Rams’ investments in tight ends isn’t paying off

In a dull, lackluster Sunday matinee performance, the Los Angeles Rams dropped a second straight home heartbreaker, falling 16-15 to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. L.A. came into the game as the NFL’s top yardage-producing offense, but left in a confused state, without a confident identity.

Are they a building around a power run game, using between the tackles duo/inside zone concepts and attacking through the air with under-center play action? Or sitting back in shotgun formation and throwing the football 68% (the last four games) of the time in an underneath quick-read attack?

When asked about the team’s identity at the post-game presser, Sean McVay said:

“We’re figuring it out, I can’t answer that right now…”

The Rams have Matthew Stafford, a gunslinger at quarterback and have thrown 20+% of passes at or behind the line of scrimmage in the these two consecutive losses. More importantly, they don’t mesh like an integral part of the offense, spreading it around to get playmakers the ball in space or taking advantage of numerical advantages over defenders.

Maybe it’s a rhetorical question, but can the Rams realistically boast of another playmaker besides Puka Nacua? 

Going into the season, McVay’s offense was seen as the evolutionary next step in 13 personnel and tight end development. Instead, the Rams sputtered against one of the worst defenses in the NFL on Sunday and tight ends combined for nine catches on 10 targets with 53 yards, one touchdown, and a critical lost fumble by Tyler Higbee.

The Rams entered the season with five tight ends, including second-round picks in 2025 and 2026.

The Rams enter Week 7 with Higbee’s 246 yards eclipsing the combined total of all four other tight ends (181 yards between Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen, Terrance Ferguson, and Max Klare) and he was supposed to be the one taking a step back.

Higbee had the most tight end snaps for the team on Sunday, followed by Parkinson, who has just 55 yards in six games despite a $9 million salary cap hit.

Ferguson is on IR. Klare is an occasional special teamer with one snap on offense.

Can this get better?

Fans have seen this before in the past, the offense compressing the passing game into the underneath areas too often and the run game becoming an afterthought. The antidote is complicated and would take discipline. Staying with the run game and using play action could loosen things up. Another thought is re-visiting the past, making the opposition defend the whole field again, both width and length, particularly the middle of the field against deep zones. Identify some secondary playmakers to give the offense variety, Nacua is a generational player, but a healthy offense needs more options. 

The McVay offense used to dictate the flow of the game, alternately taking the full time to snap the ball and going up tempo, L.A. appears to have gotten away from this. A good example is how the Rams have performed offensively in the fourth quarter of 2026 games. A quicker pace has led them to charting 40 percent of their total season yardage and scoring 43 percent of their total points in the final stanza.

Sitting at 2-4 and staring up from last place in the division is not time to control and keep the offense in a grip, trying to gut out wins, it’s time to play like there’s nothing left to lose.

Here’s a look at the snap count review from Sunday, players, their snap counts and percentage of play time in bold.

Quarterback

Matthew Stafford (58, 100%)

Is Staff the problem or the solution? Time to cut bait on the season and go with Ty Simpson or should the Rams circle the wagons until the bye week before making such a big decision? While the latter seems the most judicious path, the offense needs to unhook the brakes and let it rip until then. Staff can still bring it, as proven by his fourth quarter work this season. The game plan has to to be faster and less predictable. 

Running back

Kyren Williams (42, 72%),  Blake Corum (16, 28%)

Although the run game showed the hint of being something to build on, the game plan goes away from it too quickly. As a duo, Williams and Corum put in solid work on Sunday, just would have liked to see them get more. A combined 92 yards rushing on 19 carries and five catches on eight targets. Williams had a drop and another tougher off-target attempt that hit of his hand. There was a lot of open field, had it connected.

Wide receiver

Puka Nacua (52, 90%), Davante Adams (43, 74%)

Again, is Puka Nacua the Rams only offense? He is so damned tough and clutch, he demands the opposition to roll the defense his way, but he appears too often alone. Only three targets until five minutes left in the game is a criminal offense. Adams has proven that he still has something to contribute at 34. Hopefully that late-game foot injury is minor, the room is wafer thin.

Konata Mumpfield (27, 47%), Jordan Whittington (8,14%)

Creating a composite WR#3, Mumpfield and Whittington have been on the field for 285 of 410 offensive plays (70%) with 20 targets and 10 catches. Not a lot of return on investment on for an offense that wants to air it out.

Tight end

Colby Parkinson (36, 72%), Tyler Higbee (48, 83%), Davis Allen (18, 31%)

The Rams have staked a lot on the use of multiple tight end formation, both money and draft capital. To this point, it’s fair to say that it hasn’t improved the the run game enough for the offense to lean into it. Nor has L.A. used it to attack downfield. As a group, they are averaging less than 10 yards per catch.

Offensive line

David Quessenberry, Steve Avila, Coleman Shelton, Kevin Dotson, Warren McClendon (58, 100%)

Quessenberry was a pleasant surprise on the blind side, most expected a disaster. With the Rams throwing so much, the line will give up some pressures. I see the biggest pass blocking problem as the Rams inability to adjust to blitz calls and Sunday was no different. Maybe it was unexpected, Arizona hadn’t blitzed much in the first five weeks. But it’s not a new problem, blitz calls, particularly delayed, have been a a burr under the L.A. saddle all year. 

