It seems strange to suggest that the Los Angeles Rams’ offense is struggling when the team is averaging 29 points per game so far this season, but simply watching them play makes it clear that all is not well. If last season was a healthy offensive system firing on all cylinders, maximizing the talents of those within it, this year’s version has developed a misfire. Something is amiss deep within the bowels of the engine, and it may not be a simple fix.

Is Todd Gurley permanently broken? Has Jared Goff regressed? Have teams figured out Sean McVay’s offense? I suspect the problem lies in none of those, but rather upfront with the offensive line.

One of the biggest shifts in this team’s fortunes when Jeff Fisher was replaced with McVay was the acquisition of Andrew Whitworth at left tackle and John Sullivan at center, catapulting a line that had been an issue into one of the better units in the game, and at their best, arguably the best run-blocking unit in football. Sullivan was declined 2019 option in his contract and has now been replaced, and for the first time, Whitworth has started to look his age at times, meaning the line has taken huge steps backward. Right now, it’s playing worse as a group than it did before McVay took over and badly enough to stop this team winning against the best teams in the NFL.

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