Moving the ball and scoring points wasn’t much of an issue for the Los Angeles Rams in the first half of Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In the second half, however, it was a different story.
After another week where the Rams fell flat in the second half, Sean McVay spoke on the team’s woes in the final two quarters versus the Eagles.
Buy Rams Tickets“Every single play has a little bit different narrative,” McVay said. “Sometimes it might be the protection, we might end up just missing an opportunity to be able to connect. It might be a bad play call and so there’s not one consistent thing. We were fortunate to overcome where we even got the first down when we were backed up after we got the illegal lineman, ineligible players, downfield on the screen. We ended up just running it on the third-and-long and got the face mask on – I think it was a third-and-27 – but ended up hitting explosive to Puka Nacua and it’s being able to continue to capitalize off that. The margin for error and the opportunities were very limited today. There’s not one answer, I can promise you that.”
The Rams put together a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on their first possesssion of the game to tie it at seven late in the first quarter. Matthew Stafford and the offense would then secure a 14-10 lead with under a minute remaining in the first half on a 75-yard drive that ended with a touchdown to Puka Nacua.
The second half was an entirely different story for the Rams, with their first three drives concluding with punts. The Rams didn’t have a drive that gained more than 31 yards in the second half, and their final two possessions were a turnover on downs and the end of the game.
Even if you include last week’s overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Rams now have an EPA per play of -0.084 in the second half of games (22nd in the NFL), according to rbsdm.com. When it comes to scoring, the Rams are averaging a mere 8.4 points in the second half of games (26th in the NFL) compared to 12.8 points per game in the first half of contests (tied for 11th).
The offense has looked fantastic to begin games, and that could certainly remain the same with Cooper Kupp back in the fold. On the other hand, McVay and the Rams need to fix their inability to sustain drives and score points in the second half, beginning in Week 6 versus the Arizona Cardinals.
