As Blake Corum galloped toward the end zone for a game-sealing 48-yard touchdown in Arizona last week, he hit a gear that Rams fans haven't seen from a running back in some time.
Corum reached 21.3 miles per hour on the longest run of his career, and the longest by a Ram since 2023. That's the second-fastest ball-carrier speed for a Rams running back in the Next Gen Stats Era (since 2016), trailing only Benny Cunningham who hit 21.9 miles per hour in Week 10 of 2016. It was even faster than the legendary Todd Gurley's top speed.
Not a single defender laid a finger on Corum. The handoff went to the right side, but Corum saw a gaping cutback hole between left guard Steve Avila, driving his defender toward the run side, and left tackle Alaric Jackson, setting the edge to the outside. One cut, and Corum was gone, sprinting into the end zone to put the Rams up 45-10 early in the fourth quarter. They worked on the play throughout the week and had an idea when and where it might hit big, Corum said. So, while it felt good to break a long touchdown, that wasn't a surprise.
That explosiveness was the missing element to the Rams' run game. Los Angeles leads the league in success rate on designed runs (52.2%) by a wide margin, and ranked top 10 in that statistic last season. But now, the Rams rank second in explosive run rate (10-plus yard gains) at 13.1% after finishing 29th in that category last year (7.9%), according to Next Gen Stats.
That growth isn't a coincidence. The tandem of Corum and Kyren Williams have trampled opposing defenses with fresh legs, behind blockers that create purposeful push. As head coach Sean McVay often says, "it takes all 11" to succeed in any facet of the game, and that's how the Rams have created one of the league's best rushing attacks.
In Week 14, the Rams' running backs combined for 253 yards and three touchdowns on 7.7 yards per carry, all season highs. Over the past two weeks, they lead the league in rushing yards (406), touchdowns (five) and yards per carry (7.7). They haven't been tackled behind the line of scrimmage once in that time.
The Rams switch between outside zone and duo runs because that plays to this team's strengths. But the reality is, the scheme means nothing unless the players give it life.
"I think (the Arizona game) was a great illustration of guys getting connected and then I thought the backs got everything that was blocked for and then more," McVay said. "You look at Blake's long run, Kyren had a handful of good slash running, and it always takes all 11. It doesn't necessarily matter what the concept is."
Well, it actually takes 12. The backfield split is much closer to even than it was last year, when Williams had the highest play time percentage of any running back in the league at 81.1%, according to Next Gen Stats. This season, that's down to 70% for Williams compared to 28.5% for Corum. And since the Rams' Week 8 bye, that split's been even closer, with Williams getting 63.8% of the snaps to Corum's 33.1%.
It's no surprise, therefore, that L.A. has boasted the league's most efficient run game over the past six weeks by a wide margin.
Both players have acknowledged the impact the time share has made on their overall production.
"I think (Corum) being able to come in, spell me, allows me to see the game from a different lens, see the game from a different perspective and... get my breath back whenever those long runs are needed," Williams told theRams.com earlier this year.
"Staying fresh is key," Corum said. "That's how you make those explosive runs, when you're fresh."
Williams and Corum have both expressed the excitement they get from seeing each other succeed, and how that pushes each of them to be better.
"When I'm on the sideline, I see Kyren break off a run, I get hyped," Corum said. "And that makes me, when I go in, I want to break off a long one just so we can keep feeding off each other."
That dynamic has undoubtedly helped Williams increase his explosive run rate from 8.8% in 2024 to 10.2% this season, and facilitated Corum's emergence.
They are running with "an ownership and an understanding of what the intent is," McVay said, behind blockers that possess that same knowledge. Each play, center Coleman Shelton is the one marshaling the blockers into the right places with constant communication. His impact has been lauded by players and coaches all season long.
"Just having (Shelton) basically just tell everybody what they're doing so I can just go do it (has been helpful)," said offensive lineman Warren McClendon Jr. "I'm not thinking, and I can just kind of play free."
Earlier this year, Williams said that Shelton is "the glue of this offense" apart from Stafford. The constant dialogue that exists between players and coaches during the week means that every person knows what their objective is on each play, so when Shelton relays the protection call, there's no ambiguity. That's helped the group as a whole become more connected than they were last season, Williams said.
The execution of explicit blocks across the board has helped the Rams avoid third downs entirely, or set up short-distance conversions at the very least. They average a league-low 10.3 third downs per game (the next-closest team averages 11.2), and have faced only 13 in the last two weeks combined.
But the blocking success they've achieved isn't exclusive to the offensive line, as the Rams deploy many of their skill position players on important blocking assignments. Everything about their run game is clicking right now, from the pre-snap communication to the strain up front and the backs' ability to finish runs strong.
"I think you're getting some good looks and they're working in coordination and collaboration, particularly as it relates to running the football with the offensive line, the tight ends and the receivers," McVay said.
That's been a theme all year long, not just in recent weeks. Puka Nacua may be one of the league's best receivers, but he's also one of the best blockers at his position. After Nacua broke the record for most receptions by a player in the first four games of an NFL season, ESPN's Ben Solak put together a highlight tape of his best run blocks during that span to illustrate his sizable impact in that phase.
The cutup also shows how involved other receivers and tight ends are as run blockers. A lot of offensive coaches from the Mike and/or Kyle Shanahan tree (which is where McVay got his start) utilize fullbacks in their offense as lead blockers, Shanahan's 49ers, Mike McDaniel's Dolphins chief among them.
But McVay opts to use receivers and tight ends by either motioning them inside or simply lining up in tight formations so players can climb to the second level of the defense. When guys are throwing meaningful blocks down the field, and backs get through the first level clean thanks to the precise execution from the offensive line, that elicits big gains.
The McVay offense takes the "no block, no rock" slogan to another level when their franchise wideout is sprinting full-speed at linebackers and sticking his nose into defensive ends that lift his body weight as a warmup in the gym.
Nacua isn't the only young receiver that's shown a willingness to dirty his hands, and jersey, in the run game, which has inspired veteran Davante Adams to do the same. He even interjected during a meeting to tell them as much.
"It made me evaluate my performance as far as how much I'm able to give and the things that I could be pressing on and straining a little bit more in the run game," Adams said on Oct. 29. "I said, 'Look, y'all motivate me, man.' They laughed thinking that I was joking, but I let the jokes calm down for a minute and just let them know, 'I'm dead serious.'"
Even against Seattle, one of the league's best defensive fronts, the Rams broke off four explosive runs on just 22 carries (18.2%) and averaged 5.4 yards per attempt. The Seahawks have allowed a league-low 3.5 yards per carry on designed runs this season and a 5.8% explosive run rate, which is the second-lowest, according to Next Gen Stats.
Williams created his two longest gains of the season (30 and 34 yards, respectively) and his 91 yards on the ground are the most Seattle has allowed to a running back all year. He did it on just 12 carries, while elite backs such as Christian McCaffrey and Bijan Robinson failed to break that yard mark on 20-plus.
The Rams aren't just stampeding poor defenses. They're creating significant removal at the line of scrimmage to facilitate consistency and chunk gains against even the league's stingiest fronts. They will face another one of those in Week 15 with the Detroit Lions coming to town.
"(Running backs) coach (Ron Gould) always talks about how the work works," Corum said after his big game in Arizona. "And I go back to work with the guys. I go back to work with Coach G and my team. And it paid off today, but the day is over now. Now it's on to the next."
