The RAMS Forum

More I think about today’s loss… the more I’m actually ok w it…

Our issue is, it’s the tale of two Rams teams, and ultimately this comes down to coaching for me.

These Rams have always played better as the dogs under McVay, yet, we struggle when we’re #1 (on top and favored).

It’s almost like a dog chasing cars for Sean… if he caught one, he wouldn’t know what to do w it. This could be Sean’s biggest issue actually.

Think about it, we seem to strive at working to be the best, but when we finally get there… we look like another team.

Now, this isn’t always the case. We did win a chip in ‘21 and had an amazing run… question is, can McVay and Co find this fire again and stick with it?.

It’s damn tough staying on top. I had a friend tell me when I was in college, ‘making your first million isn’t the hard part, it’s keeping it, is what’s hard’. I honestly have no answers for Sean or Matt Stafford. But, should Sean figure this out… we could be unstoppable. Because, Rams are the MOST talented team in the league…. Yet, when you show up as lazy and laid back as Rams showed up today, you’re usually going to get your ass handed to you… and that’s exactly what happened to Matt, Forbes and McVay.

I’m still miffed about the delay off game call in the 4th qtr… just when I thought we finally figured out clock management and getting the plays into Staff on time, we go and lay a fat dump on 3rd and short and literally cost us the game! To ad insult to injury, Matt fumbles the damn ball the very next play… and to me, this was what decided the game today (besides most of our guys playing like crap, especially Forbes, how many big yard plays and TD’s did he single handily allow today? ).

So just think about it this way, WHAT would have happened today if the same damn Rams team who played the Bucs last Sunday, showed up today?

Glendora and NorCal are right, we thought we would cruise today and we didn’t take the game seriously.

Well, hopefully now, every Rams employee knows what the dark side feels like, and won’t screw around again…. FAFO! Please, allow this loss to wake us up and not do this crap again. WE ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS.

Thats all I got. On to Arizona… who is a better AZ team by the way, they almost won today. So, no easy layup SEAN!

I agree with you most of the time but not much with this thread………..

Can McVay find his fire to win another SB? What a loss today has us questioning this? McVay wants another SB more than anyone in that organization is my bet……………

That “dog” you talked about today, granted not an elite team, but still was 6-6 going into today and still in the thick of the playoff race……..

It was a bad loss. The loss is on…………..

A defense that got physically whipped all day……….

A CB that got abused all day after having a hell of a month………….

A QB who turned the ball over twice in the RZ, they were moving the ball up n down the field with the play calling n execution, and a pick six that was a horrible pass by the QB………………

This yes bad loss was on a D who did something rare for them and did not show up today as well as QB who did what you cant do n that is turn the ball over. Why did we prior to today run off 6 straight wins? See no further than QB n no TO……………..

This was on the players period. Defensively after last Sunday that came out and got manhandled because well they forgot if you don’t give the same effort………….

QB is still elite n having a great season. Defense is still damn good. 9-3 defines such. And HC I bet will have this team ready to play in AZ………..

TLDR No loss is good especially one that should not have happened. C'mon man!!

I don’t think any losses are good but more that they are inevitable. I’ll be far more concerned if they lose to Seattle/Detroit.

The other games won’t tell you much about where the team is. Next week we won’t learn anything.

Dec 14- Detroit
Dec 18- Seattle

That’s the test.

UtahRam wrote: ↑November 30th, 2025, 7:23 pm
TLDR No loss is good especially one that should not have happened. C'mon man!!

Agreed! Especially a loss which knocks our team off of the inside track for the NFC's #1 playoff seed, that's a disastrous defeat!

To employ a classic expression that generally applies to the Rams, 'They can't stand prosperity'...

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

It’s not the end of the world but IMO, There are No good losses in the second half of the season. All they do, at this point is worsen tour playoff position and is expose your weaknesses. The Rams were looking like the best team in the nfl and now they look beatable again.

My biggest concern is that teams will now think they can pound the ball on us all day. We are going to face some great RB's in the playoffs so they better figure it out. Chicago had two RB's over 100 yards vs. Philly. Kyle Monangai 130 and Swift 125.

And back to the OP. We lost and it's over so we have to make it a "good" thing. We have no choice but to use it as a wake up call and focus on what broke down.

No good losses. The only upside is maybe these guys come back with fire and understand they need to play 100% every game in the NFL.

This imo was an unexceptable loss. We should have routed this team. They were short 5 starters Moerig is a great safety and 2nd leading tackler on the team he and Horn is an all pro level corner were out. Starters like ILB, Center and Right Guard were out. Young is a mediocre to below average QB this should have been a feeding frenzy.

