...relative to the rest of the league, at least. The league took a step to improve player safety in the offseason by outlawing the wedge on kickoff returns. That move eliminates some of the most violent collisions in the game, and indirectly, helps the Rams out on special teams.
That's because the Rams here in St. Louis have rarely, if ever, utilized the wedge effectively on returns or attacked it well on coverage. You can blame that on several things. The Rams have preferred smaller, faster players at the LB and DB positions, which populate a lot of kickoff units. The only big guy on Rams special teams I ever saw as a decent blocker (very good, actually), was Jeff Zgonina during the GSOE heyday. Otherwise, no slugger in the middle for the Rams to spearpoint a return. And if we saw a small DB try to run around the wedge only to give up a great big lane for a long return once, we saw it a thousand times. Mike Martz supposedly wouldn't allow certain players to be used on special teams, further cutting down the talent level, and after the late Frank Gansz, the Rams have had mediocre special teams coaching at best. Usually worse.
Despite the carousel of head and special teams coaches in and out of Rams Park the last decade, the Rams have always been a finesse team on kickoff returns. The NFL rule change favors the Rams' longtime approach.
The Rams may not improve a lot on kickoff returns in the near future, but the rest of the league is going to start coming back to them.
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