Turf Show Times
Through much of the first seven quarters of the season, the Los Angeles Rams’ run game lacked a spark. Kyren Williams was generally keeping the offense on track, but lacked the creativity and improvisation to take it to the next level. Williams’ longest run through seven quarters was nine yards. Through three quarters against the Tennessee Titans, Williams was averaging 2.8 yards per carry.
Coming into the season, there was speculation that there may be more of a split between Williams and Blake Corum at running back. However, through the first seven quarters of the season, Williams had dominated the touches, 29-2 for a 93.5 percent share of the carries.
Given how McVay has typically handled running backs, that wasn’t necessarily a surprise. What was surprising was that Corum was a third round pick and simply not getting many looks in the offense. That shifted late in the third quarter. Four of Corum’s five carries came in the final 17 minutes of the game and the first of those was an explosive run that went for 15 yards. Later on in the fourth quarter, Corum added another explosive run to bring his total to two.
Two of Corum’s first three runs went for explosive plays and both drives in which those runs occurred ended in a touchdown. Corum’s first, explosiveness out of his cuts, and ability to create were on full display. On the run above, Corum was expected to gain just three yards. He ended with 15 for a rushing yards over expected (RYOE) of 12.
Corum created the fourth-most rushing EPA for the week and finished with 26 rushing yards over expected. His 5.1 RYOE per attempt led all running backs in Week 2. To say the least, he made the most of his limited opportunities.
While Williams was averaging less than three yards per carry for much of the game, he was mostly getting what was available. For the game, Williams averaged 0.1 rushing yards over expected per attempt. Essentially, he was getting exactly what was getting blocked for him. With that said, that’s also part of the problem. Williams only gets what’s available. There’s no creativity and he’s rarely going to turn a single into a double.
That’s fine, but it’s also why the Rams need to continue to get Corum involved throughout the game rather than just in the later stages. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that Williams’ biggest run of the day, and first explosive run of the season, came after Corum started to get involved.
This is not to say that Corum should be the lead running back or take over a majority of the carries. However, he should be worked into the rotation more throughout the game. The speed and burst that he brought was immediately noticeable. It’s that different running style that adds variety to the run game and gives the defense a changeup to what they’re expecting. Corum added a spark that the Rams run game has been missing....
