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Atlantic Ram
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IMO they had to put faith in their plan. They had to hope Noteboom would be a suitable replacement... but he wasn't. Now the Rams have Jackson at LT? Good lord. Luckily he is overachieving, IMO. Evans? Not so much. Kolone? How bad was it that Kolone started? McVay can't run his offense and everyone suffers. And Mcvay can't run his offense because no one can run an offense under these conditions. So, IMO?, the problem the Rams are having stems from the OL and RB position (a distant second)... All of the other stuff is only a significant issue because the Rams are losing. And the reason the Rams are losing is no effective play action.
I agree with what you wrote, but would add one/two other thing(s): type of OL and/or run scheme.
I agree with you that McVay's offense is predicated on play-action. And for play-action to be effective, you need to have a decent rushing attack.
Now, maybe it's due to where we've been selecting in the draft, but to my eye, we haven't exactly been drafting any 320-lb maulers (save for Havs several seasons ago). I've seen a bunch of 305-lb former OT's that they've cross-trained to play guard. And it shows as these guys get overpowered at the LOS.
And if it's not the personnel, then it's the run scheme. The Bengals had one of the worst run defenses in the league last year and we were unable to develop a scheme to exploit that.
IMO, the Rams need to address both issues.
