WR Tavon Austin wants a 180 from the Rams’ offense
Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer
http://www.espn.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/30241/tavon-austin-wants-a-180-from-the-rams-offense
LOS ANGELES — Veteran receiver Tavon Austin has big plans for the Los Angeles Rams’ offense.
“To be the No. 1 offense in the league,” Austin said Saturday after the Rams’ 21-20 comeback win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2 of the preseason. “Last year, we was 32. So we have to be way better than that. I feel like we put our defense in so many tough situations last year. For us, if we just keep moving forward and move that 32 up to No. 1, we should be good.”
Yes, that would be ideal.
But how?
The Rams will have a full season with Rob Boras as essentially the offensive coordinator and have hired Mike Groh as the new passing-game coordinator, a duo that will look to vastly improve a unit that was dead last in the NFL in yards and wound up with the fourth-fewest points in 2015. No drastic changes were made to the receiving corps, and the quarterback will either be a fresh-faced rookie (Jared Goff) or a veteran who doesn’t necessarily throw the deep ball (Case Keenum).
That, of course, means star running back Todd Gurley, who saw action in his first preseason game Saturday, will take on a significant load.
Asked if he sees the Rams’ game plan being more pass-oriented, Austin said, “Oh no, definitely not. Definitely not. Todd’s definitely going to get his carries. And that’s just how it goes. But it’ll kind of balance out a little bit. Everybody will touch the ball here and there.”
Gurley played one possession Saturday, rushing four times for 20 yards, including a 3-yard score on the Rams’ first drive. But the Rams generally moved the ball well against a solid Chiefs defense in their first two possessions under Keenum, putting together touchdown drives of 81 and 79 yards.
In the first drive, Keenum hit Kenny Britt for 20 yards and then took a shot to Britt downfield, drawing a pass interference in part because the ball was underthrown. Gurley took it from there.
In the second drive, Benny Cunningham rushed for 38 yards on four carries, Malcolm Brown gained 8 yards on two tries and Keenum completed a trio of passes — to Lance Kendricks for 15 yards, to Britt for 7 and to Pharoh Cooper for 11.
The first two preseason games have potentially revealed a dynamic trio of running backs (Gurley, Cunningham, Brown), two pass-catching tight ends (Kendricks and Tyler Higbee, who sat out Saturday’s game after having flu-like symptoms) and a couple of play-making slot receivers (Austin and Cooper).
The Rams will look mainly to that group in their hopes of improving the offense without a traditional vertical passing game.
Austin said he draws encouragement “just by how our offense has been moving. The first quarter, it was moving pretty good. We felt comfortable out there. We kind of know what we’re doing. And both of our coordinators do a great job letting us know how we gotta do it.”
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