So I was going through the Preseason stats and seeing what I could infer going into the regular season. Now I know as well as the next guy that individual results don't mean much in the preseason, but we can get an idea into how Schotty is going to attack the opposition. We all assume that with Fisher and Schotty the Rams will be running the ball like crazy, but that may not be the case after a deeper look at the numbers.

The total offensive plays ran in the 4 preseason games was 251. Of those, 107 were planned rushing attempts by running backs which is 42.6% of total plays, 13 of the plays were quarter back scrambles which was 5.2%, there was 1 fake punt for .4% and 9 sacks for 3.6% of total plays. This leaves the 121 passing attempts which were a surprising 48.2% of the total plays called. This is what I wanted to focus on.

Here is the break down of how the QBs and Schotty spread the ball around:

2012 Preseason------Targets----Completions----Comp%------Yards------Yds/Att------%ofPassOFF

Wide Receivers---------65---------------38--------------58.5%---------447----------6.9--------------53.7%

Tight Ends----------------30---------------18--------------60.0%---------220----------7.3--------------24.8%

Running Backs----------26---------------18--------------69.2%---------116----------4.5--------------21.5%

Now this probably looks about how everyone expected it to. Fairly balanced passing attack that fits in with the league norm. Where it stands out as interesting is when you compare the % of Passing Offense numbers to last year under McDaniels. Now you may or may not have shared the same preconceived notions I did when it came to McDaniels' offense. I thought it would be heavily based on throwing to Tight Ends and running backs, kind of like they do in New England. But the numbers show a different story.

2011 Regular Season------%ofPassOFF

Wide Receivers-------------------68.2%

Tight Ends--------------------------16.4%

Running Backs--------------------15.4%

There is a pretty significant difference here, especially when you take into account how terrible the Rams' receiving corps was last season. Is this due to poor decision making by the QBs or terrible play calling by McDaniels? Probably a little of both.

Now I know this is just the preseason and Fisher probably said it 100 times that they weren't game planning but what I hope this brings is a balanced offense that doesn't force the ball into bad situations. An offense that will use what is working regardless of which player it is making the play and controls the clock and protects the ball.

GO RAMS!