One of the biggest surprises from Week 1 for the Los Angeles Rams was Blake Corum’s lack of involvement on offense. He was healthy coming into the season and played on special teams, but he didn’t step foot on the field one time with the Rams offense.
Despite all the hype he generated this offseason, looking like the No. 2 back behind Kyren Williams, Corum was third on the depth chart in the opener. It was Rivers who came in for Williams on seven plays, not Corum.
Sean McVay was asked about the bizarre running back rotation – if you can even call it that – on Monday afternoon and he explained why Williams played 71 of the 78 snaps and Corum played zero.
“I think each game is going to be its own entity,” he said. “It was a very unique circumstance because when we got so many of our linemen banged up, it limited some of the different – basically, we didn’t operate off anything that our game plan was. We had to truly just change in the middle of that game plan. When there are some things that are unforeseen, you’re going to go with guys that you trust and that you know. I think the way that some of the drives unfolded where there were long breaks in between… I think that’s why you saw our running back and tight end rotation reflected as such. Colby Parkinson played 69 snaps. I believe Kyren played 71 when you look at it. I want to get Ronnie a little bit more involved. I want to be able to get Blake involved as well. Davis [Allen] and Hunter [Long] got a few snaps, but based on how the game unfolded, it was very unique for a lot of different reasons, none of which probably suit what you guys are really looking for but that was not how we anticipated the rotation to go.”
The Rams knew they would be without Alaric Jackson and Rob Havenstein going into the game. What they didn’t know was that Joe Noteboom and Steve Avila would both get hurt. However, it’s not as if they both got hurt on the first or second series. Avila played nearly half the snaps (47%) and Noteboom played 35%.
There was time for McVay to get Corum some opportunities before the line crumbled, but he trusted Williams and Rivers more than the rookie running back. While he didn’t mention pass protection, that was likely a big reason for Corum’s lack of playing time, too.
The Rams were in a pass-heavy script against the Lions and they needed someone they could trust in blitz pickup, an area where Williams is one of the best in the NFL. Corum, being a rookie, is probably a bit worse in pass protection.
It’s still not a great excuse for giving Corum zero carries in a game where Williams didn’t exactly shine (18 carries, 50 yards), but McVay felt most comfortable with the veteran back there over a rookie.
