The Rams haven’t exactly had the toughest schedule this season, but they haven’t overlooked any of their first five opponents. The only game where you could argue they noticeably underperformed was against the Giants in Week 4, but they bounced back to crush Washington last week, 30-10.
Next up are the 2-3 49ers, who have been a huge disappointment thus far. As the defending NFC champions, the 49ers were expected to be better than their record suggests up to this point.
Their 43-17 loss to the Dolphins in Week 5 isn’t going to sway Sean McVay’s opinion of them and he won’t let himself look past this divisional foe.
“I mean, we have a lot of respect for these guys. I think when you look at the way that some of their games have unfolded, this is a very good football team there,” he said Thursday. “We know how capable they are. They’ve got great players on all three phases and they’re very well-coached. So, I think with five games, I think you can kind of let some of the numbers mislead you as far as their record. When you look at the way they played against Arizona opening weekend, that could’ve gone either way. They had two great games against both those teams from New York. Then, the Philly game could have gone either way. They had kind of an outlier against the Dolphins but fighting through some injuries. It was kind of one of those deals where everything was going perfect for the Dolphins and those things kind of can happen. But I don’t think that’s at all reflective of what a quality team this is. We’ve got to be ready to go this week.”
The 49ers have lost a number of key players to injury this season, a list that includes Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, Richard Sherman, Deebo Samuel, Raheem Mostert and even Jimmy Garoppolo.
There are still questions at quarterback and it’s not yet clear who will start under center on Sunday night. But no matter who it is, the Rams vow to be prepared and play as if they’re facing an undefeated team.
Now is not the time for them to let up on the gas pedal.