Special teams

P Ethan Evans, LS Joe Cardona, K Blake Grupe

Talk about adding injury to insult. In his maiden Rams voyage, Grupe drills a mid-length field goal and because of poor coverage on the ensuing kickoff , is forced into a making a tackle as the fail-safe option and tweaks a knee. Evans was on the cusp of an outstanding punting game, he dropped two inside the the five and got good first bounces, but the cover team couldn’t cash in. You never hear much about Cardona, means he’s doing well as long snapper.

Defensive interior

Aaron Donald (42, 58%), Braden Fiske (36, 50%)

Just an idea, the L.A. defensive braintrust could consider lining up up Aaron Donald or Braden Fiske out on the edge at 7T on a handful of reps per game. With the Rams deep rotation at DT, It would be very interesting to see AD and Fiske playing as at wide defensive end. Donald is starting to round into shape, showing his move skills and making impact plays against both run and pass. Fiske played well, particularly on the move, but can get washed out by bigger, stronger offensive linemen when trying to hold ground.

Kobie Turner (23, 32%), Pooona Ford (25, 35%), Tyler Davis (28, 39%), Ty Hamilton (18, 25%)

The interior wasn’t bad per se against the Cardinals, but they did allow Arizona to control the game on the ground. While the unit as a whole, seems less stout than 2025, it feels as if Ford and Davis are having less of an impact clogging up run lanes. That’s important because neither offer a lot of pass rush. Interestingly, Turner was hardly noticed and it was his lowest usage as a pro. No reports on his being nicked up. Hamilton had the most snaps of his two pro seasons, but didn’t move the needle much.

Edge

Byron Young (57, 79%)

Had a good game solid vs both run and pass. Tough to create a lot of pressure when the opposing pass plan is predominantly underneath, one-read releases.

Josaiah Stewart (55, 76%), Wesley Bailey (17, 24%), Desjuan Johnson (15, 21%)

All three struggled setting the edge, but there doesn’t appear to be anywhere else to turn at this point. Stewart has some good reps, it’s just a case of his being better as a complimentary piece rather an every down player. I’m less sure each week of Wesley Bailey and Desjuan Johnson out there. Is it the best personnel grouping to consistently have them on the field together? Although they both hustle and give their all, Johnson already appeared to have taken a step back during preseason and Bailey is struggling with growing pains. 

Off-ball linebacker

Nate Landman (71, 99%), Omar Speights (21, 29%)

Without the impact peanut punch reps, Landman is like Rams linebackers from the recent past, serviceable play overall, plenty of tackles three yards back from the line of scrimmage and not much offered in pass coverage. Speights played well early in the game, looked aggressive and attacked the ball in pursuit. Bounced off and missed a tackle in the 2nd quarter and didn’t see a lot of action after that.

Safety

Quentin Lake (72, 100%)

Kamren Curl (72, 100%)

Kamren Kinchens (48, 67%)

Jaylen McCollough (32, 44%)

I know it’s difficult to set him against a certain position player every snap with all the formational subterfuge these days, but Lake is a much better coverage player when lined up on tight ends, big and strong enough at the catch point and not out-matched athletically. His use on special teams doesn’t make a lot of sense, he doesn’t play aggressively on them. Curl had another consistent game. Kinchens took a shot at an INT early and just missed, other than that it was a quiet performance. After a couple of weeks on the outs at safety, McCollough was back in the mix. Four tackles and he landed a couple of hits you hear and feel through the TV screen.

Cornerback

Jaylen Watson (72, 100%), Josh Wallace (72,100%), Emmanuel Forbes (16, 22%)

For a 2-4 team, the L.A. pass defense has been consistently good and was again Sunday. Even without the support of a strong pass rush, the corners have held up well. While McDuffie and Watson have  been as advertised, the biggest surprise has been Wallace. While I think he’s best projected as a rotational safety, he’s improved at corner with more play time. Good tackler  in space and shown he be fairly sticky in man coverage. Aside from McDuffie, opponents have been attacking the Rams corners lack of makeup speed with underneath crossing patterns, long developing across the field and through traffic. Opponents have found success in these situations.

Are the Rams staring into the abyss?

There are plenty of scenarios on how the Rams can still get to the playoffs and I subscribe to them all, but do think that showing they can stack up a few wins is the best next course of action. Without that happening, starting next week, the season could easily be lost. Execution should be the buzz word for the future, both offense and defense. I would add special teams to the other units, but that right now, is unrealistic.

While the offense seems without an identity and wildly inconsistent, the defense doesn’t rate any flowers either. The analytics and stat numbers are holding steady, but they were trampled under foot by the 49ers in the opener and couldn’t hold fourth quarter leads in the other three losses. Make the climb back to .500 and then fans can re-visit back door play off scenarios.