It was a disappointing performance for Cam Akers and the Los Angeles Rams in Thursday night’s 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Following a quiet outing, Sean McVay iterated that Akers needs to maximize his opportunities when he’s on the field.
“No matter who you’re talking about, you want to see guys do the little things the right way, compete with and without the ball,” McVay said. “There were some instances where there were some positive things and some things that he can do better, but we want to see just an increased level of urgency and accountability snap in and snap out from him.”
On the first offensive possession of Thursday’s season opener, it was a slight surprise to see Darrell Henderson start the game at running back. Henderson would proceed to play the second series of the game before Akers would finally see his first snap of the game on the third offensive series.
The third-year running back out of Florida State would only be on the field for 12 of the team’s 67 offensive snaps, compared to 55 snaps for Henderson. While Henderson concluded the game with 18 touches for 73 total yards, Akers posted zero yards on only three touches.
McVay did shoulder some of the blame for Akers’ woes in the lopsided loss to the Bills and expressed his confidence in the former second-round pick moving forward.
“The opportunities were minimal. There were some things that within each of those individual plays that I think that we can be better collectively, starting with me, then to the players around him, but also with Cam. And so it’s more of a reflection of the confidence that I know what he can be and I’m confident that he’ll be that guy that we’ve all seen at the right moments as this season continues to progress. And that’s our job to help get it out of him.”
Even with Henderson likely drawing the start again next week, look for the Rams to try to get Akers more involved in Week 2 versus the Atlanta Falcons.
