Roquan Smith saw "no weaknesses at all" as he reflected on an impressive Baltimore Ravens debut during Monday's crushing 27-13 win over the New Orleans Saints.

The Ravens defense was at its suffocating best, with Saints only mustering six points until their first touchdown came four minutes from time when the game was already beyond them.

Linebacker Smith, who was traded from the Chicago Bears last week, played a big part, making an impact early on with a tackle on Alvin Kamara to prevent a first down and force a punt.

That was one of five tackles Smith tallied over the game, though he was just one part of a defensive unit that was brutally sharp, with Justin Houston and Marlon Humphrey among the others to catch the eye.

For Smith, the game brought a realisation of just how strong the 6-3 Ravens are as AFC North leaders made it three wins on the bounce.

"It's amazing just being around so many playmakers, guys that make plays all over the field," he told NFL Network.

"I don't see no weaknesses at all. It sucks giving up that last play, that's why we've got to get better, but I'm excited about the direction we're going."

Despite the Ravens reaching an impressive points total, it was not a contest that saw the quarterbacks shine with their throwing.

The Ravens' tactic of shutting down Kamara and the Saints' rushing attack forced QB Andy Dalton to beat them from the pocket, and he largely failed in that regard, with his respectable stat-line of 19 of 29 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown arguably masking his struggles.

Similarly with the Ravens, Lamar Jackson only recorded 133 passing yards from 12 completions, but their ground attack was unstoppable and the quarterback contributed significantly to that.

With starting running backs J.K Dobbins and Gus Edwards missing through injury, Jackson looked to do a fair amount of the work himself, carrying the ball 11 times for 83 yards, and Smith felt the need to salute that effort afterwards.

"It's amazing, it's the reason that guy was the MVP before," he said.

"Man, he's special. I'm happy to be on his team, and I think it's going be a lot of great things coming forward for him and this team."

Steve Kerr hailed Steph Curry's "breath-taking" performance in the Golden State Warriors' win over the Sacramento Kings, which evoked memories of Game 4 of the NBA Finals for Draymond Green.

The Warriors were in need of some respite having lost five straight road games, making unwanted history as the first defending champions to start a season 0-6 on their travels in the process.

Curry delivered in some style at the Chase Center, putting up a season-high 47 points from 17-of-24 shooting including making 7-of-12 three-point attempts.

He also had eight assists and as many rebounds, with 17 of his points coming in the fourth quarter.

"Steph was just breath-taking," Warriors coach Kerr said. 

"He's obviously one of the greatest players of all time and he plays so well on so many nights. But this even seemed like something special for him."

For team-mate Green, while the 116-113 victory was not of the same significance as Game 4 of last season's Finals against the Boston Celtics, Curry's performance was reminiscent of his heroics that night.

On that occasion, Curry had 43 points and 10 rebounds to level a series the Warriors would go on to win 4-2.

"It was very Game 4 of the NBA Finals to me. He just wasn't going to allow us to lose," Green said. 

"Take that with a grain of salt because I'm not saying this game was as important. But you know when to get out of the way. It was one of those times where he was taking over."

The Warriors have endured defensive struggles and problems with an unproductive bench in the early stages of a season that sees them own a 4-7 record and sit 12th in the Western Conference.

Each of Curry, Green, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins were absent against the New Orleans Pelicans las time out, but played 38, 36, 38, and 40 minutes respectively against the Kings.

Kerr accepted such volume is not viable long term but said it was a case of needs must to get a W on the board.

"It was obviously necessary," Kerr said. "But it's not sustainable. So we know we can't do this for a long time."

For Curry, there is a realisation the Warriors will go through peaks and troughs this season.

"We have to understand that [the young players] are all going to get an opportunity to perform, and there are going to be some struggles – some real high highs, and some real low lows," he said. 

"That's the story of this team. As vets, you understand every year is a little different and you are ready for that challenge. For these young guys to try and find themselves in this league and also a specific role, it's challenging."

