Week in and week out, the Los Angeles Rams had one of the best offenses in the NFL. Sure, they had their scoring outbursts with games of 46, 51, 42 and 41 points scored, but there were only two games in which the starters played where they didn’t score at least 20 points. For comparison’s sake, the Giants had just six games with at least 20 points scored.

Part of the reason for L.A.’s offensive success was the explosive plays it generated. The Rams had a quick-strike offense as evidenced by their 21st ranking in average drive time, scoring seven touchdowns of at least 50 yards.

For further context, Marcus Mosher of Bleacher Report ranked every team by the number of explosive plays (10-yard rushes and 20-yard passes) they had. The Rams, to no one’s surprise, ranked third with 116 such plays.

The Rams had three big-play weapons in Todd Gurley, Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins last season. Watkins is known as a deep threat, but he and Jared Goff struggled to get on the same page throughout the season.

With Brandin Cooks effectively replacing him as the X receiver, the Rams could potentially strike for even more explosive plays than they did a year ago. If they do, they’re almost a lock to make the postseason, considering how indicative of success the stat is.

Of the top nine teams in explosive plays last season, seven made the playoffs. Minnesota, Buffalo and the Panthers weren’t far behind, all ranking in the top 14. The Titans were the biggest outlier as far as the correlation between explosive plays and success goes, ranking 25th – lowest among all playoff teams.