Cornerback Jalen Ramsey joined the Rams in 2019. This year, the Rams are having their most challenging season since he arrived.
On Friday, he was asked by reporters what he has learned during a season of adversity.
“We ain’t had it like this though, you know what I mean?” Ramsey said. “It’s different.”
How is it different?
“We got to talk about like this team, like the Rams, you know what I mean?” Ramsey said. “Like this year, not previous years, nothing like that. We got to talk about this specific team and we ain’t been through this before, right? We’re going through it right now. We’re presently going through it so we got to fight our way through it, work harder than we ever have, focus a little bit more than we have, have each other’s backs a little bit more than we we’ve had in the past. But it ain’t like no secret recipe. Ain’t nothing in life and especially in this game, [is] a secret recipe. Like it’s not. Because if it was, I promise you we’ll be doing it like we would already be doing it. So it’s just a journey that we got to go through, you know what I mean? Everybody has their different ways of doing it. Everybody has their different ways of leading, I do it my way and it is what it is.”
Ramsey chose to do it on Sunday by complaining publicly about the failure of the offense to get a single first down after the defense stopped the Buccaneers late in the game on fourth and goal while leading 13-9. He was asked whether he’s always had support when choosing to say what needs to be said.
“For my teammates, yeah, anywhere I’ve been, whether it was here or Jacksonville, my teammates always respected that about me,” Ramsey said. “Coaches here respect it a little bit more than the coaches did in Jacksonville and I think that’s a little bit of the difference. Like some people are scared of confrontation sometimes and talking about the tough things that need to be talked about and things that need to be said. But around here, that’s something that people know we need to embrace and we actually are going to embrace it and try to move forward because if you just don’t say anything, try to let it go, and never have tough conversations, then you ain’t going to grow from nothing. It’s just going become like a cycle.”
Some have criticized Ramsey for taking his complaints public. Sometimes, however, that’s the only way to send a message that resonates with the intended recipients. If it’s acceptable when someone like Aaron Rodgers does it, others should be able to do it, too.
