Through the first four weeks of the season, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Robert Woods stayed relatively quiet as Cooper Kupp took center stage as Matthew Stafford’s No. 1 target.
Even though the Rams were 3-1, that had to have been frustrating for Woods, who eclipsed more than 1,000 total yards from scrimmage in each of the last three seasons with the Rams.
Woods did not panic though, instead having a conversation with Sean McVay about how he can get more involved in the offense, and it worked to perfection in the Week 5 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday Night Football.
The Los Angeles native had perhaps his best game as a Ram, getting open all day and hauling in 12 receptions for 150 yards.
After the game, Woods spoke about how he stayed patient and waited for his time to come, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“It was one of those games where I just keep getting open, keep getting my number called,” Woods said postgame. “That’s how the team works. You never know how the game goes and the flows of our season goes, but always be ready and always expecting the ball, and today was my day.”
Stafford also gave praise to Woods for his selflessness and doing whatever it takes to help the team win:
“Just so appreciative of who he is as a person and who he is as a leader on our team,” Stafford said. “He does everything we ask of him – ask him to go in there and block, ask him to run block, for other receivers, do all these things and just knows that his opportunities are going to come, and when they come, he has a huge night on the road, in a hostile environment, in a division game where we really needed someone to step up and he did just that. So I’m happy for him and proud of him.”
Nobody was more deserving of that big game than Woods, and hopefully that helped build more of a connection with Stafford so the quarterback can continue spreading it around moving forward.
It’s no secret the Rams have a lot of talent at the receiver position, and now with the emergence of Woods, it will be impossible to cover everyone at the same time.
