The Rams did not leave Week 6 with just a loss. They left with a clearer picture of how thin the margin had become.
An 18-16 defeat to the Cardinals at SoFi Stadium dropped Los Angeles to 2-4, and it came with a familiar kind of ending: the Rams’ second straight loss decided by a walk-off field goal. But the score was only part of the story. The game also added another layer to a season already being shaped by injuries, a pass rush that has not consistently threatened quarterbacks, and a kicking situation that has turned into a weekly problem.
The most immediate hit came on special teams. Blake Grupe suffered a torn ACL against Arizona and is out for the rest of the season, one game after former kicker Harrison Mevis cost the Rams a win in Week 5. Grupe’s injury came while making a touchdown-saving tackle, a play that ended his season and left Los Angeles back in the market for another kicker.
McVay expects the team to sign one in the next day or two, and the Rams are reportedly considering veteran options Brandon McManus and Matt Prater. That is not a small detail for a team that has already had to navigate one kicking mishap after another.
The injury list did not stop there. Poona Ford also sustained a season-ending injury against the Cardinals, and Davante Adams is out six to 10 weeks after rupturing his hamstring. Defensive tackle Kobie Turner is dealing with a groin injury that is expected to keep him out four to six weeks, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Hybrid tight end-wideout Terrance Ferguson is on injured reserve, though he will be eligible to return as soon as Week 8.
Even before the Cardinals game, the Rams were already dealing with uncertainty in the secondary. Trent McDuffie and Kam Curl were questionable on the final injury report, and McDuffie missed the game against Arizona. His status for the upcoming matchup against the Raiders is still to be determined at the end of the week.
That matters because the Raiders are next, and they bring what has been described as a surprisingly explosive offense. The Rams will have to sort through their own roster questions quickly to avoid another game in which the defense is stretched thin before kickoff.
The pass rush has been one of the clearest pressure points all season. Los Angeles did not record a sack in Week 6, the fourth time this year it has finished a game with one sack or none. Myles Garrett has been on injured reserve since playing hurt in Week 1 and will not return to practice this week, leaving Byron Young to carry a disproportionate share of the production.
Young has 3.5 sacks and ranks sixth among 115 edge defenders with 29 total pressures. After him, the numbers fall off sharply. The Rams’ remaining edge rushers have combined for just 12 pressures, and inside linebacker Omar Speights is second on the team in sacks with two. Braden Fiske has 15 pressures, Kobie Turner has 13, and Aaron Donald has seven in four games played.
That is the kind of distribution that shows up when a defense is leaning too heavily on one player to create disruption.
The broader view around the Rams has changed as well. Their average ranking across different outlets heading into Week 7 is 17.3, a sharp drop from the preseason expectations that surrounded the roster. The Week 6 loss, the injuries, and the ongoing pass-rush issues have all fed into that slide, but the Cardinals game also made the shape of the problem easier to see: the Rams are not just losing players, they are losing answers.
There is still some help potentially coming. Terrance Ferguson could return as soon as Week 8, and the team is expected to add a kicker soon. But for now, Los Angeles is headed into another week with a depleted defense, a new special-teams decision to make, and a roster that has already been forced to absorb too many setbacks at once.