Why the LA Rams running game could be NFL’s biggest surprise

We know that the LA Rams roster at the running back is not causing any defensive coordinators to lose sleep right now. The entire group, all four running backs, have rushed 396 times for only 756 yards and five touchdowns as a group in the entire 2021 NFL season.

That’s not even good enough to be a worthy running back selection in Fantasy Football. The LA Rams were content to lose far more when running back Sony Michel’s contract expired and the team did not make any effort to re-sign him.

If you add all of the LA Rams running backs’ career statistics so far, you get 478 rushes for 2092 yards and 12 touchdowns. That is, ahem, the entire NFL offensive output of the Rams’ entire rushing backfield over the life of their careers.  That’s hardly the stuff to bet chasing down another NFL playoff berth, let alone a consecutive run at a Super Bowl victory.

It’s a dire matter for LA Rams fans, a fanbase that has come to trust what appears to be gross oversights by the team’s management. This was the same fanbase that ferociously called for defensive coordinator Raheem Morris to be fired, only to be swept off their feet at how he cobbled together a defensive secondary out of backups, a two-year NFL retiree, and a lot of confidence to sweep the NFL playoffs.

This team seems to have a knack for performing NFL miracles, of taking an absolute train wreck and blowing the socks off even the mildest critics. Will this be one more instance? I think that is certainly possible, and here’s why: