum.
Scottie Montgomery talks about former Michigan RB Blake Corum.
“I have a lot of respect for his game and his background – he’s just one of those football guys. He runs hard, he’s smart, he’s explosive, he’s tough, he’s fast and he’s going to fit in well with them. He’s going to fit in well over there. The two defenders they have, I think, are going to be a real challenge.”
Corum joins forces in LA with Kyren Williams, who posted 1,350 yards from scrimmage and 15 total touchdowns as a sophomore in 2023. Corum, on the other hand, has amassed more than 3,700 rushing yards in his four-year career at Michigan, including a total of 2,708 yards in 2022 and 2023.
“Great player,” Lions assistant head coach and running backs coach Scottie Montgomery said Friday. “Great contact balance. Plays with really, really high speed. His vision is unbelievable, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. I liked a lot of things about him. I’ve known him for a long time. I’ve been able to watch him for a long time. He’s getting better and better. I know his work ethic, I know how he was raised. Man, I liked a lot of things about him. There’s not a lot I didn’t like about him.”
Plan for new kickoff
Detroit will soon get its first taste of the new kickoff rules in the regular season, and special teams coordinator Dave Fipp has a plan.
A quick refresher: There is now a “landing zone” where the kicker’s ball must land. It starts at the goal line and ends at the 20-yard line. If a ball doesn’t reach the landing zone or goes out of bounds, the receiving team gets it at the 40-yard line. If the ball sails into the end zone for a touchback, the receiving team starts at the 30-yard line.
“We are certainly going into this game with a great feeling,” Fipp said on Friday.
One problem Fipp and other coordinators are running into is that there isn’t enough data to make decisions. The rule was introduced during the preseason, but those games don’t count, so teams use them to experiment with different strategies.
“In the preseason, everyone returns the ball,” Fipp said. “Some of that data says there are guys who return the ball five yards into the end zone just because they say, ‘Hey, we want to play through the game in the preseason and get a feel for what it looks like.’ Well, in the regular season, they might not do that. There are teams that obviously do shorter kicks in the preseason, and in the regular season, they might not do that.
“There are teams like us that try to hit every kick and find every opportunity to cover the kick.”
Fipp said the new rules were more beneficial to the return team than the kicking team. He used an analogy to illustrate his point.
“If you bet $100 — not that we like to talk about betting here — but if you bet $100 and you don’t concede when the ball goes to the 30 … well, for every yard you stop them (before) the 30, you get a dollar back,” Fipp said. “I would say it’s hard to get $10 back on that play and a tackle at the 20, but on the (other) side, there’s 70 yards you’re potentially giving up … so it’s that risk-reward thing.”
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