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Rams offense and new coordinator Kevin O’Connell are clicking
With meetings confined to keyboards and computer screens, the Rams’ new offensive coordinator works with Sean McVay and players on ideas for getting the most out of Jared Goff.
www.dailynews.com
The Rams hired Kevin O’Connell to help the offense meet expectations.
But first things first. Someday soon, O’Connell expects to meet the offense.
Four months after the new offensive coordinator and other new assistant coaches joined the staff, O’Connell still hasn’t been able to introduce himself to most of his players face to face. Coronavirus restrictions have kept NFL teams from gathering at team facilities, let alone on practice fields. The Rams are conducting unit and position-group meetings via video streams.
“Do they even know who I am at this point?” O’Connell wondered in a video chat with reporters on Thursday. “Hopefully they can click through that team meeting and find the little box that says ‘O’Connell,’ so when they catch me walking in the halls, they know who I am.”
In person, O’Connell, who turned 35 on Monday, is a likable former San Diego State quarterback and Patriots third-round draft pick who didn’t catch on as an NFL player but has caught the up escalator as a coach.
After three years as a position coach and offensive coordinator under Jay Gruden with the Redskins, roles that Rams coach Sean McVay used to have in Washington, O’Connell was hired by McVay in January.
His own role with the Rams takes some explaining. An offensive coordinator normally runs the attack, calls the plays. But McVay does that himself, and he didn’t even have anyone with the title of offensive coordinator after Matt LaFleur left following the 2017 season to be OC for the Titans and now head coach of the Packers.
“I look at it as my role is whatever is required to assist coach McVay in preparing the offense,” said O’Connell, who comes in along with new running backs coach Thomas Brown to join an offensive staff that includes pass-game coordinator Shane Waldron and run-game coordinator and offensive-line coach Aaron Kromer.
McVay, who hasn’t had a quarterbacks coach per se since Zac Taylor left to coach the Bengals following the Rams’ 2018 run to the Super Bowl, has said some of that duty will fall to O’Connell.
“I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for Jared (Goff) to work with someone like him, because of some of the things that he’s done, that maybe I haven’t gotten exposed to,” McVay said when he introduced O’Connell, defensive coordinator Brandon Staley and special-teams coordinator John Bonamego at a press conference in February.
Goff’s passer rating sank from eighth in the league in 2018 to 22nd in 2019. It was only part of the 9-7 Rams’ overall offensive disappointment, which saw Todd Gurley lose more than a yard per carry off his rushing average.
Now Gurley (released) and wide receiver Brandin Cooks (traded) are gone. Second-round draft picks Cam Akers and Van Jefferson will compete for major roles in replacing them.
If the offensive line improves, it will be because of better health and the benefit of experience. The only new face is Tremayne Anchrum, a seventh-round draft pick.
O’Connell might be the biggest addition to the offense.
His success could be measured by how much Goff’s numbers improve, something that will depend on the quarterback and everybody around him.
“You’ve got the fundamentals of playing the position,” O’Connell said on Zoom from San Diego, where he was visiting his parents. “It can be as pure as a first step on a drop-back from underneath the center, it can be his base at the top of a drop, it can be where his eyes are going off of a play-action fake, it can be understanding what’s happening on the other side of the ball vs. (the) play (that was) called.”
O’Connell noted that this will be Goff will have more “ownership” of the offense in his fifth NFL season.
On top of technique and X’s and O’s, O’Connell said, “maybe it’s a leadership thing, maybe it’s making sure we’re great out of the huddle, maybe it’s the little details like that, where if we can just get 1 or 2% better at all of those things, he’s got a chance to have a great season and I’m really excited for him.”
Specific changes in X’s and O’s won’t start until players and coaches see what they have on the practice field, O’Connell said.
There is one advantage to not having physical practices until further notice from the NFL and local officials: It leaves more time to talk with players about the philosophy and “the why” behind the offense.
“It’ll be great when we get to training camp, or whenever we’re able to all get together again, and kind of pick up from a person-to-person, in-person standpoint,” O’Connell said. “But I’m really happy with where we are considering what this offseason has been like.”
