what's wrong w/ Rams offense? Different views

Ted’s Film Room: The Rams still haven’t quite figured out the Fangio Blueprint

Ted Nguyen

https://theathletic.com/1236091/2019/09/25/teds-film-room-the-rams-still-havent-quite-figured-out-the-fangio-blueprint/

The Rams have avoided the dreaded Super Bowl hangover so far this season. They are rolling at 3-0 but they’ve done so on the strength of their much-improved defense. The offense has been good (ranked 16th in offensive DVOA) but not as explosive as they once were (they were ranked 2nd last year). Yes, the Rams have had to replace the interior of their offensive line with less experienced players but they also got back a healthy Cooper Kupp and Todd Gurley, yet still haven’t looked close to the explosive offense that took the league by storm when head coach Sean McVay took over two years ago.

Who’s at fault for that? Blame none other than Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. Last year, Fangio was the defensive coordinator for the Bears and he was the first coach who was able to stop the Rams’ offense, holding them to a mere six points in Week 14. He did it with a 6-1 front with soft zone (either cover 4 or cover 3) behind it.

The principles of the defense were designed to take away exactly what made the Rams’ offense so dangerous. By putting two extra edge players on each side of a four-man line, the defense is already in position to take away plays designed to attack the edge like outside zone, fly sweep, and boots— all three are the Rams’ bread-and-butter.

In Super Bowl LIII, the Patriots took Fangio’s plan, tailored it to their personnel, and completely committed to it against the Rams, holding them to three points. (For more detail on how the 6-1 works, check out my Super Bowl film review). Rams head coach Sean McVay has had all offseason to think about what he would have done differently against that defense and though he’s come up with a few answers, he hasn’t yet solved the conundrum that Fangio’s blueprint presents his offense.

So far this season, the Saints and Browns also copied Fangio’s blueprint and slowed down the Rams’ offense. In 2017, the Rams averaged 5.69 yards per play on early downs (1st and 2nd down), which ranked sixth in the NFL. In 2018, they averaged 6.53 yards per play on early downs, which ranked second. So far, in 2019, they are averaging 5.09 yards per play on early downs, which ranks 24th in the league.

“In a lot of instances, (the 6-1) is designed to try to discourage (outside zone),” said McVay on his weekly podcast.

The Rams started having some success running the outside zone against the 6-1 this season but in McVay’s words, “It wasn’t the big 20-25 yard runs that we’ve been accustomed to.”

In the the past, the Rams relied on explosive plays with their outsize zone game on early downs but with teams limiting their run game, they’re much less efficient and are forced to drive the length of the field, which they haven’t been able to do on a consistent basis in 2019.

“(The 6-1) had some success in instances and it’s something that we’ve seen show up a handful of times in the first three weeks and it’s something that I think we can expect to see as we move forward and it’s a great challenge,” said McVay. “That’s what you love about it and why you do some work during the week and make sure that you have good plans accordingly.”

This season, McVay has some answers against the 6-1 that he didn’t have in the Super Bowl but the Rams’ offense still hasn’t quite looked like the explosive unit we’ve been accustomed to.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051727/OZ-defense.mp4?_=1

Regular outside zone with a stretch handoff is a slow developing play. The running back attacks the edge but the play will usually cut vertically or back against the grain. Against the 6-1, it’s very tough for offensive linemen to hold their blocks for too long and without a huge threat of the play bouncing outside because of the extra edge players on the line of scrimmage, the interior players don’t have to pursue as hard and risk opening up lanes for the running back.

“(Defenses) are just doing certain things with some different bodies that we are normally accustomed to being off the line of scrimmage,” explained McVay.

The extra bodies on the line of scrimmage also force the offensive line to single block rather than double team like they want to do to create movement off the line.

