While some of the pitfalls experienced by the Rams offense in 2024 could be attributed to injuries throughout the unit, head coach Sean McVay refuses to make that excuse.
As Los Angeles' head coach and offensive play-caller turned his attention toward 2025, he has a preliminary vision of wanting the offense to be more versatile next season – and ensuring that can be brought to life regardless of the health of personnel.
"I think the biggest thing is there would be a little bit more versatility," McVay said during his end-of-season video conference with reporters. "The easy answer is to complain about the injuries that we had that threw off the continuity and while that might be true, you can't allow that to inhibit us the way that it did. That's nobody's responsibility but my own."
The Rams scored 20 or fewer points in four of their first five games of the 2024 season, in the midst of shuffling through three different starting offensive line combinations by their Week 6 bye. Within that same time period, L.A.'s top two receivers, Puka Nacua (Week 1 knee injury) and Cooper Kupp (Week 2 ankle injury), were each sidelined for four games. They were not back on the field together until Week 8 against the Vikings.
By that point, the Rams were on their fourth different offensive line combination after benching Logan Bruss for undrafted rookie free agent signee Justin Dedich at left guard. Then Rob Havenstein injured his ankle at Seattle in Week 9 and missed the next three games. Los Angeles would roll out its fifth and sixth different starting offensive line combinations in his absence, though that was due in part due starting Jonah Jackson at center when Jackson returned from injury in Week 10 against the Dolphins. The job was then given back to rookie Beaux Limmer the following week.
Not counting Week 18, when most of the starters rested, the Rams sorted through eight different starting offensive line combinations by the end of the regular season. Not quite what 2022 entailed, but still a decent amount of discontinuity.
All told, L.A. finished 15th in total offense (331.4 yards per game), with a top-10 passing offense (227.5, 10th), a bottom-10 rushing offense (103.8, 9th-fewest), and a bottom-16 scoring offense (21.6 points per game; 13th-fewest).
One way to accomplish that goal? Potentially changing how the offense is taught during OTAs and training camp. McVay mentioned being "more fully functional" and the teaching progressions for the "totality of the group" this spring and summer.
"How do you utilize the offseason and how are you making yourself more versatile from a personnel perspective or from a run variety perspective?" McVay said. "Those are the things that I'm excited to be able to dive into."
While diving into that, he may also get some inspiration from the Buccaneers' offense. Within the same answer about his preliminary vision for L.A.'s offense, McVay brought up talking with former Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen – who has since been hired as the Jaguars' new head coach – and how the Bucs' identity evolved over the course of the season.
"One of the coolest things that I think is reflected about what a great job he did was you've got a background and then when you watch them evolve with (Buccaneers running back) Bucky Irving and the way they ran the football and some of the variety and personnel groupings, I thought that was a cool reflection of, maybe we think we're going to do that, and then what you evolved into if you're able to understand that the best coaches adjust to their players," McVay said. "That's what we've to do a good job of as it moves forward from what it looks like from our offensive line and from the surrounding parts with our backs.
"I could go on and on about the variety of things that I'm excited about attacking to hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls that we had throughout the year to ultimately lead to more consistent production and play regardless of whatever our injury situation is."
