Can Steve Avila and the Los Angeles Rams leap to the top of the NFL West? (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
After a start that could best be described as hot and cold, the Los Angeles Rams offense showed the Jacksonville Jaguars (and the rest of the NFL) that they were capable of an efficient four-quarter effort. The finishing stats weren’t gaudy, but the Rams, for the first time this season, controlled the flow of the game from start to finish in a 35-7 win.
The bye week offers a good time to review and discuss, not only where the Rams have been, but also where they’re going. Using the snap chart as guide, I’ll offer my thoughts on the offense and members of the forum community can set me straight, agree, or expand on the first seven games.
Quarterback
With
Matthew Stafford (450, 99.3%) playing so well, the debate over who will succeed him has cooled. After all, he’s under contract for 2026 and there’s little room for contract drama about guaranteed money. According to
overthecap.com, he will have $40 mil vested on the fifth day of the 2026 league year. How well has Staff played? Sparkling, to say the least. He’s in the Top 10 of almost all statistical passing categories and more importantly, his 17 : 2 touchdown to interception ratio signifies how well he’s protecting the ball.
Jimmy Garappolo (3, .66%) had a couple of mop up snaps vs Jacksonville, his only action of the season.
Running back
Not much difference from the past two years in this unit.
Kyren Williams (337, 74.4%) is the lead dog and will handle 60-70 percent of the carries as well. His vision and toughness between the tackles make him a fit into the McVay run scheme Where there is some difference is how the Rams are using him as a receiver. KWill is on pace for 50 catches, highest for an L.A. back since the heyday of Todd Gurley (2017-18). Still mostly check downs and short circle routes, but a departure from the past just the same.
Rookie
Jarquez Hunter (0, 0%) has only been activated for five of the seven games and last week,
Ronnie Rivers (0, 0%) was elevated off the practice squad to be RB#3. Neither have seen any action on offense and limited to a handful of special teams reps. With Rivers, that’s not a surprise, it’s what his career has been built on, but the preseason/camp love that the Rams coaching was heaping on Hunter was obviously just a fleeting summer romance.
That leaves
Blake Corum (108, 23.8%). He shown some flashes of potential, looking particularly strong off tackle and out in space, but appears to lack some of the “A gap” toughness that Rams run scheme demands. He’s already at his snap count from last year and the offensive braintrust seems confident in his use. As the season progresses, Corum is on a pace to run for 500 yards, if he can show consistency catching the ball as well, he’ll be a solid RB#2.
KYREN WILLIAMS REDEMPTION.
CLUTCH CATCH ON 4TH DOWN TO GET THE RAMS IN FIELD GOAL RANGE
pic.twitter.com/j91SjEYHOP
— JPA (@jasrifootball)
October 3, 2025
Wide receiver
As the stat and metric numbers show,
Puka Nacua (291, 64%) is arguably the best receiver in the NFL when on the field. That’s the rub, isn’t it. Even though you really can’t tell by production (#1 on a per game basis), he’s now missed one game in 2025, there may well be another, and been limited in three others. That’s on top of missing six games last year. The one plus about Nacua being out of last Sunday’s game was that it forced Matthew Stafford to rely on the complete corps of receivers. No one wants to see it on a regular basis, but certainly nice to have as a backup plan.
The jury is still out on how much
Davante Adams (363, 80%) really has remaining in the tank long term, but on the short, his guile can hide a lot of shortcomings. He still has the chops to create separation on routes and has learned over the years just how much he can push off in tight coverage. A master class. Now it’s about some cleanup work with those hands. The Rams are doing a good job of managing his workload to keep him fresh over the course of the year.
Jordan Whittington (280, 62%) has taken over as WR#3 snap-wise, playing twice as much as his rookie campaign, but has yet to post much production.
Konata Mumpfield (78, 12%) caught his first NFL touchdown vs the Jags and may get more looks if Nacua is out awhile.
Tutu Atwell (152, 33.6%) looked to be on the rise. Against the 49ers, he had his biggest workload of the year (45 reps, 4tgt, 2rec, 72 yds), then strained a hamstring in practice and not only missed Week 6, but was limited to 10 reps in London. The Rams seem content to use him clear outs and deep over patterns, but his use is actually
less multiple than before he was paid the $10mil.
Xavier Smith (56, 12%) received the Tutu treatment last Sunday with 33 of his season reps on the pitch at Wembley and only garnering four targets.