Caroline Garcia spoke of her "giant happiness" after coming through a "big fight" to defeat Aryna Sabalenka and become the WTA Finals champion.

The 29-year-old became just the second Frenchwoman after Amelie Mauresmo in 2005 to win the season-ending tournament by coming through a bruising encounter 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Victory propels Garcia back to a joint-career high ranking of fourth, having been languishing down in the mid-70s as recently as June following a series of injuries.

"It's definitely a lot of giant happiness," Garcia said at her post-match press conference. 

"A crazy final, a lot of intensity on every point. Just really proud of the work we did through all the year. It was a great match – really went for it. I'm really happy to win my biggest title.

"Just very happy about the mindset, to be really calm at every moment. All the negative emotion doesn't affect me, and that was really a big part of taking the few opportunities I had in the tie-breaker and the first game I broke her in the second."

With the win, Garcia pockets $1.57million in prize money and 1,375 ranking points.

Her triumph in Fort Worth is the culmination of sparkling form that has seen her win every final she has played in 2022, while she has won eight of her last nine over the past six years.

It also marks a fine return to the top table. Back in 2017, 11 straight victories to win WTA 1000 events in Wuhan and Beijing saw Garcia first enter the top 10 and earn a maiden trip to the WTA Finals where she lost to Venus Williams in the semi-finals.

"Sometimes you are emotional or things don't go your way," Garcia said. 

"I mean, sometimes there is a big fight, so you have to find your way through it. Some points, where you cannot do anything. You just try to put in the return and to run as fast as you can to the other side.

"And that was one of the biggest points I improved. Today one of the most important things was to stay calm and jump on every opportunity."

Sabalenka had knocked out top seed Iga Swiatek to reach the showpiece match but hit two costly double faults in the first-set breaker – an area that she has struggled with throughout the year.

"I just dropped my level for a little bit. On the tie-break and the first game of the second set. That's it," a rueful Sabalenka reflected.

"I did my best, [but] she played unbelievable tennis."

Ben Simmons thought he was "terrible" on his return from injury in the Brooklyn Nets' defeat to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

The point guard missed four games due to a knee problem but was back in action at American Airlines Center.

Simmons was on court for just under 16 minutes after coming off the bench, scoring two points, claiming three rebounds and providing two assists in a 96-94 loss.

The Australia star gave a frank assessment of his performance in Dallas, where the Nets slipped to 4-7.

"I'm my harshest critic, so I think terrible," Simmons said. "There's a place I want to get to. I got to keep working, I got to keep pushing myself and adapting, so I'll get there."

Simmons said coming through his comeback pain-free was the primary objective

"That was the main thing for me," Simmons said. "Just have no pain. Get up and down the floor, sprint, run, jump, so I felt good."

Nets interim coach Jacque Vaughn welcomed the opportunity to have Simmons involved again.

"Great to see him out on the floor," Vaughn said. "I put him out there with a group that could play fast, hoping to get some shooters around him.

"At that stretch, we didn't make a lot of shots. But, overall, seeing him back on the floor, he played with speed, he played with pace, which is good."

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has vehemently defended his decision to appoint Jeff Saturday as interim head coach and stated "I'm glad he doesn't have any NFL experience."

The Colts fired Frank Reich on Monday and announced that former Pro Bowl center Saturday will take over.

Saturday has no NFL or college coaching experience and had been working as a consultant for the Colts as well as an analyst for ESPN since retiring from the NFL following the 2012 season. 

Irsay revealed the 47-year-old, who played for Indianapolis from 1999-2011 before joining the Green Bay Packers, will be in charge "for eight games, hopefully more" during a press conference on Monday.

Eyebrows have been raised over the appointment of Saturday, but Irsay thinks it will prove to be a masterstroke.

"Want to bet against this guy?" Irsay said. "Put your money down. [I'd] love to see it, because I know what he's about."

He added: "I'm glad he doesn't have any NFL experience. I'm glad he hasn't learned the fear that's in this league, because it's tough for all our coaches. They're afraid. They go to analytics and it gets difficult.

