Cam Akers expresses disappointment over his playoff contributions

Being a part of something special makes you special, though not every member of the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams seems to be celebrating the historic win in full force just a couple of months after the big game.

Running back Cam Akers was excited that his team finished as world champions, but he expressed disappointment in his individual contributions to the Rams’ playoff run.

It’s important to preface that Akers suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon just before the onset of training camp, and it was truly miraculous that he was able to recover in time for the playoff stretch.

With that said, in four games Akers notched only 172 yards on 67 carries - representing a per attempt average of 2.6 yards. He also added 8 receptions for 76 yards with 40 of those yards coming on a single catch. The second-year running back was held out of the end zone, and his two fumbles in the divisional round against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave Tom Brady enough of a window to spark a comeback.

“(Winning a Super Bowl has) been cool; everything you can imagine

I don’t feel like I played the best games throughout that time span, so there wasn’t really a lot of celebrating for me. It was more, ‘How can I get better?’”.

Akers is entering only his third season in the NFL, and he is expected to be the lead back for Los Angeles in 2022. There will be plenty of opportunities to return to the impressive levels of production that he flashed as a rookie - and he can be an important member of both the run and pass game for the Rams’ offense.

It’s common for players who make the Super Bowl early in their career to assume that they will eventually return, but that is not always the case. After losing to the Rams in February, Cincinnati Bengals signal caller Joe Burrow - who just finished his second season similar to Akers - indicated a similar notion:

We’re a young team - you’d like to think that we’ll be back in this situation multiple times over the course of the next few years. We’ll take this and let it fuel you for the rest of our careers.”

Each member of the world champion Rams team should enjoy and cherish their historic victory. It’s difficult to finish at the top of the NFL, but it’s even more impressive to get the job done in the face of high expectations - which LA encouraged with their “all in” approach to team building.

There will be plenty of time to earn individual accolades and honors, but for now let’s appreciate this one-of-a-kind season.

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images