Key Rams Unit Continues To Be Inconsistent

Key Rams Unit Continues To Be Inconsistent

The Los Angeles Rams (5-6) have shown some major inconsistencies within their offensive line after another rough game on Sunday night. In their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles (9-2), the Rams allowed five sacks and 11 quarterback hits on veteran Matthew Stafford.

“Yeah, it was a tough night. We’ll go back and we’ll look at it,” Head coach Sean McVay said regarding the offensive line’s performance. “We knew that they had some guys that were pretty damn good but we’ve got to be able to consistently do a better job and give him a little bit more time. It wasn’t one person in particular. There were some really quick beats and we got to be able to look at that and see where we can be better

It marks the second time in three weeks that the Rams allowed several sacks. The offensive line posted zero sacks against the Patriots in Week 11, but the week before against the Dolphins at home, they gave up four. It has been a coin flip as to what type of protection they will provide.

Stafford gave his thoughts on what the Eagles brought this past Sunday and how the sacks and pressure led to a poor offensive performance. Even though the Rams scored 20 points, they were still 0-8 on third down conversions and struggled to sustain long drive to keep the game close.

“We just tried to mix it as much as we can,” Stafford said. “Tried to hand the ball off, move the pocket, throw some short, quicker game-type stuff, mix a couple of play-actions in with some help on the
edges. We tried to mix it as much as we possibly can but at the end of the first half, we just
weren’t efficient on a first and second down there a few times. We put ourselves in a third
and long against that group, it’s going to be tough. I think the majority of the drives that
stalled out for us, that was the issue. We got to do a really good job of executing. They’re
going to make you earn it the whole way down the field and the drives that we scored, we did
that.”

There have been a fair share of injuries on the offensive line, but there needs to be some sort of consistency in terms of quarterback protection and opening gaps for the running game. It is very difficult to scheme an offense when you are unsure if the pressure will be strong or weak.