"He doesn't have all that. He doesn't have that fear. And there was no other candidate. We were fortunate he was available. And he has tons of experience. He knows this game inside and out with relationships with coaches and players.

"I understand that he's fully capable of doing this."

The Colts relieved Reich of his duties after Sunday’s 26-3 defeat at the New England Patriots dropped the team to 3-5-1. Indianapolis are last in the NFL with 14.7 points per game. 

Irsay felt he had to act following a poor start to the season.

"There's no rule book that tells you, 'Now you should make a change,'" Irsay said. "It's something from being in the league 52 years. It's intuitive."

Irsay said general manager Chris Ballard, who joined him at the press conference along with Saturday, will stay on.

Reigning NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry enjoyed his best game of the new season as he put up 47 points in the Golden State Warriors' 116-113 home win against the Sacramento Kings on Monday.

After posting a season-high 39 points his last time out in a loss to the Orlando Magic, Curry went even bigger, hitting 17-of-24 from the field, seven-of-12 from deep and six of his seven free throws.

The former unanimous league MVP also added eight rebounds and eight assists, boasting a plus/minus of plus 20 in his 38 minutes. That means in the 10 minutes he was on the bench, the Warriors were outscored by 17.

With Klay Thompson having an off-shooting night (six-of-18 for 16 points), Andrew Wiggins stepped up as Curry's sidekick, chipping in 25 points (10-of-17 shooting) with 10 rebounds, two steals and a block.

With his seven three-pointers, Curry is now averaging a league-leading 5.1 made threes per game, is fifth in the league in scoring (31.0 points per game) and 15th in assists (6.8 per game).

For the Kings, point guard De'Aaron Fox continued his strong start to the campaign, scoring a team-high 28 points on eight-of-17 shooting to raise his season average to 26.3 (12th in the league).

Doncic extends 30-point streak in Mavs win

Luka Doncic has now scored at least 30 points in each of the Dallas Mavericks' first nine games after putting up 36 in his side's 96-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Doncic was incredibly efficient, particularly from long range, hitting 11-of-22 from the field and five-of-nine from long range. For the season, he is shooting a career-high 52.7 per cent from the field, and that is despite a career-worst three-point percentage of 26.2.

He now owns the second-longest streak in NBA history for consecutive 30-point games to start a season, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain's streak of 23 games to start the 1962-63 campaign.

Returning from a four-game absence due to swelling in his knee, Ben Simmons came off the bench for the first time in his 282-game career, scoring two points in 16 minutes.

A.J. Griffin highlights impressive rookie performances as he hands the Bucks their first loss

The Milwaukee Bucks suffered their first loss of the season as Atlanta Hawks rookie A.J. Griffin starred off the bench.

Griffin, the 16th overall pick in this year's NBA Draft, finished with a career-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, while snatching three steals in a strong 31-minute performance.

Meanwhile, Paolo Banchero's ridiculous start to his career continued as he had his second straight 30-point game in the Orlando Magic's 134-127 loss to the Houston Rockets.

Banchero continues to justify his selection as the top pick in the draft, hitting eight-of-16 from the field and 12-of-14 from the free throw line. He is averaging 22.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the first 10 games of his career.

Last year's second overall draft pick, Jalen Green, was terrific for the Rockets, scoring a game-high 34 points (12-of-18 from the field, five-of-11 from long range).

Indiana Pacers big-man Myles Turner enjoyed one of the best games of his career in his side's 129-122 victory against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.

Turner, who has led the NBA in blocked shots per game on three occasions (2018-19, 2020-21 and 2021-22), also reached a significant milestone as he tallied three blocks to become the second-quickest Pacers player to reach 1000.

While he dominated the defensive end of the court, he also excelled as an offensive threat, scoring a game-high 37 points on 11-of-18 shooting (four-of-seven from long range, 11-of-11 free throws) with 12 rebounds.

