McVay not satisfied after Rams rout Giants behind Stafford, D
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Sean McVay wasn’t happy walking into the postgame news conference after his Los Angeles Rams had their way with the banged-up and struggling New York Giants.
Despite getting another big game from quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Cooper Kupp, and four takeaways from his defense, McVay didn’t enjoy the opening quarter of the Rams’ 38-11 win on Sunday.
The problem was, McVay’s team had a slow start. It’s not the first time this season, but when you’re 5-1, coaches expect a lot.
“I think we can be a lot sharper offensively,” McVay said of being shut out in the first quarter. “We’ve got to start faster. There’s no excuse. We got to be better than that. We’ll take the win and I thought our guys did a nice job today.”
The Rams were very good in the second and third quarters in taking a 38-3 lead over the Giants (1-5), who were missing many of their key players on offense.
“I’m proud of the way we just stuck to it,” said Stafford, who threw two of his four touchdown passes to Kupp. “Our defense did a great job in the second quarter giving us some short fields and we were able to score points.”
Stafford connected with Kupp on scoring passes of 3 and 13 yards. He also found Robert Woods for a 15-yard score and running back Darrell Henderson on a 25-yarder in a 28-point second quarter.
Stafford, who has 16 TD passes in six games, finished 22 of 28 for 251 yards in three-plus quarters.
Kupp, who was tied for second in the league with 37 catches entering the game, added nine more receptions for 130 yards. Safety Taylor Rapp had two interceptions to account for half of Los Angeles’ takeaways.
Henderson also scored on a 2-yard TD run in the big second quarter and Matt Gay kicked a 32-yard field goal as the Rams beat the Giants for the third time in five seasons.
A week after sustaining a concussion in a loss to Dallas, Daniel Jones started at quarterback for the Giants. He led the offense to a 27-yard field goal by Graham Gano on the opening series, but the Rams picked him off three times and recovered a fumble on a strip-sack by Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
Jones finished 29 of 51 for 242 yards playing without running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Kenny Golladay. Playmaking rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney (ankle) was lost on the first series.
The Giants trailed 28-3 at halftime.
“I’m extremely disappointed,” Giants safety Logan Ryan said. “It’s not acceptable, to be honest. It’s not acceptable. I think we had to go out there (in the) second half and fight so that we could try to earn some respect, that just hasn’t been acceptable. The results. So it’s not good.”