Any offense that puts up 38 points like how the Los Angeles Rams did on Sunday, October 17, at MetLife Stadium would feel elated about their performance, right?
Same with any offensive minded head coach like Sean McVay who not only saw the scoreboard light up from his unit, but put together 365 total yards in a 27-point win, correct?
Except McVay wasn’t pleased at all by the way his offense flowed at East Rutherford, New Jersey. And he didn’t mince words about it.
“I think we can be a lot sharper offensively,” McVay said to reporters following the 38-11 road rout of the New York Giants. “We’ve got to start faster. There’s no excuse, got to be better than that. But we’ll take the win and I thought our guys did a nice job.”
The Reason Behind McVay’s Frustrations
The scorecard may read a season-high for points for the Rams. But L.A. wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders from the jump.
This offense started slow — with incompletions, sacks and the punt team getting early work the common theme early on.
On the first offensive possession, Matthew Stafford did connect on completions of 30 and 16 yards to Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, respectively. However, the drive stalled on a 10-yard sack from Leonard Williams.
Leonard Williams gets home!
🎥 @Giants
The next drive didn’t fare much better either for the Rams. Who penetrated through the Rams’ front line protection again? The veteran “Big Cat” Williams.
Love anything the way Leonard Williams loves knocking the Rams out of field goal range.
🎥 @Giants
It took to the third possession for the Rams to finally score. But that was after the first quarter ended and following back-to-back penalties for illegal block and delay of game.
“I just think the slow starts, it’s not good enough,” McVay said, showing frustration through his facial expression. “Not pleased with it.”
What did please McVay: Two long drives after that early funk.
“I really liked the way we came out in the second half and were able to have two 14-play drives to control the game,” McVay said. “I thought our running backs ran hard. I thought our offensive line did a great job being able to come off and set the line of scrimmage against a very physical defensive line and a physical front as a whole. But again, I don’t want to come up here and continue to say the same things. We’ve just got to do a better job, I’ve got to do a better job.”
Other Offensive Stars Not Pleased With Offensive Outing
McVay wasn’t the only offensive representative who spoke about the unit’s early lapses.
Kupp, who caught 9 passes for 130 yards and scored twice, was another who was blunt about his own assessment of the offense.
“We just got to do a better job of executing,” Kupp told reporters. “It really comes down to sustained drives, being able to get first downs.
Then, Kupp pinpointed where the Rams must improve moving forward.
“Got to be better on third down,” he stated. “We’ve been atrocious the last few weeks, so we’ve got to do a better job there. It comes down to receivers as well. I mean, we’ve got to catch the ball in those situations.”
Do the Rams have high expectations on offense? Yes they do.
“I think it speaks to the high standard we have as an offense on what we’re supposed to do,” Kupp said. “I think we try to live it out every single day: Being process oriented over results.”
Meanwhile, Stafford was his own worst critic on the two early sacks, saying “I wish I would have gotten rid of it (the ball).”
Stafford, who now has 16 touchdown passes through his first six games as a Ram, is another who joins McVay and Kupp as a member of the offense who holds the unit to a higher standard on the field.
“I definitely want to come out every time we touch the ball and score every time we touch it,” Stafford said. “There’s no question about that. But there’s room for improvement.”
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Sean McVay Vents Disappointment in Rams’ Slow Offensive Start