5 Thoughts After Miami (from an ex-baller)

[Rhami]

Hey all this is my first post of this kind! I hope you all enjoy it and would love to hear what you think:

1. It starts with the OLine...Staff was hurried all game and it was mainly from Jackson and Notebook. I would insert Limmer back at C, and try McClendon at RT although I'd be open to giving Boom another shot with another week of practice.

2. Kupp and Nacua are too similar. I love them both but having them both on the field is redundant. Kupp is one of my fav Rams of all time but it might be time next year to look for another WR next year with more speed (which hurts me to say).

3. I actually agree with McVay's decision to kick that FG on 4th and 4. It brings it to a 1 possession game at that point, and if you go for it + miss...it's basically game over. Analytics say going for it would have been the right call but it only gives a 3.6% increase in win probability, which isn't overwhelming.

4. Defense impressed me. After the first scoring drive from the Dolphins, I thought we were in for a long day on defense. Miami's strengths (WR) are exactly our biggest weakness (DBs) but the defense held up very well except for some frustrating 3rd and longs. We just need to be more consistent at times but I'm hoping that will come with experience. Our DLine is outstanding and we have 4 studs on there in year 1 or 2.

5. Is this team a Super Bowl contender? If I had to put money down I'd say no, but looking at the pieces we have we can be a very dangerous team. All we need to do is get hot and make the playoffs and then it's anybody's game! I'm confident they'll figure out the best OL combo which means Stafford should start playing better, our D should keep getting better with more experience and those 2 in combination will equal more wins.

Thanks for tuning in and hope you enjoyed the read!

 

[methomas50]

View: https://twitter.com/benbbaldwin/status/1856700235650642410?t=QsCiFlrLMr9-OXg4EM8EIA&s=19

 

[RecklessRams]

Welcome aboard, or if we can't take care of business Sunday at Patriots, welcome abroad.

 

[Rhami]

Welcome aboard, or if we can't take care of business Sunday at Patriots, welcome abroad.

Thanks haha I'll be here regardless!

 

[fearsomefour]

I agree with Kupp and Puka not offering enough variety. They are both great players however, so, having them on the field together is not a bad thing, but there needs to be more variety.
In fact, I think this extends to most of the offense.
Kupp and Puka are good sized, physical receivers who are not burners, are great route runners who block well. Although less skilled, Robinson, Johnson and Whittington fit the same profile.
Williams, Corum and Rivers are very similar backs as well. Williams in finally being used more in the passing game. Sometimes by design and sometimes as just the typical check down guy. Has McVay ever run a set with two RBs?
TEs are kind of the same and "ehh".
Add in running the same personal group a vast majority of the time and there is not much variety to the Rams offense.
Defenses basically have to prepare for one look (11 personal) and singular types of players.
That doesn't mean stopping the offense is easy with the wrinkles and motion and stuff McVay designs into it, but, it makes it easier than having to prepare for multiple looks.
Mixing in different looks and having a vertical threat (the only real vertical threat the Rams have McVay basically refuses to use unless forced to) would give defenses a lot more to prepare for.
McVay, and I love McVay, is strange and stubborn in these ways.
The offense often is reduced to a dink and dunk offense made up of short passes and 4 yard runs because of the lack of a home run threat. This can work very well when it works....control time of possession and takes pressure off the defense. When it is not working a lot of third and longs become hard to convert and a lot of 3 and outs follow.
Add in a redzone offense that near the bottom of the league in TDs scored (without splash play TDs) and you have seven minute drives ending in FGs.
Its like playing small ball all the time in baseball.....there is no home run threat in this offense.
Running Tutu deep a lot more than they do to keep the safeties honest and run stuff underneath would help. Throwing to deep several times a game would help loosen the D as well....Stafford is not good at the deep ball, constantly under throws every deep ball. But, when he has been used Tutu has been pretty good at drawing flags on those.
A 40 yard penalty is as good as a 40 yard catch in terms of waking the defense up.
Its no surprise on the rare of occasion the Rams run 12 personal it has worked well for them......then, the next week, McVay goes back into his now predictable comfort zone.
McVay is going to have to change some things he does more than likely and who knows if he's up for it.

 

[RhodyRams]

good first post!!

 

[snackdaddy]

Not sure what to think. Looking back at every game, the Minnesota game is the only one where I thought our offense was clicking. Does that mean they will continue struggling to put up enough points? I don't know. But so far its not what we expected.

