Rams’ Sean McVay rediscovers ground game as Kyren Williams runs through Cardinals
Sean McVay saw the ugly numbers on the stat sheet at halftime.
The Los Angeles Rams finished with three rushes for five yards, and his team trailed by three points against their NFC West rivals, the Arizona Cardinals.
But that all changed in the second half.
"We wanted to be able to let them set their pads and go downhill," McVay said, when asked about the halftime conversation with the players.
McVay and the Rams maintained that commitment, running it nine times for 62 yards on the opening drive of the second half. Los Angeles capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass on an out route to Cooper Kupp from Matthew Stafford.
The Rams grabbed the lead with the score on that drive and never relinquished it, scoring 20 unanswered points and finishing 26-9 winners over the Cardinals.
Second-year running back Kyren Williams was the leader of the running game, finishing with a career-high 158 rushing yards on 18 carries and a score.
"He was running like a man on a mission today," McVay said about Williams. "I thought he saw the holes great. We were able to create great removal at the point of attack. He was able to press it the right way and be able to level it off. And then he ran through some tackles to create big-time explosives."
Williams' effort against the Cardinals showed why the Rams moved on from Cam Akers, trading him to the Minnesota Vikings. McVay sees a potential feature back in Williams; a player who can catch the football out of the backfield, make defenders miss in space and serve as a solid pass protector in the passing game.
It's the second time Williams has rushed for over 100 yards in a game this season. The last time was a 103-yard performance in Week 4, an overtime victory against the Indianapolis Colts.
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The Rams still got Kupp his touches, and he totaled seven catches for 148 yards and a score.
Williams did suffer an ankle injury near the end of the game and did not return, but McVay said he expects the Notre Dame product to be fine.
The victory put Los Angeles back at the .500 mark at 3-3, while the Cardinals dropped to 1-5 on the season.
The Rams totaled just 54 rushing yards a week ago, in a loss at home to the Philadelphia Eagles. McVay had run the ball just 37 percent of the time heading into Sunday's contest against the Cardinals.
But the Rams forced the issue in the running game against the Cardinals.
"I've never been able to block anybody like that in my life, so I don't know what the hell it feels like," joked Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford. "But it's got to feel pretty good for them, I would imagine, being able to lean on people and do what you want to do."
Leading 9-6 at halftime, the Cardinals imploded in the second half by turning the ball over twice, with the Rams scoring 10 points off those miscues. Arizona did not score in the second half and settled for field goals, finishing 0-for-3 in the red zone.
It's the fourth time in six games this season the Cardinals held a lead in the second half, but they've only got one win to show for it.
"We've got to take a good, hard look with the coaches when we get later into ball games, are we giving our guys chances to execute at a high level," Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said. "Because it doesn't matter how many plays we've got on the sheet, it's what can we execute. So, that's our job. We've got to do a better job of that."
The Rams seemed to go after rookie cornerback Kei'Trel Clark. According to Next Gen Stats, Clark was the nearest defender on five catches for 113 yards on five targets. Clark was eventually replaced in the lineup by Starling Thomas.
Clark's tough day included giving up a 49-yard completion to Kupp late in the first half that the Rams turned into a 35-yard field goal Brett Maher.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter at @eric_d_williams.