The Dallas Cowboys are about to find out how different this Rams defense is

WOODLAND HILLS — The sun sits higher here. Hotter. More exposed. 

The Rams traded the manicured soccer pitch of Loyola Marymount's grass, hightailed up the 405 and the 101 home, for the familiar bake of their home facility Saturday, and the change of scenery brought a change in temperature. 

Sean McVay felt it. His defense felt it too.

"It's good," Sean McVay said of the return. "It's a little bit hotter out here, but it's good to be back home."

Back home. Back to work. Back to the business of building a defense that might just be the best of the McVay era.

The head coach stood on the sideline and watched his defense do something he hadn't seen all camp. They suffocated the offense. They turned one of the most potent offenses in the NFL into an impotent one. 

They forced a handful of turnovers in a single practice. They made throwing and catching look like a foreign language.

"Oh yeah, defense was outstanding," McVay said. "There was great coverage, some great individual plays, disrupting timing and rhythm. It was a great day for the defense. Offensively, they were able to run the football with some success, but throwing and catching was a real struggle. That was a real credit to great defensive play. I was really pleased with the way that our first defense looked."

The secondary had its best day of training camp. The front four wreaked havoc. And at the center of it all stood a man who might be the most disruptive force in football.

Myles Garrett is built different.

Duh.

Braden Fiske learned that truth the hard way. The defensive end who had to watch Garrett miss four practices due to lower body soreness got a front-row seat when the reigning Defensive Player of the Year returned. 

And what he saw Thursday confirmed everything he already suspected.

"Not all men are created equal, that's for sure," Fiske said. "He's a baller, no doubt."

The truth has been evident to Fiske during Rams training camp. Garrett missed time. He missed four practices. But in the time he's been on the field, he's been undeniable. Unblockable. Unreal.

"He's getting a slide, there's no doubt about that," Fiske said. "Trying to work off him or vice versa, communicating. The biggest thing right now is working on our communication of how to rush together, how we're going to attack certain looks. As all four, the certain looks that we're going to get when he's on the field, preparing for that and doing our best to work off each other. It's been good so far though. I think we're making strides."

Making strides. That's the quiet work—the unglamorous labor of learning to play alongside a man who changes everything.

Saturday, Garrett closed the day with a pick-six touchdown off the edge. Read that again. A defensive end. An edge rusher. A man whose job is to hunt quarterbacks, not catch footballs. He read a screen, broke on the ball, secured it and high-stepped into the end zone like he'd been doing it his whole life. A sign of the elite tenacity that the reigning Defensive Player of the Year showcases daily.

The Rams may have to start giving that Myles Garrett guy more "veteran rest" days. Not because he needs them. But because he's too disruptive. 

Because he takes over practices. Because the offense can't function when he's on the field.

The lower body soreness that cost him four practices is a distant memory. What remains is the reality that Garrett is a problem. For the offense. For the quarterback. For anyone standing in his way.

Kam Kinchens is flashing.

The safety who recorded 84 tackles, two interceptions, six passes defensed and two fumble recoveries in 2025 has taken another step. Saturday, he delivered one of the standout plays of practice.

Kam Kinchens secured an interception in the early moments of 11-on-11 drills.

He's been really good," McVay said of Kinchens. "He's had great range. He's dropping down in a man coverage and ended up being able to play visual and overlap. It was an outstanding play that he ended up making. You can see he's healthy, he's feeling good. Whether he's playing in the deep part of the field or the intermediate, you feel him, he's flashing. I've been really pleased with Kam."

Flashing. That's the word. Not just present. Not just adequate. Flashing. Making plays. Changing games. The kind of player who makes you stop and take notice.

Kinchens has great range. He can play deep. He can play intermediate. He can drop down in man coverage and still find the ball. The versatility is real. The production is real. The trajectory is upward.

"Today was probably the best day that they had as a whole on the back end and they've had a lot of really good days so that's saying something," McVay said. "We want to just continue to take those steps on that upward trajectory and that's exactly what they're doing."

The defense is jelling.

