The Los Angeles Rams have endured some offensive line struggles throughout Sean McVay’s tenure as head coach, but it’s never been as bad as it was in 2022. In just nine games, Matthew Stafford was sacked 29 times – only one fewer sack than he took in 17 games the year prior.
In total, the Rams allowed 59 sacks, the third-most in the NFL and the most in seven years under McVay. It’s hard to fully blame the players because just about every starter and backup with the exception of Rob Havenstein got hurt at one point or another. However, even when the Rams did have some of their starters early in the season, the pass protection was not good enough.
A major priority this offseason has been to improve the offensive line play, which will hopefully be helped by the arrival of second-round rookie Steve Avila. McVay is determined to get Stafford better protection this offseason because when he’s upright, the offense is at its best.
That’s not only through personnel and the talent on the field, but also the play calling from McVay.
“Absolutely. I think in a lot of instances, similar to the question you were asking earlier about the tackle position, what type of pass play are we activating when we’re trying to protect him? Are we doing a good enough job of being able to move the spot? Who are the five guys? Or if we ask other guys to be a part of that protection, what does it look like and how are we being mindful of, just like you want to try to attack coverage, contours, different things like that,” he said. “How are you being mindful of trying to get the math and the numbers in your favor, and get favorable positions in situations and matchups up front? And sometimes it’s easier said than done. But if we keep that guy upright good things happen for us because he’s a special player and we’ve all seen that when you’re able to do the right kind of things around him and I think we’re going to work our (expletive) off to try to figure that out. I can promise you that.”
Stafford is great under pressure, but there’s only so much he can do when he has defenders bearing down on him as often as he did last season. He needs time to survey the field, just as his receivers need time to get open.
Everything starts with the protection up front and if the Rams can’t improve in that area, the offense as a whole is going to struggle for a second straight year.
