FanPost

Burning Question: Who's going to catch the ball on third down?

The Rams were the NFL's worst team on third down conversions by a significant margin, getting a new set of downs only 25.7% of the time. (The 49ers were second-worst, with 30.4%, league average is close to 40%.)

Okay, so the Rams' offense was bad across the board, but it got especially bad on third downs.

Rams Average Yards Gained Per Down, 2015

1st down: 5.8
2nd down: 5.2
3rd down: 4.2

Source: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ram/2015_splits.htm

Moreover, the Rams go away from any semblance of balance and get very pass-happy on 3rd downs. Given that this means taking the ball away from Todd Gurley (and often taking him off the field entirely, subbing in Benny Cunningham), that's not a good thing. But I don't expect that to change. Third down is a passing down in the NFL, that's just a fact of life in the modern game.

While I think Case Keenum did a better job of diagnosing defenses and getting the ball out of his hand quickly, he also suffered mightily on third down.

Case Keenum Splits by down

Case Keenum 2015 Splits

Last season, neither he nor Nick Foles ever had anyone establish themselves as a reliable target. Their most reliable? Benny Cunningham, who converted 30% of his opportunities (6/20).

Rams Third Down Targets, 2015

Rams third down targets, 2015

Jared Cook is gone, leaving a large volume of targets available. However, if the bulk of those go to stone-handed Kenny Britt or Lance Kendricks, things might not get much better. The Rams' best hope might be for someone like Pharoh Cooper or Tyler Higbee to step up into this void and make a name for themselves.