Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay need to fix the Rams’ suddenly broken offense
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- One bad game doesn’t mean the season is over, but for a Rams team set on a Super Bowl-or-bust trajectory, they need to perform better on offense in Week 2.
- Playing in Australia didn’t help, but the Rams, who had the best offense in the NFL last season, looked flat in a 27-7 loss to the 49ers last week.
- The Rams need to do a better job using their prolific wide receivers, talented running backs and innovative tight-end schemes against the New York Giants on Monday.
Don’t be distracted.
In the aftermath of the Rams’ humiliating season-opening defeat in Australia, the team’s defense is dominating the news cycle: edge rusher Myles Garrett’s knee surgery, lineman Aaron Donald’s potential season debut.
But as coach Sean McVay prepares his team for Monday night’s game against the New York Giants, the Super Bowl-favorite Rams’ suddenly not-so-super offense also demands scrutiny.
Consider: Every starter is back from a unit that in 2025 led the NFL in offense and scoring, including quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player.
And yet the Rams managed just 190 yards and scored one touchdown in their 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
That’s it.
Rams defensive end Myles Garrett will be out at least four games after being placed on injured reserve, but it’s possible he could miss more time.
It was the fewest points scored by the Rams since a 20-3 loss to the Green Bay Packers in November 2023.
The Rams’ decision to arrive in Melbourne the day before the game appeared to leave them in a stupor.
Granted, 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris knows McVay and the Rams well. Morris was the Rams’ defensive coordinator from 2021-2023, and he is one of McVay’s closest friends. In December, as the coach of the Atlanta Falcons, he schemed his team to a 27-24 victory over the Rams.
But that’s no excuse for the Rams’ dreadful performance on offense against the 49ers.
The Rams’ first play proved an omen: 49ers linebacker Fred Warner nearly intercepted Stafford’s pass.
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The Rams lose to the San Francisco 49ers 27-7 in the 2026 season opener at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia on Friday.
Stafford, an 18th-year pro, never found his rhythm. He completed only 15 of 25 passes for 155 yards. The 49ers turned a second-quarter interception into a touchdown drive.
That doesn’t mean the ability of 38-year-old Stafford appears to be falling off a cliff.
It was one game. He was out of sync. A player who is rewriting the NFL record book is more likely to come back and torch the Giants than to have two poor performances in a row.
“Plenty of stuff to clean up,” Stafford said. “Things to look at. We’ll make sure we’ll be ready to roll.”
The offense works best when running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are gaining yardage in chunks, and McVay is calling plays that create space for receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to make routine and sometimes spectacular catches.
Corum rushed for a team-best 54 yards, Williams had 41 yards and a touchdown.
Neither got an opportunity when the Rams faced a critical fourth-and-goal situation at the one-yard line. Neither did Nacua, who nearly scored on a catch the play before. Or Adams, who led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches last season, 11 from 10 yards or closer, including four from the one-yard line.
Instead, McVay called for a quarterback sneak.
The 49ers stopped Stafford short of the goal line, and the 49ers subsequently drove 99 yards for a touchdown.
Nacua, the NFL receptions leader last season, and Adams combined for eight catches for 100 yards, far below their typical performances.
And don’t forget the tight ends.
McVay, apparently, did just that.
About midway through the 2025 season, the Rams began regularly deploying as many as three tight ends at a time — and using them as targets. Colby Parkinson became one of Stafford’s primary targets and scored eight touchdowns, quadrupling his previous career best.
The Rams began this season with second-year pro Terrance Ferguson poised for a breakout.
The Los Angeles Times columnist shares some readers’ reactions to the Rams losing their opener after he predicted they’d go undefeated.
Parkinson and Davis Allen each caught one pass, Ferguson none. Veteran Tyler Higbee caught two passes, but lost a fumble that all but sealed the victory for the 49ers.
With 11 days between games, McVay, his staff and the players are intent on avoiding a repeat performance.
“The big area of focus improvement will be in regard to the pass game and some of the different things that we can do collectively,” McVay said. “It always starts with me.”
The defeat by the 49ers was only the third time in 10 seasons that McVay lost a season opener. Only once under McVay have the Rams started with two losses: In 2024, after losing in overtime at Detroit, the Arizona Cardinals routed them 41-10.
That team rebounded from a 1-4 start to reach the NFC divisional round.
That won’t be good enough for this Rams team, which was built to win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.
With an offense now in need of a restart.
