After eight weeks in 2018, the Los Angeles Rams were sitting comfortably at 8-0, owning the best record in football. This season, they’re 5-3 at the halfway point in the season and in need of a better second half in order to make the playoffs.
After all, the NFC looks significantly better than the AFC this year and a 10-6 record may not be good enough for the postseason. It’s not time to panic and there are no alarms sounding in the Rams’ facility, but there’s no doubt this team has to play better in the final eight games than it did in the first eight.
Sean McVay acknowledged that much this week, saying the Rams are no better or worse than their 5-3 record indicates.
“I think what we did is, we did a good job of responding from some adversity,” McVay said, via the team’s official site. “We’re 5-3. We’re what our record says we are, but we’re going to be able to look at ourselves and figure out what can we do to consistently have good, clean performances, all three phases putting it together?”
The season could have gone off the rails if not for back-to-back wins over the Falcons and Bengals in Weeks 7 and 8. Though hardly strong opponents, the Rams won both games handily and showed glimpses of being the team they were a year ago.
That has McVay encouraged for the final half of the season.
“The Atlanta game was a step in the right direction, and I think in some glimpses, each of the phases played well, but we’ve got to play consistently through all four quarters,” McVay said. “I think it’s a good thing to feel that way.”
The Rams are currently on their bye this week, but they return to action in Week 10 on the road against the Steelers.
