Optical Illusion: How bad was the LA Rams offense?

Three interrelated phases of the game

Fundamental shifts of workload amidst any NFL team will skew how easily we can compare one season to the next. To examine the effectiveness of defenses, we must also consider the play of the offense and of special teams.

And it’s that interaction of those phases that ultimately lead to success. Even as a running back plunges into the line of scrimmage for little to no gain, nearly a minute of regulation game time ticks off the clock. Lost in the shuffle of everything is the fact that each NFL regulation quarter is simply 15 minutes of regulation time. The team that controls the clock oftentimes controls the outcome of the game.

Transformers: More than meets the eye

The LA Rams transformed a great deal from 2020 into 2021.  The offense quickly pivoted from a run-centric offense to a pass-centric one. The team tweaked the offensive line to be pass-blocking efficient. And the front office focused their efforts to add more explosive receiving weapons to the roster.

The LA Rams added veteran DeSean Jackson in free agency. Then, the team added Tutu Atwell, Jacob Harris, and Ben Skowronek during the NFL Draft. The results were both impressive and explosive at first. By mid-season, the Rams had played to an impressive 7-1 record, and the offense averaged just over 30.6 points per game over that period.

But how effective was the offense as a whole? Impressive enough, as the team averaged 104.1 yards rushing on the ground. But the Rams hit a brick wall when they ran aground of a three-game losing streak. During those losses, the Rams averaged just 71.3 yards rushing per game. Making matters worse, the Rams neglected their running game, attempting just 17 rushes per game. That dropped the team’s average time of possession to just over 24 minutes per game.

The Rams needed to rework their offense one more time.