There was a lot to like about the Rams’ Week 1 win over the Bears. Matthew Stafford lived up to the high expectations he was facing, Darrell Henderson Jr. looked good in the starting role at RB, three receivers caught touchdown passes and the offensive line held up well against Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Robert Quinn.
The defense allowed just 322 net yards, too, sacking Andy Dalton three times and limiting Allen Robinson to just 35 yards on six catches (11 targets). But one area of slight concern was the run defense. David Montgomery rushed for 108 yards on 16 carries, and the Bears as a team gained 134 yards on 26 carries.
Sean McVay isn’t worried about the subpar performance against the run, however. He mentioned the fact that the Bears were running the ball well, in addition to the fact that this was the first game action for the majority of the Rams’ defenders after sitting out the preseason.
“I think you give credit to the Bears. I thought they did a nice job. They’re a good football team. I thought they had some good plans, but I think we can tighten up the execution,” McVay said Monday. “I also think when you look at yourself critically as a coach you say, ‘OK, balancing not really getting a chance to have those guys play full tackle football,’ you can never really simulate that in a practice type of setting. And you say, ‘All right, well, have you really put your players in a position to be sharp as they could be in regards to some of those things that they had some success with last night.’ And I think that falls on me. I think we’ll see improvement moving on from Week 1 to Week 2, but that’s something that we’ll definitely have some urgency addressing. But I don’t sense that’s anything for us to worry about. It will definitely go addressed and it’ll be something that we’ll try to be intentional about making sure that it’s a point of emphasis for us as we move forward.”
The Rams aren’t the only team that rests their starters during the preseason, keeping them out of harm’s way and hopefully avoiding serious injuries. But they are one of the few around the NFL, and McVay was one of the first to adopt this approach.
He’s not changing his mind on holding his starters out, however, even if there are minor struggles to be had in Week 1 when it comes to tackling.
“Yeah, let me think about it. Hell no,” he said, laughing. “I would say this, it’s something that you always do balance, all kidding aside. It’s so important, in my mind, for us to try to be healthy and ready to go and do everything that we can in that form or fashion. I think what I’d really look into is, are there ways of safely implementing tackling types of teaching progressions or activity that could maybe have you more ready, if you will, to simulate that game-like action? But I don’t think that the risk-reward would be worth it. I know that approach isn’t for everybody. I think there’s a lot of people that would disagree with me on that, but that’s what I think is best. And that’s what I’ll always try to do, is make decisions that are best for our football team. That’s kind of the approach that I think we’ll continue to take, but you never know.”
The Rams really have no reason to change their preseason plan after seeing the way the offense moved the ball, and the way the secondary locked down Chicago’s passing game. Playing Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey in the preseason wouldn’t have benefited the team in Week 1, but it certainly would’ve put all three players at risk of injury.
That’s what McVay doesn’t want from his biggest stars – or any of his important players, for that matter.
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