Toss

To avoid the cluster inside, the Rams have ran more “crack toss” to get the ball to the perimeter quickly. If the play can get past the first level, it’ll usually go for a big play because there is only one off-ball linebacker to chase down the toss from the inside and the rest of the pursuit could get congested.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051938/1-Toss.mp4?_=2

Here, the Rams cracked the outside linebacker and defensive end with receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods and pulled tight end Gerald Everett and left tackle Andrew Whitworth outside to lead block for running back Malcolm Brown.

However, the problem with relying on the toss is that if opponents start expecting it, it’s extremely tough to consistently outrun NFL defenses even if the pursuit is hindered by alignment. Additionally, once the ball is tossed, the entire defense is going to pursuit the ball aggressively because there is not much of a threat of play action because defenders can very clearly see the ball being tossed to the running back.

The Rams did not have as much success with the crack toss against the Browns.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051909/2-Toss-Defense.mp4?_=3

Here, the Rams initially got a blocker on every defender to the play side. The outside receiver Brandin Cooks blocked the safety rather than the corner by design because in most cases, safeties are better tacklers than cornerbacks. However, the corner came down from the secondary hard and did a great job of taking down Gurley while maintaining outside leverage.

Though the crack toss is a good play against the 6-1, it shouldn’t be relied upon too often. The Rams can get a big gain here and there but it’s tough to get consistent yardage on toss plays in the NFL.

Taking advantage of soft coverage

One of the reasons defenses play soft zone coverage behind the 6-1 front is because the Rams use so many condensed formations. Defenses are more worried about getting beat deep vertically than they are about horizontal space. Receivers are closer to the middle of the field where all the defenders are packed in so the defense isn’t threatened horizontally in the pass game.

“We want to activate certain things based on how that front structure is accompanied with coverage-wise,” said McVay.

Concepts that McVay seems to want to “activate” are route combinations that take advantage of underneath space. Against the Rams and Saints, they’ve had some success with a play action concept that we’ll call P14, X- out, slot- find. It attacks the flat area with an out from the X receiver and attacks the one inside linebacker with an option route in the middle of the field from the slot.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25151423/Kupp-Middle1.mp4?_=4

Here, the inside linebacker wasn’t affected by the play fake but chased the flat for some reason. Kupp simply replaced the linebacker and settled in the hole in zone.

Goff’s first read on the play is the “find” route. If it’s covered, he’ll progress to the “out”. On most variations of this play, he also has check downs in the flats.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051838/3-Comeback.mp4?_=5

On this play, against the Browns, the safety initially rotated towards Cooks but moved towards Kupp, so Goff went to his next read and looked to Cooks on the out. The play action held the flat defender so there was plenty of space for Cooks to work back to. With Cooks’ ability to threaten corners with his vertical speed and ability to stop on a dime, this is a very hard route for any cornerback to cover in off-coverage.

However, just like the toss, if you go to the well too many times, NFL defenders are going to start anticipating it coming.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051819/4-Comeback-INT.mp4?_=6

Here, cornerback T.J. Carrie anticipated the out route was coming and jumped it. Goff also threw the ball a little late, which gave Carrie time to break on the ball. Because of the depth of the route, it’ll take time for the pass to get to Goff’s intended target. Elite cornerbacks will start jumping this route and it’s difficult to complement the play with a double move when the break point is so far downfield.

A good complementary play that the Rams ran against the Browns is a deep dig route or curl route. By running in-breaking routes with deep stems, the Rams could still take advantage of the underneath space, while keeping cornerbacks on their toes.

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2019/09/25051737/5-Curl.mp4?_=7

This play is essentially a deeper version of a basic curl/shoot combination with a play action fake. The fake held the inside backer and rotating strong safety while the shoot route pulled the flat defender away from Robert Woods, who ran the curl. Goff made a good read and fired a bullet to Woods.

Other solutions

The solutions that McVay has shown so far have worked, but they haven’t discouraged teams from getting out of the front. Though the Rams can theoretically stay in their base offense if they execute better, the numbers have shown with a growing sample size that the Rams are struggling to score against this front. Another solution is to use more spread out formations and find ways to run their base concepts from those formations. The Rams did spread out on early downs in a few instances in the last couple of weeks but not nearly enough in my opinion. They could even start in a condensed formation and quickly shift out of it to force defenses to communicate and adjust quickly.

