ATLANTA – Despite a valiant comeback effort that saw the Rams tie the game late after trailing 24-3 midway through the third quarter, Los Angeles fell to the Falcons 27-24 on Monday Night Football. Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw three interceptions and Falcons running back Bijan Robinson totaled 229 yards from scrimmage in the Rams' loss, which moved them to 11-5 on the season.
After the game, Stafford and head coach Sean McVay spoke to the media about the tough loss. Here are the most significant quotes and talking points from those press conferences.
"I thought the blocked kick with the touchdown, those are the types of plays you have to make to get yourself back in the game. We did that. We were able to get back and tie it. And then we got to get a stop. And then we got to be able to make the plays that we're capable of making when we do get the ball back to even give ourselves a chance to be able to tie it up because there were some opportunities to do that. But it was too many things to overcome. We put ourselves behind the eight ball and that's why we're sitting here with the L." - McVay
Despite trailing by 21 points in the second half, the Rams managed to get back in the game thanks to a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by outside linebacker Jared Verse. That play represented a 10-point swing and shifted the momentum towards the Rams, but they couldn't finish the comeback.
McVay said that the special teams took "a major step in the right direction" after the team parted ways with former coordinator Chase Blackburn this past week and promoted assistant Ben Kotwica. Still, "It wasn't good enough as a whole, and it starts with me," McVay said.
When asked if the Rams will play their starters in Week 18 or rest them ahead of the playoffs, McVay said "Oh, we're playing," and that "they were going to play anyways," regardless of if the Rams won in Atlanta. "We need to play better football. So I don't know what the consequences are and those different types of things, but we got to play better," he said.
"We wouldn't be in a lot of the great situations we're in without (Stafford), but tonight was a night that he's capable of playing better." - McVay
McVay referenced the Rams not being "connected up front" at times, which led to pressure on Stafford, and a few big plays were called back due to penalties. But ultimately, three interceptions, including a pick-six, is hard to overcome, and the Rams came up short. The Rams "didn't play very well" on Monday, McVay said, but he doesn't think that their two-straight road losses are indicative of struggles away from home, as he didn't think they played badly against Seattle last week.
McVay said the Rams have "emphasized" run defense, and will have to go back and look at the tape to see what went wrong against the Falcons, who totaled 219 yards on the ground. "Bijan's an unbelievable player, he had been doing that," McVay said. "... You give him a vertical seam, and he's the type of player that can do that, and we've got to be better."
"I obviously didn't play well enough. Nothing they did, to be honest. (It was) the same kind of stuff they've been doing all year, just we didn't execute well enough." - Stafford
Stafford said that it comes down to execution every week, and this week he didn't do that well enough. "Either you do execute and make the throws, or you don't. And I didn't do that tonight, so it hurt us, and we weren't able to overcome it," Stafford said.
When asked if the fact that they weren't eligible to win the division for the first time this season had an emotional effect on them, Stafford said that wasn't the case. "We look at ourselves more than we look at anybody else."
Despite being sacked three times and escaping the pocket more than he usually does, Stafford said he didn't feel an "overwhelming" amount of pressure from the defense during the game.
"Just because you play good one week doesn't mean you're going to play good the next and vice versa, so I'm just going to go out there and continue to trust what we've done all year. And then we got to just show up and make the plays on game day. I mean, I thought we had a great week of practice, to be honest with you. And sometimes you go out there and it doesn't happen. Obviously, if I can not hurt us and the way I did tonight, it'll help our team out a lot." - Stafford
Stafford detailed his mistakes on all three interceptions. On the first, he said that he had to "burn the ball" over the middle and "not make a bad play worse." Safety Jessie Bates ultimately took the overthrow to the house for a pick-six.
The first interception for safety Xavier Watts was a deep ball that Stafford left "a little short," he said. The second one disrupted a nice offensive rhythm for the Rams, and Stafford said that Watts played the sticks and "did a great job of jumping" the short pass to tight end Terrance Ferguson.
When asked about playing in Week 18, Stafford said, "I love playing the game. So, yeah, I'll be ready to go."
