Entering year four as a head coach, Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams' offense has gotten off to a piping-hot start this season, ranking fifth in total yards per game, third in rushing yards per game, and averaging roughly 29 points across their first two match-ups.

After a down year (relative to expectations) in 2019, Los Angeles is back to looking like the well-oiled machine we’re used to, in large part due to a more explosive rushing attack and much more formidable pass protection.

Let’s take a quick look at McVay and this Rams offense and detail what makes them so special.

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Commitment to motion

It’s no secret that motion has become all the rage in the NFL, as teams like the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have had major success using it as a staple in their respective offenses.

Although the Rams have always ranked highly in this regard (ranked fourth in the NFL in motion mid-snap in 2019), they’ve taken it to the next level this year, doing so at a 32% clip through two games (ranking first in the NFL).

McVay hasn’t just used motion for the sake of it, either. Constantly putting jet sweeps into action, he has made it a big emphasis to use his wide receivers as ball-carriers coming across the formation, particularly Robert Woods, and the Rams have had a ton of success doing so as a result. This added threat of a second potential runner has admittedly been used a lot in the past, but defenses have to respect it a lot more now that Los Angeles is using it as a key focal point on offense.

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Interchangeable WR/TE roles

One of the reasons why motion has become so effective for Los Angeles is because defenses are so confused about who is going to do what from an offensive perspective.

General manager Les Snead has given McVay a handful of versatile difference-makers and in turn, McVay has used them as interchangeable chess pieces in differing 11 and 12 personnel groupings.

Loving to use tight bunch and stack sets, the Rams have shown that any player can do whatever depending on the particular variation of a certain play-call, as all their wide receivers can block adequately inline (typically a tight end’s role), while all their tight ends can run quality routes (typically a receiver's role).

With this in mind, you virtually have four clones all squeezed close together in condensed formations. Not only would that be hard for a regular defense to try and figure out, but then you throw motion into it and everything becomes that much harder from a defensive perspective.

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Catering to Goff

At this point, it looks like Jared Goff is what he is—a quality system quarterback that will execute what is needed of him, but nothing more.

We’ve seen just that through two games this season, as Goff has been a hyper-efficient, accurate passer when everything is on-script, while he has continued to struggle mightily when any wrench is thrown into Los Angeles’ offensive plans.

McVay—like the rest of the world—recognizes this has adapted to cater to Goff’s limited skill set as best he can. Accentuating Goff’s quick-rhythm throwing, McVay has only had the quarterback drop back on 35 reps that didn’t involve some sort of play-action—by far the lowest number in the league (via PFF). Goff’s average time to throw on drop back throws has also been a league-low 2.09 seconds, as the dedication towards keeping things as simple as possible for the supposed franchise signal-caller is clear as day.

Yes, it helps that the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys have both failed to put pressure on Goff and neither threw anything difficult at him from a conceptual standpoint, but the quarterback has looked terrific through two games of action, in large part due to this commitment by Los Angeles catering to give him as small a load as possible to carry.

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Essentially, McVay has cooked the food, set the table, and laid out all the cutlery required. All Goff has to do to make this offense click in 2020 is eat what's on his plate without making a mess.

So far so good in that regard.