Sky isn't falling on the Rams despite doomsday narrative with Myles Garrett out

On paper, the Los Angeles Rams were built to shut down NFL offenses. The secondary was reinforced with two elite cornerbacks, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. The group retained veteran safeties Quentin Lake and Kam Curl. Edge rusher Myles Garrett paired up with Byron Young.

Then the season started, and LA's defense didn't show up.

Adding injury to insult, Garrett was shipped off to injured reserve after requiring arthroscopic surgery on his knee. He'll be gone for at least a month.

First Take host Chris Canty wasted no time declaring that the sky is indeed falling over Los Angeles:

"If he doesn't come back sooner rather than later, their season's going to be over."

While it might feel like the Horns are about to fall off a cliff, perhaps the sky is not about to crash into SoFi Stadium after all. First Take is known for outlandish click bait. And the Rams fielded a decent defense in 2025 despite having less talent to work with. While Jared Verse is gone, McDuffie and Watson are better cover corners than anything this team has had recently.

The pass rush still has Young and Josaiah Stewart off the edge. It's not as though there's no left to sack opposing quarterbacks.

Oh, and Aaron Donald will be back soon, too.

Myles Garrett's injury may be a Rams blessing in disguise

While the next four games on the schedule may be their toughest stretch, not all hope is lost. The Rams play two of them at SoFi Stadium, including their Week 2 matchup against the New York Giants. They then travel to face the Broncs and Eagles and finally return home to host the Buffalo Bills.

If the Rams can win two of the next four games, they'll still be in position to make a playoff push when Garrett returns.

And therein lies the rub. Garrett may be coming back to a team healthy and refreshed at the best possible time. NFL offenses will be banged up by then, and Garrett will be as fresh as a daisy.

Better still, there will be plenty of video footage of those offenses and very little of Garrett in a new defensive system.

Once LA gets past the Bills, the schedule becomes more manageable until after the Week 11 bye. Hopefully, Garrett will be back and healthy. And he will be joining a defense that should already boast Donald.

Is the sky really falling?

While the Rams struggled across the board in Week 1, traveling over 15 hours of air time to play a football game may have had something to do with that. That won't be the case for the remainder of the season. In fact, LA's travel schedule will seem much saner from here on.

Garrett won't get a full season of action in 2026. He won't have a realistic chance to one-up his single-season sacks record from a year ago, as some speculated he could. But this is not about personal records.

The Rams knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl. If anything, that Week 1 loss was merely a wake-up call.

As always, thanks for reading.

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