Since Sean McVay came to Los Angeles, the Rams have ranked as one of the NFL’s best offensive teams.
However, that has been far from the case during the 2022 season as the Rams offense ranks near the bottom in several different categories. Their struggles to score points came back to bite them yet again in their Week 9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Los Angeles had several opportunities to put the game away when they had the football, but a crucial three-and-out in the final two minutes allowed Tom Brady to march down the field and score what ended up being the game-winning touchdown.
According to Stu Jackson of TheRams.com, McVay expressed the urgency to figure out their issues:
“We’ve got to really figure out a lot of different things to be able to do,” McVay said. “Whether it’s different players, whether it’s different schemes, different things like that, but this is not good enough. And I have to do better too. I’m a huge part of this. And that’s just the reality of where we’re at right now.”
McVay made sure to credit his defense for carrying the team for most of the afternoon, but openly criticized his offense:
“I thought our defense did enough to be able to win that football game,” McVay said. “Clearly, offensively, not even close to good enough.”
The offensive issues are multi-layered, starting with the offensive line which trickles down to both the running and passing games. The backs on the roster have largely underwhelmed when handed the football, while Matthew Stafford’s on track to be sacked twice as much as he was last season.
By standing pat at the trade deadline, the Rams now must look internally to solve whatever is going on offensively though at this point in the season it feels like time has already run out.