All five Pacers starters scored at least 15 points, but Tyrese Haliburton was Turner's partner in the win, scoring an efficient 20 points (seven-of-14 shooting, six-of-10 from three) while dishing 13 assists.

Speaking to the media after the win, Turner indicated he is much happier in his role under coach Rick Carlisle, turning more into a big who can shoot as opposed to just being a big shooter.

"My teammates look for me, and being at the five I have a lot more advantages down low now, especially against teams who are switching more," he said.

When asked about his 1000th blocked shot – which came on a dunk attempt from Zion Williamson – he made it clear where he feels he stands among the game's best rim-protectors.

"It's special man, this is what I do," he said. "I think I'm the best shot-blocker in the world, and I'm going to stay with that confidence.

"It's special that I can do this here at home – regardless of the noise, my heart is in Indy, I think my fans here know that."

His last comment was in reference to consistent chatter linking him with a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers – chatter he contributed to with his appearance on Adrian Wojnarowski's 'Woj Pod' where he laid out why he would be a good fit with LeBron James.

This performance will undoubtedly get the attention of the Lakers, but for now he remains in Indiana, where head coach Carlisle believes he is becoming the player he wants to be.

"[Turner] did damage around the basket at both ends," he said. "It was one of his most impactful games that I've seen since I've been here.

"He just played the game, played a simple game. When they switched on him, he positioned himself to catch the ball and punish them inside. 

"There was nothing he did that was out of character, or that was something he was not capable of doing. That's one of the beautiful things about this game, is when you play within yourself and do things to your strengths, you can be extremely confident, extremely cocky and extremely successful."

The Baltimore Ravens' defense was at its suffocating best as they sucked the life out of the New Orleans Saints in a 27-13 win on Monday.

New Orleans could only muster six points until their first touchdown came with four minutes remaining in the last quarter, with the game already put to bed.

The Ravens did it by shutting down Alvin Kamara and the Saints' rushing attack, limiting the star running back to nine carries for 30 yards and three catches for an additional 32 yards.

In doing so, they forced quarterback Andy Dalton to beat them from the pocket, and he could not deliver. He ultimately finished with a respectable stat-line, completing 19 of 29 passes for 210 yards and one touchdown, but that masked his struggles.

Dalton was sacked four times, with two-and-a-half of those being credited to edge-rusher Justin Houston, and threw a fourth-quarter interception – also to Houston, off a deflection – when his side was only down 14 and still had a chance.

The Ravens struggled similarly throwing the ball, with Lamar Jackson only tallying 133 passing yards from 12 completions, but their ground attack was unstoppable.

Jackson himself carried the ball 11 times for 83 yards, and with starting running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards both missing through injury, Kenyan Drake stepped up for 93 yards and two touchdowns from 24 carries. It led to over 37 minutes of ball-control for the Ravens, with the Saints having just 22 minutes.

The Ravens are now alone atop the AFC North with a 6-3 record, while the Saints drop to 3-6, but remain just one win behind the NFC South-leading Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-5).

The Brooklyn Nets welcomed Ben Simmons back to the rotation on Monday after he missed four games with swelling in his knee.

Simmons, who was acquired by the Nets during last season as the centre-piece in their trade sending James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers, had previously started all 281 games in his NBA career before coming off the bench against the Dallas Mavericks.

The 26-year-old Australian averaged a career-low 14.3 points per game in the 2020-21 season – his last regular season before missing all of the 2021-22 campaign – but that figure has plummeted down to 6.2 points per game as he finds his footing with a new team and a new role.

In his 10 games for the Nets across both the preseason and the start of the regular season, Simmons is yet to score 10 points in a contest, however he is leading Brooklyn in assists (7.3 per game).

Against the Mavericks, Simmons joined Seth Curry as the first players off the Nets' bench with 2:39 remaining in the first quarter.

Nearly a month into the NBA season, Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane has continued his ascent into one of the best shooters in the sport, and he headlines the early candidates on breakout-watch.

The six-foot-five, third-year product out of TCU was considered a steal by avid college basketball fans when the Grizzlies selected him 30th overall in the draft, as he profiled as an elite shooter and stout defender from day-one.

