VB: Rams at a crossroads

With Rams at a crossroads, Sean McVay only has one direction to take them

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/1259514/2019/10/01/with-rams-at-a-crossroads-sean-mcvay-only-has-one-direction-to-take-them/

Sean McVay was noticeably hot as he opened his talk with the media, and the conversation immediately turned to what was going on with the Rams.
More succinctly, what wasn’t going right after a frustrating loss at the Coliseum. “I’m not really sure,” McVay began, clearly measuring his words. “That’s something that we’ve got to get figured out. We’ve got to get it figured out in a hurry. It’s guys that are making decisions that, typically, we haven’t seen. It’s guys that are making mistakes that we typically haven’t seen.
“But however you cut it, we’re all in this together. We’ve all got to do better and it starts with me. But we’ve got to figure it out and that’s — all they know how to do is go back to work, work as hard as we possibly can to figure out the solutions and get better for next week. But this wasn’t good enough. It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
No, McVay was not talking Sunday, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rolled into Los Angeles and dismantled the Rams 55-40 to shine a bright light on some of the early-season ills plaguing the defending NFC champions.

The scene actually occurred late last season — mid-December to be exact — after a Week 15 home defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams suffered their second straight loss and clearly were out of whack offensively after getting away from their core principles. There was far too much passing, not enough running and a whole bunch of sloppiness. Meanwhile, a once physical, dominating offensive line had turned passive and pensive in the process. But changes were on the way. The Rams’ response over the final two games — and specifically the reaction by McVay, their offensive coordinator, play-caller and tone-setter — was a return to their roots as a physical run team. They punished the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers with 424 yards rushing on 83 attempts in back-to-back blowout wins. And it wasn’t Todd Gurley getting the rock, but C.J. Anderson. The Rams signed Anderson as a replacement for the injured Gurley and immediately unleashed the veteran running back behind an offensive line that aggressively and forcefully plowed holes for him to gallop through.
Anderson, not even in shape or fully conditioned, tore through the Cardinals and 49ers for a combined 299 yards and two touchdowns on 43 carries. The Rams had found themselves, and the revelation carried them all the way to Super Bowl LIII.

At the time, there was a mandate to re-create the formula they used to win 11 of their first 12 games. What followed was a determined effort to carry it out.
Fast forward to the Rams’ current situation. It is clear that a similar mindset and blueprint needs to be revisited. Yes, the Rams are 3-1, but given the manner in which they’ve achieved that record — so far away from the offensive identity McVay crafted over the last two seasons — you sometimes wonder if it’s even the same team.
The Rams under McVay have been a physical run team that imposes its will on opposing defenses and then uses that foundation to pummel teams with the pass game. Jared Goff is at his best working off play-action, using the defense’s hesitation and indecisiveness to chew up secondaries. The offensive line is also better after establishing a physical tone, with its attacking style in run blocking leading to much crisper pass protection. And Goff is a dramatically better quarterback when he has more time to throw — a conclusion Pro Football Focus reached last summer in determining Goff was the fifth-best quarterback in the NFL last season when operating in clean pockets (but just 24th against pressure).
When the Rams are effectively balanced, the protection for Goff improves. But they’ve strayed from that formula this season and frankly, it’s left them vulnerable.
Consider this: The Rams have thrown the ball 173 times this year compared to 97 rushing attempts. That puts them on pace for a pass/run ratio of 692 to 388 — 64 percent pass vs. 36 percent run. That’s insane.

This time last season, the Rams were much more balanced, with a 135 to 114 pass/run ratio. They ended the regular season throwing the ball 568 times and calling 459 runs (55 percent pass vs. 45 percent run).By establishing — and remaining committed to — a run game last year and then operating off it, the Rams enjoyed tremendous efficiency across all categories. After four games in 2018, the Rams have 1,874 yards in total offense — 1,373 passing and 501 rushing — on 254 total plays.
This season, the Rams have run 278 total plays — 24 more than at this point last season — but they’ve gained 283 fewer yards at 1,591. And while they’ve attempted 38 more passes, the 1,192 yards they’ve gained are 181 fewer than last year. Also, the Rams scored 140 points through four games in 2018 compared to 117 this season, and their nine turnovers are six more than at this point last year.

The reasons for the drop-off in overall efficiency include more factors then an out-of-whack balance.
Obviously, the workload management plan for Todd Gurley to protect his left knee has meant utilizing him far less. He has run the ball 49 times for 219 yards and caught 11 passes for 62 yards, compared to 79 rushes for 338 yards and 15 receptions for 194 yards after four games last year. Worse, Gurley is playing far too much as a decoy rather than an active participant, and it has created a situation in which the Rams are essentially playing with 10 offensive players. An offensive line breaking in two new starters also has been a factor. It has not fully gelled and is not playing nearly as well as last season’s group. On the other hand, as their late-season 2018 epiphany showed — with Anderson, not Gurley — when the Rams make a concerted effort to build a run-game foundation, they are able to achieve their objective. With or without Gurley. And when they do, they are simply a much more efficient offense. Goff is a much better quarterback. And the offensive line gets back to bullying people. Through the first four games last year, Goff — with a productive ground game and better pass protection — threw for 1,406 yards and 11 touchdowns against two interceptions on 97-of-134 passing (72.4 percent). His passer rating was 127.3.

This season, he has completed 111 of 173 passes (64.2 percent) for 1,254 yards, with six touchdowns against six interceptions. His passer rating: 82.9.
It’s on Goff to figure out how to be more efficient in his new world. With less time to throw and a watered-down run game to work with, he needs to make quicker decisions while also understanding when to take chances and when to play it safe. The Rams are asking him to do more than ever, but they’re supplying him with much less help. He has to find a middle ground to make it all work. But the Rams can help their young quarterback by making a concerted effort to get back to their roots. They made that decision late last season, and the results set the tone for their Super Bowl run. And as they sit at an early-season crossroads, they face a similar situation, albeit with altered dynamics. The plan they’ve come up with to protect the long-term future of Gurley has put their identity in question and compromised the support system that Goff embraced while developing into an elite quarterback.

No matter how much the Rams want to protect Gurley, it can’t come at the expense of the hard-nosed mindset McVay has worked so hard to create. They have to get back to running the ball more — whether it’s by fully activating Gurley when he’s on the field or by employing backup Malcolm Brown more. The Rams have won three of their four games, but have done it disjointedly while abandoning their proven principles and intentions. It’s time for them to return to their roots. They must regain the resolve to carry out that plan again.
And it needs to happen sooner rather than later.