How patient will LA Rams be with Coach Kevin Carberry’s OL?

The LA Rams opted to begin this season with just eight offensive linemen on the team’s 53-man active roster. So far, the Rams have played at least nine different offensive linemen in the first five games of the season.  With evidence like that? Yeah, I think that we are onto something.

The Rams pushed the envelope to the limit. In normal seasons, the lack of that margin for error passes by needlessly. In short, had this been a normal track sort of season, the Rams roster that initially began with eight offensive linemen would be tested once by now, and the performance of Tremayne Anchrum at right guard would have been good enough to have the Rams at 4-1 or 3-2 by this point in time.

But the injuries have ravaged the LA Rams roster of offensive linemen. Not only have the Rams already burned through three backup offensive linemen, but the team is starting Jeremiah Kolone, a player who began the season on the practice squad.

To date, the Rams’ offensive game plan has done very little to adapt to the team’s current conditions.  There has been no switch to 12 personnel packages, and in the lone time when the Rams did add WR Ben Skowronek as a blocking back, the offense was nearly normal.

How realistic are the Rams’ expectations?

So I’m a bit confused that the expectations of this group that has rolled out a new starting five in five weeks of play have not been met.  Has nobody on the team been taking notes?

The truth of the matter so far this season is that the LA Rams offensive line has grown increasingly weakened by injuries and lack of continuity. On the opposite side of the football, the defenses have become increasingly good at defending the pass and rushing the quarterback.

All the while, the undertow for the Rams offense seems to be that the LA Rams offensive line, despite injuries, is somehow underperforming expectations. But how much should the coaching expect from an offensive line that has had no continuity?

Concerns over OL Coach Kevin Carberry?

Of course, the injuries have made continuity all but impossible. But if that is the case, why have the Rams changed nothing? In fact, the Rams appear to have added more pressure to a banged-up offensive line that is struggling to execute a basic offensive playbook, let alone 40+ passes per game against the NFL’s best pass defenses.

The first sign that more may be in the works is this report from The Athletic’s Rams reporter, Jourdan Rodrigue. She shared that Rams head coach Sean McVay had spent a noticeably greater amount of time with the offensive line at practice this week.

So what?

Well, the obvious conclusion is that the offensive line status has reached critical mass and that Coach McVay merely wanted to get first-hand experience to prepare himself for any number of important decisions to be made on that front.

But the boss also shows up to check on the manager. Since the Rams have been getting beaten up at the offensive line, the team has needed players to step up. So far, the latest promotions to the starting five have been disappointments. Is there something holding back the recently signed veterans from promotion? Or is there some bias or flaw in the preparation and evaluation of ranking the offensive linemen to fill vacancies?

A chain breaks at its weakest link. Right now, I suspect that the Rams are trying to determine where that weakest link is.