The Rams could have looked at the scoreboard Monday night, congratulated themselves on restoring order and called it an evening.
Davante Adams had spent three hours reminding everyone that he remains a problem without an obvious solution. Matthew Stafford was delivering the ball with conviction. And the misery of Australia finally had some distance behind it.
There was plenty to feel good about.
Feeling satisfied is another matter.
For a team with the Rams’ ambitions, Monday’s win over the Giants was as much a reminder of what remains possible as evidence of what still needs work.
“The cool thing is there’s a lot of stuff we can clean up too,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.
Cool might not have been his preferred description when the ball was hitting the ground.
But his larger point holds up.
The Rams won 28–6, outgained the Giants 481–182 and got 327 passing yards and four touchdown throws from Stafford.
And still, there were stretches when they seemed determined to make the evening more complicated than necessary.
Kyren Williams’ fumble at the Rams’ 11-yard line handed the Giants three points. A better opponent might have turned it into a touchdown. Stafford forced a throw into double coverage. Dropped passes turned opportunities into frustrations.
Those are the kinds of mistakes a team can survive against an opponent struggling to generate much of anything. And remember, the Giants played nearly the entire game without quarterback Jaxson Dart, who went down with a knee injury on the opening drive.
It doesn’t need to be explained how the calculus changed once he left and James Winston replaced him.
Point being, the mistakes the Rams made Monday become considerably more expensive when the caliber of opponent improves. That starts on Sunday when the Rams head to the Mile High City to play the Broncos.
That distinction belongs in any honest assessment of Monday night. So does the understanding that identifying flaws in a comfortable victory is hardly a reason to panic.
It is Week 2.
Nobody hands out trophies for having the cleanest September. And nobody with designs on playing deep into the postseason should want this to be the best version of themselves.
“We were a little bit not as efficient as I would have liked in certain areas,” said Stafford. “Some plays that we can make that we didn’t make. We do that, we like where we are, but it was nice to get a win as we’re finding a way to be better,” Stafford said.
The reassuring part is that the Rams can point to specific ways to improve.
Protect the ball. Finish catches. Give productive possessions a chance to become points instead of explaining afterward why they did not.
Those corrections do not require discovering an entirely different offense.
They require getting more out of the one already taking shape.
Adams offered the clearest illustration. His eight catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns were enough to dominate the evening. They also invited a bigger question.
What might this look like when the Rams stop interrupting themselves?
“I think it was a glimpse of it, to be honest. Because I think we still got another level to tap into,” Adams said. “And I don’t say that trying to be like ‘that’ but at the end of the day, if we take care of the ball a little bit better, it’s going to equate to more points.”
That is a reasonable expectation, especially with Puka Nacua eventually returning to the offense, Aaron Donald still rounding back into form and Myles Garrett expected back on defense eventually.
The Rams are still working toward the lineup they envisioned. Nacua gives Stafford another premier target and defenses another difficult choice. Garrett gives the defensive front another player capable of wrecking a possession.
Their returns will raise the possibilities.
The work in the meantime is making sure those stars rejoin a team that has improved its habits, rather than one waiting for reinforcements to solve everything.
There is an important difference.
“Obviously, we’re happy about it, any win in this league is one to celebrate,” said Adams. “But when you’re trying to be great and a Super Bowl-caliber team, you have to hold yourself to a high standard and I think we can do a little better.”
Adams’ standard is the appropriate one.
The Rams needed a win after Australia. They also needed evidence that the team they expected to be was still there, beneath the mistakes and the early disruption.
Monday supplied both.
Now comes the less glamorous business of turning an encouraging performance into something dependable. The catches that must be finished. The possessions that must be protected. The decisions that cannot be excused simply because the final margin was comfortable.
There is plenty to clean up.
In September, with a win in hand and another level within reach, that is a perfectly acceptable place to be.
Provided the Rams keep climbing.
