NFL’s Baldinger believes Matthew Stafford will shine in LA Rams offense

Not all is sunny in Los Angeles for the Rams

It’s not all rose-colored glasses talk from Baldy. He points out that it’s harder to replace a good coach than a good player, and the loss of defensive coordinator Brandon Staley will be a tough loss to overcome.

Baldy talks about the 2021 chapter of this LA Rams offense at the 9:00 mark. He sees the Rams putting more explosive plays (20+ yards) from the offense this year. He believes that the Rams will move the chains more frequently on third down. He states that the Rams offense has a more accurate quarterback with a bigger arm. Plays that are designed to take the top off the defense have been there in the past but will happen with Stafford under center.

Baldinger points out that Stafford is used to playing alongside Lions offensive center Frank Ragnow, who he claims is one of the best in the NFL (and he’s right). The LA Rams’ current plans to shuffle Austin Corbett to the center and backfill the right guard position with Bobby Evans is loaded with challenges. As a former offensive lineman, Baldy points out how dependant the interior line play is upon the interworkings and communication of the offensive center and the two offensive guards.

That trio cannot afford any leaks in either the running game or pass blocking, an area for the offensive line that truly had experienced lapses in each of the past two seasons against A-gap blitzes. The Rams have an even less mobile quarterback in Stafford, so that will need to be fixed permanently this season.

All-in-all, Brian Baldinger believes that this LA Rams offense with quarterback Matthew Stafford could be special. He states outright that anything short of a Top-10 ranking will be a true disappointment (the Rams offense finished as the 23rd-ranked scoring offense in 2020). In fact, he believes that the Rams should finish among the Top-5 NFL scoring offenses.