When you lose by 39 points, there’s plenty of blame to go around. Sean McVay unsurprisingly shouldered most of it after the game, as he often does following Rams losses.
Los Angeles suffered its worst home loss in franchise history on Monday night against the Ravens, losing 45-6. The Rams did nothing well for 60 minutes, failing to slow down Baltimore’s offense or show any consistency against the Ravens’ defense.
Afterwards, McVay stepped to the podium and not only praised the Ravens, but also fell on the sword for his players.
“I trust that we have the right guys in that locker room, guys that are mentally tough, that understand that whatever we did tonight has nothing to do with what we’re going to do moving forward unless we allow it to,” McVay stated. “And that’s the mindset we’ve got to have as coaches, as players. We owe it each other to do better and I feel as responsible as anybody. I certainly have to do a better job but the only way I know how to do that is by the way you work throughout the week, the way that you consistently bring a consistent demeanor of urgency but also, ‘Hey, let’s be solution-oriented in the way we move forward.’
“Can’t wait to look at this tape, fix it and get ready for the Arizona Cardinals next week.”
McVay wasn’t afraid to give the Ravens credit where it was due. He and Wade Phillips had no answer for anything Baltimore threw at them, and it all centered around Lamar Jackson.
He can see why Jackson is a frontrunner to win NFL MVP, saying he felt like the league’s most valuable player on Monday night. But as good as the Ravens were, McVay knows the Rams did a lot to cost themselves a win.
And he knows he has to do a better job as a coach.
“Credit them, they made a lot of plays, they did some things. But certainly, I know I’ve got to do a much better job of coaching this football team and putting us in a position to make plays,” McVay said.
Any time a team runs for 285 yards, effort on the part of players is questioned. The Rams missed tackles left and right, which is nothing new for a defense against the Ravens, but it cost them a lot of yardage defensively.
McVay didn’t see an issue with players’ effort, once again putting the blame on himself.
“I don’t think it was anything to do with the effort,” he said. “Certainly, I feel responsible for not putting our players in better positions in all three phases. We’ll go back, we’ll look at it, we’ll see what we can do. There’s going to be an element of execution that that entails. We’re all in this thing together, but I feel as responsible as anybody.”
The Rams have another dynamic quarterback next up on their schedule as they’ll visit the Cardinals in Arizona. A loss in Week 13 would drop the Rams’ playoff chances to 7%, so their season hinges on this next game.