Watching the OL at times is just inexplicable and I think it has to come down to scheme. Our slug refrigerators with legs are simply awful at the lateral movement required in zone blocking. Almost every play requires horizontal steps to reach a guy in the playside gap, and every time there's one or more OL that can't catch up to the guy he's supposed to block so there's constant penetration into gaps by unblocked people.
The answer should be combo blocks but the Rams don't seem to want to do ANY double teams, blocking back or help for guys who are simply too slow and can't reach their assignment. They also don't do any backside cutting, they don't flip their block when beat to at least stay locked up even if beat playside, or any of the zone blocking tricks... This is happening due to either a coaching decree, or they are just so dumb they can't pick up the communication and the nuances of the zone blocking scheme.
I get why use zone -- the NFL offseason has become such a joke that there's no time to install and rep traditional blocking schemes against so many complicated fronts, zone blocking is supposed to be an easy "one size fits all" solution. But now that it's become the majority of the league, you can't just get away with thinking you can trot it out there without doing it well with personnel suited for it and drilled in the technique.
Finally yesterday we saw the toss sweep make a come back. The TE actually blocked down to get an easy outside seal block at the point of attack (gasp!), the playside tackle pulled around and pancaked people. Beautiful and it worked nicely for 6 yard chunks.
What I would like to see in the bye week is the Rams coaching realizing our base split zone run based on the theory of moving the play laterally and creating cut up lanes isn't working for this bunch. Instead, mix in some traditional gap blocking to let these guys block back for a change. And don't be afraid to double team -- heck if one guy isn't blocked we pay Gurley to beat one v. ones -- he just can't beat the 1 v. 5 unblocked we're getting now.
Put our big bodies on their bodies and create holes the traditional hat on hat way by being bigger & stronger and driving the hell out of people, because our OL certainly isn't quicker than any DL. Being married to how the zone blocking is "supposed to be done" ain't working, it's time for these paid coaches to come up with solutions.
Last word is that scheme isn't everything. There's just some awful lack of effort and bewildering whiffs going on that make no sense that are squarely the fault of the individual OL. But a lot stems from scheme because when you know who to hit with 100% confidence and have belief you can execute that block, that can breed success to build on that carries down to the individual skill & effort level. I could be wrong and it could simply be these guys lack talent, but I would like to see some changes at the top first before completely give up on the players.
