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- May 8, 2014
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The primary issue on third and 3-5 yards is that the Rams are hesitant to run the ball. For good reason. We have a much higher chance of success with the quick passes. So for defenses it's a big difference in the mentality when you know the chance of getting burnt on your run responsibilities is just about nil. All they have to do is roll it up tight and bring the house because with this OL someone will get home.I expected a loss in this one. Take away the 3 minutes of everything that could go wrong going wrong, and it wasn't really any worse than I expected.
But why the hell - on every 3rd and 3+ (well, until around 3rd and 17 when you know its going to be a draw) - do we call plays that take 6 seconds to develop? With our offensive line and that defensive line? I get our reads are deep to short. But damnit, maybe make some exceptions.
OL needs to do better in pass pro. But also they need to do better on the ground. And the ground game is affected by the backfield as well, which right now (and every fucking season going back post-Gurley) is a shambles.
For now in order to beat the so-so teams on our sched after the bye the primary thing they have to do is pass protect better. Do that and Stafford will win us a lot of those games. We basically win and lose based on our pass pro. But going forward it would be nice to see the run game dimension back in the offense and it's something McVay needs to prioritize to get this offense back on top. In today's league with so many teams playing two deep, only threatening with the pass is hard fucking sledding.
Everyone freaks out about the lack of run calls but that is the end result of personnel issues which are not exempting McVay from responsibility, because it's on him and Snead that once again they're not fucking prepared to run the ball. This is not a new thing it is an every season thing and Stafford is damn near out of gas so they have to get this right in 2024 if they want to take one last shot at a title with the QB they paid.