Head coach Sean McVeigh has won four straight Los Angeles Rams victories, but offense has gone wrong in the past two years; Rams traded for quarterback Matthew Stafford this summer; Watch Bears at Rams Sunday night / Monday morning at 1.15 a.m. on the Sky Sports NFL and Main Event
The Los Angeles Rams may have the best defense in the entire NFL, but they’ve lacked an attacking spark in recent seasons. Will new quarterback Matthew Stafford be honored in their quest to return to the Super Bowl?
McVeigh inherited form 4-12, but under his leadership Los Angeles won NFC West 11-5 before losing to Atlanta in the Wild Card round. They provided an explosive, dynamic attack that scored the most points in the entire league.
They really took off in 2018. They were second in yards and points. The regular season record of 13: 3 gave them their second seed in the NFC, and they took care of the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round before heading to New Orleans and beating the Saints in overtime in an NFC championship thriller.
However, their 13-3 Super Bowl defeat to New England, in which the attack was completely equal, was the beginning of serious fears about quarterback Jared Goff and his ability to do what McVeigh wanted. On that day, Goff completed 19 of 38 assists for 229 yards. He scored one pick, was sacked four times, and his passing rating was 57.9.
Los Angeles gave Goff two more seasons to find his form and reach his potential, and they still had some success as a team (Goff won 9-7 in 2019 and 9-6 last season before 1- 1 in the postseason, although it hurts).
However, in these two seasons, the effectiveness in attack has decreased. In 2019, they dropped to 11th place in terms of points scored, and last year to 22nd.
Goff’s yards may have risen, but his effectiveness declined as he went from 60 touchdowns, 19 interceptions and a 100.8 quarterback rating in Years 1 and 2 to 42 TDs, 29 picks and 88.1 ratings in Years 3 and 4.
It didn’t work, and the Rams took action this offseason. They sent Goff – along with a third-round pick in the NFL draft in 2021 and first in 2022 and 2023 – to Detroit Lions for veteran Stafford. A new era of McVeigh’s attack begins on Sunday – when the Rams take over, the Chicago Bears continue to live. Sky sports…
After 12 seasons in Detroit and only three playoff appearances (all defeats), Stafford wanted a change. The Lions are rebuilding again, and the man who was the fastest player in NFL history, reaching 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000 passing yards in his career, longed for an opportunity on a team that had a chance to fight.
