Who’s calling these plays, anyhow?
Despite the offensive line injuries, the LA Rams’ play distribution was as follows:
Opponent # Passes # Runs Result
Bills 41 18 L
Falcons 36 26 W
Cardinals 25 20 W
49ers 48 18 L
Cowboys 44 15 L
Panthers 33 29 W
Notice the pattern? In those early games, when the LA Rams were somewhat still intact, the offense playcalling followed a rigid pattern of losses when the Rams pass 40+ times and rushed under 20 times. The Rams won when the team rushed 20+ times and threw the football under 40 times.
But the true ‘yikes,’ component to all of this is the fact that the Rams passed heavily into the toughest pass defenses. Against the Buffalo Bills, starting quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked a ridiculous seven times and intercepted three times. In their first meeting against the San Francisco 49ers, Stafford was once again sacked a crazy seven times, and he was intercepted once. Against the Dallas Cowboys, Stafford was sacked five times and threw another interception.
Let’s tally that up. 19 sacks and five interceptions as a result of defying logic and throwing 40+ times against three of the most difficult pass defenses at that time. For the season, Stafford was sacked 29 times and intercepted eight times in nine games played.
Perhaps the playcalling was a major contributor to the offensive futility after all? I don’t believe that it’s going out on a limb to suggest that if the Rams had a more even play distribution, perhaps Matthew Stafford’s season may not have been quite as ineffective. So what can be done to fix this?
I’ve been pointing out self inflicted wounds like this one for months now. A lot of posters don’t want to see or hear it because it indicates that much more was ‘off’ last year than just the massive amount of injuries and that makes them uncomfortable to think about.
This is just one, but I’ve listed maybe a dozen others in another thread. I WISH our ‘22 problems just stemmed from the injuries.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2023 09:05PM by Rams43.
