Clash of the Titans: Eagles at Rams in Week 12 hinges on line of scrimmage

Rams OL recap

The LA Rams offensive line is tough to grade effectively, if for no other reason than the team's numerous iterations of the five starters that can change in any given week. And with eight versions over 10 games, it's crystal clear that regardless of how the team played in one week, that performance may not be duplicated the following week.

So Pro Football Focus, in a mid-season article grading all 32 offensive lines in 2024, had a difficult task ahead of them when weighing in on where to rank the LA Rams offensive line, and what to say about them to justify their ranking. Fortunately, PFF author Zoltan Buday did a fairly good and objective assessment of the Rams offensive line this year:

Keep in mind that despite handing out a collective grade through Week 11, Buday leaned heavily into the Rams Week 11 performance in his writeup. Here is what he mentioned about the Rams as he ranked them at 21 among 32 NFL teams.

"The Rams offensive line played one of its best games this season in Week 11. The unit surrendered three pressures and no sacks on 27 pass plays, leading to a 94.4 PFF pass-blocking efficiency rating that ranked second in the NFL.

Right guard Kevin Dotson was among the top performers of Week 11. Dotson did not allow a single
pressure against the Patriots and earned a 90.3 PFF run-blocking grade. As a result, his 90.1 PFF overall grade ranked fourth among guards in Week 11.

Best player: Jackson’s 87.9 PFF overall grade ranked second among left tackles in the NFL in Week 11."

- Zoltan Buday, PFF

While you could argue that this offensive line is better than 21, it's a hard position to defend. Warren McClendon at right tackle and Steve Avila at left guard have at or less than 200 offensive snaps respectively. And that is only a portion of the 653 offensive snaps that this offensive line has played in 2024.

The gold standard of the Rams offensive line in 2024 is veteran RG Kevin Dotson. And he continues to play at the top of his game. If you don't recall, Dotson was a veteran acquired via a 2023 trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and had been an incredible addition to this offensive line. He originally joined the team to take over for a not-yet-ready IOL Logan Bruss in 2023. Now, he is the hands down starter at right guard.

And like so many players, Kevin Dotson has learned how to love football once more with the Rams. The results of restoring a passion for football remains obvious and consistent:

Dotson is just one of the players who has claimed a starting role on this Rams offense. The team has discovered that Alaric Jackson at left tackle, Steve Avila at left guard, and Beaux Limmer at center have established themselves well in 2024 as well. The biggest question mark going forward is the future right tackle successor for Rob Havenstein. But if backup OT Warren McClendon Jr. starts and plays well in Week 12, that question could be answered.