Turf Show Times
While most of the hoopla around Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is about being a quarterback whisperer and wide open offense guru, he doesn’t stray that far from traditional offensive football values.
Over his nine seasons, the Rams have only been within the NFL’s Top 12 in pass play percentage once, 8th in 2019. He has been very consistent year-to-year, averaging around a 57/43 pass to run mix. As part of the run game, he has not been blessed with mobile quarterbacks to pump up those run play percentages.
He has though, not been afraid to mix up his run schemes. McVay definitely takes to the zone run game. With Todd Gurley, and to a lesser extent, through Darrell Henderson and Cam Akers, he ran predominantly outside zone attacking the outer edges of opposing defenses. After Gurley’s premature demise, McVay started the move towards an inside/mid zone attack and mixed in some duo (basically double teams) and power blocking concepts. Moving through offensive line coaches Aaron Kromer and Kevin Carberry before settling in with Ryan Wendell in 2023, the ultimate goal was to be more physical and push defenses back rather than getting them moving laterally and sealing them to create lanes. Now the Rams are one of the leagues biggest employers of duo.
L.A. likes to run the ball between the tackles or off tackle, not nearly attacking outside as much as earlier iterations of the McVay offense. Last year, the Rams ran inside the tackles on 60 percent of rushing plays, with many others coming through the “C” gap, between the tackle and tight end.
The running back room is now built to match the current blocking scheme. Patience, vision, and burst through the holes are the desired traits. Instantaneous reading of the flow of blockers/defenders, then making split-second decisions and cuts set the stage for losses or gains.
Kyren Williams – 5’ 9” 195 lb.
Rock solid, steady performer, has topped 1100+ yards rushing and 10+ touchdowns in three consecutive seasons. He’s been consistently productive over 45 starts in that span, gaining 60+ rushing yards in 78 percent (35 of 45) of those games and ranking behind only Derrick Henry for carries (220) earning a touchdown or first down. While many put a spotlight on his lack of breakaway speed, he shows the knack for making lemonade out of lemons, coming in fifth overall in the NFL over that same time frame for forcing 143 missed tackles and earning 2434 yards after contact. He worked to become a solid receiver and pass blocker as well.
Blake Corum – 5’ 8” 205 lb.
While not a true speed demon (4.53/1.57), Corum does add more of a breakaway dimension to the Rams run game. Watching his film, you take notice of his proclivity to break runs outside or against the grain, in the old days we called him a “slasher.” He appears best suited for the mid zone...