I’m sure McVay has more tricks up his sleeve to counter the 6-1 that he hasn’t unveiled yet and there is also the question of whether the Rams are just struggling because they had to replace key interior offensive linemen like guard Rodger Saffold or because they’ve faced some tough defenses. But at the end of they day, the numbers demonstrate that they haven’t been nearly as explosive or efficient as they were since Week 14 last season in Chicago when Fangio first unveiled the 6-1. Right now, the narrative is that the blue print is out on how to limit the Rams offense and it’ll be up to McVay to change it.

Jared Goff and Rams’ offense are weighed down without Todd Gurley carrying load

BILL PLASCHKE

https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/story/2019-09-25/rams-offense-jared-goff-weighed-down-without-todd-gurley-carrying-load

This might seem like a crazy thing to write about an unbeaten football team.

This might appear nonsensical considering this team has the NFL’s most brilliant young head coach, its most productive running back, and a talented maturing quarterback.

This might sound nutty, but it’s true, and those who have watched three games with a gnawing sense of unfamiliarity and uncertainty know it’s true.

The Rams offense isn’t right.

The Rams offense has lost its swagger, misplaced its mojo, forgotten its identity.

The Rams are 3-0, but it’s a defensive 3-0, a trudging 3-0, a really weird 3-0.

They won their first game against an injured quarterback, their second against a backup quarterback, and their third with a goal-line stand.

The Rams offense didn’t win any of those games. The offense just sort of showed up, made a handful of big plays, and scurried away in the shadow of Aaron Donald.

Last season their attack was so powerful, everybody wanted to imitate their game plan and clone their head coach. For much of this season, they’ve been just another high-priced huddle.

Last season they scored 32.9 points per game. This season they’re down more than a touchdown, scoring 25.7 points per game.

Last season they ranked second with 421 yards per game. This season they’re down more than 60 yards at 358 per game, ranking them squarely in the middle of the league.

Does anything about the Rams offensive talent and coaching and scheme cry out “mediocre” to you? It shouldn’t, but it does, and it’s not too hard to figure why.

Todd Gurley is barely here, and Jared Goff isn’t the same without him.

Gurley has been involved in 15% fewer snaps than last season, Goff no longer benefits from the back’s dominating presence, and everything is just off.

No more long, exhausting Gurley-led drives. No more great Goff play-action screen passes. No more feeling of sustained momentum.

Gurley has been slowed by what is clearly load management. Goff simply hasn’t stepped up to the new challenge. This perfect backfield storm hasn’t capsized the Rams yet, but at some point, it will, and they know it.

“Offensively our standards are so high, we expect to be better, and we need to be if we want to win games later in the year and continue to be competitive,” Goff said Wednesday at his weekly news conference at the Rams practice facility in Thousand Oaks. “In certain games down the road it won’t be enough.”

The offense has been so sluggish, when I mentioned to coach Sean McVay on Wednesday that it didn’t seem as sharp as in previous years, he actually agreed.

“Absolutely,” he said at his daily news conference. “I haven’t done a good enough job for us, I think it starts with me. … We expect to be sharper overall … if I do a better job, and everybody else is a little bit better, we’re hopeful we’ll see better results.”

Did you catch the running theme there? McVay blaming himself? Bless his heart, for the sake of protecting his players, the young coach always blames himself. From the moment he set foot in Thousand Oaks three years ago, he’s been publicly carrying the burden for seemingly every Rams mistake, highlighted by him taking full responsibility on a national stage for the three measly points the Rams scored in the Super Bowl.

The accountability is admirable. His players love him for it. It has set the tone for a calm locker room where even the most volatile of veterans isn’t afraid to look in a mirror.

