LA Rams lose coach (Waldron) to a Division Rival: Deja Vous?

The LA Rams offense has now officially been cordoned off (with pylons) as “under construction, this sidewalk is closed.”  The wheelhouse of head coach Sean McVay, the offensive wunderkind of the NFL, has watched his team’s offensive output recede for two straight years.  Not just a trickle, but the offense that once wowed the likes of the entire NFL has become, well, rather vanilla.

And so, it feels as though the team is reworking the offense. And why not? The team’s ability to put up points has fallen precipitously from 2017 when they were the most proficient offense in the entire league.  In 2018 it was the second-ranked offense. In 2019, it finished as the 11th-ranked scoring offense.  And this season, it plummeted like a bus plunging off a cliff and was the 23rd-ranked scoring offense.

These numbers speak volumes. And, as a result? Rams offensive coaches are signing on elsewhere, perhaps even being shown the door:

Assistant quarterback coach Liam Coen had accepted a position to become the University of Kentucky’s offensive coordinator days earlier. Now, former quarterback/tight end coach Shane Waldron, who most recently held the role of passing game coordinator with the LA Rams, jumps ship to become the offensive coordinator of division rival Seattle Seahawks. Waldron is now the seventh executive/coach to leave the Rams organization this year. Only Personnel consultant Ray Farmer’s future as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ GM is pending.

You don’t really like to see an assistant coach go to a division rival (and be OK with such a move) unless behind the scenes, some version of a “Hey, you need to find a job elsewhere” conversation took place, and they are moving in an entirely new offensive direction.