Los Angeles quarterback Jared Goff and his Rams teammates didn't throw in the towel in Sunday's ... [+]
The Los Angeles Rams know all about holes. The dug one 100 feet deep when constructing their $5 billion SoFi Stadium.
Across the country in Buffalo they tumbled into a 28-3 deficit against the Bills on Sunday. But from that crevice they kept working, hoping something unique would emerge like SoFi.
L.A. came oh-so-close to pulling it off.
The Rams lost to the Bills, 35-32. A late call didn’t go their way but what stood out was that L.A. didn’t go away.
“I saw a resilient group,’’ Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters via video from Buffalo. “I saw a team that stay connected when you go down 28-3 against a really good football team. They just kept battling. They just kept swinging.’’
After absorbing a flurry of first-half haymakers, the Rams burst from the mat.
They did so through the powerful running of Darrell Henderson Jr. as he rushed for 114 yards and a score on 20 carries in his first NFL start.
They did so through the clutch chunk-gainers from wide receivers Robert Woods (touchdown, 104 scrimmage yards) and Cooper Kupp (107 receiving yards).
They did so with a front line which opened running lanes and gave a suddenly mobile quarterback Jared Goff the space to notch his 20th 300-yard career passing game.
The defense, paced by tackle Aaron Donald (two sacks), stiffened and secured two turnovers on calls that did go the Rams’ way.
It all started clicking in the second half, although it came with a clunker of an ending.
The Rams (2-1) had seemingly notched their third win to open the season when the Bills’ Josh Allen’s last-gasp pass fell incomplete.
But cornerback Darious Williams was called for pass interference and on the next snap Allen clicked with Tyler Kroft on a 3-yard, go-ahead touchdown with 15 seconds remaining.
Quickly the Rams’ gutsy effort was for naught, although in the big picture, not so much.
L.A. didn’t flinch after getting pummeled early. On the second of consecutive Sundays to play in the East on abbreviated trips, the Rams declined to go south.
After controlling the Philadelphia Eagles the previous week, Sunday’s tilt was tit-for-tat once L.A. got within striking range.
“Kind of shows who we are as a team,’’ said Goff, who was 23 for 32 for 321 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. “This week we had the opposite, we had to show what we can do from behind and face a little adversity and it really showed who we are.’’
Goff isn’t kidding. Since the Rams’ return from St. Louis in 2016 this is L.A. 3.0.
The first version was the coach Jeff Fisher’s rendition and we can feel Rams fans cringe from here.
The next copy was McVay’s vision led by running back Todd Gurley, wide receiver Brandin Cooks and a defense which included cornerback Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters, and linebackers Cory Littleton, Dante Fowler and Clay Matthews.
All those players are gone, but the song remains the same with this refigured squad.
McVay’s offense entered the game as the most run happy unit in the league, just with different ball-carriers.
The defense is still paced but Donald, but also shows All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey and a rebuilt linebackers unit.
Many of these new pieces were brought together minus the luxury of offseason workouts and preseason games because of the pandemic. The Rams, after missing the playoffs last year, entered the season confident but cautious.
Scribbling names on a roster doesn’t make a team. Wins forge that bond, but often a close loss can put the finger on the scale, too.
Sunday’s heartbreaker in Buffalo is the case in which the Rams learned more from a defeat than a victory.
If they could have completed the rally, it would have been the third greatest regular-season comeback in NFL history.
“That would have been a fun one to have,’’ said Goff, who directed the Rams on four straight scoring drives to take the late lead. “Either way, you do see the fight that we have on offense, defense and special teams. To be in a hole as big as we were, and to have confidence in everyone to dig out of it and believe in each other.’’
The Rams will start prepping for the next opponent, the visiting New York Giants. The game is being played where there was once a giant crater, similar to the one the Rams nearly emerged from in Buffalo.
