By now, just about everyone knows the Los Angeles Rams use 11 personnel as their base grouping on offense. It features three receivers, one running back and one tight end, allowing Sean McVay to spread things out while still being able to run the ball.
As effective as the Rams offense has been in that personnel package, sometimes McVay gets too reliant on it.
That seemed to ring true on Thursday night in the opener against the Bills. The Rams were in 11 personnel on every single snap, and while they mixed up the players slightly throughout the night, there was no variety in position groupings.
According to Next Gen Stats, it’s only the seventh time since 2016 that a team used the same personnel grouping on every snap. The Rams accounted for six of those games, and they’re now 1-6 in those contests.
The Rams have a 1-5 record in games when they feature 11 personnel on 100% of plays.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 9, 2022
The question now is why the Rams used 11 personnel on every snap Thursday night. The easiest answer is probably their lack of tight end depth. With only two tight ends on the 53-man roster, and just one (Tyler Higbee) who has legitimate starting experience, McVay doesn’t seem willing to get out of his comfort zone.
Brycen Hopkins showed potential and promise in the playoffs last year, but he only played a grand total of four snaps against the Bills – only when Higbee needed a breather. He was never on the field together with Higbee, a surprising decision by McVay. That’s not the reason the Rams struggled to run the football, but as we saw last season, varying personnel and getting bigger players on the field can absolutely help.
In the past, when the offense has gotten stagnant and underperformed, McVay has made a change in personnel, whether it’s by utilizing more 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends) or even 13 personnel with a lineman in as a third tight end.
We’ll see how he responds in Week 2 against the Falcons, but being so one-dimensional can really hurt the offense.
