NFL
By: George Lopez
The Los Angeles Rams enter their bye week with a 3-3 record. Through their six games, the Rams have played an uneven brand of football not seen under Coach Sean McVay. The Rams are averaging an uncharacteristically low 17 points per game having only eclipsed 30 points once. The success of the Rams offense is predicated on their running game. In their 3 losses, the Rams offense was unbalanced with nearly a 3-1 pass-to-run ratio. In those losses, the Rams scored a total 29 points. In their 3 wins, the Rams offense was more balanced between run and pass and they scored a total of 75 points in those contests. When Coach McVay stays committed to the running game, the Rams have shown more success.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown for 1576 yards with 6 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Stafford is completed 71% of his passes. but the Rams offense is not seeing the big plays they saw last season. One of the reasons is the defenses the Rams are facing. When playing the Rams, opposing defenses are dropping off in pass coverage to take away the deep ball. They want to force Stafford to look underneath for shorter passes and force the Rams to drive down the field. The Rams are also lacking a true deep threat at wide receiver to stretch the defense. Coach McVay has attempted to use TuTu Atwell as a deep threat, but that has only accounted for 1 reception downfield. Van Jefferson was viewed as the Rams deep threat coming into the season. He has yet to play a game as he recovers from off-season surgery. He is expected back after the bye week which will give Stafford a legitimate deep-threat option.
The offensive line has been hit by injuries. Starting left tackle, Joseph Noteboom was lost for the season this past week when he ruptured his achilles tendon. The Rams have been without starting center Brian Allen since week 1. Starting offensive guard David Edwards is on IR due to concussions. With the injuries to the offensive line, pass protection has been what the Rams were expecting this season. Stafford has been sacked 22 times through 6 games. To help address the depth at the offensive line, the Rams have signed tackle Ty Nsekhe to the active roster from the Indianapolis Colts practice squad. They have also promoted OT Chandler Brewer to the active roster. Center Brian Allen is slated to return during the bye week which will help bring stability to their offensive line.
Coming into the season, Cam Akers was projected to be the starting running back in the Rams offense. From week 1, Akers has not been the same running back the Rams drafted 2 years ago. Akers has rushed for 151 yards, averaging 3 yards a carry. Akers did not play in the Rams win over the Carolin Panthers as it was announced during the week that he would be out as the Rams dealt with “different things” with Akers. This week, Coach McVay acknowledged the Rams are looking to trade Akers before the trading deadline. Darrell Henderson will be looked upon to take a bulk of the carries with newly reacquired back Malcolm Brown expected to contribute in the running game.
Defensively, the Rams are still looking to replace the productivity of Von Miller. Edge rusher Terrell Lewis has accounted for 1 sack through 6 games. Weak-side edge rusher Leonard Floyd has not registered a sack at this point in the season though he has been generating more quarterback pressures in recent games. As a team, the Rams defense has 12 quarterback sacks led by Aaron Donald with 4 sacks. Where the defense has stepped up is in the red zone. The Rams have allowed the opposition to score touchdowns on 33% of their trips into the red zone, 2nd only to the Denver Broncos.
In their pass defense, the Rams are giving up an average of 197 per game and accounted for 5 interceptions. The Rams will be getting healthier in their secondary during the bye week with CB’s Troy Hill and Cobie Durant expected back though starting safety Jordan Fuller is still a couple of weeks away from returning. Similar to what the Rams offense faces, the Rams secondary plays off the ball to take away the deep pass and converge to the ball.
The Rams enter the bye week with a chance to get players back who were expected to play a big part in their schemes this season. The bye week will also give Coach Sean McVay the opportunity to assess what has worked for the Rams offense this season and make his adjustments accordingly to give the Rams the best opportunities to be successful in the 2nd part of their season as they look to defend their NFL championship.
