Los Angeles Rams: 4 overreactions in the NFC West after Week 1

Maybe, but does anyone believe the next 15 games are a matter of process? Is it simply “wake up Ram fan” at the end of January with reservations for Atlanta and say “you’re all good!!!”

Nope.

The Los Angeles Rams beat the Oakland Raiders by 20 points on Monday Night Football, but that is only part of the story. The Raiders, who aren’t likely to be a playoff team in 2018, was the better team in the first half.

Period.
Full stop.

They had more energy, we’re playing better on offense, and outside of Todd Gurley, had Jared Goff looking pretty average and out of sync.

You’d never know that by the final score as both teams were in a tight one heading to the fourth quarter. Then and only then, did they begin to put some daylight between themselves and the Silver and Black.

Look, the Rams should be better than 10 wins in 2018. But an offseason with little work showed, and it’s no guarantee it doesn’t still have some residual effect in Week 2 against the Cardinals. But the idea that the game against the Raiders is a mere wake up call is absurd.

For instance, Goff is still a work in progress. He will have to be better moving forward and odds are he will.

Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh also need to play like Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh. We also know that will happen sooner rather than later.

No one denies that the Los Angeles Rams are built for a monster kind of season in 2018 and 2019. But Week 1 was hardly a formality. Week 1 showed a rusty team who needs time to get it together.

Fortunately for them, they have a chance to do just that against a Cardinals team who isn’t much better than the Raiders.