Throughout the Sean McVay era, the Los Angeles Rams have added twists within the offense in-season, but that’s all they’ve ever been. McVay has utilized 12 personnel before, but only when the matchup dictated
it. The Rams used six offensive linemen back in 2021 while managing injuries. In 2022, the Rams used Ben Skowronek as a fullback and had success.
When the Rams rolled out 13 personnel against the Jacksonville Jaguars, many would have thought that it was just another twist. The Rams were without Puka Nacua and the Jaguars were without linebacker Devin Lloyd. It made sense to use 13 personnel to get the Jaguars in their base defense.
However, the Rams took what they did against the Jaguars in 13 personnel and expanded on it against the Saints. Against the Saints, 35 of the Rams’ 77 plays came out of 13 personnel. Their 45.7 percent usage rate of 13 personnel was the highest of any game in the last decade. The Rams have taken the 12 personnel that they began to utilize early in the season and expanded it into 13 personnel.
When the Rams were in 12 personnel, teams still had the ability to match them in nickel. However, unless defenses are going to concede in the run game, it forces teams to get into their base defense, especially on early downs. This gives the Rams severe mismatches, especially in the passing game.
Last week, the Rams were able to get Terrance Ferguson matched up on a linebacker in Dennis Gardeck. The result was Ferguson winning vertically down the field and scoring a touchdown. On the play below, the Rams are facing 2nd-and-6. That down and distance are important as this is a run or passing situation for the offense. Because of that, the Saints have to be ready for both, and therefore must match in base. The Rams go play action and Terrance Ferguson finds the hole in the zone for a big play.
What’s really been interesting about how the Rams use 13 personnel is how they are marrying it with what they already do out of 11 personnel. The Rams aren’t completely shifting what they do on offense and instead inserting bigger bodies where a wide receiver would be.
In the play below, the Rams are using all three tight ends condensed on one side of the field. They shift Davis Allen over and he blocks through the B-gap. That’s essentially what the Rams would typically have Puka Nacua or Jordan Whittington do in that situation. Instead, the Rams are using a tight end there and in this case, Davis Allen.
It is worth noting just how good of a blocker Allen has been this season. Against the Saints, he ranked third in run-blocking among tight ends and he’s sixth on the season. Allen has taken the step forward that many thought he might take last season. The third-year tight end has been an important piece of the offense, especially as the Rams look to utilize more 13 personnel.
This season, the Rams have 13.07 total EPA out of 13 personnel which is second in the NFL behind the Buffalo Bills. Their 0.49 EPA per pass out of 13 personnel ranks seventh while their 0.06 EPA per rush ranks eighth. The Rams have remained very balanced out of this personnel grouping, passing at just a 31.3 percent rate. It’s something that keeps defenses on their heels. McVay continues to show his ability to evolve his schemes.
The next thing to watch is going to be how the Rams expand on this. These last two games have been two of the more efficient games for the Rams on offense this season. Their 0.26 EPA per play against the Saints was their best offensive performance since Week 14 last season in their win against the Buffalo Bills.
It will be interesting to see what the next twist in 13 personnel will be for the Rams offense. While the Rams motioned out of it, they started to line up their tight ends as fullbacks. At some point, the Rams may opt to keep their tight ends in the backfield and start running more of what we saw with Skowronek in 2022. The Rams can run out of this with a tight end as a lead blocker or play-action out of it and get a tight end to run a route through the B or C gaps.
It’s another way for the Rams to create a mismatch for the defense and makes them even more difficult to defend. However, instead of Skowronek the Rams could do this with Allen or Ferguson. It’s just another way for the Rams to unlock their tight ends and it’s something that they’ve done in the past. With better personnel, it’s something that could become a regular twist in the offense. This seems to be the new identity of the offense and the early returns have been excellent.
The Rams have unlocked Davante Adams
It seemed like it would only be a matter of time before the Rams figured it out with Davante Adams. Adams was too good of a player and Stafford was too good to not get on the same page with his receiver. These two have seemed to develop a chemistry together. While it’s not to the level of Calvin Johnson, it’s reminiscent of that in the red zone.
Over the last two weeks, Adams has five touchdowns in the red zone. After converting just three times on 11 end zone targets in the first six weeks of the season, Adams has been a perfect 5-for-5. Adams now has eight touchdowns and 16 end zone targets. There are three players in the NFL with 10 or more end zone targets. George Pickens has converted 4-of-14 while Trey McBride has converted 4-for-10. Adams has converted 50 percent of his opportunities and he’s only getting more difficult to defend.
The Rams wide receiver scored in multiple ways from the goal line in this game. On Adams’ first touchdown, he won on a back-corner fade after faking inside. Adams’ ability to win both ways forces defensive backs to respect him inside on the slant and the fade. If he fakes one, it creates separation for him to win the other way.
On the first touchdown to Tyler Higbee, Adams beat Kool-Aid McKinstry clean on a slant. While Adams didn’t get the touchdown, it set him up to win on the back-corner fade later in the game. After Adams scored on a slant on his first touchdown, the Saints also dropped a defensive back to cover it. Despite the inside help, Adams still won to the corner. At some point, teams are going to have to start bracketing Adams at the goal line. He’s becoming very difficult to defend.
Emmanuel Forbes’ best game as a Ram
The Emmanuel Forbes experience has been an interesting one for the Rams. He had some rough moments early on in the season and his snap-count dropped to a season-low 27.9 percent against the San Francisco 49ers. However, since then, Forbes has been very good.
Forbes arguably had his best game with the Rams in Week 9 against the Saints. He had one rough moment in when Rashid Shaheed got him turned around. He also didn’t necessarily look comfortable when targeted deep. At the same time, he came up big in a few moments. On back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, Forbes had a pass breakup on third down and then an interception on fourth down.
Since Week 6, Forbes is the fifth-highest graded cornerback via PFF and his coverage grade of 78.3 is the sixth-best in the NFL. Forbes has allowed a 32.2 passer rating when targeted which is second as he’s allowed just six receptions on 13 targets.
Something has begun to click for Forbes over the last few weeks. What’s been most impressive is his effort as a tackler. It seems to be much more of a ‘want-to’ than an ‘able-to’ issue with him. He had a nice open-field tackle against the Baltimore Ravens last week. In this game, he had an open-field tackle on Taysom Hill in the run game. Earlier, he also stopped Shaheed short of the first down, making the tackle at the catch point. There’s a lot to like here, but two of the three quarterbacks faced have been Cooper Rush and Tyler Shough. The competition is going to get much more difficult over the next month.
Another Matthew Stafford recognition post
It’s hard to truly comprehend what Matthew Stafford is doing at 37 years old. Last week, Stafford became the fourth quarterback ever with at least 20 touchdown passes and two-or-fewer interceptions in his first eight games of a season. Tom Brady in 2007 and Aaron Rodgers in 2020 won the MVP while Brady in 2015 and Patrick Mahomes in 2020 both finished inside the top-three.
Stafford has gone five consecutive games without an interception. Every week he’s making jaw-dropping throws. Jared Verse was mic’d up this week and the touchdown pass to Nacua left him speechless. At some point, there’s going to be some regression, but that also doesn’t mean that he won’t continue playing well. Over the second half of the season, the Rams will play five of the top-10 passing defenses in the NFL.
With Stafford playing at his current level, he doesn’t just deserve to be part of the MVP conversation, but leading the discussion. It’s hard to find many quarterbacks making the level of throws that Stafford makes on a weekly basis. As usual, Stafford remains underrated, but that’s also why it’s important to not stop bringing it up.
