Tag: rams offensive line

Watch: Brian Baldinger shows why Rams O-line is playing like one of the NFL’s best

Brian Baldinger showed the Rams’ offensive line a lot of love with his latest breakdown, something Andrew Whitworth loved to see

Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp have gotten a lot of praise during the Rams’ recent hot streak, and deservedly so. They’ve been a huge part of the team’s turnaround, as have Ahkello Witherspoon, Kobie Turner, Aaron Donald and Ernest Jones.

However, the offensive line should get some love for the way that unit has played, too.

In a season when the O-line wasn’t expected to be one of the best in the NFL, the Rams’ group up front has exceeded all expectations. When healthy, it’s a top-10 O-line, once again keeping Stafford clean in Thursday’s win over the Saints.

Brian Baldinger of NFL Network shared a film breakdown of the job Los Angeles’ offensive line did against New Orleans, explaining why it’s one of the best units in football. Andrew Whitworth saw Baldinger’s breakdown and showed some love for the Rams’ big men, too.

“These men deserve the love!!!” Whitworth tweeted.

Baldinger is one of the best analysts in the business so when he talks ball, you should listen. The fact that he praised the Rams’ offensive line is a great indication of the way this group is playing.

The Rams bet on their own offensive linemen this offseason, and it’s paying off

The Rams only added one player to a shaky offensive line, but the front office looks smart for its approach.

The Rams offensive line has ping-ponged between being one of the best and worst units in the NFL since 2016. It was at or near the bottom of the league the year before Sean McVay took over, but it became one of the best in 2017 and rose to new heights in 2018.

Then, the group’s effectiveness and blocking ability plummeted last season amid major changes and injuries throughout the year. Fortunately, the front office and coaching staff appear to have found a quality combination of players up front, leading to a huge improvement from the offensive line in 2020.

That comes as a big surprise after the repeated questions the Rams faced this offseason for their lack of movement in free agency and the draft with regards to addressing the offensive line; the only player they added was Tremayne Anchrum in Round 7.

It’s still early and we’re only three weeks into the season, but Pro Football Focus ranks the Rams offensive line eighth-best in the NFL. Here’s what PFF’s Sam Monson wrote, including the number of pressures the Rams have allowed and the average yards gained before contact on rush attempts.

Pressures allowed: 17
Rush yards before contact average: 2.1

One of the stories of the young season so far has been the massive improvement of this group, which has almost determined the Rams’ fortunes over the past several years. When the line collapsed a season ago, so did any chance of the team going back to the Super Bowl.

But for them to jump back into the top 10 through three games makes the team a completely different animal. Andrew Whitworth remains ageless, still hammering out elite PFF grades despite closing in on his 39th birthday, while Rob Havenstein has had a much-needed bounceback to better play.

At ESPN, the Rams are 13th in pass block win rate and third in run block win rate, which is a remarkable turnaround after seeing how poorly this unit was regarded last season.

Andrew Whitworth and Austin Blythe have been two of the best blockers for the Rams this season, while Rob Havenstein has also improved considerably since his regression last season. David Edwards has slid in for Joe Noteboom at left guard and looked good, while Austin Corbett has found a home at right guard in L.A.

At their respective positions, Whitworth is eighth in pass block win rate, Havenstein is seventh in run block win rate, Edwards is third in run block win rate and Blythe is fifth in run block win rate.

It’s no surprise that both Jared Goff and the Rams running game has improved in a big way since the offensive line found its footing this season. Goff leads the NFL in yards per completion and attempt, while Los Angeles as a team has the most rush attempts and the third-most rushing yards in the NFL.

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It’s early, but Rams’ O-line looks much better than it did in 2019

Andrew Whitworth is PFF’s highest-graded offensive lineman through two weeks.

The Rams offense has gotten off to a strong start this season, ranking eighth in points scored and fifth in total yards. A big reason for that is the improved play from the offensive line, which was a huge weak spot of the team last year.

Jared Goff is getting more time in the pocket, which has gotten the play-action passing attack back to its 2017 and 2018 levels. Running lanes are easier to find for Cam Akers, Malcolm Brown and Darrell Henderson, leading to the league’s third-best rushing attack.

