With the pass defense struggling badly in the first four games, the Los Angeles Rams made major changes in Week 5 by benching both Tre’Davious White and Kamren Kinchens. Quentin Lake moved back to a more traditional safety role, Ahkello Witherspoon and Darious Williams were inserted as starting corners and both Josh Wallace and Jaylen McCollough played meaningful snaps.
Coming out of their Week 6 bye, there are likely to be even more changes. Sean McVay indicated Monday that the Rams are adjusting the rotation on offense, too, though he didn’t say specifically what changes are being made.
“There’ll be some. I’ll talk to you guys about that,” he said. “There’ll be some different things that we’ll look at. I do think where it’s available, competition brings out the best in guys. Might be some different things you see offensively that we will explore to see guys compete and then defensively it’s the same sort of thing, looking at ways to get guys involved. Those are definitely things that you’ll see.”
One thing McVay made clear is that they’ll stick with the changes they made in Week 5 in the secondary. Williams’ return made a big difference at cornerback, and both Ahkello Witherspoon and Cobie Durant played better than White has at the outside corner spot.
“I would say some of those things specific to different personnel groupings were specific to the Packers, exactly how we approached the Raiders. In terms of getting Darious back, having some of those things with Cobie Durant at the outside corner, those guys did a nice job. We’ll move forward with that.”
Offensively, the Rams are awaiting the return of Cooper Kupp, who could be back as soon as this Sunday against the Raiders. When he does play, it’ll come at the expense of another receiver’s snaps; it’s unclear whether Tutu Atwell, Demarcus Robinson or Jordan Whittington would see a decrease in playing time.
At 1-4, the Rams desperately need to turn their season around in a hurry and shaking things up on each side of the ball could be the recipe for success.