With Kyren Williams, I like that Sean McVay is willing to be patient with the running game. More so than other coaches, he’s not abandoning the run when it’s not working early.
This was the case last night. Williams averaged only 3.7 yards per carry, but they kept feeding him the ball, with him finishing with 29 carries for 108 yards. That’s lesser efficiency, but better than turning it into a game where San Francisco’s pass rush gets more of an opportunity to get after Matthew Stafford.
The same principal was even more important in LA’s upset win over Buffalo. Williams was even less effective in that one, averaging only 3.0 per attempt, but they kept feeding him the ball. He also had 29 attempts in that one, with the Rams allowing no sacks and piling up a 17-minute edge in time of possession. It helped to wear down Buffalo’s defense (and also keep Josh Allen on the sidelines).
There have been only 15 games this year where a running back carried the ball more than 20 times while averaging 3.7 yards per carry or less. Williams has five of those games.
| 20-PLUS CARRIES WHILE AVERAGING 3.7 YARDS (OR LESS) PER ATTEMPT | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | at S.F. | W 12-6 | 29 | 108 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | Buff. | W 44-42 | 29 | 87 | 3.0 | 2 |
| Chuba Hubbard, Car. | at Phil. | L 16-22 | 26 | 92 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | Phil. | L 12-15 | 26 | 87 | 3.3 | 0 |
| Kenneth Walker, Sea. | LAR | L 20-26 | 25 | 83 | 3.3 | 0 |
| Joe Mixon, Hou. | Det. | L 23-26 | 25 | 46 | 1.8 | 1 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | S.F. | W 27-24 | 24 | 89 | 3.7 | 2 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | at NYJ | W 28-27 | 24 | 57 | 2.4 | 0 |
| Kareem Hunt, K.C. | at S.F. | W 28-18 | 22 | 78 | 3.5 | 2 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | at Sea. | W 26-20 | 22 | 69 | 3.1 | 0 |
| Kyren Williams, LAR | L.V. | W 20-15 | 21 | 76 | 3.6 | 2 |
| D'Andre Swift, Chi. | Car. | W 36-10 | 21 | 73 | 3.5 | 1 |
| Aaron Jones, Min. | Ind. | W 21-13 | 21 | 64 | 3.0 | 0 |
| Kareem Hunt, K.C. | at L.V. | W 27-20 | 21 | 59 | 2.8 | 1 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | at Was. | W 28-27 | 21 | 53 | 2.5 | 1 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | at Chi. | W 19-3 | 20 | 74 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | LAR | L 22-28 | 20 | 73 | 3.7 | 0 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | at Atl. | W 18-10 | 20 | 70 | 3.5 | 0 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | Pitt. | W 24-19 | 20 | 59 | 3.0 | 2 |
| James Conner, Ari. | at Mia. | W 28-27 | 20 | 53 | 2.7 | 1 |
| Rhamondre Stevenson, N.E. | NYJ | W 25-22 | 20 | 48 | 2.4 | 2 |
—Ian Allan