The most important player on the offensive line is 38-year-old Andrew Whitworth, who’s playing like he’s 28 and in the prime of his career. Despite going up against the likes of Aldon Smith, Everson Griffen, Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett, Whitworth is holding his own at left tackle.

In fact, he’s the highest-graded offensive lineman in the NFL through two weeks, according to Pro Football Focus.

He has yet to allow a sack in two games and has only committed one penalty, locking down the left side of the Rams’ offensive line next to Joe Noteboom and now David Edwards. Whitworth isn’t the only lineman playing at a high level, either.

Austin Blythe has a respectable 67.4 PFF grade at center with only one sack allowed, with Austin Corbett’s grade sitting at 74.3 with no sacks allowed. Rob Havenstein has allowed some pressure at right tackle, but he hasn’t given up a sack and his PFF grade is an impressive 76.3 after he ended last season at 50.9.

As a team, the Rams are only 17th in the NFL in ESPN’s pass block win rate metric, but they’re seventh in run block win rate, which means they’re opening up holes and preventing defenders from making plays at the line of scrimmage.

Individually, Whitworth, Corbett and Blythe have been among the best performers at their positions, the latter two in run block win rate.

It’s still early in the season and the Rams will face several more tests down the line, but the returns look good so far. Sean McVay’s play calling has been brilliant and protected the offensive line from having to sustain blocks for very long on straight dropbacks, but they’re executing the job they’re being asked to do.

So far, so good.

Stat shows Rams’ O-line wasn’t as bad as it seemed in the running game

The Rams offensive line may not have been the issue in the running game last season.

Could it be possible that the Rams’ offensive line wasn’t actually the problem in the running game? According to one metric, it seems that way.

Next Gen Stats developed a new statistic that measures an offensive line’s effectiveness at creating yards for its running backs. It’s called expected rushing yards per carry, putting into perspective how successful a line was at creating opportunities in the running game compared to other units across the NFL.

The Rams surprisingly ranked ninth in the NFL despite finishing 26th in rushing yards and 18th in attempts last season. The offensive line had an expected yards per carry (xYPC) of 4.31 compared to the actual team average of only 3.7 yards per carry.

Here’s a snippet of Next Gen Stats’ evaluation of the Rams from last season:

The Rams should really be commended for landing on this list, especially after losing Joe Noteboom early in the season and needing a replacement so badly, they swung a deal (which could end up being a steal) with the Browns for Austin Corbett in the middle of the season. This might also be the most damning piece of evidence related to Todd Gurley’s future, as we covered above with Atlanta. The league average in xYPC was 4.18 last season, so the Rams’ mark of 4.31 is nothing to scoff at. Yet, the Rams weren’t able to break 4 yards per carry with Gurley (and friends) in the backfield.

The Rams cut Gurley for multiple reasons, not exclusively because of his knee issues or bloated contract. It was a combination of the two, in addition to his regression from 2018 to 2019. He simply didn’t do enough to create yards on his own, and this metric from Next Gen Stats reinforces that idea.

The Rams have to hope Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson, as well as a dash of Malcolm Brown, will improve the running game. It remains to be seen how that committee will play out when the season begins, but the Rams plan to run the ball more often – and hopefully, more effectively in 2020.

Les Snead on Noteboom, Allen injuries: ‘It will set back their development’

Snead did see positives to come from their replacements, though.

The hallmark of the Rams’ rapid turnaround in 2017 was the retooling of their offensive line. They brought in Andrew Whitworth and John Sullivan, and immediately, they had one of the best units in the NFL.

Just two years later, things fell apart. The offensive line was a complete mess last season, with three starters missing significant time due to injury. Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen were both lost to season-ending injuries in their first year as starters, forcing Sean McVay and Aaron Kromer to shift players around.

Noteboom and Allen weren’t playing particularly well to begin with, but they remain in the plans for the Rams moving forward. Unfortunately, McVay indicated at the combine that neither will be ready to play until training camp, putting them behind the eight ball in the O-line competition.

Les Snead also admitted on the Rams Revealed podcast recently that the injuries will set back their development.

