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The Los Angeles Rams stunk up the joint in a Week 9 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday Night Football. Keep in mind that the Titans were without superstar running back Derrick Henry, a fact which should have worked in L.A.'s favor. It didn't turn out that way for a team which has made it plain that it is going all-in on pursuing the Super Bowl this season.
Here are a few central takeaways from Sunday's game. The Rams laid an egg and face serious questions heading into the second half of the 18-week NFL season.
Los Angeles Rams Week 9 Takeaways
4. Sean McVay was completely outcoached by Mike Vrabel, which should be alarming
Sean McVay has certainly upgraded the Los Angeles Rams. He took them to the Super Bowl and did so with Jared Goff under center. That is no small feat.
Yet, the Rams have not built on that Super Bowl run. They have clearly regressed in subsequent years. Part of L.A.'s problem is that McVay coaches scared in games. Counter to his wonderboy image and his identity as an avant-garde thinker in NFL circles, McVay is often very cautious. He kept kicking field goals while the Titans kept stacking touchdowns. Yes, some fourth-down attempts for the Rams didn't work out in this game, and that had a role in enabling Tennessee to win, but it remains that if a team intends to kick a field goal on fourth down instead of going for it, that affects how we should view third-down play selection.
McVay did not find the play sequencing which worked against a Tennessee defense whose secondary has been a weak spot this season. McVay's inability to land deep shots against the Titans — something the Seattle Seahawks and Russell Wilson were able to achieve earlier this season (even though Tennessee came back to win that game in the Pacific Northwest) — should raise serious concerns about McVay's ability to guide this offense to SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022.
3. Rams don't have a home-field advantage
The team which would be able to host the Super Bowl this season (along with the Los Angeles Chargers) will have a problem reaching the big game, because home field is not proving to be any sort of advantage for the Rams. Los Angeles did crush the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in SoFi Stadium, but it has now eaten blowout losses against the Titans and the Arizona Cardinals.
Let's also note that the Rams came about 20 yards from losing to the Detroit Lions at home. Jared Goff thankfully threw a red-zone interception to spare Los Angeles from a humiliating defeat, but the home team led the Lions by only six points inside the final five minutes of regulation. McVay's men came perilously close to a one-point defeat.
Last year, the Rams lost at home to the Jets, but that was in an empty stadium due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, fans are back in the stands, and yet Los Angeles isn't making good use of its new and gleaming stadium. This is why the team trails the Cardinals in the NFC West race, and will have to win on the road in Arizona to have any possible shot at overtaking the Bird Gang for the division championship this season. That's not where L.A. had hoped to be after Week 9.
2. The defense is not the problem
The Rams smothered the Titans on a night when Tennessee did not have Derrick Henry. The defense is not the problem on this team. The Rams will be ready in the playoffs on this side of the ball. They have too many good players at different levels of their defense to fall short.
On the other hand:
1. Matthew Stafford is not making the grade for the Rams
While the defense is fine, Matthew Stafford is not. This season is a referendum on Stafford and his career. The thought process governing the blockbuster deal with the Lions was that Stafford would finally escape from Detroit and become a super-duper star who would put all the pieces together. Stafford would thrive with the resources and coaching available to him in Los Angeles. Instead, he pulled a Sunday night clunker, throwing two interceptions which changed the whole game. The Rams need a high-quality version of Matt Stafford. They aren't getting him, certainly not in big games against the Cardinals and now the Titans.
