Torry Holt played for St. Louis during the “Greatest Show on Turf” years, and he’s observing some of the same with today’s Los Angeles Rams.
“I’m not saying that’s where they are now,” Holt said, according to Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “But that’s where this offense is trending.”
First-year coach Sean McVay has energized the offense after several frustrating years under former coach Jeff Fisher. Those offenses were best described as “three yards and a cloud of punts.”
Not only were the Rams last in yards per game during the 2016 campaign, they weren’t anywhere close to being 31st. The offense averaged a porous 262.7 yards, while the San Francisco 49ers — the next-worst unit — had 308.1. Los Angeles also scored a league-low 14 points per game.
This season, however, McVay has flipped the script and made the Rams one of the NFL’s most entertaining offenses. They rank first in points (32.9), first in third-down conversion rate (49.1) and third in yards (382.1) per game.
When the Rams appeared in the Super Bowl during each of the 1999 and 2001 seasons, the Kurt Warner-led offense averaged 400-plus yards both times while scoring 32.9 and 31.4 points, respectively.
Although Los Angeles lacks a dominant receiver like Holt or Isaac Bruce, Todd Gurley is a versatile star with production somewhat similar to Marshall Faulk. And while Jared Goff isn’t Warner, the second-year quarterback has put together a remarkable turnaround thanks to McVay.
It’s OK to simply call LA a very good offense right now. But if the Rams manage to sustain this success over the next couple of seasons, they truly will be comparable.