Rams' Defensive Woes Will Serve as Early-Season Lesson

Here's why the defensive woes of the Rams in Week 4 will serve as a lesson to learn from.

The Los Angeles Rams handled business in the first three weeks of the season, posting wins over the Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in games where they looked like the more superior team. 

But in Week 4 when the Arizona Cardinals came to SoFi Stadium, the Rams defense had no answers to stop quarterback Kyler Murray and the Cardinals' offensive game plan.

"I've got to be way better for our football team," coach Sean McVay said following the Rams' 37-20 loss to the Cardinals. "Make no excuses about it. I didn't do a good enough job to get our guys ready to go. But fortunately for us, we've got a chance on a short week to be able to respond the way that we expect to, the way that we want to. And that's exactly what we're going to do moving forward.”

The Rams' defensive efforts through the first three weeks were borderline exceptional. They displayed an adequate pass-rush, linebackers were playing sideline-to-sideline with explosive speed and the secondary was holding their own on the backend in coverage. During the span, the Rams held opponents to an average of 20.6 points per game. Meanwhile, the Cardinals hung 24 points on the Rams by halftime and 37 in total, giving L.A. their first loss as they fell short to Arizona by three scores.

While certainly, the Rams didn’t expect to leave SoFi Stadium having allowed 465 net yards and 37 points to the Cardinals, but this is a game to learn from. Blowing teams out as the Rams did last week against the Bucs is a good boost of confidence for the team but those games don’t show who the team truly is when things get tense. 

The Rams hadn't faced much adversity prior to trailing the Cardinals. The only time the Rams played from behind during the early stages of this season was for one series against the Colts. With the expectation of that, this was a new experience for the 2021 Rams squad.

Sure, the Rams would rather sit with a 4-0 record entering Week 5. However, this game could be just the reality check that the team needed to enhance their play in games moving forward.

They'll need to digest the loss, learn from it and turn the page quickly as the Rams head to Seattle on a short week for a Thursday Night Football showdown against the Seahawks.

"I’ll always look at myself first and that’s where the responsibility lies," McVay said. "The beauty of it is, you don’t have a ton of time to sit around and be sorry for yourself. You get ready to go and move forward and that’s exactly what I’m going to do and what our team is going to do.”

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Continue reading:

• Rams Get First Taste of Adversity, Falling to Cardinals 37-20
• Rams' Week 4 Inactives vs. Cardinals
• Rams vs. Cardinals Closing Odds: Point Spread, Over/Under, Moneyline
• Rams vs. Cardinals: Week 4 Prediction Picks
• Rams vs. Cardinals: 3 Matchups to Watch

Nick Cothrel is the Publisher of Ram Digest. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickCothrel.