Los Angeles Rams Week 7 snap count analysis in win vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Los Angeles Rams went into Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Week 7 and walked out victors against the struggling Atlanta Falcons. Despite a slew of injuries, Rams’ players stepped up on both sides of the ball and they looked more like the dominant team of 2018 than the one that had just dropped three straight.

Here’s a look at the Rams’ offensive snap counts from Sunday.

Notes:

• Obviously the first thing that jumps out at you is that rookie OG David Edwards played every single snap — and he played them well. Per J.B. Long, Edwards had the highest single-game Pro Football Focus grade of any Rams’ guard this season.
• There was a pretty significant reduction in snaps for the Rams’ trio of wide receivers — Brandin Cooks (78%), Robert Woods (76%), and especially Cooper Kupp (62%). These players, at least to start the year, were on the field for 90+ percent of plays. The reason for the drop in snaps...
• More 12 personnel! The Rams upped their usage of two tight end sets on Sunday, with Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee playing 56 and 49 of the offensive snaps, respectfully. As an aside, since returning to health in Week 4, Higbee has been out-snapped by Everett 198 to 163.
• Rams’ RB Todd Gurley (61%), on the mend from a quad injury, lead all running backs in snaps. But with Malcolm Brown out in Week 7, rookie RB Darrell Henderson Jr. (34%) saw roughly one-third of the offensive plays and looked pretty good in doing so.

On the other side of the ball for the Rams:

Notes:

• With John Johnson III on injured reserve, Rams’ Head Coach Sean McVay and Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips said all week that Marqui Christian (80%) would step up in his absence. And while that’s true, it was rookie Safety Taylor Rapp (98%) who saw the field most, missing only one snap on the day.
• Wade opted to use both Rapp and Christian as hybrid safety-linebackers on Sunday, which had an adverse impact on playing time for linebacker Troy Reeder (35%). Hard to argue with him because, well, it was very effective.
• CB Jalen Ramsey, (65%) who’d been with the team for five days, played quite a bit during the early portions of the game, having the responsibility of covering Falcons’ wide receiver Julio Jones for much of it. But when it was clear the game was in hand, the Rams’ newest corner got to celebrate on the sidelines with other star players like Aaron Donald (67%).
• A big lead also meant the first NFL snaps (9 total) for rookie corner David Long Jr.
• Obo sighting! After playing only two snaps in Week 6 (vs. 49ers), Ogbonnia Okoronkwo saw an increase (23 total) against the Falcons. Fellow edge rusher Samson Ebukam (64%) hasn’t looked stellar in Clay Matthews’ absence, so Obo’s presence on the field this upcoming Sunday — against the woeful Cincinnati Bengals — is something to monitor.