Pick 6 was terrible Puka wasn't open.

We should have run more but imo the defense as a whole was terrible, bad coverage by cbs, bad tackling at key moments, but our run defense was awful and we added Ford and Landman which should helped negate this.

Me I disagree that it was all on the players yes they are there to execute but I think it was the scheme by Shula his soft 2 deep plan against a pound it team is stupid. No adjustments. We have seen and complained about this before over the last month.

See now one can agree with most of this reply. Not one that includes the damn weather excuses………

Reflecting on game zooming out.

Rams pretty much moved the ball at will. They had 3 turnovers. Carolina 0. One was a pick 6. Other 2 were in scoring territory one an end zone INT. The game was a 10 am game on the east coast. Carolina had two 4th and 2-3 long TD throws. Frankly flukey type of plays.

I know Carolina isn’t great, but they’re not a drag either. Prob a 9 win team this year and improved.

With all that said Rams lost by 3 points and still scored 4 TDs. Other teams would get blown out.

Rams are for real. On to AZ.

SoCalRam78 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 8:36 am Reflecting on game zooming out.

Rams pretty much moved the ball at will. They had 3 turnovers. Carolina 0. One was a pick 6. Other 2 were in scoring territory one an end zone INT. The game was a 10 am game on the east coast. Carolina had two 4th and 2-3 long TD throws. Frankly flukey type of plays.

I know Carolina isn’t great, but they’re not a drag either. Prob a 9 win team this year and improved.

With all that said Rams lost by 3 points and still scored 4 TDs. Other teams would get blown out.

Rams are for real. On to AZ.

I agree with everything other than the mention of the starting time………

I chalk it up to a few things:

1) It's the NFL. There are no lay-ups. 3-9 Washington took 10-2 Denver to OT last night with their backup QB.
2) At some point - the turnover bug was bound to bite us. It did yesterday. To be -3 and still lose by 3. Not the end of the world.
3) If you're paying attention - Carolina is a solid team, with strengths that highlighted some of our weaknesses.

These losses happen. Hopefully it sharpens us down the stretch.

Idaho_Ram wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 9:03 am I chalk it up to a few things:

1) It's the NFL. There are no lay-ups. 3-9 Washington took 10-2 Denver to OT last night with their backup QB.
2) At some point - the turnover bug was bound to bite us. It did yesterday. To be -3 and still lose by 3. Not the end of the world.
3) If you're paying attention - Carolina is a solid team, with strengths that highlighted some of our weaknesses.

These losses happen. Hopefully it sharpens us down the stretch.

100 % agree

Idaho_Ram wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 9:03 am
These losses happen. Hopefully it sharpens us down the stretch.

Well, I don't know about us (our team), however I'm projecting that it has definitely 'sharpened' their situations for the Bears, Eagles, Seahawks and 49ers...

RAM SEASON!!

--The Commish

West coast teams traveling to the east coast and having to play the morning game a lot of times does not work out for them....Rams will be fine

malibu wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 7:53 am This imo was an unexceptable loss. We should have routed this team. They were short 5 starters Moerig is a great safety and 2nd leading tackler on the team he and Horn is an all pro level corner were out. Starters like ILB, Center and Right Guard were out. Young is a mediocre to below average QB this should have been a feeding frenzy.

Pick 6 was terrible Puka wasn't open.

We should have run more but imo the defense as a whole was terrible, bad coverage by cbs, bad tackling at key moments, but our run defense was awful and we added Ford and Landman which should helped negate this.

Me I disagree that it was all on the players yes they are there to execute but I think it was the scheme by Shula his soft 2 deep plan against a pound it team is stupid. No adjustments. We have seen and complained about this before over the last month.

“ We have seen and complained about this before over the last month.”

No you and a few others have complained about it not “we”……………..

ocram23 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 12:49 pm West coast teams traveling to the east coast and having to play the morning game a lot of times does not work out for them....Rams will be fine

Agree…….

Not under McVay though. They were like 14-5 under him when playing @ 10:00am pst before yesterday. And I don’t think I’m blaming the Philly game this year on the starting time…………

I know you know this oc. It’s just ridiculous IMO that some blame yesterday on the starting time. Right up there with the weather excuse……..

Nothing to over analyze about yesterday from where I sit. The QB turned the ball over 3 times and the D sucked. That covers it…………..

NorCal RF wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 2:11 pm

ocram23 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 12:49 pm West coast teams traveling to the east coast and having to play the morning game a lot of times does not work out for them....Rams will be fine

Agree…….

