What is the most important key to LA Rams 2023 NFL season?

The LA Rams came off an incredibly high feeling of euphoria after winning Super Bowl LVI. But just a few months later, found themselves licking their previous season’s injuries, back in training camp, going through the grind once more.  In some ways, it seemed a bit anti-climactic. It was clear in the season opener that this was a team that was still shaking off that post-NFL Championship hangover, or simply still nursing old wounds, but that led to something far more threatening to the team’s future.

The LA Rams, even in that opener loss, appeared to be a team that was not having fun playing football. By mid-October, the situation had gotten so bad that we began to make some suggestions as to how to infuse fun into the locker room, the sidelines, and among the players again. We called them crazy ideas at the time, but those ideas proved not to be so zany after all.

In the final few games, with free agent quarterback Baker Mayfield under center, the Rams’ offense finally appeared to have some fun again. RB Cam Akers ran for 100+ yards for the final three consecutive games. The patchwork offensive line, although not great, began to stiffen in protection and blocking. Is there a lesson to learn here?

The season that got away

It was not until the LA Rams season was gone and the NFL Playoffs were long out of reach that the team began to stop, look, and listen to the true problems with the offense. Play-action plays do not work unless the opposing defenses need to worry about the running play first. Secondaries do not cover any receivers who have already been ignored by the quarterback throughout the game.

It was such a plummet from riches to rags, that in many ways it felt like an animated Disney movie in which the hero takes good fortune for granted, leading to squandering those riches, feeling deep remorse, and then finding some way to recover those riches.

But this was no Disney flic, and this was not animated. The LA Rams season was a complete disaster in terms of doing the wrong this to resolve the adversity that the team faced. It almost felt as though the team was seeing a completely different version of the game than I was observing. Here’s what I mean:

What were the Rams thinking there?

The key to the Rams’ post-season demolition of any and all opponents was their ability to stay the course, not panic, and stick to the pieces that work. That was the right call in the NFL Playoffs because the Rams’ offense was playing behind a healthy offensive line that had gelled for 17 regular season games and knew instinctively how to handle defensive stunts.

That all changed out of the gates for the Rams’ offense in 2022. The team had lost rookie Logan Bruss before the season ever started, and decided to back up the starting center with the starting right guard. That became a sinkhole of injury for the Rams because the team lost the starting center to injury in Week 1. But on the very first play of the next game, the backup right guard broke his lower leg. That opened the Rams to play a third-string offensive lineman in Week 3. From that point on, the Rams’ offensive line did not play the same five linemen until Week 13.

Who’s calling these plays, anyhow?

Despite the offensive line injuries, the LA Rams’ play distribution was as follows:

• Opponent          # Passes         # Runs        Result Bills                         41                     18                 L Falcons                  36                      26                W Cardinals               25                      20                W 49ers                      48                     18                 L Cowboys                44                     15                 L Panthers                33                     29                W

Notice the pattern? In those early games, when the LA Rams were somewhat still intact, the offense playcalling followed a rigid pattern of losses when the Rams pass 40+ times and rushed under 20 times. The Rams won when the team rushed 20+ times and threw the football under 40 times.

But the true ‘yikes,’ component to all of this is the fact that the Rams passed heavily into the toughest pass defenses. Against the Buffalo Bills, starting quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked a ridiculous seven times and intercepted three times. In their first meeting against the San Francisco 49ers, Stafford was once again sacked a crazy seven times, and he was intercepted once. Against the Dallas Cowboys, Stafford was sacked five times and threw another interception.

Let’s tally that up. 19 sacks and five interceptions as a result of defying logic and throwing 40+ times against three of the most difficult pass defenses at that time. For the season, Stafford was sacked 29 times and intercepted eight times in nine games played.

Perhaps the playcalling was a major contributor to the offensive futility after all? I don’t believe that it’s going out on a limb to suggest that if the Rams had a more even play distribution, perhaps Matthew Stafford’s season may not have been quite as ineffective. So what can be done to fix this?

Hang on, help is on the way

Okay, so what’s the answer? Well, it’s already on its way. Whether you believe that LA Rams HC Sean McVay is the lone voice in creating the offensive playbook, or believe that he collaborates with his offensive coaching staff, it’s McVay who has decided to hire former Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. And let’s be clear, LaFleur was not fired by the decision of New York Jets Robert Saleh. Rather, that edict came from ownership.

Mike LaFleur will be the new LA Rams offensive coordinator. But unlike Liam Coen, he is not coming in to validate the whims and ideas of HC Sean McVay. He has his own style of offense, and that was clear when the NY Jets started out the 2022 NFL season with a record of 5-2. So what happened? The Jets lost star rookie running back Breece Hall for the season after those initial seven games, and the offense was never able to adapt.

Can LaFleur make a difference?

So what are we looking for in an offense with Mike LaFleur as the offensive coordinator? Well, from the moment that Mike LaFleur was rumored to be close to being hired, we surveyed what effect that could have on starting quarterback Matthew Stafford’s season. As news of LaFleur’s hiring became official, we took another approach, this time considering how LaFleur might influence the season for LA Rams feature running back Cam Akers.

In both cases, the Rams’ offense will likely benefit from the concepts and commitment to running the football that Mike LaFleur brings with him.

It was not NFL defenses that caught up to the LA Rams offensive concepts, but rather the Rams offense that has dummied down their plays to allow defenses to gain the upper hand. The Rams should be able to establish an effective running game in 2023, and from that setup, play-action passing can stretch defenses. Those two elements open up the entire LA Rams offensive playbook.

Fiction? Pipe dream? Think again. The last time Sean McVay had a LaFleur as his offensive coordinator, the Rams’ offense was among the best in the NFL. A LaFleur is back on the Rams coaching staff, albeit the younger brother of Matt LaFleur.

What is the most important key to the LA Rams 2023 NFL season? It all comes down to having fun again. And when the Rams’ running game is chewing up yards and scoring TDs, it’s always a blast.