Add The California Post on Google In true Hollywood fashion, the Los Angeles Rams showed up fashionably late to their date with the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne and paid dearly for it.
Turns out being late is a faux pas in the Land Down Under, too.
The Rams were technically the home team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but when somebody yelled out, “Whose house?” all of Australia, decked out in red and gold, yelled back “Our house.”
At least Melbourne native Chris Hemsworth knows how to wield a hammer.
After a 27-7 thumping by the 49ers in which the Rams looked jet-lagged, lethargic and offensively lost, they finally return to their actual home on Monday night when they host the New York Giants.
And suddenly, Week 2 feels much bigger than it should.
The Rams have had 10 days to digest the humiliation in Australia. Matthew Stafford threw for only 155 yards with no touchdowns and an interception after winning NFL MVP and leading the league with 4,707 yards and 46 touchdown passes last season. An offense that averaged 30.5 points per game somehow managed just seven.
Puka Nacua was one of the few bright spots, catching five passes for 74 yards, but he is questionable for Week 2 after missing practice Friday and Saturday with a hip injury after dealing with groin, psoas and lower-back issues throughout August.
As bad as the Rams offense looked in Week 1, the defense wasn’t much better.
The Rams surrendered 174 rushing yards, failed to record a sack on 34 pass attempts and generated just two quarterback hits. Myles Garrett finished with the same statistical line as Aaron Donald, who watched from the comforts of his couch at home in Los Angeles: zero tackles, zero sacks and zero pressures.
Now Garrett is on injured reserve following a knee procedure, leaving Donald to make his anticipated return after more than two years away from football.
The rams have 99 problems, but No. 99 will not be one, no pressure AD.
Across the field, the Giants arrive with considerably more swagger after beating Dallas on Sunday Night Football. Jaxson Dart, aka “Dart Vader” if you’re feeling particularly Sith-like — threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns while adding 59 rushing yards. Isaiah Likely caught eight passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, Malik Nabers returned with six catches for 69 yards and Cam Skattebo rushed for 81 yards and a score.
Skattebo has already talked about trying to run through Donald on Monday night. Good luck with that.
There is another reunion buried inside this matchup. Odell Beckham Jr. returns to the stadium where he helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI — and where he tore his ACL during that championship game.
The Giants also bring a dangerous pass rush featuring Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux against a Rams offense that looked painfully predictable in Melbourne.
The Rams lead the all-time series 30-17, including the postseason, but the Giants won their last playoff meeting, 16-13, in the 1984 Wild Card round.
For the Rams, Monday night is about proving Week 1 belonged to another time zone, another continent and another version of themselves.
This time, there are no kangaroos, no koalas, no 16-hour flights and no excuses.
Giants OL Francis Mauigoa vs. Rams DT Aaron Donald
Mauigoa did not allow a pressure on 36 pass-blocking snaps in his NFL debut, according to Next Gen Stats, the most pass-blocking snaps without surrendering a pressure by a rookie in a Week 1 game over the past eight seasons.
His encore could feature Donald, who plans to make his first appearance since 2023.
The Rams desperately need him. Los Angeles failed to record a sack in Australia and now will be without Garrett for at least four games. Donald won’t be expected to play every snap, but his presence alongside Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and Byron Young could transform the front.
Mauigoa passed his first NFL exam against the Cowboys, but the second has a gold jacket waiting at the end of it.
The downside of the Rams’ Australia travel experiment was blatantly obvious in Melbourne. The potential benefit arrives Monday. The team returned home quickly and has had 10 days to recover and prepare, while the Giants must travel across the country following a Sunday night game. The Giants’ pass rush and Dart’s mobility will cause problems, but expect a much sharper Stafford and a desperate Rams defense energized by Donald’s return. After spending Week 1 as the world’s most geographically confused home team, the Rams finally get to play in SoFi Stadium again and will get their first win with it.
Nothing else matters defensively until the Rams prove they can stop somebody from running directly at them.
The 49ers piled up 174 rushing yards in Week 1, continuing a troubling issue from last season. Now comes Skattebo, who ran for 81 yards and a touchdown against Dallas and has eight scrimmage touchdowns through his first nine NFL games. Dart adds another dimension after rushing for 59 yards in the opener.
Chris Shula’s defense cannot allow New York to live in second-and-manageable situations. If the Giants establish the run, play action opens and Likely becomes even more dangerous over the middle. Donald’s return should help, but one man cannot repair an entire front.
Second Down: Get to the quarterback
The Rams rushed the passer 34 times in Australia and came home without a sack.
That’s unacceptable for a defensive front built to terrorize quarterbacks.
Garrett’s knee injury makes Donald’s return even more important, but the Rams cannot simply ask a 35-year-old who hasn’t played since 2023 to rescue their pass rush. Turner, Fiske and Young need to produce.
Dart was brilliant against Dallas, completing 23 of 29 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns while posting a 134.2 passer rating. He also owns a 114.5 career passer rating in primetime games.
The Rams need to make Monday night feel more like the Death Star trench.
Third Down: Dude, where’s my MVP?
Week 1 Stafford looked nothing like the quarterback who threw for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns last season and won NFL MVP.
Some of that can be blamed on the bizarre travel schedule, no preseason snaps and old friend Raheem Morris, now drawing up defensive plans for San Francisco. But some of it was on Stafford.
Stafford threw for 155 yards with no touchdowns and an interception while the NFL’s No. 1 offense produced just seven points. Now Carter and Thibodeaux arrive after the Giants held Dak Prescott to 175 passing yards.
The Rams need rhythm, tempo and imagination back in Sean McVay’s offense. Nacua’s hip injury bears watching, but if he’s available alongside Davante Adams, Kyren Williams and the Rams’ deep tight-end room, Stafford has plenty of weapons at his disposal. It’s time for the MVP to look like one.
Fourth Down: You’re Likely to see a Dart
Likely’s Giants debut produced eight receptions, 78 yards and two touchdowns, making him the first tight end in franchise history to catch two touchdown passes in his debut with the team. Two more Monday would make him the first NFL tight end with at least four touchdown catches in his first two games with a new club.
The 49ers exposed the Rams underneath in Week 1, attacking the linebackers and creating comfortable coverage responsibilities for safety Quentin Lake. We expect the Giants to do the same.
If Shula and the Rams defense don’t fix those blind spots, Dart Vader will tear them apart with his lightsaber.
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