Sean McVay has his sights set on greatness in 2023 after the Los Angeles Rams’ 2022 campaign saw the team fall flat on its face. The defending Super Bowl champions only have five wins to show for their efforts through 15 games so far this year, and haven’t lived up to the sky-high expectations that many fans had back in August.
But McVay didn’t seem too concerned about his team’s position heading into the final weeks of the 2022 season. In comments to the media after the Rams’ Week 16 win against the Denver Broncos, he told reporters that he is instructing his coaching staff and players to play with abandon and show him everything they can as the team looks to reload next year.
“[What] you saw yesterday was a great reflection of complimentary football all culminating at the right spots and in the right three-hour window of time,” McVay explained after the Rams’ blowout win. “Those are the things that you take some pride in and want to continue to see that reflected where (you say), ‘Hey guys, let’s play to the best of our ability. Let’s go cut it loose.’ Let’s continue to pour into guys that are getting opportunities that maybe we didn’t expect or anticipate, and some of these guys are really doing a great job of establishing themselves as key figures for years to come hopefully, and that’s kind of the approach that we’ll take for these last 13 days.”
Los Angeles has been plagued by bad luck and injuries all season, and it seemed that their chances at a Super Bowl repeat were unlikely from the very beginning of this most recent campaign. When quarterback Matthew Stafford went down in Week 10, it effectively sealed their fate as an early-out in the NFC playoff picture.
But that doesn’t mean all is lost. The Rams have a great chance to give more underrated contributors a chance to justify their spot on the roster next season. If McVay’s comments after their blowout win against Denver are to be taken seriously, fans should expect every member of Los Angeles’ 53-man roster to have a chance to show what they’ve got over the Rams’ next two matchups.
