What changes should the Rams’ offense make moving forward?
We’ve seen small stretches where the Los Angeles Rams offense has sputtered since Sean McVay arrived in 2017. A Super Bowl victory a season ago had everyone feeling like a Matthew Stafford-led offense was going to wreak havoc for years in Los Angeles.
But at the midway point of the season, the Rams boast one of the worst offenses in the NFL and they have a 3-5 record, which has them in third place in the NFC West. Los Angeles is currently recording the second-fewest yards per game (286) and the fourth-fewest points per game (16.4) in the NFL.
With the Rams having an uncharacteristic year on offense thus far, McVay iterated that changes need to be made following the devastating loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 9. While alterations are expected to be made in hopes to get the team back on track, what should those changes be on the offensive side of the ball?
Replace Bobby Evans
The offensive line has endured plenty of injuries for the Rams this season, so it’s understandable there have been some issues in the trenches thus far. However, Los Angeles needs to realize that Bobby Evans isn’t fit to be a starter right now.
The Rams surrendered four sacks in the loss to the Buccaneers, with Evans allowing three of them. The former third-round pick continues to struggle at left guard, which should prompt a change moving forward.
Matt Skura is a viable option to replace Evans until David Edwards or Coleman Shelton can return from injured reserve. With Stafford being pressured at the ninth-highest rate (24.3%) and sacked the fifth-most times (28), the Rams need to alter the starting offensive line ahead of a Week 10 tilt with the Arizona Cardinals.
Fewer runs on 1st down
Unless you’re a team that has plenty of success running the ball, running the ball on first down can be detrimental to a team’s ability to sustain drives. For the Rams, McVay has continued to call running plays on first down this season and it’s continuously put the offense in second- and third-and-long situations.
We know the Rams are not among the teams with a lethal rushing attack as they’re averaging a mere 3.2 yards per attempt and 68.4 rushing yards per game (both are second-worst in the NFL). So with this in mind, continuously calling running plays on first down is putting the offense at a disadvantage from the start.
Even if it isn’t a deep shot down the field, short passing plays can be utilized as an extension of the running game, and you can still run the ball on other downs. While the offense is converting third downs at a modest 42.72% rate (11th in the NFL), they need to avoid having second and third-and-long plays be a common theme.
More play-action passes
When Jared Goff was under center for the Rams, McVay called play-action passes at a historic rate to aid the limited quarterback. But when Stafford arrived in Los Angeles last season, McVay elected to go with more of a spread offense, allowing the gunslinging quarterback to do what he does best.
That being said, when the Rams hit a wall last season, McVay went back to what worked for him before: play-action passes. In his first year with the organization, Stafford ended up attempting 122 passes out of play-action (eighth-most among quarterbacks), resulting in the third-most passing yards (1,247 yards) on play-action passes, according to Pro Football Reference.
Through the first eight games of this season, Stafford is on pace to finish with only 104 pass attempts and 860 yards out of play-action. With the offensive line struggling, calling play-action can ease some pressure off of them while running the ball actually serves a purpose.
Stafford needs to trust Allen Robinson more
Allen Robinson has gotten more involved in the offense in recent weeks after an extremely quiet start to the season. The newly-signed wideout has caught 13 of his 18 targets for 141 yards and a touchdown in the last three games for the Rams.
While those numbers are much better than what he was doing at the start of the season, he should be getting more opportunities. Stafford connected with Robinson on two passes in the first half against the Buccaneers, but the veteran wide receiver would finish with only three receptions for 24 yards.
Robinson has made some impressive contested grabs in recent weeks, which is a reason why the Rams signed him in the offseason. It’s fine to lean on Cooper Kupp in the passing game, but if the offense wants to get on track, Stafford needs to trust Robinson and the other wide receivers more moving forward.
