Why I love the latest comments by Rams HC Sean McVay about his 2025 offense

The last thing these LA Rams need right now is complacency. The team's record has risen from 5-12 in 2022 to a 10-7 record in 2024 while advancing to the Divisional Round of the 205 NFL Playoffs. Now, the team must tweak the roster, the strategy, and the playbook. After all, anything short of winning the Super Bowl is a miss. Falling short mandates making changes in the hopes of better success in the future.

So the best thing for the team is introspection, brutal honesty, and a willingness to accept errors and poor planning in 2024. I'm not suggesting that the team was not good in 2024. It was very good. But there were/are better teams in the NFL right now. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles face off in Super Bowl LIX.

So the team does not have a margin for complacency right now. As John P Kotter is quoted as saying:

"A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent"

John P. Kotter

The Rams organization has used the term 'urgency' many times in the past. So it's time to talk about what that means. If complacency is mental lethargy, then urgency is acute mental awareness. That implies that the team, the front office, the coaching staff, and the players are all tasked with questioning wny, seeking ways to improve the team, and no longer simply accepting what was as the best option going forward.

Listen to how Rams HC Sean McVay cites the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive strategy, and how impressed McVay was with his former understudy, Buccaneers OC Liam Coen. The Buccaneers ended 2024 as the third-ranked NFL offense in yards gained, and the fourth-ranked offense in terms of points scored. Now, listen to McVay hint at trying to duplicate the Buccaneers offense (in part) in his offense in 2025:

Can he accomplish that? I think so.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense was less about explosive plays as it was about an incredibly balanced offensive assault. The Bucs completed passes to 13 different players, 10 of whom scored at least one touchdown. QB Baker Mayfield completed 407 of 570 passes for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Yes, the same Baker Mayfield who was the Rams backup quarterback in 2022.

The Bucs did not simply pass. They ran the football 483 times for 2,536 yards and 16 touchdowns. Unlike the Rams depending almost entirely on RB Kyren Williams, the Bucs involved three running backs in their offense, with rookie RB Bucky Irving getting 207 carries, but veteran RB Rachaad White not far behind with 144 carries. Even second-year running back Sean Tucker handled the football 50 times.

In contrast, the Rams threw 559 passes for 4,096 yards, and rushed 450 times for 1,765 yards and 15 touchdowns. Where the disparity shows up in how the Rams distributed the football. 15 players caught a pass in the Rams offense, but only seven players managed to score at least one touchdown. When the Rams ran the football, RB Kyren Williams rushed 316 times. The second most frequent runner for the team was rookie RB Blake Corum, who carried the football only 58 times.

Keep in mind that Blake Corum was selected in the 2024 NFL Draft in Round 3, while Bucky Irving was selected in Round 4.

If Coach McVay is sincere about adjusting the Rams offense to emulate some of the Buccaneers key principles, three changes are likely to occur:

(1) - The Rams must involve Blake Corum more

The Rams failed miserably at getting any value out of rookie running back Blake Corum. The Buccaneers ran the football in a manner that many NFL analysts expected to see from the Rams in 2024. But somehow Corum got lost in the shuffle, getting no more work than undrafted RB Sean Tucker did in the Bucs offense.

I'm not suggesting that Corum can gain 500+ yards on 100+ carries. I don't have to. The Rams front office made that declaration when the team drafted him with the 83rd overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. I'm simply saying that the Rams need to follow through and give him the opportunity to prove their investment in him was worth it.

(2) - The Rams can run their offense through 1 TE

When looking over the Buccaneers' season statistics, what jumps out is how they involved three tight ends in the offense in 2024. Let by Cade Otton's 59 of 87 catches for 600 yards and four touchdowns, the tight end room contributed but was not the main engine of offensive excellence. As a group, Bucs tight ends hauled in 75 of 112 passes for 824 yards and six touchdowns.

The Rams tight ends contributed 51 of 83 catches for 459 yards and three touchdowns. Without significantly more production from the tight end position, the offense will risk being too lopsided. That is, too much work will need to come from too few players. If the team is no longer confident in veteran tight end Tyler Higbee, it's a great draft for rookie tight ends.

(3) - The Rams have all the right pieces, but the more, the merrier

It's clear from perusing the Bucs stats sheet that their offense entrusts running backs more than you will find in the Rams offense. But in terms of the wide receivers, the evidence suggests that the Rams had a better receiver room in 2024. Yes, the Bucs have Mike Williams and Chris Godwin. But the Rams have Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp, and Demarcus Robinson.

The difference is that the Bucs scored 34 touchdowns in their top five receivers. The Rams could only muster half that amount in 2024. That's right, just 17 touchdowns out of their receivers.

The offense needs to be investigated closely. The Bucs had five receivers score four or more touchdowns in 2024. The Rams had two receivers score four or more touchdowns in 2024. Ultimately, it's about balance. The Rams tried to go to the same guys too often when it came time to score. Defenses were able to anticipate where the football was going simply by studying the team's tendencies.

It's heartbreaking that fleet-footed wide receiver Tutu Atwell caught 42 passes for 562 yards, but did not score a single touchdown in 2024. If explosive playmakers is the answer, this fact defies logic. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that the Buccaneers were willing to spread the football around. Their offense kept defenses on their heels because every offensive player on the football field was a threat to score.

The more, the merrier.

As always, thanks for reading.

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