2018 vs 2019 Statistical Comparison

[Merlin]

Green is a positive change from 2018 to 2019, Red is a negative change from 2018 to 2019.

2018 Offense

Scoring: 2nd (30.8)
Redzone TD Scoring Percentage: 19th (56.82%)
QB Blitzed: 10th (151)
QB Hurried: 11th (66)
QB Hit: 15th (34)
QB Passer Rating: 10th (96.2)
Yards Per Pass Attempt: 3rd (7.7)
Yards Per Rush Attempt: T-4th (4.8)
RB Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average: 1st (23.6%)
RB Success Rate: 4th (57%)

2019 Offense

Scoring: T-10th (24.6)
Redzone TD Scoring Percentage: 6th (64.41%)
QB Blitzed: 3rd (219)
QB Hurried: 15th (52)
QB Hit: 10th (48)
QB Passer Rating: 20th (85.6)
Yards Per Pass Attempt: 13th (7.1)
Yards Per Rush Attempt: 27th (3.7)
RB Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average: 25th (-3.3%)
RB Success Rate: 26th (48%)

Offense Notes

QB Performance: we can see a significant increase in amount blitzed with a smaller amount of hurries but more hits on the QB. The way I interpret this data is defenses played a lot of games on the back end vs Jared Goff and confused him, and I am guessing that over the course of the entire season he saw a lot more zone with extra DBs as well as unbalanced blitzes due to defenses not fearing our run game (I reviewed the entire season's tape but did not count secondary totals per play over the past two years so this has to remain a guess). Also the hits on Goff going up but not the hurries I don't read too much into because McVay is so good at moving the pocket, so to my eye the increased hits correspond to so many more blitzes.

Run Game: the run game is the single largest dip in our offense in 2019, a disastrous and monumental fall from elite levels of RB production (our 2018 run game DVoA showed explosive/big plays and the SR showed high average of achieving successful runs, with both at the elite production level which is a very rare combination) to the bottom of the league. Absolute and total disaster.

Reading the two together I feel like Jared doesn't get enough respect for managing to get this offense to a top 10 scoring finish. Our offense was ALL JARED and everyone knew it, but still the offense finished top third with zero run game balance. Extrapolate this out and the team's decision to cut bait with Gurley is a bit easier to understand. Not that I like it mind you. But still.

2018 Defense

Scoring: 18th (23.3)
Redzone TD Allowed: 15th (58.3%)
QB Pressures Per Dropback: 1st (30.2%)
Blitz Percentage: 20th (21.1%)
QB Passer Rating Allowed: 14th (92.3%)
RB Yards Per Rush Allowed: T-26th (4.8)

2019 Defense

Scoring: 17th (22.8)
Redzone TD Allowed: 29th (63.4%)
QB Pressures Per Dropback: 3rd (27.9%)
Blitz Percentage: 16th (28%)
QB Passer Rating Allowed: 11th (86.8%)
RB Yards Per Rush Allowed: T-8th (4.1)

Defense Notes

Run Defense: lost in a rough season was the mini-storyline of one of our best run stopping performances in many years (going off memory here not gonna look that up lol). I can't recall the last time we played the run as well as we did last season, outside of the absolutely terrible performances vs a few teams like Baltimore. In fact had our defense just played a few of those bad games even a little better we would have had a clear top 5 run defense. I attribute this to a few things, but the largest improvement was at NT where we had a young player step up in SJD and Gaines played quite well subbing him in a small sample size. We also saw quite a bit of some ILB players changed up with guys like Reeder mixed in who did a good job vs the run. And lastly I think there was a team focus on freelancing particularly among the DL that helped enormously (ahem AD and Brock). Also to consider is that while AD freelances more with the lateral movement on the DL he does make a lot of plays that counter that, whereas Brock does not.

OVERALL

Our fall from grace in 2019 where we missed the playoffs at 9-7 after a Super Bowl season can be directly traced to a failure to produce a good running game. While Goff shouldered all the BS in the media (some of it deserved of course) and the OL shouldered the remainder of it (much of it rightly so) the bottom line is our offense was hitting on half cylinders which is particularly worrisome given the way McVay marries the run & pass game together in his attack.

