The Los Angeles Rams head into the bye week with two absolutely miserable primetime performances back to back. The latest beatdown was given at the hands of Head Coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.
The Niners came out and simply outmuscled and outcoached the Rams in every way imaginable. From the Rams very first offensive drive, a deep ball from Matthew Stafford to new wideout Odell Beckham Jr. would be intercepted by Jimmie Ward. It was really all downhill from there. The Rams defense played hard in the game against the Titans the week prior, that toughness was lost on this team on Monday. Kyle Shanahan's gameplan was run the ball and oh boy did they run it all over the defense with great efficiency. Deebo Samuel had an all-world performance both in the air and on the ground.
An absolutely brutal game through and through for Los Angeles as Stafford would throw his second pick-six in as many weeks. After running the ball 40+ times and showing the mismatches of pure strength between the Rams and Niners squads, it's back to the drawing board for L.A. as they head into the bye before a crucial matchup in Green Bay against an NFC power in the Packers.
The bye week couldn't have come at a more fortuitous time for this squad. The coaches and every single player need to look within and see how to right this ship before this season gets truly off the rails. The three losses the Rams have suffered have been blowouts that really weren't close throughout. While they have won their fair share of games in the same fashion, they're showing they can't step up in the big primetime game against the league's finest.
The Rams have a lot of questions to be answered. First off: how will they move forward without wide receiver Robert Woods? What Woods does in this offense means so much in how they execute both run and pass plays. Can Odell Beckham replicate that? I doubt it mightily, but his importance can come in different ways. The loss to the Niners were not at all on newcomers Von Miller and OBJ. The bye week will help them settle into their respective schemes. It's up to McVay and this staff to make necessary adjustments to keep high seeding in the playoffs in the cards.
On the defensive side, the Jalen Ramsey "star spot in the secondary" experiment needs to end. Ramsey needs to return to his role of shut down corner on the number one wide receiver. It was a role that aided the Rams defense in being the most dominant in the NFL last season. Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris has to put up a coaching clinic in the second half of the season to simply do his part in making sure this unit doesn't astronomically fall off.
Every team hits a skid of some sort in their season. It's just all about how the team responds. The Sean McVay-led Rams teams have made incredible points of responding in the face of adversity. Now, with the playoffs lurking and the cold months rolling in, the Rams must show that it isn't all finesse in L.A. It's mental and physical strength that can win a Lombardi trophy.
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