The Rams win easily to improve their 5-1 record, with gigantic disappointments

Maybe one day, four months, or a decade from now, the Rams will look back on Sunday’s win over the New York Giants and remember.

Not necessarily a single play of their 38-11 win over the hapless Giants at MetLife Stadium, but on an afternoon as the Giants celebrated the 10th anniversary of their 2011 Super Bowl champion team, the Rams overcame initial difficulties at the offense and stayed on track for a possible route to Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.

Matthew Stafford passed for four touchdowns, running back Darrell Henderson and wide receiver Cooper Kupp each scored two touchdowns and the defense forced four turnovers in a victory that improved the Rams’ record to 5-1.

Not that coach Sean McVay has expected confetti to drop yet. Not after the Rams’ offense, once again, got off to a slow start.

“It’s not good enough,” he said. “I am not satisfied with it.”

Or, as Kupp summed up: “It’s the result we wanted, but the offense is not at our level.”

The game was the first of a three-game stretch that pits the Rams against struggling teams. The Giants, for example, fell to a 1-5 mark.

McVay and general manager Les Snead traded Goff, two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick to the Lions for Stafford because McVay had become frustrated with Goff, and they believed Stafford offered superior arm talent, the skill and experience.

Stafford didn’t win a playoff game in 12 seasons, but McVay and Snead are convinced it’s the missing piece to help the Rams win a Super Bowl to be played at their stadium.

There are 11 games left of the regular season. So far, it seems like a wise decision.

Stafford has passed for 16 touchdowns, with four interceptions.

On Sunday, he threw two touchdown passes to Kupp, one to Henderson and one to wide receiver Robert Woods. He completed 22 of 28 passes for 251 yards, with an interception.

“There is room for improvement,” Stafford said of the offense, “but I’m proud of the way we held up.”

The Rams' Cooper Kupp scores one of his two touchdowns against the Giants.

The Rams’ Cooper Kupp scores one of his two touchdowns against the Giants.

(Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)

The Rams defense made it relatively easy for Stafford – and it made McVay’s life better.

The safety Taylor Rapp intercepted two passes. The cornerback rookie Robert Rochell intercepted another. The linebacker external Obo Okoronkwo blocked the quarterback of the Giants Daniel Jones and forced a fumble.

Leonard Floyd, Terrell Lewis and Aaron Donald also blocked Jones, who was playing a week after suffering a concussion.

Without the injured cornerback Darious Williams, defensive coordinator Raheem Morris deployed Rochell, Dont’e Deayon, David Long and Terrell Burgess to fill the void.

“A lot of guys have expanded their roles,” Rapp said. “We knew it when we got to the game this week and everyone took a step forward.”

The victory was the second in a row for a team that lost to the undefeated Arizona Cardinals on October 3 and then bounced back by defeating the Seattle Seahawks four days later in Seattle.

McVay had said the Rams benefited from a “mini-sendoff” last Sunday, but the offense was flat in the first quarter against the Giants, and the Rams were out of shape in several areas as well.

A team that entered the game as the least penalized in the NFL was scored seven times for 50 yards. An offensive line that had yielded a minimum of four sacks in the NFL, gave up one in consecutive first-quarter possessions. The Rams converted just two of 11 third downs.

The Rams were trailing 3-0 late in the first quarter before Stafford connected with Kupp for a 28-yard finish that got the offense going and led to Woods’ touchdown play. The strip sack Okoronkwo’s and Rapp’s first interception gave the offense the ball twice within the Giants’ 14-yard line.

“It was a great job from our defense that put us in a position to be able to score points as a team,” said McVay, “but we have to be better.”

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