After a breakout season last year, there were a lot of eyes on Los Angeles Rams running back Kyren Williams to see if he could replicate that success. And with the injuries suffered at receiver, head coach Sean McVay was basically forced to run the offense through Williams early on this year and he was up to the challenge.
Williams currently ranks sixth in the NFL in rushing yards and has 11 total touchdowns so far this season, leading the Rams in yards from scrimmage by a large margin. Unfortunately, however, he has had issues holding on to the ball lately, having four fumbles in the last four contests including two in the Rams’ loss Sunday night to the Philadelphia Eagles.
For as good as Williams has been, this is something that can’t continue and McVay knows this as well.
“You know, that’s something we have to be better at, for sure,” McVay said after the loss to the Eagles.
The Rams have been good this season at taking care of the ball for the most part so they definitely can’t afford for this to become a bigger issue. That’s especially the case for Williams who has been such a huge part of their offense and someone McVay can rely on.
Those turnovers can be very costly too as was the case against the Eagles when the Rams’ opening drive was ended due to Williams’ fumble deep in Philadelphia territory. McVay admitted that the Williams miscue in that moment really hurt.
“It did take the – it was tough because I thought our offensive line came out ready to go. I thought Kyren was hitting those holes and that play, you’re in scoring position already right there, felt good about some different options, and for us to turn it over there when we did, it was costly, for sure.”
McVay again spoke about it later in the week and said the plan is to stick with Williams as the starter after having a conversation with him.
“You certainly have those conversations and you understand it’s about being able to correct,” he said. “Negative experiences without teaching I think this is where you lose morale. It’s really important to be able to have teaching and let’s apply it. Kyren [Williams] is so conscientious. In a lot of instances, he is such a great competitor. That’s one of his best traits that you’re saying, ‘When you were doing this, let’s understand what a great job these defenses do at attacking the football. Where are we leaving ourselves susceptible and what can we do to try to able to give ourselves the best chance to get as many yards as possible while also not potentially giving the football up?’ I trust him being able to move forward. He’s always been a guy that has been mentally tough. He’s been able to respond and I think that’s going to be reflected moving forward.”
The hope is that this is just a rough stretch for Williams and he will have this issue handled soon. He is far too important to the success of the Rams and McVay will surely continue to go to him unless he completely forces his hand which still seems unlikely.
Sean McVay believes Rams will respond well from humbling loss vs. Eagles
The Rams had a chance to pick up a huge win on Sunday night against the Eagles but were unable to contain Saquon Barkley and ultimately came up short. Now at 5-6, the Rams don’t have much room for error, but head coach Sean McVay is confident that his team will respond well to this loss.
“I thought we came out ready to go. The turnover really hurt us, obviously,” McVay said. “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.”
