Though they have one of the tougher matchups on their schedule lined up this weekend in the Green Bay Packers, if there's any team in the NFL that could desperately use a bye week, it's Sean McVay's Los Angeles Rams.
With seven players on the injury report, ten more on IR, and one more, Tyler Higbee, still on PUP, the Rams have rolled out a different starting lineup in every single game this season and will likely continue to do so heading into Week 5, assuming Darious Williams returns to the starting lineup for the first time in 2024.
Asked about how he plans to spend the bye, be it rest or a deep dive into schematic adjustments, during his Friday media availability, McVay discussed where the Rams are at now and where he expects them to be after the Packers game.
“We'll see. Hopefully relaxing with my family a little bit, but it's so early. There are a lot of things that we need to look at and then moving forward to hopefully getting some guys back. What do we need to be able to do schematically to continuously try to put our guys in the right spots?” McVay asked. “There have been a lot of unique things that we've experienced in the first four weeks and I'm sure some unforeseen things will end up coming up against Green Bay. We'll see after that, but hopefully get a little bit of time and then make sure that we do our part to be ready to go when we get back.”
With major issues in the run game on both sides of the ball, the Rams really could use a week to adjust their scheme, especially if a few players come off of IR after their time away. Throw in some recharged batteries, and who knows, maybe the Rams will turn it around down the stretch?
Sean McVay has built the Rams on self-reflection
Breaking down his own bye week process, McVay revealed how important self-scouting is to his process, with a week off serving as the perfect chance to evaluate a specific sample size closely.
“I would say regardless of what the outcome is, there still is a lot of work to be done and then a lot of planning based on some of the things that could be down the pipe with guys coming back. Last year… there's no situation that's comparable, but there were a lot of things that had occurred in the first nine weeks of the season last year. You had a little bit more inventory, you had a little bit more understanding, there's unique situations that make this distinctly different, but there's also some similarities,” McVay told reporters.
“You always want to be able to reflect [and] make sure that you're doing an after-action review, really on a daily basis but a weekly basis. You're saying, ‘Okay, with this five-week inventory, what's important for us to go where we want to go, to continuously improve, to focus on the process and progress, and then who are the guys that we're getting back that hopefully will elevate our team overall?' There'll be a lot of things that go into it. Here is the thing I feel good about is the guys have done a great job with the preparation this week and go into it with a quieted mind. Let's compete to the best of our ability against an excellent opponent, and let's see what the heck happens.”
Have the Rams put some good stuff on the field so far? Yes, Matthew Stafford has played very well, Tutu Atwell has emerged as a serious WR3 candidate, and the Florida State rookies look like they can be players long-term. But they also have plenty of room for growth, which is what the bye is all about.
