The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2026 Football Preview. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps, as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2026 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Los Angeles Rams performed from a penalty perspective in 2025 and where they can improve in 2026.
Los Angeles Rams 2026 Penalty Outlook: Discipline, Flags & Hidden Edges
The Good
- The Rams averaged the fewest penalties per game in the 2025 season.
- The Rams ranked as the least penalized road team in 2025.
- The Rams averaged the fewest penalties in the first quarter of games in 2025.
- The Rams ranked 31st in offensive penalty per-game average. Only the divisional-rival 49ers performed better in this category last season.
- The Rams recorded the largest net penalty yardage per game advantage versus opponents.
- The Rams averaged the second-fewest offensive penalties per game on third-down plays.
- The offense was a top-five beneficiary of automatic first downs via penalty in the second half of contests.
The Bad
- The Rams recorded six delay of game penalties, tied for the 10th-most in the league.
Grade: A++
The past two seasons ended in the Rams being bounced in the playoffs by the eventual champions.
Fast forward to 2026, and ownership plans to flip the script with major offseason moves that have resulted in the Rams being the short-priced betting favorites to win it all.
All-Pro corner Trent McDuffie and two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett are the notable additions to an already championship-level roster.
Their regular season schedule is a gauntlet, and the “super-team” hype around the Rams guarantees a bullseye is on them every week.
Those factors ensure the Rams will have their work cut out for them to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC, which takes on more meaning with the Super Bowl returning to Los Angeles.
The Rams are the ultimate “win-now” team.
If all goes to plan, history will repeat itself with Sean McVay hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at SoFi Stadium again.
This analysis continues in the 2026 Football Preview
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Warren Sharp’s 600+ page full-color PDF, the 2026 Football Preview, is unlike anything you have read. Stunning visualizations, including new heat maps and stat pages, are built with the reader in mind. Innovative, next-level thought processes abound in every team chapter and article.
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- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data-driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2026 games
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- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
- Penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams