NFL expert notices Rams offense is riding lesser-used weapons to victory

There is something different about the LA Rams recently. No, it's not the fact that the defense held the San Francisco 49ers offense to just two field goals, after allowing the Buffalo Bills to score at will en route to a 44-42 win. And it's not the fact that the Rams offense only scored four field goals just five days after a scoring outburst of 44 points.

While it's tough to put a finger on it, it's the way the entire Rams roster seems to be stepping up now. I have been concerned about the LA Rams secondary for weeks. But against the 49ers offense, that unit allowed just 14 of 31 passes to find their receivers, and only for 142 passing yards. Even as the pass rush recorded three sacks in the game, the postgame story was about that dominating secondary. Five different Rams defensive backs broke up nine passes in a must win game against the 49ers.

That was simply an incredible effort.

I wasn't the only one to notice. But as my attention was fixated on a secondary that stepped up in such a huge way, Good Morning Football host, Peter Schrager, has been taking notes about the Rams offensive playmakers. And that is something worth talking about too:

In the past two games, seldom-used WR Tutu Atwell has caught four of five passes for 51 yards. Likewise, seldom-used TE Colby Parkinson has hauled in three of six passes for 32 years. It's not the amount of offense these players have generated. Rather, it's the fact that in the toughest spots, in the most pressure-cooked moments, the offense is turning to a wider range of offensive weapons.

And they have delivered the goods.

Slowly but surely, the Rams are learning how to thwart defenses that have tracked and adapted to the offense's tendencies to put the football in the hands of the same two or three guys on offense. Against the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday Night Football, it was obvious that the 49ers secondary had planned to neutralize Rams WR Cooper Kupp. And they succeeded, not allowing him to catch any of three passes thrown his way.

The old Rams offense would have stuck with Kupp, ending the game with some horrendous catch rate and little else to show for it. But the new Rams offense spread the ball around to six other players not named Cooper Kupp, and ended the game with a win.

The more less-used players contribute to this offense, the better the team will become. While 12 points is nothing to write home about, it was enough for the win. And winning is something this team is learning to do in many ways. Just in time for a playoff push, too.

As always, thanks for reading.

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