Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen is hard at work finding solutions to his unit’s inability to move the ball downfield. Over the last few weeks, the team has has a hard time rising above the below-average play of their patchwork offensive line, which has been plagued by injuries this season.
The involvement of receiver Allen Robinson, who was signed by the Rams in free agency ahead of the season in hopes that he might add an additional threat to the offense, has been a hot topic of late, and Coen was asked about his use of the former Pro Bowl pass catcher at his Thursday press conference. He effectively told the media that until issues with his front five are fixed, the utilization of Robinson’s talents will be a secondary consideration, as quarterback Matthew Stafford would have a hard time getting him the ball without a proper pocket to throw from.
“It’s hard to just say we’re going to get him the ball when we’re struggling to communicate to pass protect and to get all on the same page,” Coen said. “So when you can’t get the place started, it’s really difficult to say, ‘Oh well let’s make sure we get Allen five targets, or this guy this amount of targets.’ We’re just trying to function right now at a high level. We’re trying to get back to executing our offense the way it should be, efficiently, no communication issues. We’ve had more mental errors and busts that just are a little bit foreign to this offense and to this system.
“We have had a lot of guys play. That’s not an excuse, it’s a reality. So I think right now it’s a little bit less about players than it is the overall execution. It’s always about the guys going out and making plays, but we’re more so focusing on, how do we just function at a high level to get some confidence from our front five, the quarterback, and then let the ball just find these guys in a way that’s just, hey, we can execute our offense. It’s not about force feeding one guy or the other. We just need to function at a higher level right now and that’s our biggest focus.”
Though it might not have been the response that fans were hoping for, Coen was spot-on in his analysis of what it will take to get the veteran receiver more looks. In the game of football, oftentimes the quality of targets that a pass-catcher gets is more important than volume, and if Stafford can’t deliver accurate passes to Robinson, there would be no reason to press the issue.
Los Angeles’ current dysfunction on offense is almost entirely centered around the performance of their offensive line, and as such their play will need to be addressed before any other issues can be fixed. As the season wears on and the line steadies itself with more experience and starters returning from injury, look for the Rams to get Robinson more consistently involved in the game plan, and for him to maximize every opportunity he gets to compensate for his slow start to the 2022 campaign.
