The Los Angeles Rams debuted their superteam in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday night, and they started off with a big thud down under.
The heavy Super Bowl favorites were trounced in primetime by the San Francisco 49ers, who won the game 27-7.
So much was made about Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers decision to leave California one week early so their bodies could acclimate to the time difference in Australia. The Rams, meanwhile, deployed two employees to study extensive sleep and circadian science research. They left California the day before the game, keeping their bodies on Pacific Standard Time.
To put things lightly, that didn’t work. And whatever nerds told Rams coach Sean McVay that taking a 16-hour flight just 28 hours before kickoff was a good idea should be fired. The team looked completely exhausted.
Unless the grander plan was to just punt this game, anyways.
When you put aside the sleep science gobbledygook, it actually makes no sense to sit on an airplane for 16 hours, giving yourself just 12 hours before competing in a high stakes NFL game. Perhaps the Rams understand that there’s a lot of season left, and now there’s no need to adjust back to Los Angeles time. Instead, they can flush this blowout loss and immediately start preparing for their home matchup against the New York Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 2.
Would a team really punt a divisional game in their season opener?
It sounds silly, but down three scores with several timeouts and the two-minute warning, Noah Eagle and Luke Kuechly were stunned on Netflix’s broadcast as McVay benched reigning MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford in favor of Stetson Bennett with the game somewhat still in reach.
Bennett saw his first real NFL action since being selected in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He didn’t do much, running around and helping the Rams kill time until they were allowed to escape Australia.
Speaking of a guy that didn’t do much? Myles Garrett.
The newly-acquired Garrett didn’t look worth Jared Verse and three draft picks in his Rams debut. Garrett played in 39 defensive snaps and didn’t record a single stat. He was missing from Los Angeles’ defensive line in key red zone moments, as he was gasping for air after not practicing all offseason.
There’s still plenty of games left for Garrett to turn around his first season in Los Angeles, but his postgame comments were jarring.
“This was the worst version of myself that I’ve put out there. And I’ve got to be better,” Garrett said. “I’ve got to find a way to recover and get back to the player I know I can be and I’ve shown that I’ve been before.”
The 30-year-old superstar acknowledged that his knee injury still isn’t 100%. Hopefully the Rams can get 35-year-old Aaron Donald up to speed quickly, because Brock Purdy’s Niners had no trouble marching up and down the field on Garrett’s defense for 379 yards of total offense.
The sky isn’t falling in Hollywood.
They still have a league-high 14% chance of winning the Super Bowl on Kalshi, which is a popular prediction market that allows users to buy and sell contracts of real-world outcomes like the NFL. The Rams are going to win plenty of games. But for one night, you’re allowed to question the genius of McVay, general manager Les Snead, and everyone involved in the Week 1 Australia meltdown.
