Liam Coen spent a year away from the Rams in 2021 after landing a job as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator. He got the chance to call the plays on offense, helping turn around the Wildcats offense.
But after the Rams lost Kevin O’Connell to the Vikings, Sean McVay gave Coen a call and offered him the opportunity to return as his offensive coordinator. Coen may not have been in Thousand Oaks with the Rams last season, but he kept close tabs on the offense and specifically, the evolution of it from Week 1 to the Super Bowl.
This week, Coen shared how he saw the Rams offense change, telling reporters that he would have film of their previous game on Wednesdays, which he would then share with his coaches and players at Kentucky.
“You really started to see the evolution of the gun run really early on, especially in the beginning of the season, and then the drop back pass was kind of ever-evolving,” Coen said. “Then you started to see, when they hit that a little bit of that lull there for a few games, them truly get back to running the football and getting a little bit more of that identity back until they were really comfy in terms of getting (to), ‘Alright, this is who we are, this is what we need to do to be successful moving forward.'”
The Rams hit a rough patch from Week 9-12 when they lost three in a row to the Titans, 49ers and Packers. The offense scored just 54 points in that span, but in Week 13, they got back on track by running the ball aggressively with Sony Michel. In the playoffs, the ground game went cold, so Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp had to step up to carry the offense.
The Rams would probably like to have some better balance offensively next season, but it’s also game-specific, depending on the team they’re facing each week. Having Coen back in Los Angeles should help McVay’s offense evolve further, and both parties are excited to be reunited.
