The 2023 season of the Los Angeles Rams is already over, and while they won’t be winning another Lombardi Trophy, it was still a successful campaign.
The Rams never gave up even though they had one of the youngest teams in the league and had a 3-6 start. They made the playoffs, something very few people predicted at the beginning of the season, after winning seven of their last eight regular season games. The Rams gave the Detroit Lions everything they had in the lone tight game of the Wild Card Round, despite the fact that they were eliminated from the playoffs.
Rob Havenstein, an offensive tackle and one of the Rams’ longest-tenured players, sent a very plain message to his younger teammates as another season came to an end.
Havenstein cautioned reporters on Tuesday not to undervalue the effort required to reach this point. “It’s understandable that early success, such as qualifying for the playoffs in your first year, might nearly obscure the difficulty of that feat. I believe the boys worked hard enough this season to turn things around and, in the end, qualify for the postseason. However, many players in this league play their whole careers without ever having the opportunity to do so.”
Without the contributions of their exceptional rookie class, the Rams would not be where they are today. The rookie who garnered the most attention was receiver Puka Nacua, who in his rookie season set NFL records with 105 grabs and 1,486 yards.
The Rams acquired Nacua in addition to two sack artists in Kobie Turner and Byron Young and an offensive guard in Steve Avila who started every game.
All of a sudden, a squad whose prospects weren’t great not so long ago now appear bright for the future. Havenstein cautioned the young Rams to avoid falling into complacency at all costs, though, since he is aware that it can be a team’s undoing.
“There’s never picking up right where you left off just because of the nature of the NFL, there’s going to be different players, different coaches, you might do things a little bit differently to adapt to a changing NFL game,” Havenstein explained. “But it’s all experience, and so the more of that you can get in a positive way, I think that’s what (head coach) Sean (McVay) created – a culture, this year especially, of just going about things the right way and just working on playing better football, being a better football player, being a better teammate and keeping everything a positive environment around.”