A visibly frustrated Sean McVay didn't hold back after the Los Angeles Rams lost 18-16 to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, their second straight defeat decided by a field goal.
"Collectively, even if we had come away with the result, it's just not good enough," he told reporters postgame. "There's just so many things that aren't in alignment with what we need to be able to do. We gotta be able to figure it out, and it starts with me. I gotta be able to have some better answers so that I'm not up here saying the same things to you guys."
This one had to sting. A week after Harrison Mevis' potential game-winning field goal was tipped in overtime against the Buffalo Bills on "Monday Night Football", the Rams parted ways with him and signed Blake
Grupe. He injured himself in the first quarter after tackling Devin Duvernay at the 47-yard line and did not return. Ethan Evans, the starting punter, stepped in as the emergency kicker, immediately shifting McVay's strategy to avoid as many kicking situations as possible, even if it meant eschewing three points.
The problem on Sunday was that the offense wasn't there for most of the day. The Cardinals, led by former McVay protege Mike LaFleur, shut down the Rams' run game with varied looks and blitz packages and held Kyren Williams and Blake Corum to just 92 combined rushing yards. Los Angeles' offense was forced to be one-dimensional, but even Matthew Stafford struggled with the pressure in his face as he was sacked three times and took seven QB hits outside of those.
Stafford finished 25-of-33 passing for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
"We just didn't execute," McVay said. "Simple as that."
"We won't win a game unless we figure out how to not beat ourselves."
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 18, 2026
Rams HC Sean McVay after losing to the Cardinals. pic.twitter.com/jZ4KOGLnd2
Even when they finally broke through for an eight-play, 86-yard drive capped off by Colby Parkinson reaching over the goal line for a game-tying touchdown, followed by Evans converting the PAT for his first career field goal to take a one-point lead with 47 seconds left, the Rams found another way to shoot themselves in the foot.
Jacoby Brissett found Jalen Brooks 21 yards downfield on the first play of the Cardinals' two-minute drill. Brooks went up to haul in the catch, but took Josh Wallace's shoulder pad to his helmet on the way back down. Wallace was called for unnecessary roughness, tacking on 15 more yards to set Arizona up at the Rams' 29-yard line.
Three plays later, Chad Ryland kicked the game-winner through the uprights as time expired, putting the Rams at 2-4 through the first six weeks of the season.
It's back to the drawing board once again for McVay.
"We have to be able to not beat ourselves before we figure out how to come away with some of the results," he said. "It's not even good enough, and I have to do a much better job. There's nothing positive that I can say about today."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sean McVay exasperated after Cardinals' upset win over Rams
