When the Rams traded for Matthew Stafford, it was a clear sign that head coach and offensive shot-caller Sean McVay wanted to redefine his offense with a quarterback who has the physical tools to do just about anything within the design of the offense. McVay had come to terms with Jared Goff’s limitations, and he wanted more.
“More” in this case amounted to a sea change in McVay’s overall philosophy. Gone were the heavy personnel packages, especially in the backfield. Gone was the Rams’ reliance on play-action and pre-snap motion. Gone were backfield personnel to a large degree. This season, the Rams have thrown the ball more out of empty formations than any other team, and it isn’t really close. Stafford has 119 dropbacks out of empty this season, and through the end of Week 11, Joe Burrow ranks second with 89.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, it certainly worked out for Stafford and the Rams. In those eight games, per Sports Info Solutions, Stafford completed 61 out of 86 passes in empty for 794 yards, 497 air yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 125.8. The Rams were 7-1 in those games. But in the Rams’ last two games, blowout losses to the Titans and 49ers, Stafford completed 11 of 24 passes out of empty formations for 87 yards, 56 air yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 55.4. Passer rating is far from a perfect metric, but any time your passer rating drops that far situationally, that’s not good — and it’s time to dive into the reasons why.
Why have the Rams lost their spark with a concept that they used to dominate the league? As happens frequently with concepts of any stripe, the Rams are in the unfortunate position of having defenses figure out how to deal with what you like to do, and knowing how to attack it.