Not much has gone right for the Los Angeles Rams through the first four weeks of the 2024 NFL season. It’s hard not to chalk it up to the significant number of injuries affecting head coach Sean McVay’s offense, but there have still been some critical issues regardless.
One of those issues has been red zone offense. The Rams have scored touchdowns on only 41.2% of their red zone drives this season. That ranks 28th in the NFL, ahead of only the Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos. Now an injured offensive line and receiving core isn’t helping that, but McVay doesn’t want to pin in entirely on that.
He still thinks that, even with the injuries, there have simply been execution issues on his end and the players’ end that have led to this poor efficiency close to the end zone.
“I don’t think we’ve executed very well,” McVay said. “There are certainly some runs and some passes. I think when you look at yesterday…and we’re all in this together so it’s a collective collaborative effort, but I think the thing that challenged me about yesterday is I thought we had a lot of good things but everybody took their hand on some critical downs that led to us not executing or finishing drives.
“I didn’t like the screen that I called to Colby [Parkinson] that led to an OPI (offensive pass interference). That was something that we had a chance to execute, but I don’t think we had an understanding of what we were looking for there and the execution reflected that so I look at myself there.
“There were some opportunities with some other plays that I think we’re capable of doing what we should do that would lead to efficiency. We would’ve to watch drive-by-drive. Every play has its own story and its own entity, but in terms of our inability to execute and finish drives yesterday, we have to be a lot better. That was one of the frustrating themes of that game for me.”
It doesn’t seem like scheme changes are coming any time soon if McVay feels the problem is execution, but there could be a change in some of the players that are currently getting opportunities.
“Yeah, that always goes into it. The answer is yes, but there is an element of based on what we’re asking, do we think they’re capable of executing it better? I’ll be the first to tell you when there’s situations where I want to be able to do a better job, but we’re continuing to figure it out.
“Consistency on offense is about the edge, the energy, and the execution. We have to use the techniques, fundamentals [and] we have to play collectively 11 as one and. We’ve been able to move the ball, but we haven’t been able to finish drives and that’s because of a collaboration of things. Ultimately, I wouldn’t ask guys to do stuff I didn’t think they were capable of.
“I’ll be the first to look at when you say, ‘Alright, decisions that you want to make [and] spots you want to put guys in…’ But we do try to set up our plans to have answers versus a variety of things even though there might be play calls where we’re attacking certain coverage structures or front structures that I believe we’re capable of executing and delivering at a consistent clip. That hasn’t been reflected and that’s on all of us.”
The Rams have the ability to improve in the red zone even without their starting offensive linemen, Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. McVay certainly believes so, and he has shown a capability to find success even without a healthy lineup.
If they are going to do so, though, it needs to happen fast, as they are already in a 1-3 hole that they need to quickly find their way out of.
Sean McVay gives update on Darious Williams and Larrell Murchison
Darious Williams was one of two starting cornerbacks to suffer an injury in training camp, with the other being a torn ACL for Derion Kendrick. Williams suffered a hamstring injury and was placed on IR. Meanwhile, Larrell Murchison — the fifth-year defensive tackle — has been out with an arm injury.
McVay spoke about the statuses of both players, and it appears that the practice windows on both are expected to be opened this week.
“Yeah, the plan is with him and [Larrell] Murchison is in to start their clocks. We’ll get them on the grass and then we’ll see what that looks like.”
