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The Los Angeles Rams have enjoyed a lot of offensive success this year, highlighted by the team's No. 1 scoring offense led NFL passing yards and passing touchdowns leader Matthew Stafford.
But there's more to the Rams than their impressive scoring and passing offense. L.A.'s running game has been sensational this season, too, and finished seventh in rushing yards behind Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. One of the more exciting elements of the Rams' running attack is the team's ability to produce good yards on the ground on early downs, which sets the team up for success on subsequent downs.
L.A.'s running game ranks No. 1 in early-down run success rate, according to @JoshiosTweets on X (using data from nflfastR). The Rams have a 6.3% edge on early downs than the second-best team, the Buffalo Bills.
This is perhaps another reason why L.A. ranks 30th in third-down attempts (192) but 17th in third-down conversion rate (39.6%) and fifth in fourth-down conversion (66.7%). They are put in very good positions to move the sticks thanks to a great ground game.
However, as the chart notes, the Rams aren't great on the ground in late-downs. L.A. ranks 27th on late-down run success at only 50.0%. While this could mean a lot of different things, the Rams seemingly don't rely on their running backs on third and/or fourth down. This is likely because of the faith in Stafford to convert or because the team has so few of these possessions that they don't need to use the ground game to get first downs this way.
In any event, the Rams' running game is a crucial part of their success in 2025. It's clearly been working. Now, they'll need to apply this to the postseason.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams are best rushing team in NFL on early downs
Continue reading...
But there's more to the Rams than their impressive scoring and passing offense. L.A.'s running game has been sensational this season, too, and finished seventh in rushing yards behind Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. One of the more exciting elements of the Rams' running attack is the team's ability to produce good yards on the ground on early downs, which sets the team up for success on subsequent downs.
L.A.'s running game ranks No. 1 in early-down run success rate, according to @JoshiosTweets on X (using data from nflfastR). The Rams have a 6.3% edge on early downs than the second-best team, the Buffalo Bills.
This is perhaps another reason why L.A. ranks 30th in third-down attempts (192) but 17th in third-down conversion rate (39.6%) and fifth in fourth-down conversion (66.7%). They are put in very good positions to move the sticks thanks to a great ground game.
However, as the chart notes, the Rams aren't great on the ground in late-downs. L.A. ranks 27th on late-down run success at only 50.0%. While this could mean a lot of different things, the Rams seemingly don't rely on their running backs on third and/or fourth down. This is likely because of the faith in Stafford to convert or because the team has so few of these possessions that they don't need to use the ground game to get first downs this way.
In any event, the Rams' running game is a crucial part of their success in 2025. It's clearly been working. Now, they'll need to apply this to the postseason.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams are best rushing team in NFL on early downs
Continue reading...
