With the game already in the books, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Robert Woods caught his second garbage-time touchdown of the 2021 NFL season.
Woods appeared to be notably frustrated after the catch since it only helped solidify the 37-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals and his reduced role in the offense. After all, the veteran has registered a mere 15 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns through the first four games of the year.
Woods and Cooper Kupp established themselves as one of the most productive receiver tandems in the league over the past four seasons. However, the arrival of quarterback Matthew Stafford has seen Kupp emerge as the clear-cut No. 1 option in the passing game.
Despite Woods showing signs of frustration, head coach Sean McVay is not worried about the potential effect it could have on his performance, via Cameron DaSilva of USA Today:
“I’m not worried about Robert Wood’s demeanor and disposition,” McVay said Monday. “He’s a captain. He was frustrated because I think that was a flip of, ‘we scored’, but that was a frustrating day for all of us. Nobody wants to be in that situation with the standards, the expectations that we have. But if you look at that drive, you talk about a guy that’s competing the right way. He made a handful of plays on that drive. Looked at him compete without the ball on the one screen that we threw to Van Jefferson. This guy’s a stud in every sense of the word.”
McVay added that the onus will fall on him to find a way to get Woods more involved on offense moving forward:
“It is important to be able to get a handful of guys involved,” he said. “That’s something that I always want to continue to be intentional about. I think that’s one of the benefits that we do have is we’ve got five eligibles. Want to be able to spread that wealth while also making sure that sometimes I’m calling plays where guys are the primary and the coverage doesn’t necessarily dictate where the read goes. So, when Robert’s involved, that’s a good thing for the Rams offense. That’s something that we want to continue to see displayed, but Robert is a leader, he’s a captain and he’s been doing a great job up to this point. We just need to get him some more opportunities and that starts with me.”
There is certainly no shortage of weapons on offense for McVay and Stafford to utilize. It is imperative that they find ways to spread the ball effectively in order to keep the opposition guessing.
Woods made it clear before the season that he would anything he can to ensure that this team lives up to the championship hype. However, there is a notable discrepancy between the 25 targets he has received from Stafford compared to Kupp’s 46.
Fortunately, McVay has done a solid job of making adjustments when needed like when he pledged to get wide receiver DeSean Jackson more involved. Jackson wound up hauling in three receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown the following week.
