In a lengthy response to a question about how his defense might be able to generate turnovers, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay laid bare his frustrations with the way his defense has performed through five games. The team’s Week 6 matchup against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday will be a true test of Los Angeles’ mettle, and without a few takeaways, they may drop another game below .500.
Asked specifically about conversations he has had with defensive players regarding their lack of production, McVay told reporters that he feels his team has been “playing from behind” since Week 1. Though he stopped well short of blaming the defense for the Rams’ losses in recent weeks, it was clear that the defense hasn’t lived up to his expectations.
“I think when the opportunities present themselves, we want to be able to maximize on those,” McVay explained. “I think certain games… I got respect for Dallas. What they did was they played a smart game based on the control that their defense was able to establish over our offense. They get a 9-0 lead, then they end up hitting that big run to get the lead back after we were up 10-9 and they played smart ball where there wasn’t really many opportunities. I do think that you get more opportunities when you’re in those situations, particularly where you force people to throw the football.
“But because we’ve been playing from behind against Buffalo, against Dallas, and when you look at it against San Francisco, your opportunities to get the takeaways are limited just based on if you say, ‘Alright, well what types of plays are where the most frequent turnovers occur?’ I think that is a team thing. We’ve got to be able to help those guys from our offense, from our special teams and try to be able to play from the front where you force people to be more one dimensional where 80% of those turnovers are ending up occurring on those passing plays.”
Most of the talk about the Rams’ struggles in recent weeks has been centered around their turnstile offensive line, which has seen its depth obliterated by injuries. With fill-in players at key positions up front, quarterback Matthew Stafford has faced the impossible task of moving the offense downfield, and the results of the team’s efforts speak for themselves.
In the game of football, one hand washes the other between offense and defense. Los Angeles has not been shut out in any of their games so far this season, while the defense is yet to allow less than 12 points in an outing. Perhaps it is too much of McVay to ask the unit to hold the line just a bit tighter, but with uncontrollable circumstances affecting every phase of his offense, it will be up to the other side of the ball to carry the load if the team intends to get back in the win column in the coming weeks.
