Will the LA Rams run the ball more or less this season?

LA Rams head coach Sean McVay is on the NFL talk show circuit now. In fact, he recently appeared via remote dial-in with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, primarily to discuss the LA Rams’ lack of first-round draft picks.  But that was not all that was discussed.  If the truth be told, that interview with
NFL Network’s Rich Eisen included a number of eye-opening revelations.

One in particular that stood out to me was the fact that in all the time LA Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford was playing in that football wasteland known as Detroit Lions, he only played in 11 games where one of his running backs gained 100 yards or more. Now that factoid struck me as intriguing. And that’s in 12 seasons. A paltry sum, indeed.

You can look at that stat and deduce Stafford wasn’t very well supported, and certainly, that would be an accurate statement. Or maybe, just maybe, Stafford is the kind of NFL starting quarterback that doesn’t necessarily need a running game. Or, at least, he doesn’t need a running game to support him as much as the former Rams’ QB Jared Goff did.

Perhaps his talent level is so dwarfing compared to the running backs he has played alongside that the offensive coordinator did not want to take the ball out of Stafford’s hands? Perhaps the Detroit Lions offensive line was too shaky to ground it out via the run? Perhaps the running backs on the Lions roster were less talented than most NFL teams?