LA Rams RB Kyren Williams has earned the right to run the football

is there a split Rams organization right now? All indications over the off-season seemed to suggest that the Rams were willing to adopt a stronger commitment to running the football. But so far, the Rams have two victories, in which the offense has average 38 rushes per game, and three losses, in which the Rams averaged 16 rushes per game.

But if you focus on running back rushes in losses, the Rams averaged just 12 rushes per game in a losing cause. And that, I fear, is not as much about an ineffective ground assault as much as it lies in the distrust of the Rams head coach to stick with the running game as soon as the momentum changes in the game.

It's quite clear that many of the Rams runs when winning come after the team has a lead. And that is textbook NFL coaching 101. When you have the lead, run the football to keep the clock going and to rest the defense. But the Rams play-calling pattern appears to go above and beyond the standard scenarios, and appear to be triggered as soon as the Rams begin trailing in a football game.

Defenses should never dictate play calling

The problem with that happening is not just how the Rams abandon the run itself. But it introduces far too much predictability into an NFL offense that surrenders all surprise and leverage to the defense in any given game. If both lines of scrimmage are equivalent in talent level, a balanced offensive game plan will give the Rams offensive line a slight advantage as defenders must account for running plays and for passing plays.

But if the Rams flip the switch to a pass-happy offense, the defense can pin their ears back, ignore any pathetic play-action, and simply rush the Rams quarterback. While we hear rationalizations about how defenses bait the Rams to pass the football, the truth of the matter is that defenses should never dictate how the offense calls their plays.

Defensive coordinators have been far too effective at dictating the terms of the Rams offense. Those terms of engagement allow weak defenses to mask their vulnerabilities, and narrow the options of a prolific Rams offense into a cattle shoot of options that the defense has prepared to counter.