The Rams have their home opener in Week 2 against the Giants on Monday Night Football. Kickoff from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. PT on ESPN and ABC.
Ahead of the contest, here are 3 Keys to Winning for the Rams, presented by The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (CallJacob.com).
1) Find a rhythm on offense early
All week, players and coaches alike have blamed the offense's inability to stay on the field as the reason it couldn't build any semblance of a rhythm in Week 1 against the 49ers. Quarterback Matthew Stafford said the Rams simply had "not enough plays to really get into that rhythm." The Cowboys fell to a similar demise in Week 1 against the Giants where a late second quarter interception gave New York a 14-7 lead at halftime that they could never recover from, with the Giants also sustaining long scoring drives.
The Rams had a third-quarter drive march down to the San Francisco 1-yard line, but a failed fourth-down conversion and subsequent 99-yard drive for a touchdown by the 49ers essentially flipped all possible momentum. Stafford, the pass game and Rams offense as a whole are looking to take a step up in production in Week 2, and by doing so could be able to find the early rhythm they didn't feel like they achieved in Week 1.
2) Generate pressure and contain Jaxson Dart
The Cowboys got home to the quarterback two times in Week 1 against the Giants, but Dart escaped on multiple other occasions and found ways to extend plays by using his legs, running for 54 yards on 11 attempts. Not to mention Dart was 23 for 29 through the air with 230 yards and three passing touchdowns.
The Rams didn't record a sack in Week 1 and 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy ran the ball five times for 29 yards, given Purdy often made quick passes and decisions to avoid pressure. Both Dart and Purdy averaged around 5 yards per carry and are relatively young, mobile quarterbacks with plenty of weapons surrounding them.
The Rams' ability to keep Dart from using his legs by generating pressure and containing him in the pocket could go a long way to making him and the Giants offense one-dimensional, something they didn't do effectively against Purdy and the 49ers.
3) Control time of possession
In the Giants' Week 1 game against the Cowboys, there were five total drives in the second half. The first four drives all ended in touchdowns, two for each team, and the last drive by the Giants ended with the coinciding end of the game. Even though the Cowboys responded with a touchdown on both drives in the second half, each of the Giants two touchdown drives were over eight minutes long. The combination of those eight-minute drives while also going down 14-7 at halftime due to an interception with 1:01 left in the first half led to Dallas' demise.
Controlling the time of possession battle goes hand-in-hand with the first two keys to the game for the Rams on both offense and defense, but is especially important considering how imperative it was to the Giants' success in Week 1.
