The Los Angeles Rams (5-6) fell on Sunday Night Football to the Philadelphia Eagles (9-2) by a score of 37-20. The loss puts them tied for last in the division with the San Francisco 49ers (5-6). Rams head coach Sean McVay spoke after the game recapping the contest and recognizes a few issues.
The Eagles could not have played a better game, specifically on the offensive side of the ball. They gained 481 yards of total offense, scoring 30 or more points for the fourth time this season. They were dominant from start to finish, scoring on seven of their nine possessions in the game.
"Congrats to Philadelphia, they did a good job," McVay said. "They did way too many good things, explosive wise in the running game for us to be able to overcome. I thought we came out ready to go, the turnover really hurt us, obviously. I thought when it's a one possession game, they ended up scoring quickly coming out of the half and then we were able to match it. Then it just kind of got away from us, but there's humbling nights like this in football. It's all about how you respond. I do know that this team has the capability to be able to respond and we'll get ourselves off the mat and and we'll have a good week of preparation this week."
McVay mentioned the running game that thrived and boy did it. All-Pro back Saquon Barkley continues to build his resume for MVP with a season-high performance of 255 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Both of his scores were on 70+ yard rushes, exposing the Rams' run defense.
"Those are the things, he's [Barkley] getting tough, hard earned yards," McVay said. "Then you give him a vertical seam like he got a couple times and he's got the explosiveness and the long speed and the ability to be able to finish. That was really what opened up and really blew the game open for him. He was outstanding tonight."
The Rams did themselves no favors when trying to battle back in the game as quarterback Matthew Stafford was pressured all game and was sacked five times for a total of 45 yards. The offensive line was coming off a week with zero sacks against New England, but did not hold up tonight.
Eagles fourth-year defensive tackle Milton Williams led the way with two of the five sacks. The Eagles defense was also able to garner eight tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hits on Stafford, forcing the Rams offense to stall on several drives. The Rams were 0-8 on third down conversions in the loss.
"It was a tough night and we'll go back and we'll look at it," McVay said. "We knew that they had some guys that were pretty damn good, but we've got to be able to consistently do a better job and give them a little bit more time. It wasn't one person in particular, there was a couple things, but there were some really quick beats and we got to be able to look at that and see where we can be better."
Sitting at 5-6, the Rams will need to go on quite the run if they want to become a playoff team. Luckily, they play in the tightest division in football and are just a game out of contention as the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks lead the NFC West at 6-5 each.
McVay has experience pulling a losing season into a playoff one. He is confident in his team's ability to bounce back next week as they travel south to play the New Orleans Saints (4-7) in Week 13.
"You get yourself off the mat, you look at the things that we can control, you look at the things that we can correct and you just go back to work," McVay said. "I don't know any other way to go about it other than to say tonight it didn't go down for us and there's a lot of reasons for it. You do give Philadelphia the credit that they deserve, but we're going to come back swinging, I know that much."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Rams' McVay Addresses Key Issues From Sunday's Loss.