“When you feel like you’re responsible for a lot of the things that you could do better to help set it up in a situation that’s more conducive for success, I think that’s the truth,” McVay said. “I’m not going to make any excuses for why we haven’t gotten it done up to the level of our standards over the first three weeks. All I know how to do is to work as hard as I can to get it fixed. I’m just going to keep grinding every single day.”

Yet the heat does not always belong on McVay. And in the current case of the ornery offense, the issues are much bigger than him.

First, no matter how much gobbledygook he spreads about failing to get Gurley the ball — McVay constantly says he needs to do a better job of play calling, as if his photographic brain just forgets about the goliath in his backfield — the truth is in Gurley’s arthritic left knee.

The knee can’t withstand everyday NFL pounding. The knee needs to be coddled for the moments when it is really needed. The Rams won’t say this, but they don’t have to say it, they’ve been doing it since he broke down at the end of last spring. There is a reason Gurley did not participate in team drills during the offseason, practiced only every other day during training camp, didn’t play in the preseason, and hasn’t been practicing on Fridays.

Yet Wednesday, when asked about increasing Gurley’s usage, McVay seriously said, “We’ve got to have more plays.”

More plays? They rank ninth in the league in snaps.

He also went back to that game management rationale, claiming, “More than anything, the feel, the flow of the game … getting Malcolm [Brown] involved a little bit too.”

Brown is by all accounts a great teammate and important cog, but it stretches the imagination to think his presence is what is keeping Gurley on the bench.

McVay is emptying his pockets of every scrap of coach speak to avoid saying the words “load management.” But that’s what it is, that’s the new Rams normal, which brings up the second Rams problem.

Goff isn’t handling that reality very well. He has thrown for four touchdowns with three interceptions while looking mostly pedestrian. His quarterback rating of 84.5 is more than 16 points below last year’s mark. His completion percentage is down. His yards-per-completion is down. He struggles to get comfortable behind a reshaped offensive line.

Goff is living down to everyone’s worst fears — system quarterback having trouble when the system is out of whack — and he acknowledges his role. He respects his coach falling on his sword, but he’s having none of it.

“We do appreciate when he does that, it kind of shows that accountability that he preaches … but no, it’s execution and detail and just being on top of our stuff and performing, basic performance,” Goff said. “Just go out there and throw and catch and make the plays you’re supposed to make and everything will fall into place … we can do a lot more on our part, and need to, offensively, to get anywhere.”

They eventually will need Gurley to be more involved. They will eventually need Goff to show up. They will need to get anywhere but where they are.

RAMS

What’s wrong with the Rams’ offense? Nothing, at least in the second half

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/1245535/2019/09/26/whats-wrong-with-the-rams-offense-nothing-at-least-in-the-second-half/?=twittered

Given the difficulty the Rams have experienced scoring in the first half this season, it might be surprising to hear how calm things are in their locker room at halftime.

Based on the dominance they’ve enjoyed in the third quarter — a period they’ve used as the foundation for their 3-0 record — you’d assume the 12-minute break would be a chaotic scene of coaches yelling at players and trying to motivate them to drop a hammer on the opponent as soon as possible.

It’s actually the complete opposite.

“It’s very professional. Very locked in,” right tackle Rob Havenstein said.

“It’s an understanding of, hey, this is what (the other team) is doing and now let’s fix it as soon as we can,” center Brian Allen said.

The approach contains a belief that things will improve, rather than a mandate to make things better.

“Whether it takes a series or two, just trust our coaches and trust each other that we’re going to start moving the ball,” Allen said.

By every measure, that is exactly what has happened. The Rams have been a much more efficient, potent and effective team in the second half compared to the first, and that’s important to remember during the ongoing discussion of “what’s wrong” with the Rams’ offense.

They’ve scored 55 combined points in the second half compared to 22 in the first. Jared Goff has thrown for 395 yards and compiled a 92.2 passer rating in the second half, 315 yards and a 78.5 rating in the first. All four of his touchdown throws have come in the second half.

Todd Gurley also has been at his best, by far, in the second half. More on that later.