Not under McVay though. They were like 14-5 under him when playing @ 10:00am pst before yesterday. And I don’t think I’m blaming the Philly game this year on the starting time…………

I know you know this oc. It’s just ridiculous IMO that some blame yesterday on the starting time. Right up there with the weather excuse……..

Nothing to over analyze about yesterday from where I sit. The QB turned the ball over 3 times and the D sucked. That covers it…………..

This begs the question why did the defense suck? Why were they not ready to play? Why did the DL get manhandled? Why weren't adjustments made? Why did the D give up 370 yards when against the 9ers Carolina could only muster 238? I think some of the answers probably can be found in coaching and scheme...

It's a true testament to the talent level the Rams have considering that in all 3 losses, we left more than enough points to win on the field.
We had 3 very makeable ST's Kicks for points that screwed up and 1 even went for a TD the other way and we lost @ Philly by only 7
We had 2 fumbles from RB1 and more ST's Blunders and soft D and we lost in OT by just 3 points to SF.
Yesterday we had 3 TO's from the Leading MVP candidate and a terrible Defensive scheme/execution, whatever that was and again we lost by just a FG.
How bad do you think we may have whooped those 3 if those breaks went our way instead? Bet by more than 3 points....
Even when we screw up our games stillgo down to the wire...

I for one am glad they had this kind of effort in game 12 and not in playoff game 1.. It's the NFL ffs! Every contender has stumbled...
They've been pretty good a fixing what's been ailing us this year and bounced back with W's the next game after the 1st two setbacks.
I trust that Sean and Company will get it sorted out and bring another solid game to Arizona...
Some are spoiled and expect perfection every week, every play.
Not happening for any team. Human nature won't allow it. The goal remains the same...
Lets Go YOU Rams!

This game… after Thanksgiving, on the road, against a team that perhaps is better than their record.
That combined with some lazy play. It seems the Rams weren’t really ready to play.
A good loss, for me there never is a good loss. But, I hope this loss will get them refocused for the stretch run.

GlendoraRam wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 3:11 pm This game… after Thanksgiving, on the road, against a team that perhaps is better than their record.
That combined with some lazy play. It seems the Rams weren’t really ready to play.
A good loss, for me there never is a good loss. But, I hope this loss will get them refocused for the stretch run.

A game that has no bearing on the Rams standing like we've seen with the last games of the season, the last 2 years is a "fantastic loss" if it knocks the 9ers out of the playoffs. AFAIC we don't want them to finish last and get to draft 1st overall, just barely miss the playoffs and draft 15th.

fan since 65 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 2:51 pm

NorCal RF wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 2:11 pm

Agree…….

Not under McVay though. They were like 14-5 under him when playing @ 10:00am pst before yesterday. And I don’t think I’m blaming the Philly game this year on the starting time…………

I know you know this oc. It’s just ridiculous IMO that some blame yesterday on the starting time. Right up there with the weather excuse……..

Nothing to over analyze about yesterday from where I sit. The QB turned the ball over 3 times and the D sucked. That covers it…………..

This begs the question why did the defense suck? Why were they not ready to play? Why did the DL get manhandled? Why weren't adjustments made? Why did the D give up 370 yards when against the 9ers Carolina could only muster 238? I think some of the answers probably can be found in coaching and scheme...

Fair question and who knows. One can draw their own conclusions……..

I hate the statement “ reading their press clippings” but it may be true for yesterday. The entire damn NFL was talking about them. Very young defense that may have just been a bit full of themselves yesterday going into the game. And I don’t care how often some reminded them last week. Players play n this is a young group on D. They quite possibly just thought they could show up and……..

That is why when one says nothing to learn yesterday I say absolutely not true……..

Well, geeez guys... dont be too easy on me... lol.

When I say good loss, I mean it's a gut check. I think our guys were reading headlines all week stating the Rams are the team to beat.

Playing like we did yesterday and leaving our brains back in L.A. I think was a wake up call. Rams now know every game is vital down the stretch. We just cant dick around anymore.

ALL THREE OF OUR LOSSES had one thing in common, WE BEAT OURSELVES. We ALL know we are a better team yesterday, and even the Carolina coach stated he was somewhat shocked at how we played. What does that tell you?

You guys, there is NO GOOD LOSS, but my point was, Maybe this loss wakes us up and we stop screwing around. Rams were brainless lazy idiots yesterday FROM THE COACH down. We had the run going, but we abandoned it... We knew Stafford was struggling... We couldn't get the damn plays in on time, Forbes had an out of body experience (not in a good way) and I can go on and on...

