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

The LA Rams are showing far too much passing offense right now

The LA Rams are really selling the pass-centric offense, down to the point where the team is going with only two tight ends on the active roster. Those two tight ends are veteran Tyler Higbee, and third-year newcomer Brycen Hopkins. Per Sharp Football analysis, the LA Rams ran a 12-personnel package for 152 offensive plays and were only successful on 37 percent of those plays.

In sharp contrast, the Rams ran their 11-personnel package for a whopping 1,133 times on offense, finding success 54 percent of the time. Curiously, the Rams ran 112 times out of their 12 personnel package and found success in just 31 percent of those plays when running. The Rams ran 37 percent of the time with three wide receivers and were successfully running the football 51 percent of the time.

From a data analytics perspective, going with an 11-personnel package enhances the team’s success rate at both running and passing the football.

With three wide receivers and a tight end, the Rams’ offense can activate four to five receivers on any given play. For many defenses, that alone is a difficult offense to defend. But the beauty of the LA Rams’ offense is that their wide receivers are nearly as effective at blocking as a tight end, which makes the Rams far more deceptive with three wide receivers than expected.

By going with an offense that shows four targets on each play, the Rams can mesmerize defenses into thinking pass first, which will only serve to amplify the effectiveness of the running game. The Rams have not invested the type of draft capital into the offensive line to be able to just hand off the ball and bowl defenses over. So the Rams will need to outthink defenses, and by embracing the appearance of a pass-first offense out of the gates, might be doing exactly that.