Somehow, the Los Angeles Rams found a way to lose a game without giving up a touchdown. And Sean McVay read the riot act to his team. Here are the Rams most to blame for the shocking loss to the Cardinals.
Arizona strolled into the Rams’ stadium and walked out with an 18-16 win on the strength of six Chad Ryland field goals. What in the world is going on with the Rams? Who deserves the most blame?
Rams head coach Sean McVay
To his credit, McVay didn’t sugarcoat what his team is doing on the football field, according to ESPN.
“There were some gutsy individual efforts that I am appreciative of, but collectively, even if we had come away with the result, it’s not good enough,” McVay said. “There’s just so many things that aren’t in alignment with what we need to be able to do. We've got to figure it out, and it starts with me.”
Yes, it does. The Rams aren’t exactly playing with a sense of urgency. They have already lost enough games to make their bid for the No. 1 overall seed look like a long shot.
McVay said the situation has reached a critical stage with his team at 2-4, according to a post on X by ESPN.
“You know, congrats to the Cardinals, we won't win a game unless we figure out how not to beat ourselves,” McVay said. “Like I just told you guys, to be able to not beat ourselves, before we figure out how to even come away with some of the results, it's not even good enough. And I have to do a much better job. Today, there is nothing positive that I can say about today.”
McVay received criticism for his play calling, according to theramswire.com. But McVay deflected when asked why the Rams didn't have a counter to Arizona's blitzes. He said it landed on execution, not playcalling.
“Well, there was other instances that we could’ve made them pay,” he said. “We just didn’t execute. Simple as that. Had an idea of what some of those things were going, what they were doing. We have to be able to execute in some of those instances and that wasn’t the case today.”
Unfortunately, McVay is the guy who must get this season turned around. The Rams have the talent. The pressure is on him.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford
Despite completing 25 of 33 passes, Stafford only passed for 222 yards. He couldn’t unlock Puka Nacua as a weapon until the final minutes of the game. Quite frankly, the Rams’ offense made their bid Cardinals look like they have a top-10 NFL defense. They do not.
The Cardinals entered the game ranking No. 25 in yards allowed per game. They were dead last with 32.4 points allowed per contest.
Stafford just didn’t have it on this day. But it’s not a one-game issue, Stafford said, according to therams.com.
“When you look at it, football is a game of execution when you boil things down to it,” Stafford said. “Can you go out there and can you make the plays? Can you do the right thing over and over and over again? That's what it boils down to in this league. And we're just not doing that at a consistent enough basis right now.”
The Rams simply could scratch out a big play. They had only two plays of 20-plus yards. Both came on the last drive. Consider that the Cardinals allowed five such plays in the first three quarters against the Lions in the previous week.
Nacua said it’s time to regroup.
Article Continues Below“We got to go back and look ourselves in the mirror,” Nacua said. “And I know our coaches are going to do a good job of being able to come back and critically assess everything that just happened this past game, and give us the information that we need to go on and move forward.”
The Rams defense is letting the team down
Yes, star edge rusher Myles Garrett has been sidelined with an injury. But defenses have 11 men, not one. Sure, Garrett will make a difference when he returns. But someone else still has to make plays.
The Rams didn’t lay a glove on Jacoby Brissett. That’s unacceptable against any quarterback for a defense of this caliber and expectations.
It’s hard to imagine, given the talent, but the Rams look pedestrian on defense. If that side of the ball doesn’t discover a sense of urgency, this team might not even make the playoffs.
Of course, the good news is that the Rams have time to regroup. But at some point, they're going to need to go on a winning streak.