Why Rams’ Sean McVay is taking a what’s-old-is-new-again approach with offense

Ted Nguyen

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6652775/2025/09/23/film-review-rams-mcvay-browns-chargers-defense/?source=emp_shared_article

After three weeks, we are beginning to see how teams want to fashion themselves schematically.

The Rams offense made drastic changes when the team traded for Matthew Stafford, but it’s back to the system Jared Goff ran in Los Angeles.

Under coordinator Kevin Patullo, the Eagles offense has been maddeningly conservative, but it might be turning over a new leaf.

Why the Rams offense is going old-school, and has the Eagles offense figured things out?

The Rams ultimately lost a heartbreaking game against the Eagles in which they had a double-digit lead and had two kicks blocked, but the silver lining is that their offense looks like an elite unit with room to get even better. When Stafford got traded to the Rams in 2021, Sean McVay started to shift from the under-center, compressed formations, run-heavy offense that he ran with Goff. The offense became more spread out, used shotgun and pistol more, and passed at a higher rate because it had Stafford. The offense started to shift back last season to McVay’s original approach, going under center on 45 percent of plays, which ranked second only to the Detroit Lions.

So far, this season, they’ve shifted even more in that direction, going under center on 65 percent of snaps. Part of the reason for this shift is in direct response to Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has influenced the league’s 2-high meta. The trend of keeping two safeties deep to stop explosives left them vulnerable upfront, so McVay countered with more under-center, gap-scheme runs and using more play action when throwing. That shift worked exactly as intended against Fangio’s defense. The Rams had the second-highest success rate that any offense has had against Fangio’s Eagles defense (54.8 percent) and ran for the third-most yards against them as well.’

Kyren Williams has a TD!

LARvsPHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/LGRf6BFsRq

— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025

In the second half, the Eagles got into base personnel and lined up in their 6-1 front to stop the run. The Rams still moved the ball efficiently, but didn’t execute in the red zone. Some of the blame should go to McVay’s lack of aggressiveness in the second half, but it is encouraging to see the Rams dominate the line of scrimmage in this fashion.

Offensively, the Eagles finally opened up the playbook and put the ball into Jalen Hurts’ hands. The Rams’ starting corners both weigh 180 pounds, and A.J. Brown weighs nearly 230 pounds. Their adjustment was simple: Have Brown physically dominate the Rams’ corners. Hurts’ early down pass rate (59 percent) and average air yards per attempt (8.6) against the Rams were the highest they’ve been all season.

A.J. BROWN IS TOO STRONG

LARvsPHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/5o9dqObR6Q

— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2025

“Me, personally, I truly believe we’ve got so many good players on this team and at times you can feel like we’re being conservative and I don’t think it should be like that. … Let your killers do their thing and play fast and play aggressive,” Brown said after the game.

The Eagles did a much better job of blocking some of the Rams’ blitzes and simulated pressures after replacing tackle Matt Pryor, who was filling in for Lane Johnson, with Fred Johnson in the second half. Maybe Patullo was overly cautious in his first two games as coordinator, trying not to unravel a championship offense, but his approach was clearly holding back the Eagles. In basketball, sometimes, a shooter needs to see the ball go through the hoop a few times before catching a rhythm. Hopefully for Patullo, he just needed to see a pass-happy approach have success and he’ll be more comfortable mixing it up now.

This was a rare game in which I felt better about the prospects of both teams afterward.

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
The Rams defense has recorded 12.0 sacks this season, tied with the Broncos for the most in the NFL. It’s the most sacks for the Rams through three games of a season since 2015 (13) and the third-most through three games in the last 30 years (14 in 1998).

Daniel Jones has looked really good in the first three weeks and has the Colts sitting at 3-0. Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford each talked about Jones' turnaround and they shared similar thoughts entering Sunday's game. https://t.co/EDXw127Ag8

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) September 24, 2025

SleeperNFL@SleeperNFL
Puka Nacua among league WRs through Week 3:

🔹35 targets (1st)
🔹29 receptions (1st)
🔹111 YDS/G (1st)
🐏24.5 FP/G (1st)

Tied for most targets so far this season? Chris Olave

Jim Youngblood 53@53_jim70721
In 2025 Rams shown they can stop the run.
Also, in 2025, they do 3rd and long well

Colts run well …
Colts, IMO, don’t do 3rd and long well.

Rams IOL (with injuries) not match for Colts IDL

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
According to @PFF after Week 3, the Rams rank:

⚫️1st in overall grade (85.9)
⚫️2nd in passing grade (89.9)
⚫️2nd in run blocking grade (71.7)
⚫️2nd in tackling grade (73.1)
⚫️3rd in offensive grade (79.9)
⚫️4th in defensive grade (79.3)
⚫️4th in coverage grade (76.8)
⚫️6th in receiving grade (77.0)
⚫️6th in run defense grade (75.2)
⚫️T-8th in rushing grade (74.0)

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Among rookie outside linebackers/EDGE defenders, Rams’ Josaiah Stewart currently ranks third in overall defensive grade and sixth in pass rush grade (min 20% snaps played), according to
@PFF
.

Quentin Lake has been dominant in zone coverage out of the nickel this year.

He is going to get a massive payday this off-season. pic.twitter.com/m2dTad44j4

— Ethan Young (@EthanYoungFB) September 22, 2025

Karty’s knuckleball is taking the league by storm right now… 🤫 pic.twitter.com/T1BJMGh0rL

— RamsNation (@LARamsey46) September 22, 2025

Los Angeles Rams PR@TheLARamsPR
Safety Quentin Lake currently leads the NFL in pass breakups (5) and ranks tied for fourth in incompletions against as the primary defender (11), according to TruMedia.

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
This was just the Rams’ second loss after leading by at least 19 points since 1984. One of the worst losses of the Sean McVay era.

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
today, stafford on 3rd down:
1 of 7 for 8 yards, 1 sack, 1st down

…

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2025/09/22/rams-pff-grades-beaux-limmer-justin-dedich/86292476007/?taid=68d16f0ee04ccb000171641d&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

Part of the reason for the Rams’ struggles was the pass protection, which was lacking throughout the contest. In fact, Pro Football Focus even gave Rams offensive linemen Justin Dedich (35 pass-blocking snaps) and Beaux Limmer (five pass-blocking snaps) their worst possible grade, a 0.0.

Wyatt Miller@wymill07
Another squib by Karty causes a bobble on the return and pins the Eagles inside the 15. They have now started every single drive off a Rams score at or inside the 20.

***

ME: if you don’t know about the Rams new (and very successful) kickoff strategy, I describe it here: https://theramshuddle.com/topic/rams-kickoffs/

That Cowherd vid is pretty good at summing up what happened.

One lesson: don’t give McVay the 2nd round pick. He will take a skill player they don’t need. Atwell, Ferguson. They needed a corner or a center, these guys are right.

J.B. Long@JB_Long
With his 2nd TD today, Matthew Stafford has passed Matt Ryan for 9th-most in NFL history (382).