Rams drop back to 26th in DVOA

The analytics say that L.A. needs to get better in every phase of the game

There are now just six teams ranked lower than the L.A. Rams in DVOA: the Bears, Panthers, Cardinals, Commanders, Texans, and Colts.

And the Colts just got their Week 5 win by beating the Broncos on Thursday night. Where will the Rams be in Week 6 if they don’t rebound from their loss to the San Francisco 49ers with a resounding win over the Dallas Cowboys?

The Cowboys are ranked sixth in DVOA.

A metric used at FootballOutsiders.com, Defense-adjusted Value Over Average measures a team’s play-to-play efficiency in all three phases. The Rams are 26th on offense, 18th on defense, and 29th on special teams. L.A. was in 32nd place after their Week 1 loss to the Bills, had rebounded up to 22nd, but dropped back down to 26th after the loss to the 49ers.

San Francisco is now seventh in DVOA, best in the NFC West. The Seattle Seahawks are 13th after a win over the Detroit Lions.

The Rams offense is 22nd in passing and 19th in rushing. Sean McVay needs to get his run game going, perhaps that will help the passing game. The defense is third against the run, but 25th against the pass.

The Cowboys defense has struggled to stop the run but is great against the pass with star pass rusher Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs. What will Matthew Stafford do if Diggs contains Cooper Kupp this weekend?

The Rams were fifth in DVOA en route to the Super Bowl last year. That feels a long way off now.