Just when it seemed the Los Angeles Rams offensive line was getting on track coming out of the bye week, they suffered yet another setback during their lackluster performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The offensive line has endured its fair share of struggles throughout the course of the 2019 NFL season. Their woes began with the season-ending injury to guard Joseph Noteboom that sparked the first of their changes that would come up front.
Los Angeles used the extra week off to make some adjustments heading into their road trip to Pittsburgh, however, those plans fell by the wayside once center Brian Allen went down with an MCL injury and he has since been ruled out for the rest of the year. The loss of Allen has undoubtedly dealt another crushing blow to the protection for quarterback Jared Goff.
Fortunately, Rams head coach Sean McVay is optimistic that their depth will be able to pick up the slack moving forward, via Stu Jackson of the team’s official website:
“We’re confident about the guys’ ability to step in,” McVay said. “Kind of still working through exactly what that lineup is going to look like. This is part of doing our job.”
Veteran left tackle Andrew Whitworth even acknowledged the stroke of bad luck the Rams have had with the offensive line and how difficult it was to replace those guys on the fly last week:
“Definitely have had injuries on the line throughout the years, but not in these kind of situations as far as in the middle of the game, having that many guys, and guys have to rotate everywhere, figuring out who’s controlling the snaps and who’s doing what,” Whitworth said.
“I mean, it was a lot.”
There is certainly plenty of truth to Whitworth’s comments given how things unfolded during the road trip to Pittsburgh. Regardless, it is just another challenge Los Angeles will have to overcome since opposing teams could care less about the trouble they have had with their offensive line.
After two seasons of trotting out almost the same group, the Rams are set to switch things up once again heading into their primetime matchup with the Chicago Bears in Week 12. Newly-acquired guard Austin Corbett will be making the start alongside Whitworth while Austin Blythe fills in for Allen at center. David Edwards will stay at right guard and Bobby Evans will serve as a replacement at right tackle for the injured Rob Havenstein.
Although squaring off against a talented Chicago defense is no easy task for any offensive line, Los Angeles will need this younf group to step up if they hope to get back into the win column this week.
