Why the Los Angeles Rams are far from doomed in 2017

A recent article on a site dedicated to the Seattle Seahawks was critical of the potential surrounding the Los Angeles Rams for the 2017 season.

A recent piece critical of the Los Angeles Rams is worth taking to task. I might be in college, but it’s time I took Field Gulls to school. The article titled, “Why the Rams are Doomed” rubbed me, and I am sure many Rams fans, the wrong way. You would have to be living under a rock to not know that we have struggled over the past decade, but I take issue with his comments, and a rebuttal is absolutely required.

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With that in mind, this article is supposed to give a different perspective on the points being made. These are my opinions backed up with statistics, to prove my points for a counter assessment.

“The Rams suck. They suck for a multitude of reason.” 

That’s just hurtful, but please continue.

“They employed Greg Williams for two season”

It was actually three seasons. Under Greg Williams last year the Rams were ninth in total yards allowed per game while finishing 23rd in defensive points allowed. The defensive struggles can be contributed to the offense as they were 23rd in defensive time on the field. They often had to work with a shot field. Even if you could call Williams a weakness, this point is invalid as he is no longer our defensive coordinator.

“They allow lazy sportswriters to always claim that they are up and coming.”

I’m offended, I’d argue instead that we are optimistic!

“And, the biggest reason of all, they keep beating the Seattle Seahawks.”

Last time I looked, we don’t “suck” because we beat you, we “sucked” because we lost to other teams. To say that we are bad for beating you is a very contradictory statement.

“Whitworth is undoubtedly an upgrade to the OL, but he is also 35 years old and has more than $5 million in dead cap if he is cut before next season.” 

Yes, Andrew Whitworth is old, but he has only missed eight games while starting in 172 in the regular season. Not only that, but he is a model of consistency. Pro Football Focus rated him the 5th best offensive lineman in 2016. Slamming Whitworth is ironic considering the Seahawks signed Luke Joeckel, for 7 million guaranteed, whom many consider to already be a bust.

“They signed receiver Robert Woods to a 5-year, $34 million contract with $15 million guaranteed. I am looking at his stats and he seems to be a slightly better Jermaine Kearse.”

When Robert Woods played in Buffalo they ran the ball 48.61 percent of the time in 2016. The Redskins under McVay, ran 37.57 percentage of the time for comparison. With a more offensive passing minded coach and an increase in passing plays, Woods targets should increase. He would be playing a role similar to that of Pierre Garcon last year. That would make a compelling case to justify his contract. It is also why you cannot make a fair comparison between him and Jermaine Kearse.

“They selected TE Gerald Everett, who I had never heard of…I’m always skeptical of small school guys.”

While Gerald Everett isn’t a commonly known name he still had a very good college career. Evan Engram who was in the same draft class, a “big school guy” who went to Ole Miss, is a close comparison. Both are very similar in their height, weight, and build. Both are 6’3″ and weigh with Everett weighing 9 pounds more than Engram. Their senior year’s have very similar numbers. While Engram had 209 more yards, 926 to 717, he also had 16 more targets, 65 to 49. However both players managed to get around 14 yards per catch. While the drop off in catches is a concern McVay will know how to get his production up from college.

“On the other side of the FA ledger, they lost their best WR in Kenny Britt and mediocre TE Lance Kendricks.” 

Kenny Britt‘s asking price would have been too high this offseason. Yes Britt ended the Rams receiving drought of 1000 yard seasons, but he was starting to become locker room trouble. As forLance Kendricks, he was the Rams number two tight end behind Jared Cook with the exception of last year. McVay should be trusted when it comes to judging who fits his offensive scheme.

“This section would be incomplete without discussing the Goff trade.”

Let’s not, this wound is too fresh.

“590 QBs have thrown 200 or more passes in a season since 2000. 577 of them threw for more yards/attempt than Goff…he is probably not going to develop into a franchise QB.” 

While I’m not going to dispute facts on Jared Goff’s passing, assuming you’re correct, I will argue that you should look at the system Goff was in. In 2015 and 2016 the Rams has the 32nd rated offense. Throwing a rookie into that mess will end in a disaster that even a rookie like Peyton Manning would’ve failed in.  Rams offensive coordinator Rob Boras didn’t have a clue as to how to run an offense. Being new to the coordinator role, he was learning from Fisher on how to run an out of date offense. It’s also easy to argue a lot of those quarterbacks were seasoned veterans, making it an unfair metric to measure Goff.

"“He does seem to be able to develop passing games, as the passing Net Yards/Attempt has been in the top 10 in each of his seasons as a coordinator. However, how much of that is due to the QB talent? None of these numbers screams ‘wunderkid’ to me, but maybe he had a hell of an interview.”"

Yes McVay is a “wunderkid.”

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The offense in Washington was built to get the most out of Kirk Cousins and the surrounding talent. McVay’s system had route concepts to push the ball deep downfield, nothing that Fisher’s offense was capable of. McVay also had a system of check downs allowing Cousins to get the ball out quickly when nobody was open. This is why McVay was hired, because he can renovate the Rams offense while freeing Goff’s potential just like Cousins.