Wagoner: as teams go smaller on defense, Rams push to get bigger on offense

Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Wagoner: as teams go smaller on defense, Rams push to get bigger on offense

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • May 19, 2016 at 2:04 pm #44339
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    As teams go smaller on defense, Rams push to get bigger on offense

    Nick Wagoner

    http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/29363/as-teams-go-smaller-on-defense-rams-push-to-get-bigger-on-offense

    In the cyclical NFL, trends come and go based on what works and what doesn’t. While strong running games with a workhorse back at the center of them used to be the key to successful offense, that hasn’t been the case for quite some time.

    It has been years since you could hear the word “league” without it being preceded by the word “passing.” Teams are leaning on quarterbacks more than ever, but just like anything there’s likely to be a shift back in the other direction at some point.

    At NFL.com, Chris Wesseling took a deep dive into three teams that are already bucking the passing trend and it should come as no surprise to followers of the Los Angeles Rams to see their favorite team mentioned prominently. Wesseling points to the Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans as teams that are focused on power football.

    Part of that is simple preference, but the other part is the proliferation of sub-package defense around the league. Those sub packages often put smaller, more athletic defenders on the field in place of bigger, more physical linebackers with the idea being to limit the prolific passing attacks around the league.

    Of course, the Rams under coach Jeff Fisher basically have stuck to his run-first ethos for all of his four years with the team, save for a four-game failed experiment at the beginning of the 2013 season. That has been Fisher’s preferred offensive philosophy for most of his two-plus decades as a coach in the NFL. With defenses getting smaller, the Rams continue to get bigger. Over at SBNation.com, Adam Stites recently compiled the average weight of each team’s starting offensive line.

    Falling in line with the idea of getting bigger to knock those smaller defenders around in the run game, the Rams checked in at No. 3 with an average size of 6-foot-5, 322.8 pounds.

    May 19, 2016 at 5:06 pm #44348
    bnw
    Blocked

    Unless the rules change it will always remain a passing league.

    The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.

    Sprinkles are for winners.

    May 19, 2016 at 8:20 pm #44365
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    it will always be a passing league, but i do like the idea of countering all that speed on defense with some power. if it actually works. i guess we’ll find out.

    May 19, 2016 at 9:23 pm #44366
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    InvaderRam wrote:

    it will always be a passing league, but i do like the idea of countering all that speed on defense with some power. if it actually works. i guess we’ll find out.

    Some things about this.

    First, yes you have to pass well in the league when you pass…but you don’t always have to pass.

    If you look at the 12 teams with the highest passing percentage last year, 1 was a playoff team (New England).

    If you look at the 12 teams with the highest RUSHING percentage, 7 were playoff teams in 2015 (Carolina, Minn, Seattle, KC, Cinn, Arz, Houston).

    Then look at the Rams, because there’s another aspect to this. Last year was the first with Fisher where they crossed over into being “run heavy.” I count pass heavy as throwing 60% of the time or more, I count balanced as anywhere from 56+% to 59+%, and I count run heavy as running 44% of the time or more. In 2012 the Rams passed 59% of the time, and in 2015 they ran 46.6% of the time.

    But they STILL set up long passes and took shots.

    Even with Foles and Keenum (combined numbers) they threw 31+ yarders 5.4% of the time (which is top third in the league though not top 6th) and hit on 28% of them (which is edging toward good though not there…30% or more is good).

    Anything at 5% or more on long passes is the top 1/3rd of the league. In fact that was better than a lot of teams–last year, for example, Flacco was 4.3%, Wilson was 4.1%, Luck was 4%, Rodgers was 4%, Brees was 3.8%, Rivers was 3.6%, Brady was 3.4%, Tannenhill was 2.6%, Stafford was 2%, Ryan was 1.9%, and Eli was 1.9%

    That’s the worst rated passing game in the league, with a melted down starter and problems to fix at WR. And the long shot was STILL part of their game.

    So I imagine how good it will be when the qb is starting-caliber and they have more at TE and WR

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Comments are closed.