The front four is already jelling despite abbreviated time together. Garrett missed four practices. Fiske had to learn on the fly. The communication had to be built from scratch.

And yet.

"We've done a really good job stacking days," Fiske said on Thursday. "It's competitive football on both sides of the ball. We've made each other a lot better in the days we've been here. Now we get to go back and sweat in Woodland Hills a little bit."

The sweat is real. The work is real. The results are real.

Fiske can already feel the difference. The pressure up front. The coverage on the back end. The marriage of rush and coverage that makes a defense special.

"It has been awesome," Fiske said. "Having that mindset up front of knowing who you have on the back end that's covering you. As we continue to marry our rush and coverage as we go forward and continue to build on that, I think we've made great strides through this camp."

Great strides. That's the goal. Not perfection. Not dominance. Just continuous improvement. Day by day. Rep by rep.

Fiske feels confident about this new-look defense. From the defensive line back to the secondary, the trust is building. The camaraderie is growing. The energy is real.

"There are little tells in camp of the energy, the vibe guys bring and the camaraderie that's built through these days of camp when you spend all day every day with each other around the dorms, around the facilities, when we're in this confined space," Fiske said. "It is a special group. I can say that now for sure that we're headed in the right direction."

The Cowboys are next.

McVay has long valued joint practices as a way to get starters meaningful competitive work without exposing them to preseason games. And on Tuesday, the Dallas Cowboys arrive in Woodland Hills for the first of those sessions.

"We don't gameplan it or anything like that, but just the competition," McVay said. "I think when you go against each other as much as we've done up to this point, it's good to be able to just change it up and get a feel to go against different schemes and great players."

Different schemes. Great players. A different opponent. The joint practices will supplement preseason game action for many of the Rams' established players. The starters will get their work. The backups will get their reps. And the defense will get its first look at someone wearing a different color jersey.

"I'm looking forward to being able to go against some different schemes and really all three phases are the best things and some really good personnel that they have," McVay said.

The Cowboys have Dak Prescott. They have weapons. They have a scheme that will test the Rams' communication and execution. It's the kind of challenge this defense needs.

"Humility is only a day away in this league," McVay said. But he likes where this group is at. He likes the progression. He likes the questions they ask, the ownership they take, the understanding they show.

The work continues

The Rams are back in Woodland Hills. The heat is real. The competition is real. The expectations are real.

McVay was asked about the interceptions in Saturday's practice. About whether the offensive struggles frustrated him. The answer came easy.

"I'm equally as invested in the defense so I want to see good football," McVay said. "A lot of those plays were more of a reflection of great individual plays than necessarily poor execution. What I get upset about is when the other opponent or whether the other side of the ball doesn't have to earn it because it's sloppy, whether it's poor execution or communication on one side or the other. The plays that happened today… there were a handful of turnovers, but I thought it was a really great reflection of excellent execution defensively, some outstanding individual plays and sometimes that's the price of doing business."

The price of doing business. That's the reality of going against a defense this good. The offense struggles. The defense shines. And everyone gets better.

"I think every single day is a great opportunity for us to be able to take steps in the right direction," McVay said.

Steps in the right direction. That's what Saturday was. That's what the joint practices will be. That's what this entire training camp has been.

The defense forced a handful of turnovers. Garrett had a pick-six. Kinchens had an interception. The secondary had its best day of camp.

And the Cowboys are next.

"We can't win a Super Bowl today," Kam Curl said earlier in camp. "So the work [has] got to be put in."

The work is being put in. At Woodland Hills. On the grass. In the heat. Against the reigning MVP in practice and against the Cowboys in joint practices.

The work never stops.

The work is the point.

And this defense? This defense is becoming something special. Something that makes offenses uncomfortable. Something that makes quarterbacks nervous. Something that makes the Rams a problem.

Myles Garrett is the headliner. Kam Kinchens is the rising star. The front four is jelling. The secondary is communicating. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

And the Cowboys are about to find out exactly what that means.

The Rams have a special group, and it appears that Dallas will be their first test of dominance.

The direction is clear. The trajectory is upward. And the Rams' defense is just getting started.