The Rams were one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL in 2017 and 2018, not only putting up a ton of points but scoring rather quickly thanks to big plays. But things went south in 2019 when Jared Goff began to regress and the offensive line deteriorated.
The O-line improved in 2020, but Goff still continued to struggle and the departure of Brandin Cooks condensed the offense to more of a short, quick passing attack with a serious lack of deep passes.
Sean McVay hopes that changes next season and though he didn’t get into detail about personnel moves to make big plays happen, he said it’s a collaborative effort that starts with his play calling and designs.
“It’s guys that can make things happen with the ball in their hands,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I know we talked a lot about it throughout the season of plays down the field. I think there’s different ways of creating explosives, but it’s a collaboration of certainly I’ve got to do a good job of giving us opportunities and then the players are the ones that end up making it come to life, so that’s always going to be a big part of it. When you have to go 12- and 15-play drives consistently, your margin for error is so small, the level of competition is so great that you’ve got to be able to find ways to continuously create explosives, give yourself a little bit of margin for error that it’s not always taking that many plays to produce points in this league. And I think any good offense, any one that’s in the upper echelon of the league, that’s something you can check the box on, and I think that’s something we’ve definitely got to do a better job of, starting with me this next season.”
The Rams missed Cooks last season and though Josh Reynolds was a solid No. 3 receiver, he didn’t stretch the field in the way that Cooks did. Van Jefferson has some speed and will get more opportunities next season if Reynolds leaves, but he’s not a true burner.
There will be players available, with some already on the market (DeSean Jackson, Tyrell Williams), so expect the Rams to look closely at players who can make things happen when they get the ball in their hands – as McVay alluded to.