that McVay has consistently given more help to his oline than most do
example
Those tight 3WR sets (bunch sets) help the Rams in their pass routes but just as often they are there to help the oline block in the pass and run game
DZ - I don't see other teams do this as often as the Rams. I did notice the Titans doing it when I watched the Raven beat them a couple of weeks ago
Its probably worth a separate conversation but McVays scheme has always made the Rams offensive line rate higher than it really is in terms of its talent. Whitworth being the exception. What we could be seeing with the offense could be a product of people figuring that out as well... IDK just spitballing
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dzrams
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PHDram
i dont have a quantitative assessment of this and im not sure you can but anecdotally i feel the oline has some issues and it is linked to the inability to go deep this year. to me the offense ran fine as long as we were in manageable down and distances. and they did that for the most part which is why the rank is high. but when they got a penalty or a sack and had to play behind the chains, the oline could not protect goff long enough to push the ball downfield (as evidenced in the final drive of the gb game). personally i think mcvay knew this and protected the line with the run and the short passing game. in order for goff to be effective imo he needs protection (like brady). i dont see goff going anywhere so id like to see some more investment on the oline this offseason. i think center may be my #1 priority.
We should strongly question whether there was an inability to go deep this year. I thought that might be the case too and thought it might be connected to missing Cooks or the inability of the OL until Wolford went deep around 6 times in one game. He connected on more deep shots in that one game than Goff did in 5 games and that includes when Goff played Arizona too while having all weapons.
That one game is a strong blow to any supposed inability to go deep.
That said, I do agree that McVay changed the structure of the offense to protect the line. I think he knew that they were one of the worst OLs in 2019. But they outperformed expectations.
I also agree the line needs more investment. Center would be my #1 priority too. I stated over and over at the end of last year that in order for Goff to be effective, he needs an elite OL. An average one won't do. Of course I was blasted but this year proves my assertion was correct. Goff didn't have much improvement, if any, over 2019 and it's hard to argue that this year's OL wasn't at least average. Maybe one doesn't believe PFF's 3rd ranking or FO's top 7 ranking in DVOA but I've yet to hear anyone argue the OL wasn't a top 15, average line.
