The Los Angeles Rams put the league on notice with their dominating performance against the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football in Week 1 in Matthew Stafford’s debut.
While they weren’t exactly able to replicate that performance in Week 2, they did come away with a gritty 27-24 victory to improve to 2-0 on the year.
The Rams led for most of the game, although they found themselves trailing in the fourth quarter after a fumbled punt attempt led to a Colts touchdown. Stafford stayed calm and led the Rams down the field on just four plays for the go-ahead touchdown though, finding Cooper Kupp in the middle of the end zone.
When discussing the win, Rams head coach Sean McVay admitted his team didn’t play their best but was happy with how they overcame the challenges they faced, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN:
“There was a lot of adversity that we hit, and there’s no style points in this league,” McVay said moments earlier. “So finding a way to get a win I think says a lot about our team.”
Stafford agreed with McVay’s assessment of the win:
“They’re not all going to be pretty,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford, who completed 19 of 30 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception.
Stafford also made sure to note that this was only the Rams’ second game together and the expectation is they will get better as the season goes on:
“We were explosive today on offense; we just weren’t as efficient as I think we can be and want to be,” Stafford said. “It was an up and down: All phases had great plays and plays that I know they want back.”
“Everybody’s out there trying to work the kinks out, get to playing as good as football as can be, as they can,” the signal-caller said. “And winning those along the way is a positive.”
Considering how strong the NFC West is again this season, every win will count. So even though McVay and Stafford are right that it wasn’t pretty, the most important thing is that the Rams came away with a win over the Colts.
They will need to be better moving forward if they want to remain undefeated though as they welcome Tom Brady and the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to town in Week 3.
