The Los Angeles Rams have built their pass rush and front seven from the inside out. Their strength is on the interior with Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh and Michael Brockers, while the edge rushers leave plenty to be desired.

That’s shown through four weeks with Samson Ebukam and John Franklin-Myers being the only outside linebackers with sacks this season (two combined). On the year, the Rams as a team have just eight sacks total, which is tied for 22nd in the NFL with just six teams having fewer.

On the surface, that would appear to be a huge concern. They don’t seem to be getting to the quarterback often enough, especially with two All-Pros up front. That’s hardly the case, though.

Sure, it’d be nice to have 18 sacks like the league-leading Bears, but the Rams are pressuring QBs more than any other team.

As found by Chris Trapasso of the Buffalo News, the Rams have pressured quarterbacks on 65 of 157 dropbacks – good for a rate of 41.4 percent. That leads the league while the 65 total pressures are the fourth-most in the NFL. The numbers were compiled by Pro Football Focus.

Incredibly, of those 65 total pressures, Donald had 13 of them on Thursday night against the Vikings – a career high for the Defensive Player of the Year. Brockers and Suh added 10 more total in Week 4, so 23 of the 65 pressures generated by the Rams came from those three in one game.

That just goes to show how important they are to the overall success of the defense, not just the pass rush. But how can the Rams turn those pressures into sacks? That’s easier said than done, but part of the fault falls on opposing quarterbacks.

They’re getting the ball out so quickly because of how disruptive Donald, Suh and Brockers are up front, opting to take checkdowns and short passes rather than taking the time to let routes develop downfield.

There isn’t much the Rams can do about that other than covering even tighter on the outside and forcing quarterbacks to hold the ball. Again, easier said than done.

Regardless, don’t be concerned about the lack of sacks thus far. As long as the Rams are generating pressure, poor decisions by quarterbacks will continue to happen, thus elevating the play of the defense.