Why Rich Isn’t Pressing the Panic Button on the 2-3 Rams after Fumbling the Bag vs the Bills

The Rams are 2-3, Sean McVay is as angry as he's been in a long time, and Rich still isn't hitting the panic button.

McVay didn't hide how he felt after the overtime loss to the Bills. "This one stinks and it's going to hurt, but we can't let this team beat us twice," he said. "It's been a while since I've been this pissed after a game too."

Rich agreed there was plenty to be angry about. For a team whose offense is built on the run, the Rams stopped running. They scored two rushing touchdowns, one from each back, and then it became the Puka show: 17 receptions on 24 targets. "We're nitpicking. They should have won the game," Rich said. The obvious second-guess was the third down call in field goal range, and McVay owned it. "I wish I would have had a better play call and gone for it, got it a lot tighter," he said. "I'm sick right now with myself and I'm so proud of that group." Rich gave him credit for the accountability, the same way the show praised him for huddling his team on the sideline in Philadelphia before a comeback. "Taking ownership is great. It doesn't win the game, though."

Matthew Stafford had another brilliant night, with a few uncharacteristic misses mixed in. The kind where someone is open and he airmails it, and you're surprised because he's that good. Afterward he called it disappointing and said the short week means moving on fast.

The numbers on Stafford are wild. Only four times in the last two seasons has a team lost with its quarterback throwing for 370 or more yards, three or more touchdowns and no interceptions, and all four losses belong to Stafford. And teams that put up 450 yards, 30 points, zero giveaways and at least two takeaways had been 35-0 since the middle of last century, playoffs included. They're now 35-1.

One read in the studio was that the Rams simply throw it too much. Rich's take is that the Rams haven't played a clean game yet. There's always something, whether it's the red zone, the kicking game or balance, and against the Niners, Seahawks and Bills, those mistakes get punished.

Rich offered two observations. First, he wondered whether the conservative call in the dreaded Mevis zone was shaped, even subliminally, by recent chaos: the Giants fumbling while trying to gain extra yards in overtime against the Commanders, Washington letting the clock run out, and Dallas losing on a pass that bounced off Jake Ferguson's shoulder pad for a game-ending pick. The rest of the crew wasn't convinced any of that crept into McVay's head.

The second observation was about Myles Garrett. A couple of weeks ago he watched from the booth while recovering from knee surgery, which Rich initially questioned until he realized it kept Garrett safe from someone rolling out of bounds into him. On Monday night Garrett was down on the field. "He's got to be close," Rich said. "And defensively, they need him."

That's why Rich isn't panicking. "They're still too damn talented for this to be an indication that they're not going to have the dream season," he said, even if the undefeated-into-Thanksgiving talk is long gone. The stretch ahead runs through Arizona, Vegas, the winless Chargers at home and the Commanders. "1,000 percent they should win the next five," Rich said.

The division may already be out of reach, with the Rams three and a half games back of San Francisco, so the more realistic target floated on the show was 10 or 11 wins. Chris's critique is that McVay can get too cute and Stafford locks in on Puka too much when Davante Adams and Tyler Higbee are there. "53 or 54 passes to 23 runs is not sustainable," he said.

TJ pushed back that neither team looked like a Super Bowl team defensively. Rich's answer came courtesy of Warren Sapp, who used to tell him that defense gives you a chance and offense wins championships. Puka is unreal, Adams is a first ballot Hall of Famer in Rich's mind, and the offense is as good as there is. Had Mevis made the kick, everyone would be talking about the Rams bouncing back, and about the Bills' running back problem with fumbles.