Los Angeles Rams finally open up the offense with their rookies, and it could spell trouble for the rest of the NFL
Sean McVay opened up the playbook on the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the rest of the league should be terrified of what that could mean.
The Los Angeles Rams steamrolled the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, heading into their bye week 5-2 off of a 35-7 blowout of a hot AFC team. That win completes the Rams’ sweep of the AFC South, and they can head into their bye week with plenty of momentum after back-to-back wins.
Matthew Stafford was red hot, making international history by becoming the first quarterback to throw for five touchdowns in a game overseas. Additionally, Stafford became just the third quarterback of all time to throw for five touchdowns in a game in three different decades, joining Tom Brady and Kurt Warner.
While many might attribute this to the Jaguars being the Jaguars, Jacksonville has been a very stingy defense all season long. The lesson to be learned here is how the Rams attacked the Jaguars…and that lesson is one that should scare the NFL the rest of the season.
McVay opened up the playbook
For most of the season, the Rams’ passing attack has revolved around wide receiver Puka Nacua. The whole goal of the offense has been to open things up for Puka underneath and let him do work after the catch or down the sideline. Davante Adams was signed essentially to draw coverage away from Nacua. There’s a reason why Nacua had record-setting volume through the beginning of Los Angeles’s season.
However, Nacua got hurt in the Rams’ 17-3 victory over the Ravens last week, forcing McVay to shift gears. Instead of flowing the offense through one player now, the offense flowed through everyone. In a way, it was very reminiscent of the McVay of old, where he threw a new wrinkle at defenses seemingly every week, and the offense would just click.
10 different Rams caught a pass today. Davante Adams and Stafford clicked in the red zone for the first time all season, with Adams collecting a hat trick with three touchdowns on the day. Rookie Konata Mumpfield was the most involved he has been all season, and the McVay-Stafford connection was on fire. The Rams threw an entirely new look at Jacksonville, and the Jaguars were completely confounded by it.
The Rams’ positional versatility was exactly what we were hoping to see when they drafted Terrance Ferguson in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. The Rams used 13 personnel on 24 plays (38.7% of offensive snaps) after calling it just six times from 2021-2024, and it was clear Jacksonville was not prepared for it. McVay was slicing and dicing the Jaguars, as their tight ends caught eight passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Three of the Rams’ touchdowns came out of 13 personnel, including a deep shot up the seam to Ferguson.
I was particularly intrigued by the lineup of Ferguson being split out wide, as I think that is his perfect role. He’s a gifted receiver in the open field, and lining him up out wide or in the slot forces defenses to have to keep a linebacker out of the box or pinch him with a safety, drawing coverage away from other receivers.
It finally feels like McVay found his fastball again, and the Rams’ offense should be plenty encouraged by what they put out against the Jaguars. We’ll see when Nacua returns, but this should be the way forward for the Rams moving forward. Moving back to what they ran at the beginning of the season would be a waste of talent, and I hope this opened their eyes to the possibilities of what this offense should look like.
Los Angeles Rams News
LA Rams HC Sean McVay might have just given the rest of the NFL the blueprint for international success
The Los Angeles Rams made international history against the Jaguars, and the rest of the NFL is going to take notice
