Los Angeles Rams: Offense needs to be fourth-quarter juggernaut
To make significant strides in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams offense has to play well during crunch time.
Most NFL pundits agree that both the Los Angeles Rams offense and defense should improve next season. The Rams hired head coach Sean McVay away from a vaunted Washington Redskins offense. Renowned defensive coordinator Wade Phillips has had success few coaches can match.
CBSSports.com recently took a look at Phillips’ immediate impact on the new teams he joined. The results are impressive. Since Phillips first became a defensive coordinator in 1981 with the New Orleans Saints, all but one of his teams have showed significant first-year improvement from the year before his arrival.
That one exception came in Philadelphia in 1986. Buddy Ryan hired Phillips to run his 46 defense, and the unit’s statistics fell slightly. Every other stop? Big gains.
With Phillips and defensive tackle Aaron Donald in tow, McVay and the offense don’t have to score 30 points a game. The Rams already kept some games close last season, thanks to their defense. Phillips’s presence should make that a weekly occurrence in 2017.
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The trick for McVay will be to make sure the Rams offense doesn’t put the defense in bad situations in the first three quarters, then come up with a drive or two in the fourth to win the game.
Quarterback Jared Goff doesn’t have throw for 400 yards every game. But he does have to learn to play his best in the fourth quarter. McVay will have to find out whether Goff has the tools to adapt to a defensive scheme as it progresses. Running back Todd Gurley becomes a bigger factor in the offense, if for not other reason than to shorten the game. Even if the Rams don’t score a lot of points in the first three quarters, they can eat up clock behind a dangerous Gurley.
The Rams offense should spend training camp specializing in late-game situations that will translate when the 2017 season begins. As endzonescore.com noted, McVay has a lot of work to do with a unit that was dead last in total yards and scoring in 2016, and second-to-last in both rushing and passing yards.
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But the good news is that the Rams offense doesn’t have to become a juggernaut overnight. It simply must strive for flawless execution for one quarter per game — the fourth quarter.