Opponent Scouting Report: Los Angeles Rams
By Andrew Ites
The Colts will travel to the LA Coliseum to take on the Rams in the opening game of the 2017 season. Will the Rams be much improved with an entirely new coaching staff next season?
The Rams’ first season in Los Angeles since 1994 did not go well as they were forced to fire head coach Jeff Fisher in the midst of a 4-12 season.
LA brought in 31-year-old Sean McVay to breathe life into a franchise that was mired in mediocrity under Fisher. The Rams will definitely look different in 2017, but that doesn’t mean they’ll automatically be better.
Strengths
The strength of Jeff Fisher’s Rams teams was a dominant defensive line, and they’ll have that again this season as they return most of their key contributors.
LA will transform into a 3-4 defense under new defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, but that doesn’t mean much when NFL teams are in sub-packages a majority of time with today’s pass-first game.
Three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald will continue to wreck offensive gameplans in 2017 as he’s developed into one of the most dominant forces in the league.
Michael Brockers has also become an extremely formidable interior defensive lineman, which gives the Rams the NFL’s best pair of DT’s.
Robert Quinn and Connor Barwin will be the 3-4 OLB’s in Phillips’ scheme, and both of them have compiled multiple double-digit sack seasons in their career.
Weaknesses
The Rams ranked dead-last in offense last season, according to Football Outsiders, which is the main reason why they hired an offensive mind like Sean McVay as their new head coach.
Jared Goff will be forced to learn his second new offensive system in as many years, but McVay is a vast upgrade over their offensive coaching staff of last season.
Todd Gurley had a terrible year in 2016 gaining only 3.2 yards per carry after being the NFL’s best rookie in the previous season.
The Rams tried to improve their offense in free agency and the draft, but they’re still a long ways from being an explosive unit.
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The Colts are currently 3.5-point favorites for their Week 1 matchup with the Rams as Vegas sees Indianapolis as the far superior team. However, the Rams’ defensive line could cause some issues and possibly rattle Andrew Luck in one of his first games back from offseason shoulder surgery.
In case you missed it, here are our other scouting reports for the Colts’ 2017 opponents: