THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams’ defense isn’t often embarrassed and is rarely humbled.

Its veterans have been one of the NFL’s best units for the past few years, and they’ve been among the best again this season. Even after the past 64 minutes 2 seconds of playing time.

The Rams (4-7) flew to New England on Friday after a week of rededication and recovery from their most humiliating defensive game in years. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints dropped 49 points and 555 yards last weekend in Los Angeles’ sixth loss in seven games.

“It’s going to tell a lot about us this week,” said cornerback Trumaine Johnson, the Rams’ highest-paid player. “After that game last week, hopefully we go out there and compete. Man, I really don’t like going back and talking about it. But everything wasn’t working, as a whole defense.”

Combined with the Miami Dolphins’ two long scoring drives in the final minutes to win a game otherwise dominated by Los Angeles’ defense two weeks ago, the Rams have given up nine touchdowns and 707 yards on their opponents’ last 15 drives.

Johnson realizes that’s an inauspicious way to go into another long trip and a cold-weather game against Tom Brady. The Rams can’t change much about their personnel or schemes in such a short time, but are hoping the embarrassment will spark a return to form.

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“Sometimes you get a wake-up call,” defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “We’ve been pretty dominant for four or five weeks, and all of a sudden that wakes you up. I haven’t had any problem holding their attention in the meetings this week.”

The numbers are grim: New Orleans’ 555 yards were the third-most allowed in the 80-year-old franchise’s history. It was easily the Rams’ worst defensive game under Williams, the third-year coordinator, or Coach Jeff Fisher, who needs a huge finish to avoid his fifth straight losing season. The Saints’ 49 points were the most allowed by the Rams since 2002, and one fewer than Los Angeles gave up in its previous four games combined.

The reasons are varied. Middle linebacker Alec Ogletree acknowledges his defense wasn’t lined up properly on several key plays, while Williams alluded to young players making positional mistakes that cost dearly.

But if the Rams’ mental toughness was dented by the failures, they haven’t indicated it during the week of practices for the Patriots.

“We definitely were mad about it, and disappointed,” defensive lineman Aaron Donald said. “But we know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to eliminate the mistakes, and we’ve got to play better. That’s not the way we play. We know that.”

Johnson and the Rams’ secondary realize they’ve got the most work to do. Including Miami’s final two drives, the Rams have yielded nearly 20 percent of all the yards passing they’ve allowed in the entire season over the past 41/2 quarters.


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