3 quick fixes to help LA Rams win in Week 13…

3 quick fixes to help the LA Rams win in Week 13

by Bret Stuter of RamblinFan


LA Rams News
After three games of doing things head coach Sean McVay’s way, it’s time to start giving the team some helpful hints on how to fix the woes of this team. Sure, fans have got the attention of the LA Rams head coach, but anyone can whine and complain. Infants in a nursery scream for attention when they are hungry, tired, or need to be changed. Is that what we have all fallen to?

If we want the LA Rams‘ entire organization to improve, to do better, then we must up our game as well. I know that the “Fire Raheem Morris” ritual is the LA Rams version of cancel culture and that there are more and more minds making the decision that he must go, but really? For now, let’s park all of the defensive woes to the side and focus on the offense.

It’s time to talk about the emperor with no clothes. This is a pattern that has failed since 2018, an offense that has options to take, plays to run, that is not infused when the team needs it the most. Sure, the LA Rams had that December 2019 when the two tight end offense was given a chance. The result was tight end Tyler Higbee putting up 522 yards of receiving yards in just one month’s time.

It happened again when the LA Rams faced a strong New England Patriots defense in 2020. The result? The Rams went with two tight ends for nearly 80 percent of the offensive plays and ran the football down the Patriots’ throat. The final tally for that game? The Rams quarterback passed 16 of 25 times for 137 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Rams rushed 36 times for 186 yards and a touchdown. The team held the football for 31:46, winning the Time of Possession. And the team won that game 24-3.

The game of football is interwoven. We can talk about defense, offense, and special teams in some mythical version where they are not interdependent upon one another. But, as fans, we tend to look where we are pointed and form conclusions far too quickly.

Let’s use the statistics at SharpFootballStats.com to illustrate what we mean. Let’s break down the Rams offensive configurations since McVay has taken over the LA Rams offense, shall we?

Year 11 pkg 12 pkg 0 RB Other
2018 89 % 8 % 2 % 1 %
2019 73 % 21 % 0 % 6 %
2020 65 % 29 % 0 % 6 %
2021 88 % 10 % 1 % 1 %

Notice the similarities between 2018 and 2021? Do you think this is some random coincidence? Or is this simply a reiteration of that 2018 offensive script, which has been studied and analyzed ad nauseam? Sean McVay is 35 years old, just two years older than quarterback Matthew Stafford. So the wealth of knowledge and sage wisdom that kicks in to help head coaches is in McVay’s windshield, not his rearview mirror.

The first fix is the offense. Why? Well, for starters, the defense cannot win games by inheriting twice as much playing time, horrific field position, and even fighting against points given to the opponent by the offense. It’s obvious that the defense cannot win the game with the way this offense is playing. So it’s time to do something about it.

Can we make some suggestions? Of course, we can. So let’s get crack a-lackin’ and fix this mess, shall we?

Next: III - Go with two tight ends

III – Go with two tight ends

I struggle to understand how the LA Rams can place three tight ends on the roster, but only have faith in one of them? It’s one of the most bizarre and unexplained actions of the Rams offense, and truly opens up the line of questioning of whether the team has any plan in place for this roster.

When the season started, the Rams boasted a host of quality tight ends that included Tyler Higbee, Johnny Mundt, Jacob Harris, Brycen Hopkins, and Kendall Blanton. The team knew immediately that the roster would feature both Tyler Higbee and Johnny Mundt as starters, and for the early games, the Rams found success with the intermingling of two tight-end personnel groupings. Per Lineups.com, we can determine that the LA Rams toggled between 10 to 25 percent of the offensive plays with a 12-personnel package.

The Rams offense is one-dimensional once more

After the injury to Johnny Mundt, the team has abandoned two tight ends on the football field at the same time. Do you think that has escaped the attention of defensive coordinators? It began in Week 7, the same week that the LA Rams faced the Detroit Lions at home. Do you recall how difficult that game proved to be? The Rams won that game by the score of 28-19, a score that was far closer than many expected it to be.

The next week was a bad Houston Texans team. And then, after the Rams achieved a record of 7-1, the dam broke. The Rams offense is so completely one-dimensional that I do not believe that defenses spend much time practicing how to stop the rushing attack.

Since Mundt’s injury, here is how the offense has split the workload

Wk Runs Passes
7 19 41
8 31 34 *
9 21 48
10 10 42
11 BYE
12 20 39
Totals 101 204

* Rams reserves took the field in the fourth quarter, three passes, six rushes

If you are preparing to defend the LA Rams offense, what aspect do you focus upon? It’s obvious to even a layperson that the Rams have no trust in their running game, and therefore it’s a complete waste of time to prepare for it. Want further proof? The LA Rams are the 24th worst rushing offense in the NFL. The 23rd worst team? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now, let’s talk defense.

