5 ways the LA Rams now playing like a champion should

It’s taken some time, but the LA Rams are finally learning to play like a Championship team again

The LA Rams grew up on Thursday night football. No, not just rookie running back Cam Akers, who blew the lid off SoFi Stadium with a 194 offensive yards performance. This was a maturation of the players, the coaches, and the entire organization. The Rams needed this win on so many levels. Not only did the time find a way to win, but did so in a dominating fashion.

The wind was taken out of the sails of this LA Rams team in the Super Bowl 53 loss. But the real damage happened in the way the team chose to retaliate. Rather than reformulate the offense, the Rams doubled down. If three-receiver sets worked for 2017 and 2018, they should work again in 2019, right?

That didn’t work

The Rams tried to run it back in 2019. Of course, they were working with two rookies on the offensive line and a not completely ready to be the featured running back Todd Gurley.  The Rams tried to recapture the magic through the first two-thirds of 2019, but NFL defenses now had a successful template. Rush Goff up the middle. Speed rush from the outside. Literally ignore deep routes, as Goff would not have enough time to air it out.

The Rams evolved. They had to because NFL defenses had figured out their weakness. So the Rams needed to reformulate a winner, on the fly, with few NFL draft picks and little free money to spend in free agency.

So the Rams were forced to ‘MacGyver’ a better team, a winning team. The team had to heal the battered and bruised offensive linemen. The team had to redirect dollars to the route running receivers. The Rams needed to use more two-tight end formations. Running backs had to become a vital component of the offense. And finally, the defense needed to step up and shut down opposing offenses.