Sean McVay took a lot of pressure off of Jared Goff in his first two seasons as head coach of the Rams by leaning heavily on Todd Gurley and the ground game. No player in the NFL touched the ball more than Gurley the last two years, nor did anyone score more than he did.
Whether it’s to preserve his health or because he isn’t 100% healthy, Gurley’s workload has been limited this year and as a result, Goff has had to throw the ball frequently. The NFL as a whole has trended toward offenses utilizing the passing attack more than the run, but it’s caused the Rams to become unbalanced.
That’s something McVay and the coaches looked at during their bye, and it’s certainly something they want to change. During his press conference Wednesday, McVay made it known that the Rams want to be more balanced on offense.
Additionally, he wants to get Darrell Henderson and Malcolm Brown involved, which can only happen with more plays on offense.
“The big thing for us is finding a way to get in enough of a rhythm where you allow those guys to get into the flow of the game because you still do want to be considerate of the fact that football can be a flow-type feel, especially when you’re a running back,” McVay said. “You get a guy going, you get him into a rhythm, you’ve got to get plays off, you’ve got to be efficient on those early downs.”
The Rams are 10th in the NFL in plays per drive (6.1) this season, so they are sustaining drives. However, they haven’t exactly been efficient on first down. Last season, the Rams led the NFL by averaging 6.82 yards per play on first down. This season, they’re 19th in the league at 5.7 yards per play.
By falling behind the sticks, the Rams are forced to throw the ball more often to make up for the lack of yardage on first down. This is exactly what McVay is referring to, and it’s something the Rams must fix if they’re going to be more balanced.
“So for us overall, it’s about maximizing our early-down opportunities and not putting yourself in those negative situations where now you can truly present a legitimate run-pass balance that puts defenses in conflict,” he continued. “That’s one of the things we have to do a better job of – making people pay with both phases. If you’re going to be a really good offense in this league, you have to be able to do both and those are things we’re constantly striving to do better collectively and I’m confident that hopefully we’ll some good, positive results and it’s going to be a tough challenge against the Steelers this week.”
We’ll see if anything changes on Sunday against the Steelers, but it all starts and ends with picking up good yardage on first down to keep the down-and-distances manageable.