N.C. do you think soft defence schemes are a directive from McVay? Perhaps he has much more of a hand in the defense game plan than is generally perceived. I wonder at times where we could be/go with an aggressive coordinator like Saleh who had more independence. Just wanting your thoughts...

fan since 65 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 3:40 pm N.C. do you think soft defence schemes are a directive from McVay? Perhaps he has much more of a hand in the defense game plan than is generally perceived. I wonder at times where we could be/go with an aggressive coordinator like Saleh who had more independence. Just wanting your thoughts...

Its Vic Fangio scheme. Similar to the one Vic plays in Philly. A version of bend and dont break. Mcvay does prefer this style, bc he feels it's one of the styles that gives him the most trouble to scheme against.

All the Rams DCs under Mcvay, played a style of bend and dont break.

With that said, the style does allow for more aggressiveness. Shula just won't do it all the time. He likes his safeties far off the LOS to avoid the big play. Forbes getting beat isnt going to help either. He did play more aggressively on some of those 4th downs to take away the run and Forbes got beat badly.

That last 3rd and short was disappointing. Who cares about protectung against the big play, when just a short pass ends the game.

fan since 65 wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 3:40 pm N.C. do you think soft defence schemes are a directive from McVay? Perhaps he has much more of a hand in the defense game plan than is generally perceived. I wonder at times where we could be/go with an aggressive coordinator like Saleh who had more independence. Just wanting your thoughts...

Good question. At times yes. JMO but I think McVay feels this years offense can score whenever they want, providing they don’t turn it over, and because of this he doesn't want the D to give up big/quick TD’s. Let them FG us to death and we will in return score TD’s. And fact is if true this D has been good in the RZ. Again prior to yesterday who had given up the least amount of points through week 12? A large sample I’d say……….

Now me personally I’ll say it again it is a week to week league. I’d prefer more man to man but I’m not watching opponents game film all week long for hours. I can acknowledge that some weeks a heavy blitz package may be best, next week more man to man, and more zone the next. Again opponent and scheming their weakness and strengths. I for one refer to McVay’s resume……………

Saleh yep doing a hell of a job even though it is tough to admit it for me let alone anyone else. But again how long ago in here some were saying Shula is gone next year for a HC position. What just last week? Now he sucks again? Again what D lead the league with least points given up prior to yesterday? As you can tell I hate the fair weather fan………….

Appreciate the conversation…………

To me, no such thing as a good loss. Nor moral victories. Channeling Herm Edwards "you play to win the game" Any other result sucks, with ties sucking SLIGHTLY less.

The team laid an egg, from top down. Staff had been on a tear, but law of averages finally caught up with him and those 3 turnovers helped kill us. Still, we put up 28 and I maintain that SHOULD have been enough to come away with the W. Unfortunately, Forbes lost HIS mojo and our pass rush hasn't had theirs for weeks. Run D has been slacking a bit the past couple of weeks.

Let's hope we got it out of our system and the engines get tuned before this weeks game

GoldenRam wrote: ↑December 1st, 2025, 6:14 pm To me, no such thing as a good loss. Nor moral victories. Channeling Herm Edwards "you play to win the game" Any other result sucks, with ties sucking SLIGHTLY less.

The team laid an egg, from top down. Staff had been on a tear, but law of averages finally caught up with him and those 3 turnovers helped kill us. Still, we put up 28 and I maintain that SHOULD have been enough to come away with the W. Unfortunately, Forbes lost HIS mojo and our pass rush hasn't had theirs for weeks. Run D has been slacking a bit the past couple of weeks.

Let's hope we got it out of our system and the engines get tuned before this weeks game

Ding... Ding. Winner. Everything you said is spot on. Not only was this not a "good" loss (no such thing) but it was a "terrible" loss. you lose to an inferior team where you had a first round bye in your sights. Now there are still games against the Lions and at Seattle in back-to-back weeks. The Rams should have crushed the Panthers - completely played soft, the Panters RB's your pushing ahead constantly as the LB's got pushed back and. Over and over again. Then to top it off Forbes decides to become Forbes again. So play man-to-man on critical plays but on the last 3rd down Shula decides it's a great idea to play zone for an easy completion. Why not man that down, what would it matter at that point. Outplayed and outcoached. Terrible loss. McVay can spin this anyway he wants but if I was an opposing team (i.e. Detroit, Seattle) I would use this blueprint - run it down the Rams throats and then pass it over the CB's heads. Rams were simply SOFT the whole game and Bryce Young looked like Joe Montana. Pathetic.

10-2. Would have been sitting pretty. Mucked it up. Main thing that sucked.