II – Reset the secondary

We were all sold on the bill of goods from the LA Rams plans for the defense in 2021, but we haven’t received the shipment. In the transition from what was to what will be, the statement that was used to project what the Rams defense would do is to take the best of 2020 and put a new spin to the 2021 version to solve the dink-and-dunk vulnerability of last year’s defense. So now the Rams defend blocking tight end Mercedes Lewis with All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsey.

No wonder everyone wants the Rams to boot Raheem Morris to the curb.

The LA Rams need to spin a secondary with Jalen Ramsey, Robert Rochell, Darious Williams, Terrell Burgess, Jordan Fuller. From what I’ve witnessed so far this season, they are the best coverage defensive backs on the team. Of course, the team can rotate in Donte Deayon, Taylor Rapp, and David Long Jr. to keep the starters fresh. But the Rams are getting killed at passes that are simply finding their mark.

Rams run defense is pretty good

Now, what about the rush defense? Believe it or not, the Rams are very good at defending the run. In fact, the Rams are the ninth-ranked rushing defense in the NFL right now in terms of yards allowed. Where the team struggles are stopping other teams from scoring on the ground.

Curiously, the Rams are the opposite in terms of pass defense. The Rams are the 21st ranked passing defense in terms of yards allowed but are the second-ranked defense in terms of touchdowns allowed. Teams have learned how to increase their timing, beat the Rams coverage in terms of formations, and defeat the pass rush by getting rid of the ball quickly. The Rams’ secondary needs to make quarterbacks hesitate.

Get the defensive play calls away from Jordan Fuller. It’s obvious that he is struggling with the double-duty on defense. Who picks it up? Well, that would mean either Ernest Jones or perhaps Darious Williams. Redirect Jalen Ramsey to cover the most dominant receiver of the other team, and mix that man coverage with partial zone coverage. Without Taylor Rapp on the football field, those transitional handoffs have occurred far more successfully.

Finally, mix it up. As soon as the Rams do the same thing twice, their opponents can easily recognize it and scheme for days to defeat it. This secondary is loaded with talent, as is the pass rush. But the quarterback can read the defenses instantly by where Jalen Ramsey is lined up. Removing that key read places the advantage back on the defense.

Okay, now, back to the offense.

I – Start RB Sony Michel

If you sit down to describe veteran running back Sony Michel, I’d be willing to bet that ‘soft’ does not get used once. The LA Rams traded a 2022 sixth-round and a 2023 fourth-round draft pick for the guy because he is not soft. He runs into the line of scrimmage, head down and legs pumping. He runs north to south, downhill, straight lines into the pile and out the other side.

And when the LA Rams are searching for an identity, he sits on the bench. Really? The guy is the NFL rusher version of a four-wheel-drive Jeep. He is built for off-road rough going. He is the guy who gets stronger as the game goes on. So why are the Rams failing to start the guy in games where a bit of big ole badass punishment could go a long way.

Don’t tell me that the Rams don’t have the football long enough to establish the running game. Don’t use that excuse that the Rams fall too far behind. In Week 3 of the 2020 NFL Season, the Rams miscues dropped the team to trail at halftime by the score of 21-3. The Buffalo Bills even put up another touchdown after halftime to take a 25 point lead.

Stick to the plan, man

But the LA Rams stuck with the running game and scored 29 second-half points. Despite the loss, that game proves that the Rams need a running game or at least the threat of one, to be effective. The Rams doubled down on that strategy when the team faced the New England Patriots. In that game, the team rushed 36 times and only passed the ball 25 times.

Why was it so very effective? Nobody saw it coming. The Rams changed their pattern and forced defenses to face something that they didn’t expect.

Isn’t that what the LA Rams have begun to do on offense now? The team has fallen into that lazy pattern of trying the same old stuff and have discovered that the plays are getting the same old results.

It may be a difficult thing to reinvent the team at virtually every game. That’s why getting to the Super Bowl is so very difficult. We can talk all we want about how talented the LA Rams are, but talent needs the right system, the right coaches, the right teammates, and the right opportunities. Rushing leaders need stellar blockers. Passing leaders need stellar receivers. Receiving leaders need stellar passers. And the entire offense needs a stellar offensive line.

The LA Rams offense simply needs a tune-up, one that should have happened during the BYE week. But here we are now, and there is no time like the present.