The defense is improving. But they improved from bottom tier to middle of the pack. I thought with our offense that would be good enough. So far is not. Can they make a turnaround like last year? I don't know. I do know relying on that kind of turnaround is not a good way to play the season. Sooner or later it doesn't happen.

 

[Ramstien]

It has been my experience that most head coaches are stubborn to a fault and refuse to change unless the GM pressures them. After watching the Rams this season the biggest problem appears to be the offensive line and play calling appears to be a close second.

 

[Ram Ts]

Good post - except it was not 4th down at the end. It was still 3rd down. Why not try an EZ shot and then kick the FG?

 

[dieterbrock]

When the Rams were winning 7 of 8 down the stretch last year, I dont recall anyone being concerned that Kupp and Puka were redundant. Sure didnt seem that way on Monday either, pretty much the only bright spot on offense.
What puzzles me is how/why McVay cant seem to get the TE involved, or just doesnt care to? We change out the players time and time again and blame the players for not gaming out, but is there really an opportunity for them? Even Higs is a bit mysterious, we saw his 4-5 game monster streak a bunch of years ago and never saw anything like that out of him since. (Pre-current injury of course).
And lastly, while Gurley was a tremendous player, the screen plays that were run were amazingly effective, but since the screen game has been borderline bad.
Alas, it all comes down to the o-line, I expect big changes this weekend. Not necessarily in personnel, as much as I hope so, but in effectiveness. Its got to be a rough week in practice

 

[Merlin]

Nice first post.

The positive here is we have the meats on the OL. They have been bad, but this is a different problem to some points in the past when the OL underperformed due to inferior parts.

We need health of course. Mainly we cannot afford losing either starting OT for long. But I think a run is possible with these guys.

 

[Rhami]

Good post - except it was not 4th down at the end. It was still 3rd down. Why not try an EZ shot and then kick the FG?

Was talking about a bit earlier in the game! Mcvay kicked the FG instead of going for it on 4th

 

[Rhami]

I agree with Kupp and Puka not offering enough variety. They are both great players however, so, having them on the field together is not a bad thing, but there needs to be more variety.
In fact, I think this extends to most of the offense.
Kupp and Puka are good sized, physical receivers who are not burners, are great route runners who block well. Although less skilled, Robinson, Johnson and Whittington fit the same profile.
Williams, Corum and Rivers are very similar backs as well. Williams in finally being used more in the passing game. Sometimes by design and sometimes as just the typical check down guy. Has McVay ever run a set with two RBs?
TEs are kind of the same and "ehh".
Add in running the same personal group a vast majority of the time and there is not much variety to the Rams offense.
Defenses basically have to prepare for one look (11 personal) and singular types of players.
That doesn't mean stopping the offense is easy with the wrinkles and motion and stuff McVay designs into it, but, it makes it easier than having to prepare for multiple looks.
Mixing in different looks and having a vertical threat (the only real vertical threat the Rams have McVay basically refuses to use unless forced to) would give defenses a lot more to prepare for.
McVay, and I love McVay, is strange and stubborn in these ways.
The offense often is reduced to a dink and dunk offense made up of short passes and 4 yard runs because of the lack of a home run threat. This can work very well when it works....control time of possession and takes pressure off the defense. When it is not working a lot of third and longs become hard to convert and a lot of 3 and outs follow.
Add in a redzone offense that near the bottom of the league in TDs scored (without splash play TDs) and you have seven minute drives ending in FGs.
Its like playing small ball all the time in baseball.....there is no home run threat in this offense.
Running Tutu deep a lot more than they do to keep the safeties honest and run stuff underneath would help. Throwing to deep several times a game would help loosen the D as well....Stafford is not good at the deep ball, constantly under throws every deep ball. But, when he has been used Tutu has been pretty good at drawing flags on those.
A 40 yard penalty is as good as a 40 yard catch in terms of waking the defense up.
Its no surprise on the rare of occasion the Rams run 12 personal it has worked well for them......then, the next week, McVay goes back into his now predictable comfort zone.
McVay is going to have to change some things he does more than likely and who knows if he's up for it.

Yeah I think the big problem on O other than the OLine this week is just a lack of explosiveness/speed from all skill positions...RB, TE and WR. We don't really have anyone (other than Tutu) with gamebreaking speed.

