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The Los Angeles Rams are ranked at or near the top of several offensive categories this season. But there is still one area that remains average when stacked up against the other 32 teams in the NFL. According to teamrankings.com, Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay’s red zone scoring percentage is sitting at a 57.65% conversion rate, and that is 15th in the league. The team doesn’t have a problem with getting into the red zone. In fact, they get there the third most in the league, its converting that seems to be more of an issue.
We could see the Cincinnati Bengals take advantage of this Rams weak spot in Super Bowl LVI.
We have seen some questionable throws by Stafford in the red zone this season.
It seems like Stafford and his receivers had some miscommunication throughout the season. Even when the receivers ran the correct routes, Stafford would just sail the ball.
In the postseason, Stafford has only thrown one interception with a few close calls, but he also hasn’t faced a secondary like the Bengals who usually drop eight defenders into coverage — yes, even in the red zone.
Cooper Kupp is certainly Stafford’s guy when the Rams get inside the opposing 20-yard line. That can be to Stafford’s detriment at times, as he’ll force the ball to Kupp even when Kupp is smothered in coverage.
What we see time and time again is Stafford not seeing what he likes and instead of just throwing it away, he’s coming down with the “Mahomes 2021” syndrome and trying too hard to force a ball in.
When teams have dropped seven or eight and Stafford can’t find an open target, he is likely to get sacked.
When Stafford isn’t throwing the ball away, he is putting his team and his kicker in bad positions. Against the Buccaneers mid-way through the divisional-round win, head coach Sean McVay finally decided to call back-to-back runs and then sneak it in in order to get some points on the board.
There are other ways the Rams offense got guys open, and it was with their number-one receiver luring defenders into creating isolations.
When Kupp wa smothered in the red zone and Odell Beckham Jr wasn’t open on the fade, the Rams got innovative this postseason.
They used their blocking tight-end, Kendall Blanton in a few late leaks. Blanton will be a big part of the Rams’ offense with starter Tyler Higbee ruled out due to a knee injury.
Against the Buccaneers, the Rams needed a touchdown on the board, so they drew up a bootleg play to get Blanton to release his block late and open up for a pass. Then, in the NFC Championship against the 49ers. the Rams draw up a similar play to get the ball to Blanton as he gained a good chunk of yards to keep the chains moving.
In Super Bowl LVI, we should expect to see the Rams using Kupp underneath in conjunction with some tight end leaks and hopefully using their running backs more when they get inside the twenty-yard line. The last thing the Rams want to do is give the ball away early. The thing they’ll need to do the most against the Bengals is to maximize their red zone opportunities.