After faltering in their regular season debut, the Los Angeles Rams are focused on getting back on track in Week 2. Their beatdown on Thursday night was an eye-opening experience for the team coming off their Super Bowl win in February, and many factors played into the disappointing result.
Chief among those was the pressure faced by Matthew Stafford in all four quarters. He was under duress from the moment the game kicked off, and hit the dirt seven times for a total of 49 yards lost as the offense struggled to get in gear against Buffalo.
Head coach Sean McVay attributed Stafford’s anemic performance in the loss to the virulent pass rush he faced when asked for his assessment of the game in a Friday press conference. There was speculation that Stafford’s struggle was more a function of an offseason arm injury that was reported to be serious, but McVay wasn’t so sure.
“It looked good,” he said of Stafford’s throwing form against the Bills. “I mean, there was a couple things that…whether it was the rush kind of got in his face where he wasn’t able to see certain things. Matthew’s got such high standards, as we do for him and as he does of himself, that there was some plays that I’m sure he’ll went back. But I think that’s how it’ll be for any quarterback when you’re at the level that he is or (Buffalo Bills QB) Josh Allen. So there’s things that I expect us to be able to play better collectively, starting with me and then overall execution wise.
“But I thought as far as just the overall motion, I didn’t necessarily think that was affected. I thought maybe just some of the spots where he is getting moved or getting hit, not being able to finish his motion as a result of just some of the pressure, or different things that are pushing him off his spot, might have affected some of the overall accuracy snap in and snap out. But as far as just the mechanics from an elbow perspective, I didn’t sense that was any sort of issue.”
Whether any of Stafford’s issues were truly due to discomfort in his throwing arm is unknown, but McVay’s comments were a strong indication of the Rams’ stance on what they saw on Thursday night. Los Angeles was supremely out-matched in their Week 1 loss, and the coaching staff has no interest in trying to play off their lack of execution on injury or any external factors.
Now set to take on the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2, the Rams will need to put the blow-out loss behind them, and put together a more effective game plan to get back to .500 before they fall too far behind.