5 undeniable reasons for an LA Rams bounce back season in 2023

Reason II: Rams offensive line gets healthier, and much better

It's easy to casually scoff at and deride the LA Rams' offensive line play in 2022. But that is misplaced blame. There are two groups in professional football that depend heavily on communication and continuity. One unit is the defensive secondary. Defensive backs must call out who has which responsibility, instantly, as the play is happening in real-time. The other unit is the offensive line, which must communicate in real-time as well, calling out blocking responsibilities.

That communication breaks down when the offensive line never starts the same five guys in consecutive weeks. How bad was it? Just to refresh everyone's memory, it was a critical mass last season:

Of course, many of those veterans that stepped in and stepped up for the team are now gone. But that does not mean that the Rams front office sat idly by and are waiting for the next round of fire drills to patchwork an injury-riddled roster to begin. Rather, the Rams roster has added five new rookies, including sure-fire starter Steve Avila. The only question with Avila is where will the Rams start him?

The Rams injured veterans from a year ago are healthy now, or getting there. But the team has to be extremely confident not to have any questions about durability among the starting five. Even if that requires tapping the second choice on their depth chart. It does the team no good to willing adopt an offensive line that has turnstile written all over it. I think that the Rams are committed to doing exactly that this season.