As a 21-year-old rookie he averaged 9.2 points and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 43.2 per cent from three-point range, starting in 17 of his 68 appearances, before graduating to a full-time starter in his second season.

In his sophomore season, Bane started all 76 of his games and found his footing in the league, raising his averages to 18.2 points and 2.7 assists, and while his three-point attempts went up from 4.0 to 6.9, his percentage also went up from 43.2 to 43.6. Teammate Ja Morant won the league's Most Improved Player, but he gifted the award to Bane (who ultimately returned it).

A player's ability to scale up their volume of shots while maintaining efficiency is a telltale sign of someone ready to assume a larger role (see: Mikal Bridges, De'Andre Hunter), and that has continued in Bane's third season.

His usage rate jumped from a supporting-role-level 15.5 per cent as a rookie, to a main-option-level 22.6 per cent in his second campaign, before ascending to a 26.9 per cent usage this season. 

For reference, that is the 27th-highest figure in the league for players averaging at least 20 minutes per game, putting him ahead of players like C.J. McCollum (26.3) and Anthony Edwards (26.3) and only narrowly behind DeMar DeRozan (27.8).

His three-point attempts have also jumped again from 6.9 to 8.8, and once again, his three-point percentage has inexplicably risen with it, up to a career-high 46.8 per cent. 

It has led to career-highs across the board in points (24.6), rebounds (5.0), assists (4.6) and minutes (32.7). His 4.1 made three-pointers per game is tied with Buddy Hield for second in the league, trailing only Stephen Curry (5.1).

With a two-plus season sample size now under his belt, it is now clear Bane is not just a good shooter, but one of the best in the world. His career three-point figure of 43.7 per cent is the second-highest among all active players, trailing only Seth Curry (43.8 per cent).

It would be disrespectful to the legendary, game-changing Stephen Curry to put anybody in his class as a marksman, but if he were to retire tomorrow, Bane would have an argument to be the game's best shooter.

It had been assumed in Memphis that Jaren Jackson Jr was the long-term running-mate their potential MVP in Morant, but Bane has become undeniable, and it is now easy to envision the Grizzlies treating Bane as the Klay Thompson to Morant's Stephen Curry in their macro team-building vision.

Eventually, everybody's bill comes due. 

That is the lesson the Los Angeles Rams are learning in an extremely hard way in the 2022 season.

The price the Rams are paying, one which has them 3-5 and above only the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West, is one they will be happy to pay in the grand scheme of things given they lifted the Lombardi Trophy last season.

But their struggles this season are a consequence of the ultra-aggressive strategy that has seen the Rams consistently part with draft capital to acquire star players.

Now the stars of their top-heavy roster are failing to elevate those around them, and while many may view this pain as tolerable for 2022, there is reason to be concerned about the viability of this team as a long-term contender.

Even in a less than stellar NFC, it is tough to see this version of the Rams recovering to make a run at the postseason, and right now it is just as difficult to envisage a path through which Los Angeles can return to prominence in the years to come.

Stafford slumping under duress

The root of the Rams' problems is on offense. That is not a revelation to anyone who has even briefly watched Sean McVay's group in 2022. The Los Angeles attack poses nothing close to the same threat it presented last season and is one of the worst in the NFL through eight games.

In Sunday's defeat to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team who had lost five of their previous six games, the Rams averaged a pitiful 3.7 yards per play. Their season average of 4.71 puts the Rams last in the NFL, while only the Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans and Houston Texans have produced fewer explosive plays of 10 yards or more than Los Angeles (86).

Blame could be laid at the feet of Matthew Stafford, the quarterback the Rams gave up a pair of first-round picks to acquire last offseason and who put them over the top in 2021. His well-thrown percentage of 80 is below the league average of 80.6 for quarterbacks with a minimum of 100 attempts, yet it is actually a stark improvement on his first season with the Rams, when he delivered an accurate, well-thrown ball on 73.7 per cent of passes.

