Is the Rams offense shaping up to be the story in 2017?

Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay looks to have found the keys to Jared Goff and the LA offense. Maybe defense won’t be the calling card for this team in 2017.

Los Angeles Rams fans who were relying on the LA defense to carry the water in 2017 may have to change their opinion. As the holdout of Aaron Donald stretches into Week 3 of the preseason and threatens to stretch in the regular season, maybe Sean McVay has a solution earlier than expected.

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Looking back at Saturday night when the Rams beat the Oakland Raiders 24-21, the story was all about an offense hoped for in LA, but not necessarily expected. That’s not to say the Jared Goff as an NFL quarterback paradigm has been solved, but a renewed hope, if not expectation has been established.

At least fans hope so.

As was typical, the story this spring didn’t seem so complicated.

As has been the deal the last few seasons, Aaron Donald would anchor a monster defense, keep the Rams in some games, and hope the maturation and development process of Jared Goff would lead to approximately four wins.

That seemed logical if not reasonable.

Then Goff and the Los Angeles offense seemed to find some traction over the weekend.

I’ll freely admit that It’s hard to NOT be optimistic after Saturday night. Cooper Kupp looks like the real deal and a guy who can go get anything Goff tosses his way. The idea that Sammy Watkins as a legitimate deep threat now adds a previously lacked scoring punch, and suddenly the intrigue of a Rams offense that can score points changes the previously assumed equation.

Might it be the LA offense who carries the Rams defense?

That might be a bridge too far, but maybe Sean McVay has found a way to get this offense to provide a better counterbalance to a Rams defense that may be patchwork, but functionally “OK” given the anchor of not Aaron Donald, but Wade Phillips?

Could happen.

If Saturday night in Oakland is a trend of things to come, imagine if Phillips had Donald in his war-room heading into the season right now? This holdout has been the ‘unintended consequence’ of some bad deals Rams management has signed off on.

Now, that has the potential to slow what may be an even more interesting season for a team that is on the verge of turning the corner.

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Regardless of how good the Rams offense looked Saturday night, the Donald holdout now appears to have to potential of stalling 2017 on the launch pad.

This team really deserves better year two in Los Angeles.