Sony Michel proved he deserves to be Rams’ starting RB

Very little was going right for the Rams in November. They lost three straight and had one of the worst point differentials in the league during that stretch, struggling mightily on offense with only 54 total points scored and zero games with 100 yards rushing.

So against the Jaguars, Sean McVay changed things up. Partly out of necessity due to injury, the Rams swapped Darrell Henderson Jr. out for Sony Michel at running back. Henderson was active after being questionable with a thigh injury, but he was essentially just an emergency option in case Michel got hurt. He never saw the field as Michel handled the workhorse role for the second time this season.

Michel might not give up that job in the coming weeks, either, even when Henderson is healthy again. He put together the best performance of any Rams running back this season, rushing for 121 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries – a healthy average of 5 yards per carry. In 10 starts this season, Henderson never rushed for more than 90 yards and averaged 5-plus yards per carry only three times when rushing more than five times.

What Michel did better than Henderson has all season is gain yards after contact. Henderson hasn’t been breaking many tackles and often goes down on first contact, but that wasn’t the case for Michel on Sunday.

You can see that in many of his best plays, fighting through contact to pick up 4, 5 or 6 yards – even if he wasn’t breaking off big, explosive runs consistently.

McVay talked last week about Michel’s ability to keep the offense on schedule with good runs that pick up the yards that he’s expected to based on the way a play is blocked. He looked elusive in the open field, too, showing good vision to go with his power.

He’s not going to be a player who breaks off 50-yard runs, but Michel keeps the Rams in manageable situations on second and third down.

“We were able to stay on schedule, we were able to keep people off-balance,” McVay said of what Michel did for the offense. “I thought it was good to be able to mix up a lot of different personnel groupings, really utilize all hands on deck. It was good to get Joe Noteboom in there. Sony was great, and so that was exactly what we had talked about and it was great to see it come to life.”

For an offense that had become so heavily reliant on Stafford’s arm, leaning on the running game with 24 carries by Michel was just what the doctor ordered. It took pressure off of Stafford, especially on third down. It didn’t force Odell Beckham Jr. and Van Jefferson to make big plays next to Cooper Kupp, even though both of them did by hauling in touchdown catches.

Michel showed on Sunday that his physicality is what the Rams offense was missing. And for that, he deserves to remain their lead back, almost giving McVay no choice but to ride the hot hand.

It was the most balanced we’ve seen the offense be all season, and against a team like the Cardinals – who struggle against the run – having success on the ground will be critical moving forward.

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