LOS ANGELES — The 2026 season hasn’t started the way anyone expected it would for the Rams.
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Prohibitive Super Bowl favorites in the summer, the team is off to a 1-2 start to the year after an ill-advised travel plan to Australia and a pass interference penalty that the NFL would like back. All-Pros Myles Garrett and Puka Nacua have already missed time due to injury, and Aaron Donald, Jaylen Watson, Terrance Ferguson and possibly Colby Parkinson will soon be added to that list. The team has already moved on from kick returner Xavier Smith after more special teams struggles.
“Do I want to go through that adversity? No, but this is what we are going through,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said Friday, “so have to be able to handle it.”
But the Rams have an opportunity Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles (2-1) to get some redemption and put some of the bad vibes of the first three weeks behind them.
The Eagles have been one of the overarching nemeses for the Rams the past few seasons. Two years ago, a thrashing courtesy of running back Saquon Barkley sparked a full reevaluation of the Rams’ defense. Just when the team thought it had solved the resulting issues, Barkley and the Eagles sent the Rams home on a snowy day in January.
Last season, the Rams looked set to get their revenge with a 26-7 lead at the start of the third quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. But the Eagles stormed back to take a one-point lead with 1:48 to play. Quarterback Matthew Stafford got the Rams back in position to win, but Josh Karty’s field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown.
“You hang around in this game long enough, you have some stuff that you deal with, but that was a tough loss,” Rams offensive coordinator Nate Scheelhaase said. “It was tough to go out like that. I think anytime you’re in those moments, you’re always thinking, ‘Hey, what could I have done? What could we have done to not make it come down to that?’”
But if the Rams can break a four-game losing streak against the Eagles, it might take the sting out of that recent history, not to mention the way the first three games of this season have played out.
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With wide receiver A.J. Brown now a New England Patriot and fellow receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring) and tight end Dallas Goedert (knee) sidelined, the Eagles’ offense doesn’t have the same aerial threats the Rams had to prepare for in past years. But that means everything will come down to whether the Rams can stop Barkley. Again.
The Rams built their defense this year to be better against the run. They added cornerbacks in Watson and McDuffie who aren’t afraid of stepping up and lowering a shoulder to stop a running back. They traded for edge rusher Garrett, a better defender against the run than Jared Verse. And Donald came out of retirement to reinforce the middle of the defense.
But with the injuries sustained to Garrett, Watson and now Donald, the unit is 26th in the NFL in expected points added (EPA) per play against the run (-0.029) and 13th in success rate against the run (39%).
It’s been easier in 2026 for opposing defenses to load the box against the Eagles without Brown in Philadelphia. But Barkley is still producing when his number is called, averaging 5.1 yards per carry, albeit on just 11.3 carries per game.
Even if this is a depleted Eagles team, a win would do a lot for the Rams’ confidence, as they try to pull themselves out of their early slump and measure themselves against past playoff exits.
But the former is the more immediate need for this team.
“I always think the people that I respect the most are the ones that handle the tough times the best because tough times don’t last, tough people do,” McVay said. “You have to fight your natural inclination, but I’m excited to swing and compete again with this group. This story is not yet written, even though I think there are some people that can feel otherwise. We’ve got a lot of ball ahead of us, but we have to start doing what we can on a daily basis.”
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RAMS (1-2) at EAGLES (2-1)
When: Sunday, 10 a.m. PT
Where: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 264, 195