Recapping the 2015 St. Louis Rams Season

(Written on 1/4/16)

After finishing 7-9, let’s take a look at the positives and negatives from this season.

Negatives:

• The Rams finished under .500 for the fourth time in as many years under head coach Jeff Fisher; he has not coached a team to a winning record since 2008.
• The offense was abysmal, ranking 29th in points and last in total yards
• Two of the Rams’ 14 eligible linemen finished average or better according to Pro Football Focus: Garrett Reynolds and Rob Havenstein
• Nick Foles failed. Miserably.
• Jared Cook (is anyone really surprised?) had a 5.3% drop rate, finishing with the 12th worst receiving grade via PFF and 55th among 72 eligible tight ends
• The Rams failed to have a receiver go for 1,000 yards for the eighth year in a row
• The Rams finished their 12th straight season with a negative point differential, an NFL record
• Their 5.7 pass efficiency ratio is tied for the NFL’s second lowest mark this season
• They finished with the sixth most penalties per game
• 25.51% of all drives went three and out, the fifth highest rate in the NFL
• Their 25.9 3rd Down efficiency percentage was the NFL’s lowest mark
• 59 of 429 rushing attempts were stuffs (13.8%), the highest rate in the NFL
• 22.58% of field goals were missed, the third highest mark in the NFL; three field goals were blocked, the second most in the NFL
• The 74.1 team passer rating ranks last in the NFL

Positives:

• Todd Gurley was better than advertised: the rookie sensation finished with the NFL’s third most rushing yards, second most touchdowns, and most 40+ yard runs despite missing three games
• Benny Cunningham’s 714 kick return yards were the fifth most in the NFL
• Their 18 sacks allowed was an NFL low and an improvement from the 47 allowed in 2014
• Trumaine Johnson returned seven interceptions for 136 yards, the second most in the NFL; those seven interceptions were also the second most
• Gurley’s five 100+ rushing yard games are tied for second in the NFL
• Johnny Hekker was first in punt yard average, punt yard net average, and punts downed inside the 20, becoming he first punter in NFL history to do so while 15 of his punts were downed inside the 10 (t-third most); he also lead the league in punts fair caught
• Mark Barron forced the NFL’s third most fumbles; his 16 run stuffs were tied for first while the 29 stuff yards were the fifth most
• The Rams finished with the fifth best secondary according to PFF; Johnson was PFF’s fifth highest graded corner and lead the league in lowest QB rating allowed (47.4)
• The defense allowed opponents to make 34.7% of third down attempts, the sixth lowest rate; they were tied for 10th in opponent scoring efficiency percentage
• Their 4.6 rushing yards per attempt was tied for third most
• Aaron Donald finished with the highest defensive grade in PFF history; he was the highest rated defender against the run and in pass rush
• Gurley became only the third rookie running back since 2000 to make the Pro Bowl and became the third rookie back in franchise history to run for 1,000 yards
• James Laurinaitis eclipsed 1,000 career tackles
• Three players eclipsed 1,000 all-purpose yards (Cunningham, Gurley, and Tavon Austin)