Sean McVay’s words after the Rams’ 27-7 loss to the 49ers in Australia landed with a little more force than a routine postgame reaction.
“This will define us only if we allow it to,” McVay said after the game.
Later in his media session, he added: “This story is far from written.”
That kind of language can sound dramatic in the moment, but this wasn’t just any defeat. The Rams’ 20-point loss was their ninth-worst by margin in McVay’s 166 games as coach, and it arrived in a setting that already made the game feel unusual.
One coach with no ties to McVay put it this way: “The dream teams, the amount of pressure those teams put on themselves, they have to be perfect in every facet,” a coach with no ties to McVay said. “It looks good on paper, but the human component makes it challenging.”
The bigger issue for the Rams may be what happened with Myles Garrett, whose first season with the team has already turned into a delicate test case. Garrett missed time in camp to rest a sore knee, played well below his usual level in the opener and then went on injured reserve for arthroscopic surgery. He will miss at least four weeks.
Situations like this can strain the relationship between coaches, executives, doctors, trainers, the player and his representatives. In Garrett’s case, those ties are all new.
People who knew him during his nine years in Cleveland described him as a fiercely competitive player who handled his weekly preparation his own way. That background made it easier for some to see how this could become tense, especially after the opener and after Garrett’s own comments.
“I didn't feel I was the player I've been before when I stepped on the field (in Australia)," Garrett said. "I gotta do what I can to get back to that."
Garrett also said he was not challenging the Rams’ unusual choice to arrive in Australia just 28 hours before kickoff, while the 49ers got there a week earlier. That decision naturally invites questions, especially with the way the game unfolded.
Sports scientists consulted on the issue said the Rams handled the sleep side correctly, but they also noted the risk of players feeling heavy-legged after such a long flight. Fluid buildup in the legs can take time to clear, and that can be even tougher on larger players like Garrett. In his case, he played at least 55 snaps without recording a tackle for the first time in his career.
A former Browns assistant said Garrett’s postgame remarks stood out.
"When Myles said he needed to change and do whatever he needed to get himself ready, I took that as either he did not buy into what the team was doing, or there was another ailment going on," a former Browns assistant said. "It was probably a little bit of both."
For now, that’s where things sit: a bad loss, an injured star, and a lot of reading between the lines.
In Other News...
Matthew Stafford Just Became The Center Of A Bigger Rams Question
Sean McVay has made it clear that Matthew Stafford is still the quarterback around which the Rams are built, but the bigger issue now is how long that arrangement stays intact. McVay even credited Stafford for helping shape his own decision to keep coaching, a reminder of how intertwined the two have become in Los Angeles, while also acknowledging that Staffords playing timeline remains uncertain.
The uncertainty has only sharpened because the Rams already used a first-round pick on a quarterback in 2023, giving the team a clear fallback plan even as Stafford remains the present tense answer. For now, the franchise is balancing respect for what Stafford means to the roster with the practical reality that every season ahead has to be weighed against the future, and McVays latest comments suggest that question is only getting louder. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Get One Needed Break Before Their Week 2 Defensive Test
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Omar Speights is still working back from a hip injury and some swelling, but the early signs there have been positive. The larger picture remains the same for the Rams: they are trying to keep enough bodies on hand now while also waiting on longer-term help, with Myles Garrett sidelined for at least four weeks and the team hoping Aaron Donald can return soon. [Read more 🡒]
Rams Face A Bigger Problem Than Just One Quiet Week 1
The Rams season opener offered a sharp reminder that this roster is leaning hard on established veterans, with all drafted rookies benched and only second-year outside linebacker Josaiah Stewart making much of a mark on the field. Stewart finished with six tackles, while the rest of the young class and the other sophomore contributors were mostly quiet, leaving little evidence of a fresh wave already pushing for bigger roles.
For a team trying to stay competitive now, the more unsettling part is what comes next. Los Angeles does not have a deep stash of valuable future draft picks, so the usual fix for a thin young core is harder to find, and the situation is even more complicated with two 2025 draft picks, linebacker Chris Paul Jr. and running back Jarquez Hunter, already no longer on the team. [Read more 🡒]