Rams-Cowboys game flip on two plays

INGLEWOOD (News4usonline) – Sean McVay is a winner. His track record as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams proves it. He has a Super Bowl title under his belt. But at the moment, the nostalgia of beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI is yesterday’s news. 

At the moment, the Rams are trying to gain traction in what they hope to be another successful season with a deep run in the postseason. So far, this season’s journey for McVay’s team has been one that has flickered up and down. 

For the last two weeks, things have been on the downside with the Rams taking two straight defeats. The San Francisco 49ers got the best of the Rams in Week 4. In Week 5, in a home game played at SoFi Stadium, the Dallas Cowboys dropped the Rams with a 22-10 win. 

A strip fumble of quarterback Matthew Stafford on the game’s opening series that went for a 19-yard return for a touchdown and a blocked punt that resulted in a field goal on the Rams’ second series, gave Dallas a quick 9-0 lead and changed the trajectory of the game’s outcome. 

 “We have to find a way to get the ball in the end zone,” Stafford said. “Got to do a better job sustaining some drives, giving ourselves some more manageable situations and finding a way to get more points. We don’t ever want to turn the football over, don’t want to start the game that way.” 

“Obviously, we have to do a better job of trying to just get down maybe in that situation and let us punt the ball away. Not a great way to start the game. I was proud of the way we battled back. And then we just weren’t able to sustain enough stuff to score enough points,” Stafford added. 

The recipe in those two losses for the Rams mirrors each other. In both games, the Rams had trouble running the football. The 49ers held the Rams to 57 total yards rushing the football. against Dallas, Los Angeles managed just 38 yards on the ground. Fixing the run game depends on a myriad of factors, McVay said.  

“Yeah, there’s so many different things,” McVay remarked. “It starts with being able to…everybody do their job and then be able to create a little bit. We got to be able to sometimes get more than what the plays blocked for. Then we can’t have free runners, we can’t have guys into the backfield with penetration. So the run game, it truly takes all 11, and we are not executing, whether it be one player here or a couple of players. It’s been a challenge and it’s something that has really hurt us.” 

The other issue that McVay and his coaching staff will be looking to shore up is providing better protection for Stafford. Stafford, who went over the 300-yard mark against the Cowboys (308 yards), including connecting with Cooper Kupp on a 75-yard pass-and-catch for a touchdown, was put on the deck five times by the Dallas defense. 

Last week, the 49ers got to Stafford seven times for sacks. In addressing how he plans to fortify the offensive line, McVay isn’t quite sure, but there are areas to improve, he said.   

“It’s a good question. I don’t know if I have that answer right now,” said McVay. “But we’ve got to be able to figure it out, whether it’s guys that are playing right now or whether we need to figure out some other options. But it’s not good enough and it’s not exclusive to one player, to one position. But there are some things that consistently are glaring issues for us, that are preventing us a chance to be able to operate at a level that you guys have seen from us. But that doesn’t matter right now. This is where we are and this is the moment that we’re in.”

The loss to Dallas drops the Rams to 2-3 on the season. The Rams play the Carolina Panthers next in another home game. To right the ship and get back on the winning track, Stafford reflected on what steps the Rams will take moving forward.    

“Well, I think the biggest thing for me is, moments like this, you look inward and you say, ‘What can I do? What can I do more of?’ In the NFL the margins for victory are really small and our margins are really, really small at this moment,” said Stafford. 

He continued, “That’s not something that you go out there and go, ‘Okay, we gotta play tight. We have to make sure we make one mistake in a game, or we don’t hit this or that, or whatever and the game’s over.’ That’s not the case, but you just have to have that focus and concentration and understand that every play is a huge play in the game and we have to find a way to make sure we execute on more of those plays and give ourselves a better chance to win.”