Matthew Stafford has unlocked the most advanced version of the Rams offense yet

(Amber Matsumoto/Yahoo Sports)

In January 2021, less than two years after torching the NFL with one of the best offenses in recent memory, the Los Angeles Rams hit a crossroad with their offense, head coach and starting quarterback. The Rams offense — which so recently felt fresh and dynamic, with its full commitment to three-wide-receiver looks, varying tempos and heavy use of motion on every snap — had started to feel tight, stagnant and claustrophobic.

The zone-heavy run started to get stonewalled by adjusting defensive coordinators running special game-planned fronts to nullify the Rams’ ground game. The passing game that featured Jared Goff faking runs before firing deep route after deep route to Brandin Cooks or another ball across the middle to Cooper Kupp or Robert Woods was starting to be solved by safeties who started to see the passing concepts more frequently.

But a divisional-round loss to the Green Bay Packers at the end of the 2020 season, as well as several stretches of a plateauing offense, led to a hard pivot from the Rams. They searched for a way to lift their offense when the run game hit a wall because of mediocre line or running back play. They needed a way to bail the offense out when defenses did anticipate the play.

This search for an answer led to a blockbuster trade between the Rams and Detroit Lions, who joined the party by swapping former No. 1 overall draft picks in a league-wide turning point that turned into launching points for two eras for their respective franchises. The Lions under head coach Dan Campbell began a rebuild with Goff as their steady hand to guide the offense, while Matthew Stafford was the final something to put the Rams over the top when defenses clamped down on their preferred play-action-heavy passing attack under head coach Sean McVay.

The Rams won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2021 season, essentially one full year from when they pulled the trigger on the Goff-Stafford (and picks) swap. Meanwhile, the…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-01-11 18:08:07

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