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RockRam
Teams are still going to stop the run first against the Rams until the Rams prove that they can hurt you even worse by passing.
This is precisely correct. Our offense has been throttled for years by a vicious circle:
- We couldn't throw the ball downfield.
- Knowing this, teams have largely ignored our passing game and cheated up on the LOS.
- This has made it even harder to do anything with our run-locked offense.
Your point, I think, is that the league will not look at Sammy and Whit and Kupp and think, "dang, we need to start deploying against a vertical Ram passing attack." They will NOT believe it until we prove them wrong.
Now, I would simply say that, if we DO start establishing a vertical passing game, the situation will change pretty quickly. If the opposing coaching staff is any good, they will start adjusting in a given game at least by the 3rd quarter. And, if we prove ourselves over, say, 3-4 games, the old template for playing us will change.
The league's "book" on a team doesn't always change immediately, but when confronted with a new competitive reality, it changes pretty fast.