The third quarter, in particular, is when the Rams have done their best work. Goff has produced a 104.7 passer rating on 22-of-32 passing for 288 yards and two touchdowns, and the Rams have scored 31 of their 77 overall points in the third quarter (compared to six points in the first, 16 in the second and 24 in the fourth).

Hence the 3-0 record, even though they’ve sputtered in the first half in all three games. And that’s why, in spite of all the hand-wringing, the Rams are averaging 25.7 points, which is eighth-best in the NFL.

“Again, (the slow starts) is not something that’s stopped us,” Allen said. “It’s slowed us down, but we keep figuring things out.”

There is an asterisk next to that bottom line, though.

“We’re not a 3-0 team that’s satisfied,” Allen said. “We’re going to keep working. We might be the only 3-0 team in the NFL that’s not happy being 3-0 right now. But at the same time, we’re 3-0.”

“It’s not ideal to start slow, but there hasn’t been a team that’s slowed us down yet in the second half so that’s a positive,” Allen continued. “I think it’s encouraging to know that we’ve fixed it, we’ve adjusted to it. But at the same time, like everyone thinks, we know we need to start faster and that (the) first half hasn’t been (up to) our standard.”

The question is, what’s up with the first-half struggles and why can’t the Rams simply start games the way they finish them?

It’s a complex issue that involves a number of dynamics.

It touches on everything from the surprise defensive structures opponents are ambushing them with (and the prolonged adjustment period that has created), Gurley’s new usage pattern, a young offensive line with two new starters (plus an injury to right guard Austin Blythe) and some frustrating moments of inefficiency and mistakes.

The answers are simple.

“Just adjusting quicker, figuring things out quicker,” Allen said.

“We just have to do a better job of adjusting at the beginning of the game,” Havenstein said.

“We just need to be better offensively,” Goff said. “I think that’s the bottom line.”

Sounds easy, right?

Which begs the question: Why does it keep happening?

Let’s take a closer look at two big factors.

Opponents’ smart game plans

The Rams understand that they are being hunted after advancing to the Super Bowl last season and winning the most games and scoring the most points in the NFL over the last two years. That led to opposing teams coming up with game plans specifically to stop the Rams’ high-powered offense.

It didn’t help that the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears and New England Patriots used effective schemes last season that gave the Rams fits and created a blueprint for future opponents. As Ted Nguyen of The Athletic brilliantly wrote this week, it comes in the form of a 6-1 defensive front intended to take away the Rams’ bread-and-butter outside-zone runs, fly sweeps and boots, with a soft Cover 3 or 4 zone concept behind it to limit big pass plays.

“A couple of teams have played it against us … yeah.” Havenstein said.

And it’s been employed by teams — specifically the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 and the Cleveland Browns last week — that previously had not shown that defensive structure on film. So while the Rams prepared for one base look in practice, they saw something completely different to start the game, be it the 6-1 front or something else.

“We really haven’t played a team yet who’s done what we’ve game-planned for,” Allen said. “People are playing not their normal defense against us, and I think that’s a compliment to last year’s team and coaches and how well they can manipulate defenses and how well they can put game plans together.”

Said Havenstein: “We’ve seen a couple of looks that we haven’t necessarily, I guess, explicitly talked about in numerous reps throughout the week.”

That isn’t unusual, of course. The NFL has always been an evolving game of cat and mouse from season to season, week to week, quarter to quarter and even play to play. And no matter what defensive looks the Rams have surprisingly seen this year, it’s not like they’ve never studied those looks or practiced against those schemes.

In other words, it’s not like the 6-1 came falling out of the sky.

“That’s something we’ve seen, and it’s something we should know,” Havenstein said. “And we as an offense have to do a better job of adapting to it right away and not letting this (cause) mental errors or the different things we’re seeing. We have to execute to the best of our standards.”

True.

But the difference this year, compared to the last two, is that the Rams no longer have the luxury of a veteran offensive line that can quickly and seamlessly make adjustments to combat what they are seeing to start games.

