Davante Adams reminded everyone Monday night that he can still look like one of the best wide receivers in football.

The Rams will need more time to convince everyone they are bound for the Super Bowl.

Those are separate conversations, and a productive night against the Giants should not blur the distinction.

Adams was exceptional when the Rams desperately needed him to be. Explosive. Dependable. Capable of taking a game that felt uncomfortable and giving Matthew Stafford a way to make it manageable.

He finished with eight catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns, a forceful reminder that, at 33 and in his 13th season of a career bound for Canton, Adams can still be the best player on the field.

The rest of the operation?

That needs work.

Kyren Williams’ fumble at the Rams’ 11-yard line handed the Giants three points. A better opponent might have collected seven. Terrance Ferguson dropped a perfectly thrown ball from Stafford, negating what would have been a first-down pick up in Giants territory.

Not that Stafford was above blame. He forced a throw into double coverage and paid for it with an interception. Meanwhile, special teams supplied more reasons for concern than confidence.

None of those problems is beyond repair. And as the night wore on and the Giants began to wilt, the Rams presented a more encouraging picture.

But reaching their lofty goals will require them to clean up the sloppiness. Better opponents loom, and they’ll charge full price for the mistakes the Giants let slide.

Adams gave them enough to get away with it Monday.

They cannot count on their next opponent being so forgiving.

For all the hoopla surrounding the Giants’ season-opening win over the Cowboys, this was still a team coming off four wins, finding its footing in its first season under John Harbaugh.

Then quarterback Jaxson Dart went down on the opening drive. Jameis Winston picked it up from there, although “picked it up” might be giving him too much credit.

That matters when assessing what happened Monday at SoFi Stadium. So does the fact that, outside of Adams, the Rams still looked a little off-kilter, hardly the juggernaut so many expected them to be.

They needed this game after losing their opener to the 49ers in Australia.

They also needed to give everyone a reason to believe the problems that followed them home were being addressed.

Adams did his part.

Whether the Rams did enough around him is a different question.

Before halftime, Adams had five catches for 145 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown and a 64-yard reception that set up another Rams touchdown.

He was the spark, the solution and, for considerable stretches, the best reason to trust that the offense could find its way.

It was an impressive response to an assignment the Rams had hoped they wouldn’t have to give him.

With Puka Nacua sidelined by a hip injury, somebody had to become Stafford’s primary weapon.

Adams remembered how.

There was a time when that would hardly have qualified as news. Adams spent years being the receiver defenses built their plans around, stacking thousand-yard seasons and making a convincing argument that nobody played his position better.

Time has moved that conversation along.

Nacua now belongs near the front of it. Arguably at the very front.

Adams came to the Rams with a different job description, one that allowed him to complement an extraordinary young receiver while giving Stafford another accomplished target.

Nacua could be Batman.

Adams was perfectly capable of making Robin a miserable problem for opposing defenses.

There was no need to ask whether Adams could still carry an offense when the Rams already had someone equipped to do it.

Until Monday.

Suddenly, the luxury of having Adams became the necessity of leaning on him.

And there he was, turning two of his first four catches into the kinds of plays that can change the direction of a night.

The touchdown put points on the board. The 64-yard reception put the Rams in position for more.

Both offered reassurance that a smaller role had not erased his ability to handle a bigger one.

But the Rams should also recognize the uncomfortable part of that equation.

They needed an awful lot from Adams against an opponent whose own margin for error shrank dramatically when Dart went down.

There is a difference between appreciating a veteran’s ability to carry you and feeling good about needing him to do so.

Monday offered plenty of the former.

The latter deserves more scrutiny.

The Rams have legitimate explanations for some of their unevenness. Losing Nacua changes the offense. Losing Myles Garrett changes the defense. Getting Aaron Donald back supplies talent and energy, but it does not instantly put every other piece in place.

These are significant adjustments.

They also are part of the challenge for a team whose expectations extend well beyond surviving September.

The standard cannot fluctuate so wildly that looking disjointed against a rebuilding opponent becomes encouraging simply because the previous week was worse.

The Rams have too much ambition for that.

And too much invested in this season.

That is why Adams’ performance deserves to be celebrated on its own terms, without asking it to serve as proof that everything else is fine.

It wasn’t proof.

It was a reminder of how valuable he remains.

On a night when the Rams needed someone they could trust, two of their oldest players supplied the connection.

Stafford throwing it.

Adams catching it.

There is something reassuring about that experience, about players who have spent years understanding that everyone else is waiting for them to deliver.

Adams delivered.

How often the Rams will need this version of him depends partly on Nacua’s recovery. A prolonged absence would bring a heavier workload and more defensive attention, a different challenge from answering the call for one night.

Nobody should assume one explosive half settles that question.

But it is useful to know Adams can still reach back and find something that looks familiar.

Eventually, the Rams hope Nacua returns and Adams slides comfortably into his complementary role, giving them one of the best second options in football.

That remains an appealing picture.

Getting there will require more than waiting for Nacua’s hip to heal. The Rams need greater consistency around their stars and a performance that feels convincing beyond a handful of spectacular plays.

Monday showed they still have a receiver capable of rising to an occasion.

It also showed how much room the team around him has to grow.