LA Rams QB Jared Goff commands highly elite passing arsenal

The LA Rams enter the 2020 NFL season boasting a highly elite passing attack on offense led by veteran quarterback Jared Goff

Today’s NFL is about throwing the football around the yard. You must have a franchised quality quarterback to be able to do so. Jared Goff is the air commander of the LA Rams passing attack.

Even with the same linemen, who run block, are able to give Goff the time to throw the ball. The Rams gave up the few quarterback sacks in 2019 with 22. Footballoutsiders.com, an analytical website, ranked the Rams offensive line as the NFL’s best in pass protection.

You may ask, why are they able to pass protect but not effectively run block? Most teams want to disguise their plays so the defense doesn’t know what is coming. Perhaps the Rams showed a pass play look on run plays that didn’t fool anyone.

LA ranked among the elite passing NFL teams, in 2019. A statistical analysis, using the normal distribution formula, provides parameters for each level of talent. For example, 235 yards per game is the average for all 32 NFL teams.

How the LA Rams passing attack rates against the other NFL teams

In 2019, Jared Goff completed 394 passes for 4638 yards with 22 touchdowns. His backup, Blake Bortles, completed one pass for three yards and punter Johnny Hekker completed two passes for 28 yards. In 2019, the LA Rams averaged 281.2 passing yards per game, according to nfl.com.

According to the normal distribution curve, the top 10 percent of NFL teams would average throwing for 276 yards or more each game. The Rams average bested that number. In 2019, tier 2 passing teams threw for an average of 262 yards.

Based on 2019 data, only five other NFL teams can consider themselves to be elite passing teams. They are the Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta FalconsB, the Los Angeles Chargers and the Super Bowl champions – Kansas City Chiefs, who averaged 276 passing yards per game or more.

What is the common thread? They each have a top-caliber quarterback play along with quality receivers. Also, they are able to effectively mix the run with the pass in their offensive scheme.

Expect the Rams under new offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell to bring a better mix to the Rams offense.  Last season, the LA Rams mixed the plays by a 61/39 (pass to run) ratio in play-calling. Since the results of a pass-heavy offense seemed to be counter-productive, expect the Rams to be more of a 55/45 passing team in 2020.