The Rams continue to excel in the trenches this season

[theramswire.usatoday.com] The Rams continue to excel in the trenches this season

Skyler Carlin
December 2, 2021 7:14 am PT
The Los Angeles Rams have received plenty of criticism in recent weeks after losing three consecutive games. While the defense and Matthew Stafford have received most of the blame for the recent struggles, the offensive line has also been under fire in recent weeks.

Despite some people believing that the offensive and defensive lines have dropped off in the past month or so, Los Angeles continues to be one of the best teams in the trenches this season.


Take a look at the chart below, which shows the Rams are among the league leaders in pass protection, pass rush and run defense, according to ESPN’s win rate metric and Pro Football Focus’ grading scale.

The Rams, Eagles, and Washington Football Team are incredible in the trenches, and the Seahawks have a bad offensive line for the millionth year in a row pic.twitter.com/VVJYAxqmkf

— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) December 1, 2021

Following the double-digit loss to the Tennessee Titans in Week 9, The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin released the same chart for teams across the league. Even after a brutal defeat to the Titans, the Rams remained one of the top teams in the trenches, and it doesn’t appear that much has changed in the past month.

The offensive line has done a remarkable job protecting Stafford this season as they sit atop the NFL when you combine pass-block win rate and PFF grade. Andrew Whitworth and Rob Havenstein have both had fantastic campaigns thus far, while the interior unit of David Edwards, Brian Allen, and Austin Corbett has wavered at times.

Creed Humphrey should be a name mentioned in that group, but that is a conversation for another day after the team opted to take Tutu Atwell instead.

As for run blocking, the Rams have room for improvement as they are an above-average team, but they aren’t where they should be just yet. On the other side of the ball, Los Angeles is dominating at the line of scrimmage against the run, which is contrary to what some are saying about the defense.

It’s no surprise to see that the Rams are also atop the NFL in pass-rush win rate and PFF grade in the pass-rushing department with Aaron Donald and Leonard Floyd leading the way. Greg Gaines has also emerged as a key contributor in the interior against the pass and the run, having one of his best games in Week 12 versus the Green Bay Packers.

Looking at these graphics, it’s apparent that the Rams are performing well at the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. That being said, fans aren’t going to care about any metrics until Los Angeles can get back in the win column.