What happened to the offense in 2016?

There were so many issues.

1. Players regressed. Remember at the end of 2015 it seemed reasonable to assume the OL would progress or at least remain the same, because at the end of the season, they seemed to be settled in. Actually with a couple of exceptions, most players regressed, including Gurley, who admits that he did not work out in the off-season in 2016 the way he did in 2015. I think there is a long list of reasons for this, but it seems to me that the move, which players keep saying was disruptive, combined with a London trip, combined with basically giving up on the season after a certain point, meant a less prepared and more emotionally drained team.

2. The coaches may have regressed some too, probably for the same reasons. A lot of lost focus and then trying to crawl out from behind the 8 ball with players who eventually just gave up. Boudreau rightly has a strong reputation as a top OL coach but he seems to have let a lot of things slip in 2016.

3. Speaking of coaching, it’s pretty clear Boras dropped the ball so to speak. This is one big indicator: in the first quarter, the Rams did not rank that badly in scoring. (17th). In all 3 of the following quarters they plummet (2nd: 32nd, 3rd: 31st, 4th: 30th). This tells me that they could prepare for and attack what they saw on film but then had massive trouble adjusting to defensive adjustments.

4. There’s that and the fact that a 1st time coordinator basically installed a new offense (they adjusted everything) during a move, which combined is a recipe for disaster.

5. Keenum could be an effective game manager on a team that could run the ball and play defense. Well they didn’t do the former and eventually slipped on defense too. I think the same can be said for the rookie.

6. Teams just loaded up on the LOS. Actually the Rams countered that in some early wins, where Keenum’s underestimated long ball combined with great defensive efforts could get wins. Then teams figured out you don’t challenge Keenum to beat you deep because in fact he can.

7. Goff had no idea how to read blitzes pre-snap, as you expect he wouldn’t, and so he set up a lot of situations for disaster where a more experienced qb would not. Actually this is very signigicant: Olson is famous for teaching his qbs had to use and adjust protections based on what they see pre-snap. This compounded the entire set of problems.

8. Whether it was from being out of sync with a new offense, mentally exhausted, or giving up, or being young, the receivers performed poorly. Higbee looked overwhelmed to me, everyone was giving up on routes or running the routes incorrectly, and so on. IMO that started out as being out of sync and ended up being just players who had quit.

9. An offensive coaching staff of newcomers was just no match for the situation. We have no idea how that staff would do if the situation were normal, but, they certainly did not overcome the situation. When it comes to that 2017 has a double advantage. The situation is much more stable, AND they have more experienced coaches in Kromer and OLson.

10 I know I am leaving things out but enough. A lot of people blame the scheme and I just never buy that in relation to any team. Any decently effective pro scheme can work if you execute it. Seattle is not known for its offensive creativity, for example, but they execute. You can even handle defenses that are loading the box if your qb has the experience and smarts to take advantage of it, but then he has to be able to see things in pre-snap reads to do that (Warner for example was a master at that)…and as you would expect, a rookie qb coming from a college Air Raid offense is not going to be good at that (again, Olson will be a factor here in 2017).

I myself would never just single one thing out and say “this is THE cause.” It was multiple and then got compounded by issues of team morale as the season wore on. It will require multiple solutions too, though a lot of it is already taken care of: eg. they have a more stable situation in 2017 and a more experienced offensive coaching staff AND players who are pizzzed at themselves for their 2016 performance. So in a lot of respects it’s already better.