Should the Rams start Beaux Limmer or Jonah Jackson at center?
Heading into Week 11 against the New England Patriots on Sunday, there will be one question that the Los Angeles Rams will have to answer. That question is who will be playing at center and if that player is Jonah Jackson, Steve Avila, or Beaux Limmer.
It’s not likely we’ll know the answer until game time. Per Rams head coach Sean McVay, “We’re working through that stuff.” McVay also added that they know the starting lineup, but won’t be sharing. Said McVay,
We know. I’ll just let you guys see when we go out there on Sunday. I don’t mean it to be irritating, it’s just no reason to say it, but our guys know.”
The Rams made the decision last week to pull Limmer in favor of a healthy Jonah Jackson. While it made sense to play Jackson given the contract the team paid him in free agency, playing him at center was certainly a questionable decision.
With the margins getting more thin over every passing week, whatever the Rams decide not only has to be the right one, but has to be one that they feel comfortable sticking with moving forward. To put it simply, while the Rams won’t have their starting five offensive linemen available with Havenstein out, whoever starts at left guard and center this week almost has to be the combo moving forward. We’re at the second half of the season. The Rams can’t be shifting their offensive line every few weeks for performance reasons. This is something that they have to be sure about.
The Rams have started five different offensive line combinations this season. With Havenstein out on Sunday against the Patriots, it is set to be six on Sunday and then potentially a seventh combination next week. For a position group that relies heavily on cohesiveness, that many changes is not a good thing.
With three changes to the offensive line last week, disaster up front was bound to happen even if those players were theoretically better. Jackson and Avila had been out since the beginning of the season and Joe Noteboom was also making his first start since Week 1. A lack of communication and lack of comfort within that starting five was almost inevitable.
While it would be nice to see Limmer back in the lineup after his impressive stretch of games, that’s also an argument for playing Jackson once again. If the Rams swap Jackson for Limmer, it would be a second consecutive week in which the Rams are making multiple changes along the offensive line. Additionally, Avila and Limmer haven’t played next to each other since training camp.
With Jackson, the Rams would at least have some consistency on the inside. It would also be the third game this season that Avila and Jackson will have played next to each other and the first time in back-to-back weeks. Again, the cohesiveness is important. An argument can be made that by swapping Limmer back in the lineup, the Rams would be making the same mistake that they made last week when they inserted Jackson in at center.
The big thing here is that the Rams have to find a starting group of five on the offensive line that can start to get more snaps together. The big thing last week was communication. As Matthew Stafford noted after the game last week, the Dolphins ran a lot of simulated pressures. Within those simulated pressures, it’s important for the offensive line to know who they’re blocking pre-snap. That comes down to communication and passing players off to one another.
In the case that the Rams do stick with Jackson in the lineup, but do not want him at center, Avila would also be an option. Avila practiced at center all summer, but was switched back to left guard right before the season. This option also comes with its own set of risks as the Rams have not seen Avila at center in a live-game setting.
For this week, the Rams really have three options on the offensive line:
- Jackson-Jackson-Avila-Dotson-McClendon
- Jackson-Avila-Limmer-Dotson-McClendon
- Jackson-Avila-Jackson-Dotson-McClendon
Many would like option two to be the what the Rams go with against the Patriots. However, option three is probably the most likely with option one right behind it. Limmer played well and the Rams arguably should not have removed him from the lineup. At the same time, some patience may be required when it comes to Jonah Jackson as he integrates himself back into the starting five.
Again, the important thing here is that the Rams find a starting five that they can be confident in over the rest of the season. They can’t keep making changes because they don’t like what they see. If they do go with Limmer, it likely means the end of Jonah Jackson after just three starts. However, an interior with Avila and Jackson provides the most upside once they start clicking. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Rams trust their process and keep Jackson in the starting lineup.
