The Los Angeles Rams suffered a disappointing loss in Week 4, welcoming the division-rival Arizona Cardinals to town for a matchup of unbeatens and falling 37-20 in a game that was never really close.
In the first three weeks of the season, the Rams seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. Week 4 was the opposite though as the Rams struggled in all facets of the game.
The Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp connection that had been the best in football to this point looked off, and on the defensive side of the ball, the Rams could not contain Kyler Murray and the Cardinals’ rushing attack.
After the game, Rams head coach Sean McVay took responsibility for the loss although he quickly wants to turn the page with the team having a short week before their Thursday night game against the Seattle Seahawks.
“First of all, congratulations to the Cardinals. They did a great job,” McVay said. “I’ve got to be way better for our football team. Make no excuses about it. I didn’t do a good enough job to get our guys ready to go. But fortunately for us, we’ve got a chance on a short week to be able to respond the way that we expect to, the way that we want to. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do moving forward.”
The Rams were coming off their most impressive win of the season in Week 3 when they handily beat the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While that was an emotional win, McVay does not believe the loss to the Cardinals was the case of a letdown.
“I didn’t. But again, I’ll always look at myself first and that’s where the responsibility lies. The beauty of it is, you don’t have a ton of time to sit around and be sorry for yourself. You get ready to go and move forward and that’s exactly what I’m going to do and what our team is going to do.”
McVay has been great coming off a loss in his career, so it will be interesting to see how the Rams respond to this on Thursday night. Perhaps it will be a motivating factor as this Rams team was humbled for the first time with the Cardinals showing them that the NFC West will not be a cakewalk.
