Can LA Rams rally around RB Cam Akers with ‘tough love’?
By Bret Stuter
Cam Akers has a valid point
A balanced offense keeps defenses guessing. There is no guessing what the Rams’ offense plans to do this season. Yes, you can argue that the Rams cannot rush with a bad offensive line. But how easy is it for a bad offensive line to hold off pass-rushers long enough to get the pass off when they have their ears pinned back?
In seven games, the LA Rams have rushed the football 20+ times in four games, and hold a 3-1 record when they do so. Did they win because they rushed so often? Or did they rush so often because they gained the lead and ran the football to kill the clock? You can decide. But as you do, let’s examine if the Rams’ passing game is better than the Rams’ rushing game.
I’d say . . . No.
More than words
The Rams need to do more than just throw rhetoric into social media that welcomes Cam Akers back. He is highly competitive, and he wants to help the Rams win in the worst way. Unfortunately, no part of this Rams organization has done much of anything to help improve the run. Wasted plays? Perhaps. But the answer cannot be laid upon Cam Akers:
To get the Rams running game back on track, decisions have to be made to do exactly that. Rather than the dismissal of players who are struggling, what of the decisions to set up the roster and design the offensive plays that seem to expect more of the players than this beaten-up roster can deliver?
In the end, the LA Rams must do more than focus on what other players and coaches are not doing to get this fixed. Everyone in the organization must ask themselves what they can do better to help get this rushing back on track.
I don’t know if Cam Akers can successfully re-establish himself on this roster. But I’m pretty convinced that he cannot do so without a lot of help.