The number to focus on with Stafford is his air yards per attempt, which has dropped off substantially from 8.62 in 2021 to 6.35 this season. In other words, Stafford's accuracy is up because the degree of difficulty on throws he is attempting is significantly down, and that is a symptom of dreadful pass protection.

Los Angeles' sack rate allowed of 8.7 per cent is the fourth-worst in the NFL, while the time from Stafford's snap to release has dropped from 2.72 seconds in 2021 to 2.54 this campaign, a reflection of the short passing attack the Rams have adopted to prevent their quarterback taking too much damage and how often he has been hurried into getting the ball out.

In the Week 8 loss against the San Francisco 49ers, Stafford averaged 4.71 air yards per attempt, the lowest of any quarterback to attempt multiple passes, with the Rams' attack reduced to one reliant on the screen pass and the occasional deep shot to Cooper Kupp that had no answer when both those options were taken away.

The Rams' lack of a riposte has been jarring to watch this season, and even Kupp has not been as effective as they would hope.

Counterpunches in short supply

Of course, it would be difficult for Kupp not to endure a drop-off after a 2021 season in which he led the NFL in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns.

But the fall, at least by one measure, has been drastic. 

Kupp's burn rate, which measures how often a receiver wins his matchup on a play where he is targeted, is 58.7 per cent, a huge dip from his 2021 rate of 66.5 per cent, which was the ninth-best in the NFL among wideouts with at least 100 targets.

When he does win his coverage matchup, Kupp is at least still consistently creating clear separation. His burn yards per route average of 4.8 is up on his league-leading tally of 4.0 from last season and trails only Tyreek Hill (5.6) for receivers with a minimum of 50 targets.

The problem the Rams have is not necessarily that Kupp is not performing at the level of his 2021 zenith; it is that has no support from his surrounding cast. Down the stretch last year, he had Odell Beckham Jr. to divert coverage away from him. This season, no Rams wideout with at least 10 targets has a burn rate higher than Kupp's, with Allen Robinson (48.8 per cent) among the worst in the league by that measure. At tight end, Tyler Higbee (52.7 per cent) is below the average for his position.

And the lack of non-Kupp difference-makers extends to the run game.

Los Angeles' ground attack largely consists of jet sweeps to Kupp, with carries of any other variety resulting in precious little gain.

The Buccaneers (2.98 yards per carry) are the sole team with a worse rushing average than that of the Rams (3.2), but no offense has a worse ratio of successful runs than that of Los Angeles. McVay's attack has a success rate of just 22.7 per cent on the ground. The team directly above the Rams, the New England Patriots, are a full eight percentage points clear.

The Rams' decision to try to trade running back Cam Akers and then reintegrating him after failing to do so encapsulates their woes on the ground and is emblematic of a season where nothing has gone right for an offense that is fourth-worst in the NFL with an overall success rate of 35.2 per cent.

Any room for optimism comes on the defensive side of the ball.

Time for a Rams reset?

While Stafford and, to a lesser extent, Kupp may be in the midst of down years, the cornerstones the Rams possess on defense are still performing at an extremely high level.

The Los Angeles defense had the Rams in position to get back to winning ways in Tampa, holding the Bucs to six points going into the final quarter, and remains one of the better units in the NFL on that side of the ball.

Allowing 5.29 yards per play, the Rams rank 10th in the NFL by that metric, with Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey both continuing to excel.

Donald headed into Week 9 having won 37 of his 50 pass rushes, good for an incredible stunt-adjusted win rate of 73.66 per cent, and his frequent interior pressure forced Tom Brady to get the ball out at an average of 2.21 seconds from snap to release. Only Zach Wilson (2.04) was quicker among QBs with 20 attempts in Week 9.

Ramsey, meanwhile, went into the Bucs game with a combined open percentage allowed across man and zone of 27.66 per cent (the average for cornerbacks is 34 per cent).

But the Rams' defense has a similar issue to that of the offense. Save for emerging linebacker Ernest Jones, this group is short of young impact players who can develop around Donald and Ramsey.

