Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford struggled to find his rhythm during the team’s 37-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 4.
For the first time in the 2021 NFL season, the Rams simply could not get anything going on offense and it resulted in a critical loss to a NFC West opponent. Stafford endured his worst outing of the year after completing just 26-of-41 passes for 280 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
The usually-explosive offense for L.A. was relegated to just 13 points before a garbage-time touchdown pass to wide receiver Robert Woods somewhat narrowed the deficit. They now find themselves in a difficult position heading into a short week with their matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Stafford blamed himself for not being able to get the offense going and is hoping to get this group back on track in Week 5.
“Yeah, I think I just didn’t make enough plays. There was some opportunities early in that game for us to score points and, you know, for me to make some throws and I didn’t make those. It’s obviously disappointing. I don’t want to not make those throws. I want to make those for our guys and for our team. I just got to go back and be better. I’m going to have another opportunity. The good thing is we play again on Thursday. So I won’t have to sit and think about this one too long. It will be a big challenge going into Seattle here in a couple days. A lot to learn, a lot to unpack, like you said. But I think it boils down to early in that game, missing some opportunities, whether it be on third down or in the red zone to score some points against a team that, frankly, was going to be scoring some points on offense. A really talented group they have over there. And we knew it was going to have to be one of those games where kind of blow for blow, maybe at a certain point. And we put our defense in a bad spot earlier there not coming away with some points.”
While Stafford plans on learning from this loss, he is already focused on getting familiar with the Seahawks defense.
“I think it’s easy when you have to turn the page so quickly. You know, the next thing I’m going to be looking at is…I’ll finish looking at this one and then, you know, I’ll be looking at Seattle as quickly as possible. You know, I haven’t played them as much as a lot of other guys in this locker room have played them, so I’ll have some homework to do and make sure I’m up to speed, ready to go come Thursday.”
If history is any indication, the Rams will have their work cut out trying to get back into the win column against the Seahawks. Their divisional rivals are coming off a win against the San Francisco 49ers and will have a chance to make another statement in Week 5.
The onus will fall on Stafford and head coach Sean McVay to figure out how to bring back that explosive element to their offense. Fortunately, it is still early in the season and some growing pains were to be expected.
Their performance this week will be a strong indicator of this team’s ability to bounce back.
