Sean McVay’s midseason adjustment to reinvent the Rams’ offensive identity proves his mettle as an elite playcaller
Sean McVay’s adjustment for the Rams’ offense has turned Los Angeles into the most explosive offense in the NFL and should scare the rest of the league
The Los Angeles Rams are flying high after a massive victory over NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, as they dismantled the Niners 42-26 thanks to an offensive explosion that the 49ers simply could not keep up with. Matthew Stafford set a record, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for four or more touchdowns and zero interceptions in three straight games.
Aside from two drives after going up 21-0, the Rams scored on every drive of the game, driving right through the heart of the 49ers’ defense with routine ease. Run or pass, it seemed like everything the Rams called worked, and they rolled up 401 yards and 31(!) first downs on top of a defense that has given them fits over the years.
While Stafford is naturally playing at an elite level, it’s been the adjustment by head coach Sean McVay to right the ship on offense that is the biggest reason why the Rams’ offense has turned into the NFL’s best, and what he’s done to adjust their outlook has been perhaps the most impressive fact of the season, and it’s going to carry them far in the playoffs if they keep this up.
The Rams’ offense is putting up historic numbers
When Puka Nacua went down with a minor injury against the Baltimore Ravens, many were wondering how the Rams would adjust, since the Rams had built their entire offense around Nacua’s ability as a receiver. Instead of trying the same playbook with Adams or perhaps Jordan Whittington in the Nacua role, McVay completely reinvented the playbook.
Normally, McVay has been a heavy 11-personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 RB) team offensively. However, he has completely changed identities, with the offense now revolving around heavier personnel (12/13 personnel), and the tight ends have begun shouldering the load in the passing game instead. This has sparked the Rams’ offense, and they have now decimated three straight opponents with it.
This week against the 49ers, the Rams deployed 13 personnel on 30 of their 67 offensive plays (44.8%), the second-highest rate in a game since 2016. The Rams now hold the top three spots in 13 personnel percentage in a game since 2016, with today’s yards per play (6.7), success rate (63.3%) and explosive play rate (20.0%) topping the outputs of the previous two games. This is a remarkable shift from McVay, as he called 13 personnel on just 84 plays in his first 137 games as head coach of the Rams. In just the last four games, the Rams have called it 97 times.
Why the adjustment? Why is this so effective? Tom Brady said it best in the booth: “The interesting thing about 11 personnel is that there’s probably 20-25 different coverage combinations you can face as a QB. When you go to a 3 TE grouping and they play base defense, you’re dealing with 3 or 4 combinations. So it simplifies the defensive playbook by about 20%, so many less looks for QB to diagnose post-snap, and allows you as a play-caller to dial up exactly what you want.”
With the additional heavier defensive personnel defenses play against 13, they can’t cover ground as well as a traditional nickel look can against 11. Because of that, there are only so many ways you can disguise coverage without compromising the structure of the defense in some way. Additionally, teams aren’t going to be able to run as many 2-high safety looks due to the gap differences. In 11, there are only seven gaps a defense has to account for. However, when it switches to 13, that now becomes nine different gaps and it’s hard for defenses to handle all nine without moving a safety down, which opens up the passing offense.
Because the Rams have the athletes at tight end to take advantage of the mismatches they create through the air against base defenses, McVay can open up a similar passing playbook to what he runs normally out of 11, but this time against slower defenders. This is showing up with rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson, who has seen each of his four catches go for 18+ yards and create chunk plays downfield.
McVay has completely reinvented himself and the Rams’ offense, and in turn, has created perhaps the most well-oiled machine in the NFL. The Rams are just bashing teams out of these looks time and time again, and there’s not a team out there that have the personnel to match. I’m hoping that the Rams continue to bring back this old-school offense and continue moving forward featuring it, as defenses simply do not have answers for it.
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