 

[pvtdragon39]

When the Rams were winning 7 of 8 down the stretch last year, I dont recall anyone being concerned that Kupp and Puka were redundant. Sure didnt seem that way on Monday either, pretty much the only bright spot on offense.
What puzzles me is how/why McVay cant seem to get the TE involved, or just doesnt care to? We change out the players time and time again and blame the players for not gaming out, but is there really an opportunity for them? Even Higs is a bit mysterious, we saw his 4-5 game monster streak a bunch of years ago and never saw anything like that out of him since. (Pre-current injury of course).
And lastly, while Gurley was a tremendous player, the screen plays that were run were amazingly effective, but since the screen game has been borderline bad.
Alas, it all comes down to the o-line, I expect big changes this weekend. Not necessarily in personnel, as much as I hope so, but in effectiveness. Its got to be a rough week in practice

Reason why TE cant get involved in offense is the lack of O'line, and they have to end up blocking, and still get beat. None of the TE's we currently have come anything close to a healthy Higs. Prob not even combined at this point. This is also why Kyrens production is down as well. Hes fighting for each yard he gets. Sometimes even fighting to get stafford out of neg plays from tosses to him to fight back to the LOS. Kupp and Puka are not Redundant, its just Stafford dont have enough time to get them the ball, and has to dump it. If our o'line could block for once, Kyren would be 90-100+ most games. Then once that happens, they will start focusing on passing to Puka, and kupp. That will then open the door for someone to get double teamed, and then someone is going to get lit up for 30+ yards fast either by TUTU, or D-rob, JWitt or an unexpected explosive Run up the Middle by Kyren.

 

[pvtdragon39]

What I would have done is have Avila come in at his normal LG position, Limmer Center, Didich or Mcclendon fill in for Hav. Jonah should not have stepped out there as a starter. Maybe fill in on some snaps at both guard positions, not Center.

Jackson | Avila | Limmer | Dotson| Mcclendon

Didich|Noteboom| J-Jackson off the bench for this dolphins and next game to work them in.

We should have been in 12 Personnel most of the game.

 

[Dodgersrf]

3. I actually agree with McVay's decision to kick that FG on 4th and 4. It brings it to a 1 possession game at that point, and if you go for it + miss...it's basically game over. Analytics say going for it would have been the right call but it only gives a 3.6% increase in win probability, which isn't overwhelming

I completely agree.
Our redzone offense has been just that…offensive.
Which I’m sure that 3.6% isn’t accounting for.

 

[younghutch]

I think that having Stafford has made McVay a bit lazy / predictable as a playcaller and game plan designer. He seems to just want to rely on Staffird's prodigious arm talent.

There used to be innovation and variety when McVay felt that he needed to cover for Goff's perceived weaknesses. The plays just LOOKED different.

 

[dieterbrock]

Reason why TE cant get involved in offense is the lack of O'line, and they have to end up blocking, and still get beat. None of the TE's we currently have come anything close to a healthy Higs. Prob not even combined at this point. This is also why Kyrens production is down as well. Hes fighting for each yard he gets. Sometimes even fighting to get stafford out of neg plays from tosses to him to fight back to the LOS. Kupp and Puka are not Redundant, its just Stafford dont have enough time to get them the ball, and has to dump it. If our o'line could block for once, Kyren would be 90-100+ most games. Then once that happens, they will start focusing on passing to Puka, and kupp. That will then open the door for someone to get double teamed, and then someone is going to get lit up for 30+ yards fast either by TUTU, or D-rob, JWitt or an unexpected explosive Run up the Middle by Kyren.

You missed my point, I 'm not talking about this season, even with a healthy Higs there isnt a lot of production from TE. With Everett the TE's would see 120+ targets, since he left, been a dramatic drop off. Can say it's the players but it seems more scheme.

 

[SteezyEndo]

You missed my point, I 'm not talking about this season, even with a healthy Higs there isnt a lot of production from TE. With Everett the TE's would see 120+ targets, since he left, been a dramatic drop off. Can say it's the players but it seems more scheme.

Perhaps if McVay had Jordan Reed we still be using TE’s. It has seemed over the years they dropped off. TE should just mean The End.

 

[PARAM]

What I would have done is have Avila come in at his normal LG position, Limmer Center, Didich or Mcclendon fill in for Hav. Jonah should not have stepped out there as a starter. Maybe fill in on some snaps at both guard positions, not Center.

I think they were damned if they do, damned if they didn't. Snead said on the McVay show, you don't build continuity on the practice field. I take that to mean adding 1 vs Miami, 1 vs New England and 1 vs Philly would still be 3 different line combos. This way they had 4 of their desired 5 vs Miami, probably 5 of their desired 5 vs New England and the same 5 vs Philly (if there wasn't another injury). There's 8 games left. They don't have the same luxury they would have had if it were week 4.