The Los Angeles Rams dropped to 5-6 on the year after a humbling 37-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 12.
There weren’t many positives to take away from the game as the Rams struggled to get anything going from the start.
A promising opening drive was thwarted after Kyren Williams fumbled the ball in the red zone that was recovered by the Eagles. Philadelphia then went down the field and scored a field goal to take the lead.
While the Rams responded with a touchdown on their next drive, it was all Eagles from that point on. They scored 17 unanswered points to take a commanding lead and simply dominated in all facets.
“Alright, guys. Really, congrats to Philadelphia. They did a good job. They did way too many good things explosive wise in the running game for us to be able to overcome,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said after the game.
“I thought we came out ready to go. The turnover really hurt us, obviously. I thought when it’s a one possession game, they ended up scoring quickly coming out of the half and then we were able to match it and then it just kind of got away from us.
“But there’s humbling nights like this in football. It’s all about how you respond. I do know that this team has the capability to be able to respond and we’ll get ourselves up off the mat and we’ll have a good week of preparation this week.”
The Rams were torched by Pro Bowl running back Saquon Barkley, who rushed for 255 yards on 26 carries and scored two touchdowns.
“Yeah, you know the thing that’s hard is you get into some of these aggressive looks and you give him a vertical seam to the second level, and he’s got the ability to be able to erase angles and work edges and make people miss,” McVay answered when asked if the Rams were overmatched physically against the Eagles.
“The last one, you’re in a really aggressive defense trying to be able to get a stop on a third and five. Somebody doesn’t follow a puller back and that’s where he’s got the ability to finish those plays. The one coming out of the second half, I’ll have to go back and look at it, but it’s the thing that makes him so dangerous is that you get him the ability to get to the second level unabated, and he gets enough speed and he’s excellent.
“He’s as good as there is as a slash runner to be able to work edges and then be able to erase angles and be able to finish. That’s why he had the production that he had and that’s why he’s had arguably an MVP type of season so far.”
Sean McVay: Rams will ‘come back swinging’ after loss to Eagles
The Rams’ margin for error moving forward is very thin, but they are still very much in the NFC West postseason mix. They will look to bounce back when they travel to take on the New Orleans Saints in Week 13.
“Yeah, exactly that. You get yourself up off the mat. You look at the things that we can control, you look at the things that we can correct, and you just go back to work,” McVay said.
“I don’t know any other way to go about it other than to say, ‘Tonight it didn’t go down for us and there are a lot of reasons for it.’ You do give Philadelphia the credit that they deserve. But we’re going to come back swinging. I know that much.”