INGLEWOOD — In the first quarter of Monday’s 23-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins, the Rams faced 3rd-and-7 at their own 49-yard line, an obvious passing down, especially given how the run game had performed to that point.
Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell was in the one-technique between center Jonah Jackson and left guard Steve Avila, both on the field for the first time after lengthy stays on injured reserve. Defensive tackle Zach Sieler was outside Avila in the three-technique.
At the snap, Campbell attacked the A-gap, and Jackson engaged while Avila focused on Sieler. But then Sieler stunted, swimming over Campbell’s back to rush to Jackson’s right. The center tried to recover, releasing off Campbell to block Sieler. But Avila was only able to make contact with Campbell’s right side. The tall, long veteran took advantage, lifting his left arm to tip quarterback Matthew Stafford’s pass and turn it into an interception.
It was one play, but a microcosm of the out-of-sync play of the Rams’ offensive line Monday. Stafford was pressured on 17 of 50 dropbacks against the Dolphins, the most pressures he’s had to face since 18 in Week 1.
And it came on a week in which the Rams felt like they were getting back to full strength. Or, at least as close as they had been to full strength this season. Right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) was out, but with Jackson and Avila back, the Rams had four of their five projected starters from training camp in a game for the first time this season.
But it looked like a group that hadn’t played together all year. The Rams didn’t get much push in the run game all night. Stafford was sacked four times. A snap from Jackson almost sailed over the quarterback’s head.
And the chemistry the line had started to develop the past few weeks, with Beaux Limmer at center and Justin Dedich at left guard, was gone.
“Both Steve and Jonah were ready to go, wanted to be able to see what that looked like. You never know exactly. But I always try to do what what we think is best,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “There were too many things that it just seemed like we were off and we never gave ourselves a chance. And it’s not exclusively on the line. That’s as a whole collectively, we’re all in this thing together and we’ll all look at it and we’ve got to be able to improve. And everything is on the table.”
“Everything” could mean schematics; it could mean personnel. At 4-5 and in third place in the NFC West, the Rams aren’t in a position to take their time and hope things work themselves out with more practice reps.
Still, there is a case to be made for the cautious approach. And right guard Kevin Dotson – the one Ram lineman to start all nine games this year – preached patience in the locker room Monday night.
“I definitely think it’s going to be better next week. I think this week was just kind of breaking in everybody,” Dotson explained. “For O-line, it can be hard just because us being cohesive is the main, important thing. So I think we just need this time. I think this was a good game for us to lock it back in. Definitely looking forward to next week.”