NEW ORLEANS – The Rams didn't let a first-half shutout (for the first time in the Sean McVay era) dictate the game. After entering halftime down 6-0, Los Angeles scored touchdowns on three of their four complete drives in the second half to secure a 21-14 win over the Saints in New Orleans.
Running back Kyren Williams led the way with 104 rushing yards and a touchdown while Stafford threw for 183 yards and two scores. Defensively, outside linebacker Jared Verse made a clutch swat on a last-minute 4th-and-3 to force quarterback Derek Carr's pass into the turf and ice the game.
After advancing to 6-6 on the season, head coach Sean McVay and quarterback Matthew Stafford spoke with the media about their second-half success. Here are the most significant quotes and talking points from those press conferences, which can be viewed below:
"(In the second half) they did some stuff to be able to take us off some of the core things that maybe we've done before. I thought our coaches... (offensive coordinator) Mike LaFleur, (offensive line coach) Ryan Wendell, really all of our offensive coaching staff did an excellent job just being able to communicate and just get us to some of the right things that we wanted to do. And then, ultimately, it's always about the players bringing it to life, and they did that in a big way." - McVay
McVay said Williams' "energy was outstanding" and he had a lot of success making decisive cuts and slashing through the second and third levels, adding that the offensive line and tight ends helped him get into the teeth of the defense. He said it was "weird" having just three plays in the first quarter and they had to adjust as the game went on, but establishing the run helped everything else fall into place.
The team's improvement was noticeable to McVay and he was happy with that, but acknowledged that there are always things they want to clean up. McVay said the fourth-down stop from Jared Verse was "huge," as was the tackle by Bobby Brown to set up that fourth-and-three in the red zone. He said they "played hard" and "persued the football."
McVay said there was "a lot of things that came to life throughout the course of the week that showed up in practice and translated into the game."
"When (McVay) knows that we're handing the ball off and getting yards, the whole playbook comes alive. The ability to move the pocket, play-actions, quick games, whatever we want, it's available when you can get six, seven (yards) a carry running the football, and then obviously had some explosives today too. So, just can't say enough about the guys up front and how well they played." - Stafford
When the run game is clicking, the rest of the Rams' offense falls into place. And after some missed opportunities in the first half, that rushing success opened up the offense in the second. Stafford said "the guys up front played really good in the run game all day," and that led to the Rams' season-high of 156 rushing yards.
Stafford said having three plays in the first quarter made it "tough to catch a rhythm." He added that there were some "positive things to look at" at halftime, and they built on their successes from there. He "got rolled up a little bit" from behind earlier in the game, but Stafford didn't miss a snap. He said he's feeling fine and said (with a chuckle) "I need to be faster," to avoid those kinds of plays.
Stafford said there were "some really stout plays by our defense" that helped the Rams close it out down the stretch, including the last two plays made by Brown and Verse.
