SEATTLE – Rams head coach Sean McVay on Monday said he wasn't worried about wide receiver Robert Woods' demeanor after Woods didn't see a ton of looks against the Cardinals in Week 4, and that it was his job to get him more involved.
McVay made good on his promise three days later, and Woods capitalized on the opportunities that followed with a team-high 12 receptions for a team-high 150 yards in the Rams' 26-17 win over the Seahawks Thursday night at Lumen Field.
"It was one of those games where I just keep getting open, keep getting my number called," Woods said postgame. "That's how the team works. You never know how the game goes and the flows of our season goes, but always be ready and always expecting the ball, and today was my day."
Perhaps being targeted on quarterback Matthew Stafford's first pass attempt was an omen of what was to come. It was almost assured after Woods caught his second target for 11 yards, third target for 17 yards and fourth target for 23 yards to give him a combined four receptions for 52 yards by the end of the first quarter.
No catches were more important, though, than the back-to-back 20-yard grabs he had that led to a 13-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to tight end Tyler Higbee which gave Los Angeles its first lead of the game.
Then, midway through the fourth quarter, a 24-yard reception that kept the chains moving on a drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Sony Michel which re-extended the Rams' lead to nine.
"Robert Woods, what can you say about him," McVay said. "So tough, such a great competitor. He stepped up and made big-time plays."
McVay, Woods, and Stafford were all asked some variation of the question of whether this big of a performance by Woods was expected.
McVay said Woods had made the most of his opportunities through the first four weeks of the season, and Week 5 was another reflection of it in catching 12 of a season-high 14 targets.
Meanwhile, Stafford said he tries to throw it to spots as dictated by the opposing defense, and Woods was in them. But Stafford also knows how much effort Woods puts into everything else he has been asked to do, which makes a night like Thursday all the more special.
"Just so appreciative of who he is as a person and who he is as a leader on our team," Stafford said. "He does everything we ask of him – ask him to go in there and block, ask him to run block, for other receivers, do all these things and just knows that his opportunities are going to come, and when they come, he has a huge night on the road, in a hostile environment, in a division game where we really needed someone to step up and he did just that. So I'm happy for him and proud of him."
