Rams’ offensive line looks to build for playoff stretch

LOS ANGELES — The Rams hit a small milestone in last weekend’s win over the Saints: For the first time all season, the team had a full allotment of offensive linemen available to them.

It wasn’t the Rams’ preseason projected starting five that took the field in New Orleans; rookie Beaux Limmer has since taken over the starting center job from Jonah Jackson. But for the first time all year, the Rams’ starting line was chosen by merit, not circumstance.

It’s late in the calendar for it to have happened on the first day of December, but not too late for the Rams (6-6) to build on the performance with an eye toward a playoff run.

“Obviously you want the same five guys playing the whole season, and it just hasn’t worked out for us like that,” right tackle Rob Havenstein said. “But, getting our projected five starters out there and playing a game, it was definitely good to start gelling a little bit.”

As you would expect for the first time the group had ever played together in a game, the results were uneven. But there were some positives to hold onto.

Namely, how the Rams ran the ball. Power running was always the vision for how this line was built, and the unit playing together made an immediate impact. The Rams ran for a season-high 156 yards, with starter Kyren Williams and backup Blake Corum able to find room to operate behind the five of Alaric Jackson, Steve Avila, Limmer, Kevin Dotson and Havenstein.

That had been the plan coming into the game, with the line emphasizing it in practice all week, and that work translated.

“I thought guys were physical,” Havenstein said. “Our energy was there. What we emphasized during the week was really brought to life. That was definitely a great step in the right direction.”

“I think we was wearing on them. That’s the O-line; they’re moving them boys, I’m just pressing and hitting my holes,” Williams added. “I feel they did a good job of really setting them pads, getting them boys to move and I was just able to run off them.”

Where there was still work to do was in pass blocking. The Rams allowed six pressures last weekend and three hits on quarterback Matthew Stafford.

They were able to sustain that against the Saints, but that will be a harder task against the Buffalo Bills (10-2) on Sunday. Under head coach Sean McDermott, the Bills continue to put pressure on offenses with stout play from their front.

“They’re like every Bills front that I’ve had to go against it feels like every year,” said offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who previously worked for the Bills’ divisional rival, the New York Jets. “They just play hard. They’re so structured and they’re so disciplined. They have a system there and they’ve had a system there dating back to when [McDermott] was in Carolina and brought it to Buffalo.”

So there’s no easing into things for the Rams’ offensive line as it tries to build the continuity that head coach Sean McVay has been seeking since injuries first ravaged the unit in August.

But, that’s the NFL. And after the three months that line has endured, with one player exiting stage left just as another has been able to hobble back out in front of an audience, the Rams are excited just to have the opportunity as they push to close these last five games strong amid the tight NFC West race.

“The more we get to play together, the more we jell,” Dotson said. “I think having us together and being able to even see what we can get done when we are playing together makes people play a little harder, play through some injuries, stuff like that. So it gels us together even more.”

BUFFALO BILLS (10-2) at RAMS (6-6)

When: 1:25 p.m. Sunday

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV/radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 381, 226