Tight end
The future is
Terrance Ferguson (34, 7.5%) and the Rams need to keep upping his time on the field. L.A. did in fact double his reps from Week 6. Here’s the deal, none of the other three tight ends are particularly good blockers, are limited to short routes, and they tend to be lumbering (but not powerful) with the ball in their hands. TFerg needs the blocking work and can press the defense downfield, whether inline or from the slot.
Tyler Higbee (219, 48.3%) had three catches, but two others clanked off his hands, his drop rate near 10% over his last three seasons.
Colby Parkinson (129, 28.5%) continues to be a poor blocker. If you watch the replays, he misses way too many on a weekly basis.
Davis Allen (192, 42.4) has improved as a blocker over his career, only getting one short target per game.
Terrance Ferguson might be the next young TE to break out.
Snap share up from 7% to 31% to 47% the last three weeks
Route participation up from 8% to 25% to 36% over the same time
5th among all TEs in Air Yards Share in week 7
Remember the name!
pic.twitter.com/rsWb1feTFy
— Ethan Kreager (@EthanKreagerFF)
October 23, 2025
Center
To remedy what the Rams called a “communication” issue, they re-signed
Coleman Shelton (453, 100%) in March 2025 and quickly named him as the starting pivot. For L.A., he was the known quantity to best stabilize the position. He had five pervious seasons, including 32 start before slipping away as a free agent for the 2024 season. Shelton is on the small side and has always had problems setting an anchor against the bull rush and that hasn’t changed with more experience. Pass blocking is always an adventure, but he can win in the run game. What he does well is move, smoothly getting to the second level, whether off a double team in duo, getting out in front of screens, or hustling to cut off blocks.
Beaux Limmer (52, 11.5%) has become the forgotten man, down from 14 starts and 917 reps last year. He hasn’t played since Week 3 and recently has been found on the Rams game day inactive list.
Guard
When talking about the Rams best free agent additions,
Kevin Dotson (427, 94.3%) has to be towards the top. Adept vs both the run and pass, Dotson is rated #2 overall, and #7 in run blocking. Pass blocking is a bit of a conundrum, while he has been excellent in sacks and pressures allowed, when he gets beat, it’s right off the snap and his time to pressure numbers don’t match the rest of his stellar play.
Steve Avila (154, 34%) is back at left guard after missing most of four games. Injuries have limited Avila in 11 of his last 24 games.
Justin Dedich (273, 60.3%) filled in with Avila out and was serviceable. Much like Coleman Shelton, he’s a smaller specimen and has a similar playstyle, better on the move.
Tackle
One decision that lingers over the bye week is who will play right tackle against New Orleans on November 2? It becomes particularly difficult if 11-year vet
Rob Havenstein’s (252, 57.8%) balky ankle has healed. Hav has missed all of October after missing six games last year.
Warren McClendon (188, 41.5%) has stepped in and stepped up in Havenstein’s absence, allowing just two pressures and nary a sack.
On the other bookend,
Alaric Jackson (450, 99.3%) has put the blood clot issues behind him and turned in solid work. Not a dominator, AJax has instead laid down consistent work in both the pass and run games. The two vets that L.A. added, DJ Humphries and David Quessenberry, as possible replacements in case Jackson’s health shut him down, have three mop up reps apiece.
Year to date
Scoring is up, 25 points per game, L.A.’s highest number since the 2021 Super Bowl run (27.1). Quarterback Matthew Stafford is showing a veteran’s steady hand and the Rams are letting him sling it, at about a 60-40 pass/run ratio. Explosive pass plays are up as Staff is averaging 8.8 air yards per attempt, his best since 2021.
Sean McVay and the offensive brain trust are stretching out, ready to pressure opposing defenses with a non-stop array of formations, motions, and QB placements to create mismatches. The Rams are not only using 11, 12, and 13 formations, but a myriad of players to man them, making the possibilities almost endless. The offensive line, admittedly out of sorts early, is getting healthy starting to gel. You can see the improvement over the last couple of games.
Here at the break, standing at 5-2, we fans should put away the pair of woulda, coulda, shoulda losses.
November will be epic. Five games in total, two very winnable (Saints and Panthers), dispensing retribution to the 49ers, and a pair of tough home games with the Seahawks and Buccaneers.
(@Playboi_Gandhi) 
(@bgrisakTST) 
: christrapasso/TT) 
W8 vs Saints • October 23, 1994 