"Chest out, chin up, eyes forward – let's go be about it."
The words of Sean McVay on Thursday in Woodland Hills, a week after his team's season kicked off.
Everyone associated with the Los Angeles Rams would have preferred those sentiments be embodied in Week 1 in Melbourne. Unfortunately, it was a false start in all three phases.
Perhaps the 49ers did the Rams a favor. Any illusion of LA being the prohibitive favorite – not that anyone inside the facility bought into summer punditry – has been dashed. The reality is the Rams just surrendered a full game head start to the best division in football.
Whereas Monday Night's opponent is in a New York state of mind, riding high after a statement win over a division rival, LA has spent the better part of 10 days stewing in their humility.
Problem Solving
I said it in passing on Between the Horns this week and want to double down on it in this space, having spent some more time developing my thoughts.
McVay is not the winningest coach in franchise history because he's always had the best roster – though they've assembled some great ones in LA.
The Rams haven't been to three NFC Championships because they've been the top seed or had the most favorable paths. In fact, they've never earned the right to have home field throughout and are often atop the NFL when it comes to miles traveled.
Their sustained success isn't predicated on coaching continuity – the tree gets raided year after year, and half the NFL now knows all too well what goes on inside the Rams (still to this day) temporary facility.
Shoot, until last winter, they hadn't even done it will an All-Pro quarterback!
So how has there been only one losing season out of the past nine?
The decade of success the Rams have enjoyed under McVay's leadership is predicated on problem solving, persistence, and more often than not, doing the next right thing.
If you've been with the Rams all along, you can recite the examples.
Cooper Kupp too good to sit? 11 personnel.
Vic Fangio problems? Hire someone to run your defense who will emulate it and lead the NFL in scoring defense.
Offense stagnating? Go get Matthew Stafford.
No win November? Undefeated December.
Oh, you think we're just about outside zone? Have some duo.
Need a skeleton key in the red zone? Recruit Davante Adams.
Puka Nacua out? Run three tight ends out there.
The past week has been disorienting in numerous dimensions. The days are crawling.
But Monday will get here. And if the Rams are who I believe they are – who they've proven to be time and time again – they'll win this season by evolving and enduring.
99 Problems, Coming Out of Week 1
This is almost certainly an oversimplication, but Aaron Donald unretired to partner with Myles Garrett.
The promise of that historic pass rush has been postponed, with the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year landing on injured reserve this week. At a minimum, Garrett will miss challenging games against the Giants, Broncos, Eagles, and Bills.
At age 35, how much of that gravity can Donald restore? Despite missing the previous two seasons, he still ranks first among active players in pressures (790), second in tackles for loss (176), second in quarterback hits (256), and tied for third in forced fumbles (24), according to TruMedia.
Donald has played more than 75 percent of the Rams snaps every season of his Hall of Fame career, save one – 67 percent as a rookie in 2014. Is it reasonable (is it prudent) for him to participate at those levels in 2026? No.
Can he inject a different disposition, just by running out of the tunnel at SoFi Stadium in Week 2? Absolutely.
And if he does suit up, it will have been 981 days since that playoff loss in Detroit that we once believed was his final NFL game.
A Giant Do Over
The league has a strange way of striking a raw nerve with its scheduling. Show a weakness, and the team on deck is often uniquely equipped to exploit it.
Struggle under pressure? Well, Brian Burns ranked second in the NFL with 16.5 sacks last season (behind only Myles Garrett), and Abdul Carter is top three in pressures since entering the NFL in 2025 – he posted six in Week 1.
Can't stop the run against the Niners? In come the Giants after outrushing Dallas 165 to 69. And just like the Niners, the Giants used their rushing attack to shrink the game, holding the ball for 21:33 of the 30 minutes in the second half of Week 1.
Can't get off the field on third down in Australia? New York made it look easy, going 9-of-11 on Sunday night, the highest conversion percentage in a game by the Giants since at least 1991, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Giants averaged an NFL-high 9.7 plays per drive in Week 1 and did not trail versus Dallas.
Struggle to cover tight ends? Isaiah Likely was always open on Sunday night, leading the Giants with eight catches, 78 yards and two touchdowns against the Cowboys.
Bits and Pieces
From the various research and analytics departments, here are a few other nuggets that may prove to be meaningful come Monday.
As rare as fullbacks are these days, San Francisco and New York are as committed to two-back sets as any teams in the NFL. According to NextGen Stats, the 49ers offense featured motion at the snap on 65.6 percent of plays against the Rams, their highest rate in a game in the Kyle Shanahan era. Fullback Kyle Juszczyk, in particular, was on the move.
Guess what? Giants fullback Patrick Ricard was sent in motion on 19 of his 36 snaps (52.8 percent), the highest by a Giants player in a game since at least 2018 (min. 15 snaps). New York barely has to tweak its game plan to test whether the Rams can make week-to-week adjustments.
As for the Rams running game, keep an eye on Blake Corum, who built off his breakout sophomore season with a silver-lining type of day in Melbourne. Corum has averaged 5.2 yards per carry since 2025, trailing only De'Von Achane (5.6), Derrick Henry (5.3), and James Cook (5.2). It was telling that multiple times this week, McVay mentioned that while Corum and Kyren Williams ran it well in Australia, "I think the standards that they have, they'd both tell you, 'Man, we got some more yards to be able to get versus some of the space that our guys were able to create up front'."
Quarterback Jaxson Dart not only bolsters the Giants running game, according to NFL Research, he also has the highest passer rating in prime time in NFL history: six total touchdowns, zero giveaways, and a 114.5 passer rating. This will be Dart's first game played in Los Angeles since his freshman year of college when he started two at the LA Memorial Coliseum for USC (the Trojans lost to UCLA and BYU).
You know that prime time stat is a product of small sample size, because Monday Night Football has been a bugaboo for both these franchises. The Rams have a five-game losing streak on MNF, while the Giants are 1-10 on MNF since 2019.
They just can't score! The Rams and Giants have each averaged 15.2 points per game on Mondays since 2022. So, of course, get ready for a barn burner at SoFi.
The Rams have won four consecutive games against the Giants dating back to McVay's first season of 2017 – not surprising, as the Giants have mostly struggled during that span.
You might remember the Giants last win in the series – it came in 2016 in London. That was Eli Manning against Case Keenum, still well before Jared Goff took the baton as a rookie.
The last time the Giants beat the Rams in the United States is notable, because Odell Beckham Jr. went for eight catches, 148 yards, and two touchdowns in 2014 in St. Louis. That was his NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year season, as the 12th overall selection. Next off the board at Pick 13 was some guy named Donald, who claimed NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
The officiating crew for this game is led by referee Brad Allen. The last time the Rams had them was <checks notes> in Seattle in Week 16 last season.
Watching the West
For the second consecutive Sunday, we'll be in the Red Zone scoreboard watching. And in all likelihood, half the NFC West will be 2-0 before the Rams get to earn their first win.
Even with a long week between games, Sam Darnold won't be available when Seattle (1-0) travels to Arizona (1-0). Drew Lock is set start as the Seahawks aim for a 10th straight win against the Cardinals. Their current winning streak is the longest active by any team versus a divisional opponent.
As for the 49ers (1-0), they open a three-game homestand with the lowly Miami Dolphins. Malik Willis was sacked five times in his Dolphins debut against the Raiders, and Miami had the most snaps played by rookies in Week 1 (439 total, 158 more than any other team) according to NFL Research.
In one week, the Rams went from the hunted to the hunters, from pole position to chasing the standings.
Let the uphill climb begin.