And on the final Tampa Bay drive of the Buccaneers' 16-13 win, a defense that had seen the offense inexplicably give the ball back after running the ball three times and using under a minute of clock with the chance to kill the game with a first down proved powerless to stop Brady authoring another game-winning series.

Brady's decisiveness and quick release rendered Donald a non-factor, and Ramsey found himself similarly helpless and picked on as the Bucs successfully attacked the Rams' soft zone coverage on a drive capped by tight end Cade Otton's decisive score.

Asked if he thought the defense would be back on the field after the Rams stopped the Bucs in the red zone on Tampa's penultimate drive, Ramsey replied: "We should not have been."

Those five words spoke volumes as to what Ramsey thinks of the offense, but the cold hard truth is that – even though the defense is the superior unit – the Rams in their current guise are not doing anything well enough to escape avoidable situations.

And their avenues to get better are not obvious. Their offensive fortunes could be improved by a greater reliance on play-action, which the Rams are utilising just 10.4 per cent of the time (the average is 12.5 per cent) but racking up 11.52 yards per play when they do.

That is unlikely to be a cure-all, though, and any reticence on Stafford's part to turn his back to the defense for a play-fake while playing behind this offensive line would be understandable.

The resources with which they could boost the O-line, their collection of playmakers or the defense in the coming offseason are thin. The Rams have a second and third-round pick this year and four selections across the final two rounds, but asking the front office to unearth instant impact players from those non-premium picks is a tall order for a franchise that has racked up its share of misses with the draft selections it has held on to in recent years.

Projected to be $2million over the cap in 2023, don't expect a free agency splurge from the Rams either.

Given the retirement rumours that have previously swirled around Donald and McVay, this is a situation that would be ripe for a rebuild, were the Rams not locked into Stafford's contract until 2026. Instead, if they cannot produce a second-half surge, it is likely to be more of an attempt at a reset that quickly gets the Rams back in contention.

With the paucity of tools they have to attack that challenge, successfully doing so would be as impressive as the comebacks this star-studded team produced to lift the Lombardi back in February.

Carlo Ancelotti refused to blame the officials after Real Madrid's 3-2 loss at Rayo Vallecano, putting Monday's defeat down to a "bad game".

Oscar Trejo scored the winner for Roya with a retaken second-half penalty, converted after the VAR penalised Dani Carvajal for encroachment, to condemn Madrid to their first defeat in LaLiga this season.

Los Blancos trail Barcelona by two points at the top-flight summit after just their second loss to Rayo in 21 league games.

Madrid are also without a win in their last two LaLiga outings after a 1-1 draw with Girona and coach Ancelotti acknowledged his side struggled at Vallecas.

"We knew they played like that, they were more forceful than us in the duels. It was a bad game, that's it," the Italian said.

"It cost us. We had to change our strategy and we didn't. Then, in the duels, we lost a lot when we were not capable of being as forceful as our opponent.

"Vinicius [Junior] missed two or three shots that he normally scores. [Marco] Asensio has done well. It hasn't been a good game for us."

Madrid profited from a touchline review in the first half, with referee Juan Martinez Munuera deeming Asensio to have been felled by Fran Garcia inside the area before Luka Modric converted to equalise following Santiago Comesana's opener.

But Ancelotti's side were on the receiving end of overturned decisions in the second half after referee Munuera again consulted the screen to give a penalty for handball against Carvajal for Trejo's winner.

Despite the contentious decision for the winning goal, Ancelotti insisted he had no complaints towards Munuera as he acknowledged the role the VAR can play in the decisions.

Asked about the referee, Ancelotti said: "I have no opinion, none. VAR is involved in these things.

"We lacked freshness and it's normal after so many games... We have to make an evaluation of this first part of the season, we've done well.

"We're in the Champions League last 16 and we're doing well in LaLiga."

Madrid host Cadiz on Thursday in their final game before the November break for the World Cup in Qatar.