As the top scoring offense in the NFL this past season, the
LA Rams are an interesting team to study. The design of the offense has a lot
of carry over to the lower levels of football. Coaches have many things they
can take away from this past season.
Easy Answers for the
Quarterback
With well thought out play designs, the Rams were able to
get their primary receiver open often. This gives the quarterback less to think
about and asks the offensive line to protect for a shorter amount of time. Rookie
wide receiver Cooper Kupp emerged as the Rams primary target on third downs.
Sean McVay had many concepts that featured Kupp as the primary target. One of
the most commonly used ones was a deep out from a trips set. This concept is
often referred to as “Train” in west coast playbooks. The diagram below shows one of the versions the Rams used in 2017.
This concept is meant to look like four verticals. The goal
is to clear out room for the #3 receiver on the 10 yard out cut. Many modern
pattern-match defenses will instruct the outside defenders to turn and run with
the vertical routes. This gives the quarterback a lot of room to work with on
the out cut.
Use of formations
The Rams used tight split bunch formations often. These
formations neutralize the press-man techniques that many successful NFL
defenses use. When offenses line up in a bunch set, defenses will typically
have a go-to check against the formation. Sean McVay has a few concepts that
will attack the leverage of these calls to get receivers open by design. In
conjunction with the previous section, these plays also tend to get the first
read in the progression open.
Eliminating Pressure Possibilities
Using simple progression reads, McVay gave his second-year
quarterback an easy way to find open receivers. The stick-spacing concept
allows the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly, while still having the
ability to go through an entire progression. The Rams were 5/5 when calling
this concept on third down. The video shows how Goff can get to his third read quickly,
before the pass rush has a chance to get to him.
Another way the Rams eliminated pressure possibilities was
with the use of the crack toss. Defenses see third and 4 as a great chance to
bring pressure and force a young quarterback into a bad decision. Sean McVay
stayed one step ahead of teams with the use of the crack toss. The toss play
gets the ball on the edge quickly and will still give the offense a good chance
at converting the first down without over-exposing their quarterback. This call
had great forward-thinking qualities that gave the Rams a better chance of
converting these third down situations.
When the toss call would not convert, a common theme was
present. On each case, the first down block outside of the tackle failed. This
is often a tough block for wide receivers. This block should be carefully
planned out by coaches. Using the team’s best blocker in this spot will give
the offense a better chance of converting.
As a high school football coach, this manual will not only
give you play designs, but an insight into successful offensive philosophies.
There are many key points that I will be taking with me into the 2018 season.
