The Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots will face off in a game where one team needs to win significantly more than the other. The Patriots enter their matchup against the Rams with nothing to lose.
With Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford in his 16th season in the National Football League, he has continued to see every type of coverage possible. He is preparing to see any and everything on Sunday from a Patriots team with nothing to lose.
Rams head coach Sean McVay believes it is a sign of respect.
"I think pretty frequently when you have a quarterback that is so well respected in terms of his preparation and his understanding,” McVay said. “I think that's a compliment to him. It comes up very frequently and then sometimes more often than not, situationally or things of that nature.
“I know this when you've been in positions, and I think the respect that he's garnered over the course of his career dictates that, but whether you're a great player or whether you're doing a really good job from an offensive perspective, usually you don't get what you're seeing because you elicit different responses. I think that's a reflection of the respect that people have for Matthew."
The Rams only ran the ball for 70 yards last week against the Miami Dolphins and 68 yards the week before that against the Seattle Seahawks.
McVay noted that it will be critical for the Rams to get their running game going, especially on the road. The Rams hope to make a playoff push over the second half of the season, but it will be impossible without a consistent rushing attack.
“It’s big. You've heard me say it before. Any good offense has the ability to do both," McVay said. "This is an 11-on11 game. You're always trying to attack certain things as they're trying to stop or vice versa.
“If you commit to one thing and you don't have the ability to make them pay for where there's leverages, angles, or numbers that you can create, you're going to make it hard on yourself. That is why it is so important to be a fully functional offense.
“The most complete offense that we've ever had here that you've seen and that I've been a part of had the ability to do both. That's something that we're always striving to do. That's been an area of inconsistency for us this year.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Rams Coach Sounds Off on Franchise Player.