Defensively we were not good enough once again. But perhaps the biggest change for the defense was that it was given an opportunity to save our season given the fall of our offense but could not do the job, being exposed as a middling unit that is best served protecting a big lead.

 

[shovelpass]

Nice breakdown. Overall I thought the run D played well. We had 3 bad games against BAL, SF, and DAL, but those were all top 5 rushing teams. I actually just got done watching the BAL game, don't know why I'd do that to myself. One thing I did notice was that the Rams pretty much played only Littleton at ILB. I checked out the snap counts and Reeder played only 1 snap. I don't get why they would go so light against the leagues top rushing team(206YPG). They also tried using the 6-1 front to no avail, the consistently got torched on the edge and simple run up the middle resulted in a 8 yard gain. I agree on freelancing too, Donald lives in the backfield which can be a double edged sword and in 2018 we also had Suh who was looking to do the same. Hopefully under Staley the defense is a little more disciplined.

 

[Malibu]

Nice analysis. I disagree to an extent with your pov.

I believe the Run D was horrible against great run oriented teams - look at the SF, Balt and Dallas games we must shore this up period.

On offense our Run game is only as good as the holes the OL opens we absolutely SUCKED in run blocking. Like I said in another thread Zeke and Saquon couldn't run with shitty of oline. We were ranked 31st by PFF sure you can say we had alot of injuries, but all season you can see something was off compared to the two previous seasons. Whit was younger we had Saffold and a better Center even if Sully was the weak link compared to Allen and the rest who played the position last year Sully looked like an all-star.

I will say it day in and day out Goff and the Rams go as far as the Oline takes us. We need a Scherff or Thuney with a great Center out of the draft to try and right the ship. I don't want to hear well the line played better the last 4 or do games. No they didn't we kept more players into block and we still had no run game period we need some big maulers creating holes.

Lastly there are some great draft options at 52 like Jonathan Taylor out of Wisconsin watch this guy he is a beast. And there are others, but I was hoping to use that pick on a Center our an OLB or ILB.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Nice breakdown. Overall I thought the run D played well. We had 3 bad games against BAL, SF, and DAL, but those were all top 5 rushing teams. I actually just got done watching the BAL game, don't know why I'd do that to myself. One thing I did notice was that the Rams pretty much played only Littleton at ILB. I checked out the snap counts and Reeder played only 1 snap. I don't get why they would go so light against the leagues top rushing team(206YPG). They also tried using the 6-1 front to no avail, the consistently got torched on the edge and simple run up the middle resulted in a 8 yard gain. I agree on freelancing too, Donald lives in the backfield which can be a double edged sword and in 2018 we also had Suh who was looking to do the same. Hopefully under Staley the defense is a little more disciplined.

they probably wanted him to spy on lamar, not that it helped.

.

 

[Merlin]

Nice breakdown. Overall I thought the run D played well. We had 3 bad games against BAL, SF, and DAL, but those were all top 5 rushing teams. I actually just got done watching the BAL game, don't know why I'd do that to myself. One thing I did notice was that the Rams pretty much played only Littleton at ILB. I checked out the snap counts and Reeder played only 1 snap. I don't get why they would go so light against the leagues top rushing team(206YPG). They also tried using the 6-1 front to no avail, the consistently got torched on the edge and simple run up the middle resulted in a 8 yard gain. I agree on freelancing too, Donald lives in the backfield which can be a double edged sword and in 2018 we also had Suh who was looking to do the same. Hopefully under Staley the defense is a little more disciplined.

That game was an outlier of sorts yeah. I feel like they prepared for speed and contain and the Ravens' power in the run game overwhelmed them. Definitely the runner-up worst defensive performance just behind Tampa.

The Bucs film was the hardest to watch for me. Part of it was Winston having a freakishly focused game but meh.

Still, that is why it helps to look at those overall numbers. They show that the run game is going to be a primary focus to return our offense to that elite range and that both Goff & the run defense were better than given credit for.