A day after Cam Akers played only 12 snaps in the Los Angeles Rams’ season-opening loss to the Buffalo Bills, coach Sean McVay said his running back needs to “maximize his [opportunities] when he gets them.”
“No matter who you’re talking about, you want to see guys do the little things the right way, compete with and without the ball,” McVay said. “There were some instances where there were some positive things and some things that he can do better, but we want to see just an increased level of urgency and accountability snap in and snap out from him.”
Akers had three carries for 0 yards Thursday night. Running back Darrell Henderson Jr. started the game, playing 54 snaps and running for 47 yards on 13 carries.
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McVay said he knows what Akers is “capable of,” and because of that, he’s confident that Akers will “be that guy that we’ve all seen at the right moments as this season continues to progress.”
“We’ve all seen how talented and what a special player this guy’s capable of being,” McVay said. “And I want to see him reach his highest potential. And that’s really all there is to it. It’s not about anything other than when he and Darrell [Henderson] are playing at a high level, I feel really good about those two guys at running back for us.
“And the opportunities were minimal. There were some things that within each of those individual plays that I think that we can be better collectively, starting with me, then to the players around him, but also with Cam. And so it’s more of a reflection of the confidence that I know what he can be and I’m confident that he’ll be that guy that we’ve all seen at the right moments as this season continues to progress. And that’s our job to help get it out of him.”
McVay was also asked about wide receiver Allen Robinson, who had one catch for 12 yards against Buffalo, but was targeted just twice.
“[Buffalo] did a great job of executing,” McVay said. “We’ve got to try to get Allen more involved. But there were some opportunities for him to come to life that for a lot of different reasons, it didn’t end up occurring. But those are things that we’ll look into week in and week out.”
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