O-Line bumps up Rams win streak

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The offensive line of the Los Angeles Rams cleaned the pocket for quarterback Matthew Stafford in a 36-19 win against the Cleveland Browns. Stafford dropped back to throw the football 37 times against the Browns, the NFL’s top-rated unit against the pass and in total defense. 

Stafford wound up completing 22 of those passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns, including hooking up with rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua for a 70-yard score. It was a solid outing by Stafford made more impressive by the fact that his offensive line kept him upright to slice and dice the Browns’ secondary. 

Coming into their matchup against the Rams, Cleveland had recorded 34 sacks. The Browns left SoFi Stadium still stuck on that number. That’s because the Rams’ offense line decided they just weren’t having any of it. Los Angeles didn’t give up a single sack to Cleveland in its Week 13 win. After the game, Stafford talked excitedly about the way his offensive line played. 

“My guys we’re balling today so I was so fired up,” Stafford remarked. “That’s a hell of a rush. They were bringing pressures, they were rushing four, they were doing all sorts of stuff to us and our guys to step up there and protect the way they did today was amazing.” 

Besides giving Stafford time in the pocket to throw the ball, the Rams offensive line was equally successful in pulling run duty. With Kyren Williams leading the way with 88 yards on the ground on 21 carries, the Rams rushed for 120 yards against that vaunted Cleveland defense.  

Stafford gushed about the offensive line’s ability to execute in run blocking as well as in pass protection schemes.   

“And then be able to really lean on them in the fourth quarter too and run the rock when we needed to. A couple times Kyren (Williams) got downhill and we were able to ice the game that way,” Stafford stated. 

“So proud of those guys. It shows up the way they work, the way they go about their business every single day. I thought we had a great plan but shoot, we threw the rock. We weren’t sitting there just protecting those guys up front. We were just saying let’s go play our game and have a lot of confidence in those guys and proud of the way they played.”

The Rams have now made it three wins in a row after beating Cleveland. Rams offensive tackle Rob Havenstein said the team’s approach is to take each game one at a time.  

“Obviously, this team did a great job of kind of taking it week-by-week,” Havenstein said. “In our eyes, we’re 1-0. And we’re going to, hopefully, put our best foot forward to go 1-0 next week. So that’s how we’re looking about it, how we practice. On Wednesday, we want to win that day. On Thursday, we want to win it. Then on Friday, we want to win it, and then on Saturday, if we can keep the positivity rolling and pushing each other in the right way. But as a team, that was a gritty win. That’s a pretty good team on the side.”

According to StatMuse, the Rams rank No. 5 in the fewest sacks allowed this season. The key for the Rams offensive line keeping the pocket clean for Stafford to operate was simply being in sync with one another, Havenstein said.  

“Knowing our plan, executing our plan, everyone’s on the same page,” Havenstein said. “We did some not uncharacteristic stuff, but stuff that happens quick that everyone needed to know. So I think that once everyone walked up there…at least on the offensive line, tight ends, and running backs and quarterback, everyone kind of knew what was happening, where we were going. Everyone was locked into our plan.”

Rams left guard Steve Avila said the offensive line knew what kind of a challenge they were up against in facing the ferocious pass rush of the Browns. To offset what Cleveland’s front line wanted to do was a matter of the Rams executing their offensive strategy, he said.     

“We knew that they were a very good defense overall,” Avila said. “They have a really good d- (defense) line, the secondary is good. I feel like we just had a good game gameplan going into this game, trying to slow down Myles Garrett. He’s a monster. Everybody knew what they needed to do. Everybody stuck to the gameplan. As you can see, we stuck to it and did what we needed to do.”