The Rams’ season couldn’t start that perfectly, could it?
No, but it has started as perfectly as could be imagined.
After quarterback Jared Goff began the day with 13 consecutive complete passes and the Rams threatened to blow out the Eagles, they had to dig deep to overcome mistakes Sunday.
They retook control with big defensive plays, a career day by running back Darrell Henderson and more timely throws by Goff, and won 37-19 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
In a season-opening, three-game stretch that looked like it would be trouble, the Rams now are 2-0 and their young players are answering a lot of offseason questions.
Tyler Higbee has three TDs on the day! #RamsHouse
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Goff finished with 267 yards on 20 for 27 passing, including 81 yards to wide receiver Cooper Kupp and three touchdowns to tight end Tyler Higbee.
Henderson rushed 12 times for a career-high 81 yards and a touchdown, and caught two passes for 40 yards, seizing his turn in the Rams’ running-back rotation after Cam Akers hurt his ribs on the first drive and Malcolm Brown went out with a finger injury late in the game.
And the defense came through as it had in the Rams’ season-opening victory over the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium.
Linebacker Micah Kiser led with 16 tackles in his second NFL start. Cornerback Darious Williams picked off Carson Wentz in the end zone after the Eagles cut the Rams 21-3 lead to 21-16 at halftime. The Rams were able to hurry Wentz, though they never quite sacked him, a week after he went down eight times in the Eagles’ Week 1 loss at Washington.
Williams’ interception was a momentum-changer. And coach Sean McVay built on it by gambling on fourth-and-1 at the Rams 30 on the next possession. Goff sneaked for the first down to keep alive a drive for the Samuel Sloman field goal to let L.A. breathe easier.
Cornerback Troy Hill’s interception with 3:16 to go snuffed out Wentz’s last hope and clinched the game.
The defensive effort had started with one of three key turnovers that kept momentum flipping back and forth.
On the Eagles’ third play, Kiser knocked the ball out of running back Miles Sanders’ arms and linebacker Kenny Young recovered at the Philadelphia 41. The Rams needed five plays to take a 7-0 lead when Goff faked a handoff, rolled right and passed to Higbee for the touchdown.
The blemish on the Rams’ opening drive was that rookie running back Akers, making his second straight start, suffered a rib injury. He didn’t return to the game, and there was no no update on his condition afterward.
The Rams led 21-3 before mistakes let the Eagles back into it.
A helmet-to-helmet-hit penalty on Kiser helped along a Philadelphia drive capped by a one-yard touchdown sneak by Wentz. Linebacker Leonard Floyd stopped Sanders’ run on a two-point conversion attempt, but the Eagles were within 21-9.
Then came the next big turnover. Kupp, trying to run back a punt for the first time after calling for fair catches in the Rams’ opener, fumbled when he was hit by T.J. Edwards, giving the Eagles the ball at the L.A. 11. Two Sanders runs later, the Rams’ lead was down to 21-16 and they were happy to see halftime.
In between those big plays, Goff played mistake-free quarterback, aided by frequent play action and bootlegs. He was credited with a career-high seven carries, for 13 yards, 10 on one play.
The second showdown between Goff and Wentz, the No. 1 and 2 picks in the 2016 NFL draft, was no contest. Goff’s 142.1 passer rating for the day was the fourth-best in his five-year NFL career. Wentz’s 56.5 was his fourth-worst.
By late in the second quarter, Goff was 13 for 13 passing for 158 yards and the first two touchdowns to Higbee. Not that he knew exactly what the streak numbered. Or that anybody on the sideline was telling him.
“It’s like a guy throwing a perfect game,” Goff said of teammates not wanting to jinx him.
Higbee’s second touchdown, making it 21-3 early in the second quarter, came with extra credit for beating an ex-Ram in the process. He caught Goff’s pass at the 3 near the left sideline, then broke a tackle by Nickell Robey-Coleman. The cornerback signed with the Eagles after the Rams declined to pick up his contract option.
In one four-play span during Goff’s brush with perfection, the Rams receivers showed off the group’s versatility. Kupp and Van Jefferson caught passes for 19 and 21 yards to put the ball at the Philadelphia 5, and Robert Woods took an end-around run into the end zone standing up to make it 14-3.
“Jared made the right decisions all day today,” Woods said. “When to throw it, when to sometimes bring it down and use his legs. Really just being poised, being our leader.”
Woods’ touchdown for the Serra High (Gardena) and USC star who signed a four-year, $65 million contract extension that could keep him the Rams through 2025.
For starters, he’s feeling pretty good about 2020.
“If we come out here, playing well, feeling good, we really can’t be stopped. We can only give other teams opportunities if we make mistakes,” Woods said.
“We’re starting out like we’re supposed to start off.”
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