The Los Angeles Rams kickstarted their efforts to revamp the offense with the acquisition of former Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Unfortunately, the restrictions of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic remain as prevalent as they did last year. This has resulted in the Rams joining the bulk of the teams in the NFL to skip OTA’s this offseason.
The decision is indicative of the challenges that have come with players on new teams such as Stafford. The onus will fall on head coach Sean McVay to make it as seamless a transition as possible.
The offense will understandably need some fine-tuning with Stafford now under center. Although some elements remain unclear, McVay said during an appearance on Mad Dog Radio that it will include bits of what made the 33-year-old successful in Detroit:
“I think it’s to be determined,” McVay said. “There’s nothing like getting out on the field, working with these guys, getting feedback. You’ve heard me say before, but it all starts with the quarterback. Our offense is going to have him in mind with everything that we do, first and foremost. So you’re going to see some stuff that reflected in a lot of the success that he’s had in Detroit. We would be silly not to implement these things. There’s a lot of concept carryover. He’s had a lot of great experiences with some really great coordinators in different systems, so the inventory that he can draw on, we might call one thing six and he calls it half a dozen somewhere else, but it’s all the same thing. He’s able to communicate that and it’s really been a great collaboration of putting this thing together and ultimately, can’t wait to get out on the field and really work with these guys.”
McVay’s plan to incorporate schemes that Stafford enjoyed success with his previous team is certainly understandable. While the Lions did not do much winning during his stint there, he still put up monster numbers under a number of different coaches.
Stafford is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s elite arm talents. Pairing his skill set to McVay’s expertise on offense has provided an intriguing recipe for success in L.A.
The team made sure to shore up some more firepower for Stafford to utilize in the form of speedsters DeSean Jackson and Tutu Atwell. Meanwhile, the presence of Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Cam Akers and Tyler Higbee help round out the best supporting cast he has had in his entire career.
Of course, assembling talented personnel on paper is hardly an indicator of surefire success and the Rams have plenty of work to do if they hope to make their Super Bowl expectations come to fruition.
