Rams' Sean McVay Shares Thoughts On Controversial Tutu Atwell Call
While the Los Angeles Rams lost 19-16 against the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday, the game was literal inches away from going very differently.
During the Rams' first drive, receiver Tutu Atwell took a reverse play 24 yards down the sideline to seemingly get L.A. on the board first. After review, though, the touchdown came back as Atwell was ruled out of bounds at the two-yard line. That review proved incredibly costly as the Rams eventually had to settle for a field goal. In a three-point game, those extra four points to come off the board made all the difference.
As the saying goes, though, there's no use crying over spilt milk. On Wednesday, coach Sean McVay said that the Rams would not submit the call to the NFL for review, and that they're just focused on moving forward.
Los Angeles Rams receiver Tutu Atwell during Monday night's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
USA Today Sports
"That was the call that they made and we got to be able to do a better job in the red area of being able to finish those drives. . . I think the whole dynamic of the game changes if we're able to finish those drives with touchdowns and unfortunately we weren't able to do that,” McVay told reporters.
Red zone offense was indeed a big problem for L.A. in this game. The Rams made it to the red zone four times on Monday, but had to settle for Brett Maher field goals on three of those trips. Even when they managed to finally find the end zone, with Atwell catching a one-yard pass from quarterback Matthew Stafford, it was far too late as just a minute remained in the game.
"They've been in that system for a while but for us it was just really situational ball, which was kind of the opposite of the first two weeks where we were really good on third down and really good in the red zone and we just flipped script. . . And in the red zone, obviously I thought we had our opportunities we just didn't get it done, didn't execute,” offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur told reporters.
As LaFleur notes, the Rams were quite good in the red zone through their first two games. L.A. made it to the red zone seven times over those two games, and five of those trips resulted in touchdowns. The only exceptions came in the third quarter against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 and in the dying seconds against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2, both of which resulted in 37-yard field goals.
That red-zone prowess came to an end against the Bengals, though, and the Rams paid the price for it. They'll now look to put the loss behind them as they prepare to face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.