“The biggest thing I can say about the offensive line is I know probably from the standpoint of perception, the offensive line’s taken a lot of heat,” he said. “But what we did realize over the last couple years, we did know we need to draft a lot of young players and we need to begin the process of developing them and begin the process of them growing together. And interestingly in all of this, two very unfortunate injuries to Brian Allen and Joe Noteboom, which is going to set back that development process. Every NFL team goes through this, but that’s going to set them back. It’s not going to derail their career with the Rams, it will set back their development.”

Snead did note that with those injuries, other players were given opportunities to play – guys like Bobby Evans, David Edwards and Austin Corbett.

He was encouraged by the way they played down the stretch, which helps with the process this offseason.

“But in that process, I always say every thorn has its rose. Maybe that’s not true, every rose has its thorns, but the rose of the thorn of those injuries was – and with Rob Havenstein’s injury – some of the young guys like Dave Edwards, Bobby Evans got a chance to play,” Snead said. “We were able to trade for an Austin Corbett. And down the stretch, that group solidified, played well, showed good things. So what we have to do with our free agents, free agents from other teams, the draft, is figure out do we want to continue the progress that’s been made over the last couple years? Do we need to add new people there? And if so, is it veteran, is it rookie? And we’re still working through that.”

Havenstein’s absence thrust Evans into the starting lineup at right tackle, which Snead saw as a positive. However, he’d rather have everyone healthy and competing for the four starting jobs next to Andrew Whitworth (assuming he returns) than players getting handed starting jobs due to injuries.

There could be a shakeup to the offensive line in 2020 if Austin Blythe leaves in free agency and Noteboom and Allen can’t progress, so don’t be surprised if a few new faces are in the starting lineup come Week 1.

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Rams lack top-end talent, not depth on offensive line

The Rams don’t need to find more backups. They need quality starters up front.

Despite allowing the fewest sacks in the NFL this season, the Los Angeles Rams offensive line was the weakest part of the team. Andrew Whitworth was the only one who started every game at the same spot, which is a massive change from the previous two seasons when the Rams had the same players start just about every game up front.

Rob Havenstein, Joseph Noteboom and Brian Allen all suffered what turned out to be season-ending injuries, thrusting Bobby Evans, David Edwards and Austin Corbett into the starting lineup. Austin Blythe also had to switch to center when Allen went down.

The Rams’ offensive line depth was tested, and for the most part, it passed. Edwards was an upgrade at guard, Blythe played better at center and both Corbett and Evans held their own as starters.

Heading into 2020, Blythe and Whitworth are both free agents. Whitworth intends to play another season and returning to L.A. would be his top choice. Blythe should be cheap enough for the Rams to re-sign, if they so choose.

Assuming Whitworth returns, the front office’s priority shouldn’t be to find more backups and bolster the depth. It should be to add top-end talent – a task that’s far easier said than done, of course.

Here’s how their depth chart could hypothetically look if Whitworth and Blythe are back.

  • LT: Andrew Whitworth, Joseph Noteboom
  • LG: Austin Corbett/Joseph Noteboom
  • C: Austin Blythe/Brian Allen
  • RG: David Edwards/Austin Blythe
  • RT: Rob Havenstein, Bobby Evans

It may not be the best offensive line in the NFL, but it certainly doesn’t lack depth. Every player listed above started at least six games last season, which is valuable experience heading into 2020.

Where the issues really show themselves is on the interior – as was the case last season. It’s reasonable to think the Rams could have open competitions at both guard spots and center. Corbett and Noteboom are evenly matched at left guard, so that battle could go either way. At center and right guard, Blythe would be in contention at both. He looked like a better center than guard last season, and Edwards far outplayed Blythe when he was at guard.

At right tackle, there shouldn’t be much concern as long as Havenstein can return to the way he played in 2018 when he looked like a Pro Bowler. If he can’t, Evans gained valuable experience as a starter last season.

None of this is to say the Rams should ignore the offensive line just because they have good depth. In fact, it’s just the opposite. They need to prioritize the offensive line by committing assets to the unit, be it with their first pick in the draft (No. 52 overall) or by spending for someone like Joe Thuney or Connor McGovern.

Spending fifth- and sixth-round picks on the offensive line won’t do much to solve the Rams’ biggest issue. Those players aren’t likely to become starters in Year 1, and Los Angeles doesn’t need to spend resources on backups right now.

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