The Los Angeles Rams and head coach Sean McVay threw the New England Patriots for a loop on Thursday night. Enter Cam Akers.
McVay abandoned his usual pass-heavy schemes in favor of a bruising rushing attack led by Cam Akers. The second-round pick had seen inconsistent usage for most of the year as part of the team's three-man backfield.
However, he would make the most of added usage against the Pats. Cam Akers rushed a whopping 29 times for 171 yards, marking the second straight game he received at least 20 carries.
The Florida State product has looked especially impressive as of late, but McVay cautioned against labeling Cam Akers the feature back:
“Certainly, Cam (Akers) did a great job last night, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t see opportunities for Darrell and Malcolm moving forward because both of those players have done a lot of really good things that have been helpful in our success as a team,” McVay said, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “So, [I’m] very pleased. I think we know Cam is capable of that, but to say that we would commit to that approach, I don’t necessarily think that’s the exact thing that we’re thinking. I think we’re really pleased with Cam and not surprised though.”
McVay surely wants to use all the weapons at his disposal, including Darrel Henderson and Malcolm Brown.
That said, it is hard to ignore Cam Akers' massive leap in snap count. The 21-year-old had not played more than 33 percent of the offensive snaps heading into Week 13, but has since played at least 63 percent of those snaps in each of the last two weeks.
It will be interesting to see whether McVay continues to lean on the ground game going forward, and whether Cam Akers will continue to receive the most touches.
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