I see it just a little bit differently. And this article captures the essence: "Sean McVay emphasizes Rams' desire to add explosive plays" [
theramswire.usatoday.com]
From that article:
The Rams were one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL in 2017 and 2018, not only putting up a ton of points but scoring rather quickly thanks to big plays. But things went south in 2019 when Jared Goff began to regress and the offensive line deteriorated.
The O-line improved in 2020, but Goff still continued to struggle and the departure of Brandin Cooks condensed the offense to more of a short, quick passing attack with a serious lack of deep passes.
Sean McVay hopes that changes next season and though he didn’t get into detail about personnel moves to make big plays happen, he said it’s a collaborative effort that starts with his play calling and designs.That article was written before the Rams got Stafford and DJax. IMO both guys were brought on board to "make big plays happen". I suspect that has been the focus of the offense since Stafford came on board, and I also suspect that Stafford embraces the philosophy as much as McVay does.
So now, realizing that running plays and check downs don't often lend themselves to big plays, the two of them are fixated on the chunk plays. With those blinders on they don't see that running the ball and taking the short pass is the more effective choice when the defense is committed to defending the long ball.
My sincere hope is that McVay is genuine in his evaluation of his role is Sunday's disaster and realizes that sure, when you have the option you go for the big play, but there are times when it's more effective to take smaller bites.
AlbaNY_Ram
