Rams' Sean McVay shoulders blame for season-opening loss to Bills, vows to do better going forward

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay called Thursday night's three-touchdown, season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills a «humbling experience.»

The Rams unveiled their Super Bowl LVI banner, then proceeded to lose to Buffalo 31-10, never finding any consistency on offense and turning over the ball three times.

«When you look at a lot of the ways that this game unfolded, [I] feel a huge sense of responsibility to this team,» McVay said. «We weren't ready to go. I take a lot of pride in that, and that's on me. I've got to do better. There were a lot of decisions that I made that I felt like didn't put our players in good enough spots.

»So it was a humbling experience, but we're going to stay connected. We're going to all look inward. We're going to do a better job moving forward."

Cornerback Jalen Ramsey summed up the night simply: «We got our ass beat. Straight up.»

Linebacker Bobby Wagner, who signed with Los Angeles this offseason, said he felt like «third downs killed us» in the game. The Bills' offense finished 9-for-10 (90%) on third down, tied for the second-best mark in the past 30 seasons by any team in a single game. Buffalo never had to punt.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (29-of-41 passing for 240 yards, TD, 3 INTs and a 63.1 passer rating) was sacked seven times. McVay said there were «some instances» where his team used a silent snap count despite being at home, and Buffalo «did a good job being able to jump the count.»

Stafford said the crowd noise at SoFi Stadium, which saw an impressive turnout from Bills fans, didn't affect him.

«I mean, we prepared for it,» Stafford said. «We prepared to be on the silent count at home again. But it wasn't something that we haven't done before.»

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