Deep dive analysis LA Rams offensive line and offensive struggles

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It’s easy to simplify the LA Rams’ offense struggles. But the truth of the matter is that the Rams’ offense is too predictable, period.  In 2018, after eight games, the Rams offense targetted WR Cooper Kupp 55 times, and he caught 40 passes for 566 yards and six touchdowns before falling to a season-ending injury.

This season, after just four games, Kupp has been targeted 54 times, catching 42 passes for 402 yards and three touchdowns. Kupp’s 7.4 yards per target is his lowest over his six-season NFL career. That’s not the offensive line. That’s the offense focusing upon Kupp at the expense of everyone else on the football field.

In 2018, the LA Rams targeted TE Tyler Higbee 34 times in 16 games, catching 24 passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns. In 2022, the LA Rams have already targetted Higbee 38 times, catching 26 passes for 244 yards and zero touchdowns.

Control group evidence it’s the Rams’ overall offense

In both cases, we cite two players whose workload has increased dramatically from their 2018 season. So you may think that the result would be better production than in 2018. But in both cases, more work has translated into a far less effective offense.

Is it a result of offensive line pressure? Can everything be blamed on the offensive line? Or has the LA Rams offense simply become too predictable once more? It’s a familiar chicken versus the egg argument. Do the Rams not run because they cannot run? Or is this offense unable to run because they won’t run, and therefore never get in the groove at doing so?

Okay, let’s try this another way.  Let’s compare the 2021 season of WR Robert Woods versus the 2022 season of WR Allen Robinson.