St. Louis Rams: Week #4 of 5 Game Stretch Is All About The OL...

When the St. Louis Rams face off against the Chicago Bears today, it's going to come down to how well a mixed and matched set of five guys do their jobs. Yes, I'm talking about the offensive line for the Rams, and to be quite honest, its actually been a overshadowed bright spot for this team in 2015...

To start with, it's a unit packed with rookies, and relatively inexperienced players. A not too surprising injury to guard Rodger Saffold has created the need for Jeff Fisher to tap into the best overall position depth at the position he's had since arriving in St. Louis. There's lots of "Big Uglies" on the Rams' roster, and the promise this group has going forward is intriguing at the very least. An example would be how many times Nick Foles has been sacked in 2015: 12 times... That's it, and if you don't thing Seattle's Russell Wilson gets misty-eyed thinking about nice it would be to only be driven into the turf 12 times, you better think again. He's bit the dirt 31 times so far this season...

In 2014, the St. Louis offensive line gave up 47 quarterback sacks... Ouch! They ranked 10th highest in QB hits too, with 91. In 2015, Foles - so far - has been hit 51 times, so there's room for improvement here. But you can put many of the quarterback hits on how slow the Rams' receivers evolve their passing routes, or the amount of time Foles has to hold onto the ball looking for big plays down field. No offensive line can unerringly hold back the tide of an NFL defensive pass rush. It's just not going to happen. Four seconds is the best you can hope for in the broad scheme, and anything more is all but wishful thinking. At five seconds, a quarterback's world starts to shrink to the point he needs to either get rid of the ball, or flee the pocket in the hope he can buy more time.

Head coach Jeff Fisher's dream of having a "run first" offense has arrived, sort of anyway. The odd thing is they've typically run to the power-side of the line, which traditionally is where team most often do. It usually features a close set tight end to help the right tackle. Modern offenses use the flow of a play to open running lanes, with linemen moving en-mass in one direction, waiting for a defensive lineman to show an opening that can be sealed off; allowing the running back to squeeze through the lane. But the Rams tend to send Todd Gurley to the right at a 3 to 1 clip as opposed to the left side? Rookies both, right tackle Rob Havenstein, and right guard Jamon Brown have become the cornerstone of a #4 ranked rushing offense...

Oddly enough, one of the teams who run the ball to the right side as much as the Rams is the Chicago Bears. Both teams have hit the right side 100 times, versus 33 time to left for the Rams, and 60 for the Bears. Simply put, it looks like the team who'll win the game today is the one that seals of the offensive line right side - or left side, depending on which way your mind works? - on defense.. Intriguing too, is the Rams have run between the guards as many times as they have to the right: 100 times. It's interesting, since before the season began "center" was a position of considerable concern.

I'd like to tell those fans who have begun to think former #2 overall draft pick Greg Robinson is a Jason Smith-ian bust to cool their jets. Nothing can be further from the truth. The low sack totals bare notice here, and while the over-burdensome stat obsessed sites like PFF assign QB hits and hurries with - what I think is - reckless abandon, the idea Robinson is responsible for Foles' holding onto the ball, or receivers taking a slow stroll through the defensive secondary, is just this side of ludicrous. He's doing his job in pass protection. That the Rams don't run his way much has more to do with play calling, and the fact the right side has a tight end to augment blocking. I firmly believe if the Rams had a traditional "full back", the left side of the line would be where Todd Gurley would explode into super stardom. A guy like Minnesota's Matt Asiata, or Green Bay's John Kuhn, would change this Rams offense - if "run first" is going to be the way forward - into a scary juggernaut. The whole "H-Back" thing - using a tight end in place of a full back - has never really set well with me.

The one player among the young offensive linemen for the Rams I've been keeping an eye on is Andrew Donnal. Out of the University of Iowa - a right tackle in college - this young guy has some special talents that bare watching. His footwork is there, and I believe he could very well turn into a top flight left guard or right tackle. Donnal has the ability to block at the second level, a nasty streak to boot. Don't get me wrong here. Havenstein is doing a remarkable job, especially as a rookie. But I think Jeff Fisher, and offensive line coach Paul Boudreau, have a quality problem with Donnal, in that if they can refine and focus his talents in the right way, they'll have a Pro Bowl caliber utility lineman on their hands. Right guard Jamon Brown has exceeded my every expectation, and he'll be a star linemen in the NFL for years to come. So much so in fact, I think Rodger Saffold could very well wind up a salary cap casualty in the coming off season, given the development of Brown, Donnal, Wichmann, and the solid play of inexpensive seven year veteran Garret Reynolds.

Whether Nick Foles passes for more or less than 300 yards today against the Bears really is neither here nor there at this point. The rather stunning, inexorable maturation and growth of the St. Louis offensive line holds the key to not only today's game, but the rest of the Rams' 2015 season. If the St. Louis Rams find their way into the post season this year, Jeff Fisher better have loads of game balls to hand out to his swarm of "Big Uglies". They'll be the unsung heroes for the Rams in 2015...