Heading into Week 17, Watkins not what we thought in Rams offense

Los Angeles Rams fans have to wonder what the team got exactly when they acquired wide receiver Sammy Watkins during the preseason. While the big home run threat never materialized, he’s mostly been a seldom used weapon.

When the Los Angeles Rams made a trade to bring Sammy Watkins to LA in a significant offseason move, the conventional wisdom was that he was the big, downfield threat Tavon Austin was not.

15 games later, neither is Watkins, really.

In the high scoring offense that first year head coach Sean McVay has installed, the home run threat we thought he was, just hasn’t been.

And still, it looks to be working just fine for the Rams.

One reason is that the offense in Los Angeles has balance, and a lot of it. Every game, sometimes every quarter, it’s a different name making a play. That play could come from rookie Cooper Kupp, MVP candidate Todd Gurley, huge free agent signee Robert Woods, an aggressive Rams defense, OR the best special teams in the NFL.

Watkins just hasn’t been needed in such a desperation, over the top, Hail Mary type of capacity.

That’s not a bad thing, though it looked like it might be earlier in the season.

But as with all things Rams, he too found his groove. The ego was parked, the complaining ended, and the offense kept on rolling.

Hand it to Watkins.

He could have gone into the basement and played the Diva card, but he didn’t. He found his role, and as he did, Los Angeles kept on winning.

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And like they say, winning can solve a lot of things, even when what we thought, never even happened.

All that said, a time WILL come when Goff will need that “Big Play” from Watkins. The kind everyone thought might be more commonplace than what we’ve seen in 2017.