Allen is in his first year as the starting center. Joe Noteboom is starting for the first time at left guard. And for most of the last two weeks, Jamil Demby — a second-year player who didn’t have a regular-season snap before this season — has been at right guard in place of Blythe. By any measure, that’s a disruption to the operation. Ideally, the impact would have been minimal. But that might have been expecting too much.

Not that some tough love and accountability isn’t warranted.

“It comes down to doing your job,” Havenstein said. “Doing your job with technique and knowing who to go (block). And that’s something that’s done through preparation and practice. And honestly, we have to do a better job.

“Speaking especially for the O-line, we have to do a better job preparing throughout the week. Whether that’s in the film room or — and it’s 100 percent on the players, (because I) think we have a good plan that’s been sent down from our coaches — but you know, especially, we’ve got a lot of young guys right now and we need to take that next step and not have any surprises and not knowing assignments. We need to make it a technique game. Which is when we’re very good.”

Rams coach Sean McVay has praised Allen for how he’s handled the communication part of the center position. Allen pointed out that it is only three games into the season. There is no reason to think this offensive line can’t improve as the year goes on, and that should lead to crisper starts.

For now, though, that falls into the “hopeful” category.

The Todd Gurley factor

McVay has been careful not to back himself into a corner when it comes to acknowledging an official plan for Gurley’s usage, as the Rams attempt to preserve the health of the running back’s left knee and avoid some of the wear-and-tear issues he experienced late last season.

When McVay talks, his audience isn’t the media or the fans. It’s the rest of the NFL. Specifically, the Rams’ next opponent. Reporters can ask or press him about what the plan is or even the existence of one. Just don’t expect him to oblige with a definitive answer.

It’s been clear since the beginning of the offseason that the Rams were aware of their overuse of Gurley the last couple of years, and that a plan needed to be formulated to avoid a similar situation this season.

That’s why Gurley didn’t get on the field during OTAs or minicamp. It’s why he had periodic days off during training camp. And it’s why his usage rate has dropped this season compared to the last two.

No matter what you call it — or how McVay explains it — Gurley is on a workload program right now. And as I’ve written and said many times, the key to the Gurley plan is discipline in carrying it out. You don’t draw up a plan only to immediately abandon it.

McVay has been disciplined in managing Gurley so far. The Rams hope that diligence will preserve Gurley for later this season and for seasons beyond.

But as we’ve also seen, there might be some ramifications.

It’s clear after three games that the Rams are slowing Gurley down early in games in order to put him in optimal position to be effective in the second half.

He has played a total of 75 first-half snaps so far, but with just 17 carries for 55 yards. He’s played 67 second-half snaps with 27 carries for 148 yards, so his usage rate has been much higher.

And while Havenstein, Allen, Goff and McVay acknowledge that the offense as a whole has done a better job with assignments and execution in the second half, it’s no coincidence that the whole operation runs smoother when Gurley is getting more carries and gaining more yards.

It literally changes everything.

Is there something the Rams can do to get Gurley more involved earlier in games? Obviously, that comes down to a decision on McVay’s part. The question is how much would that compromise the workload management plan. And can the Rams make up the difference elsewhere in games in order to maintain the balance?

The last thing they want to do is end up in the same predicament as last year, when Gurley simply was not as effective in December, January and early February.

It’s certainly something to keep an eye on.

It really comes down to this: The Rams are likely to stick with the Gurley plan through at least the first part of the season, so it’s on them to work around his usage rate in the first half.

And to successfully do that, they need the offensive line, as Havenstein said, to take that “next step” by being a cleaner, more efficient, more mentally prepared unit earlier in games. Doing so will help maximize the carries Gurley does get and create a safer environment for Goff to operate in. When Gurley is churning and Goff is standing tall and confident in the pocket, good things tend to happen.

The Rams have displayed that in the second half of all three games, specifically in the third quarter.

Now it’s a matter of doing it earlier and more consistently.

As Allen said: “Once we put it all together, it’s going to be pretty dangerous.”