No, the LA Rams shouldn't panic and blow things up after losing to Eagles

Rams do a horrible job of self-scouting

The LA Rams may be a young team, but the outcome of games has almost become a decision tree for the team. What do I mean? Programmers often rely on basic decision trees to ensure that their program delivers the expected outcomes. To do that, there is particular care to the basix program design that gives consumers and programmers the opportunity to reach a consensus. In simplest form, the tree assigns basic Yes/Maybe/No questions into a hierarchy. Based on the response, the programmer can then assign a value to the equation, or continue with additional questions.

Ultimately, the goal is to arrive at a value for every possible answer.

What do I mean? Here's a sample question: Are you 65? If yes, contact Social Security. If no, do nothing. Simple, eh? Here is how that looks when applied to the LA Rams.

If RB Kyren Williams loses a fumble, they lose

The Rams offense is not exactly burning through NFL defenses this season. And any mistakes that arise, either from penalties or turnovers, can derail offensive drives pretty handily. The proof is in the pudding. So far, RB Kyren Williams has fumbled the football five times in 2024, and lost three of those five fumbles. In every game that Kyren Williams lost a fumble, the Rams lost the game.

He coughed up the football in:

• Week 5 - @ Green Bay Packers | Final score Rams 19 Packers 24
• Week 10 - Miami Dolphins | Final score Dolphins 23 Rams 15
• Week 12 - Philadelphia Eagles | Final score Eagles 37 Rams 20

Either Williams has to improve his ball security, the coaches need to do a much better job of keeping Williams fresh throughout the game, or the team needs to bench Williams and go with rookie RB Blake Corum to send a message that fumbles are not okay.

When Rams use 12-personnel, they win

The next decision leads to a more positive outcome. When examining the trend of the Rams use of tight ends, it seems that it's a case of the more the merrier. Per Lineups.com, whenever the Rams use two tight ends at a rate of 15 percent of the offense snaps, they win. How does that work?

The Rams have used their 12 personnel package in the following amounts each week:

• Week 1- 0 percent | Loss
• Week 2- 0 percent | Loss
• Week 3 - 45 percent | Win
• Week 4- 8 percent | Loss
• Week 5- 5 percent | Loss
• Week 6 - BYE
• Week 7- 15 percent | Win
• Week 8- 45 percent | Win
• Week 9- 31 percent | WIn
• Week 10- 9 percent | Loss
• Week 11- 35 percent | Win
• Week 12- 0 percent | Loss

If you examine the above table, you can draw a one for one correspondence to the Rams offense deploying their 12 personnel package at least 15 percent of the time correlating to a victory. So why abandon two tight ends in Weeks 10 and 12? Could this team be 7-4 right now if the team had opted to do so?

Whether true or not, it does make me wonder why this team refuses to use two tight ends more often.

When Rams offensive line protects Matthew Stafford, they win

While not nearly as black and white as the 12-personnel decision, the Rams offense has one more trick up its sleeve. While every NFL quarterback loves the security of being protected in the pocket, LA Rams starting quarterback Matthew Stafford shows his appreciation. You see, the offensive line has not allowed a single quarterback sack in three games this season.

The LA Rams have won all three games. In fact, the Rams offense arguably had its best games when Stafford was not sacked.

Stafford was not sacked in Week 8. The Rams scored 30 points to defeat the Minnesota VIkings. He was not sacked the following week, and the Rams scored 26 points to defeat the Seattle Seahawks. He was not sacked in Week 11, and the Rams scored 28 points to defeat the New England Patriots.

Does it make sense for the coaching staff to elevate protecting Stafford? You bet it does. And with this data, you have to revisit why this team fails to use more 12-personnel, particularly when the team pits a backup offensive tackle against some of the most dangerous pass rushers in the NFL.

Does it make sense? No. So before you grab your crane and wrecking ball, ask this question: Do the Rams need to shed players and start from scratch? Or does this team simply need to do a better job of leverage the abundance of talent currently on the roster?

Thanks for reading.

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