Getty Robert Woods dejectedly walks out of SoFi Stadium following the Rams' 37-20 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, October 3.
For some fans of the Los Angeles Rams, they’re refusing to push their index finger on their personal panic button.
But for some who watched the Arizona Cardinals end their eight-game slide to L.A. with a dominating 37-20 romp inside the “Rams House” on Sunday, October 3, statements online included the “I told you so” audience from the Matthew Stafford criticizers, to those who tweeted admiration of Kyler Murray’s play all the way to Gifs like this one from Bleacher Report:
And this comic strip via the Fox NFL Sunday account:
Wow… @AZCardinals aren’t messing around vs the undefeated Rams 😳
Here’s the list of social media reactions from today’s 17-point loss to the now 4-0 and first place Cardinals.
Stafford Critics Come Out
Stafford went from hearing the early Most Valuable Player award talk to falling hard on his face: Finishing with 26-of-41 for 280 yards, two touchdown passes but one early interception.
And the critics activated their Twitter fingers.
Among them? Fox Sports 1 personality Rob Parker who posted this response:
Parker was joined by this Stafford critic:
And another from Pro Football Focus:
My nuanced take is that Stafford is still the same widely inconsistent QB he always was, it’s just that people decided to ignore the lows for some reason once he joined the Rams
One Green Bay Packers fans sent this to the mentions section of the Rams’ Twitter account.
For some, they recognized how Stafford wasn’t targeting Robert Woods as much in this game.
If any of my followers in the Los Angeles area could let Matthew Stafford know that Robert Woods is on his team, I’d appreciate it.
And another from The Ringer who gave the criticism a Will Smith touch in this post:
Matt Stafford when he sees Robert Woods wide open
Then, once Stafford found Woods late for the game’s final TD, there was this reaction after the catch from Woods that was captured:
Others, like sports and betting editor Kyle Odegard of compare.bet/news shared a “real recognize real” moment on social media when it came to comparing Murray to Stafford.
In a matchup of MVP favorites, Kyler Murray completely outplayed Matthew Stafford today.
ESPN personality Mina Kimes, who also did color commentary for Rams games during the preseason, was another who shared her thoughts on how the Cards outplayed the team she follows during the month of August.
Among the reasons behind Stafford’s criticism? His first deep ball attempt to DeSean Jackson unfolded like this:
Matthew Stafford went deep to Desean Jackson but this time he isn’t facing the #Bucs defense so he gets picked off.
Byron Murphy, who won player of the week last week, gets Stafford easily.
Murphy now has 3 INTs this season.
Plus, there was this late mishap inside the Arizona 5-yard line:
Members of Rams and the “Ramily” Stay Optimistic
Rams linebacker Kenny Young chose to take the high road after the 17-point loss.
The Rams Brothers podcast Twitter account was another that opted to steer away from venting online.
Tons of credit to the Cards — probably a great feeling for fans. Reminder: the only game that matters is the next one!
Another fan looked at this defeat as a “wake up call.”
Assistant men’s basketball coach at Corban University and noted Rams fans Chris Martin is another who left optimistic about a quick turnaround in this post.
Cardinals Twitter and Fans Troll the Rams
Members of the “Red Sea” got out in full force.
One of them put shades on head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who finally outcoached Sean McVay in an NFL game.
But along came the Cardinals’ Twitter team who became relentless on social media — first with this De’Andre Hopkins video game Gif:
Goodnight Los Angeles 💤
Followed by putting a cardinal on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Let’s take a walk 🌟
Meanwhile, Fox Sports radio personality George Wrightster III threw in his applause for the coaching job Kingsbury did in L.A.
Kliff Kingsbury and Cardinals in year 3 after everybody thought he was in over his head in years 1-2.
McVay Takes Blame for Loss
McVay has this astonishing career mark: He’s 40-0 when his teams lead at halftime.
However, there’s this new mark he has on his resume: His Ram teams dropped to 5-16 when they trail at halftime, as the Rams fell behind 24-13.
So many elements that are a staple of McVay’s system went missing, including the deep game and taking care of the football (the Rams lost the ball twice early).
McVay was very blunt about his criticism…criticism toward himself.
“I’ve got to be way better getting our football team ready,” – Sean McVay