The Los Angeles Rams are facing some real adversity for perhaps the first time in the Sean McVay era after dropping back-to-back games to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks to fall to 3-2 on the season.
The Rams played much better against the Seahawks despite having a short week to prepare, but there are no moral victories in the NFL and the result was a 30-29 loss after Greg Zuerlein missed a potential game-winning field goal.
Obviously the season is not over though and the Rams will now have 10 days to regroup before hosting the first-place San Francisco 49ers for a big Week 6 matchup.
While it is easy to sulk after back-to-back losses with the second being a heart-breaking one, Rams left tackle and captain Andrew Whitworth is choosing to look at the positives, via Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic:
“If we keep playing like this we’re gonna be just fine,” Whitworth quietly told Kroenke, assuring the boss that, in spite of the final score and the back-to-back losses and their current standing in third place the NFC West, the Rams had done so many good things on Thursday night, they were leaving Seattle feeling even better about themselves then when they arrived.
“I do feel that way,” Whitworth later told The Athletic. “I’ve played long enough to know … I mean some of these seasons you play well enough to win but sometimes things just don’t bounce your way. The key is to keep your head down, keep playing well, keep finding ways to come out and produce. And if you can do that, things can turn your way. You saw that last year with multiple teams. The New England Patriots started 1-2 and then found a way. They won the Super Bowl. Reality is, you can take a lot from this loss. Came on the road, on a short week, after a game we had like 80 something plays, and gave ourselves a chance to win. We just didn’t. But there’s a lot to say, ‘Hey, let’s replicate this performance. Let’s find a way to keep doing this. And we’ll get this thing rolling.’”
Whitworth is in his 14th year in the NFL, being named a Pro Bowler four times and All-Pro twice, so he certainly knows what it takes to win in this league.
The Rams offensive line has been among the worst in football through the first five games of the season. While that may not be Whitworth’s fault, it will be up to him to get his unit up to speed if the Rams want to turn this around and win the NFC West for the third consecutive season.
