WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – At 5-foot-9 and 207 pounds and 5-foot-8 and 202 pounds, and with jersey numbers both in the low 20s at 23 and 24 respectively, Kyren Williams and Blake Corum have a lot in common.
The similarities, though, don't end with their frames nor their uniforms. Between their skillsets and command of the playbook, both of them at peak performance provide Los Angeles' backfield with an interchangeability that has zero dropoff.
Whereas most NFL teams traditionally have running backs that fall into a specific archetype – power back, change of pace, etc. – the Rams have two who can do it all.
"I haven't had a tandem like this where they both can do everything," quarterback Matthew Stafford said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN earlier this week. "You usually have one big guy, one small guy, a big slow guy that can run over people and a small fast guy that can run around people. And this is a really unique instance in which we can call our entire offense with both those guys in the game."
If Week 2 against the Giants offered a glimpse of that duo's potential, Week 7 against the Raiders took it to a new level.
Williams rushed 16 times for 99 yards and one touchdown, Corum 17 for 93 and one touchdown in a 35-21 win at Las Vegas, the first time a pair of Rams running backs ran for 90-plus yards and a rushing touchdown in the same regular season game since Marshall Faulk and Trung Canidate in Week 9 of the 2021 season.
Moreover, it powered what Next Gen Stats (NGS) said was a season-high 60.0% rushing success rate, also the fourth-highest by a team in a game this season. NGS defines success rate as "percentage of carries resulting in positive Expected Points Added (EPA)," or, in other words, "plays that keep the offense on schedule." So, in this instance, 60% of the Rams' rushing plays kept their offense on schedule.
Los Angeles, and Williams and Corum in particular, was especially effective on man concepts – offensive linemen blocking specific defenders – in the run game. On those specific concept carries, the Rams recorded 16 successful runs, the most by any team in a game since at least 2018. Williams and Corum each had exactly 12 man-concept carries for 78 yards, both tied for the second-most such rushing yards in a game this season.
"I think this was one of our best games as a team,' Corum said postgame last Sunday. "But for myself, for Kyren, I think obviously it starts up front. I think the offensive linemen, they had a day, tight ends had a day, (they all did a) wonderful job blocking, which allowed us to do our thing. So it's a big credit to them, and also just the flow of the game was a little different. Really, we were able to get in that rhythm."
"That's exactly what it's about, having that first-down efficiency to second-down efficiency to not be able to really get to third downs, and that starts with running the ball," Williams told therams.com. "That starts with doing what we got to do best, and that's pressing the line of scrimmage, reading the blocks, and being elusive in when it gets to the secondary and breaking tackles. And so, that doesn't happen without the offensive linemen and the tight ends doing their job and just coming off the ball firing. I'm just super glad that we were able to get into that rhythm because it proves a lot, it shows a lot, and it just shows exactly that's who we are when we're in playing ball
That balance has a chance to be sustained in back-to-back weeks with Sunday's Week 8 opponent, the Chargers, allowing their opponents to rush for 106 or more yards in five of their first six games. In three of those five games, opponents went for 138 or more yards. The Chiefs rushed for 150 against the Chargers in Week 6. The Chargers have also had varying levels of success defending the run concepts the Rams excelled at last Sunday: Per Next Gen Stats, the Chargers' defense has allowed the fifth-lowest rushing success rate (34.1%) but the 11th-highest explosive run rate (10+ yards, 9.8%) to man-blocking runs.
However, as Week 3 showed, replicating that performance isn't easy. Williams and Corum combined for 154 rushing yards on 24 yards (12 each) in Week 2 against the Giants, then the Rams decided to ride the hot hand against the Broncos in Week 3 as Williams rushed 15 times for 88 yards while Corum had just six carries for 15. It will take a committed effort like it did last Sunday in Las Vegas to do so.
"I think to be able to get them both involved and both allow them to get the amount of touches that they did and really for us to get the amount of rushes off while still being able to be efficient, ... both those guys did a great job," McVay said.
