meh, it still goes back to the OL for me

2018 - Healthy OL = SB
2019 - injury decimated OL = 9-7

Sure, I think McVay went into 2019 thinking that he was smart enough to combat the defenses Chi, NE and Det threw at him with his 11 personnel. And now he realizes he was wrong. He has to adjust that mindset.

But at the same time, the OL did nothing to help the offense. Havs was injured, Noteboom injured, Whit played all year (or part of it) injured. Allen was injured. So it was constant moving parts and those parts were almost all rookies and a guy that was traded for. There is not much of a chance to gel that way. Esp with the way the new practice rules prevent a lot of full pad practices during the season.

On top of that, Cooks missed time, Gurley is just not Gurley anymore and Everett missed time. So it was basically Goff, Woods and Kupp that were healthy start to finish. Scheme probably was never going to move the needle enough to make them a 12-4 team. It was just too many injuries.

As far as defense. Has anyone looked at what happens with Wade Phillips defenses the longer he stays in one place? Its the weirdest thing.
Here are Wade Phillips' defense rankings as far as points allowed

Buff year 1 - 6th
Buff year 2- 23rd

Atl. year 1 - 7th
Atl. year 2 - 30th

SD year 1 - 7th
SD year 2 - 13th
SD year 3 - 7th

Dal year 1 - 13th
Dal year 2 - 20th
Dal year 3 - 2nd
Dal year 4 - 31st

Hous year 1 - 4th
Hous year 2 - 10th
Hous year 3 - 24th

Den year 1 - 16th
Den year 2 - 4th

Rams year 1 - 12th
Rams year 2 - 20th
Rams year 3 - 17th

Which to me seems weird, you would think as he implements his scheme and gets more of his guys the defense would improve year to year, but for some reason they all seem to regress. Not all, but the majority.

Now the Rams didn't really regress, it was all about consistency. They just weren't consistant. And the other thing was Wade ran his D and that was that. i think McVay wants a guy that adjusts week to week and is more flexible. So there could some merit to the scheme thing with the defense.

And as far as the thought that there won't be as much change to the OL as some think, who is thinking that? It seems to me everyone understands the cap and draft pick constraints almost assuredly guarantees minimal changes to the OL or any one position for that matter.

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Don't waste your time looking back, you're not going that way. - Ragnar Lothbrok