By Nate Atkins, Colton Pouncy and Zach Powell
In a battle of the NFC’s top quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford willed the Los Angeles Rams to a 41-34 win Sunday over the Jared Goff-led Detroit Lions inside SoFi Stadium.
Stafford finished 24 of 38 for 368 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while Goff finished 25-for-41 for 338 yards and three touchdowns in a back-and-forth shootout.
The Lions and Rams put together an offensive onslaught in the first half, including five lead changes. Goff and Stafford combined for 519 yards. Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught two first-half touchdown passes while Rams running back Kyren Williams ran for two.
After kicking a field goal to trim the Lions’ lead to four, the Rams changed the game’s trajectory as the Lions’ offense slowed. Stafford found Colby Parkinson for a go-ahead touchdown, allowing Los Angeles to regain the lead 27-24. When the Rams’ defense forced a three-and-out, Williams rushed for his third touchdown to give Los Angeles its largest lead of the day.
Although receiver Davante Adams went down with a non-contact hamstring injury early in the fourth quarter, and Detroit was able to tack on a David Montgomery rushing touchdown with 2:42 to get within striking distance. The Rams held on after the Lions ran out of time trying to orchestrate one final drive.
Adams reaggravated a previous injury, he told reporters after the game, putting his status for Thursday’s game in question. The Rams have a short week and face the Seattle Seahawks on the road, with first place in the NFC West at stake.
Stafford shakes off early interception for another big day
Matthew Stafford arrived as the NFL’s MVP frontrunner at a game against the team that once drafted him No. 1, but it didn’t start according to plan. He threw just his fifth interception of the season on a screen pass that Lions star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson took back 58 yards, and Stafford quickly had to dig his team out of a double-digit hole.
Yet, Stafford bounced back by showing what he has mostly done this season when the rare mistake has popped up. It took a little bit, as he finished the first half without a touchdown after missing a wide-open Terrance Ferguson for what would have been an easy score. However, Stafford eventually found a groove on play-action and roll-out plays. He worked the middle of the field to Davante Adams and Puka Nacua until the pair of receivers left with injuries.
Stafford finished with a 101.6 rating. It’s the latest statement in his campaign for his first MVP trophy and a pretty good one, given the lift the Rams needed from the passing game in a shootout where the Lions were living in base defense to limit a normally potent rushing attack. — Nate Atkins, Rams beat writer
Lions defense played a big part in loss
Sunday’s loss falls on a Detroit defense that looks lost. This one had the feel of a shootout going into Sunday, considering the playmakers on this Lions’ offense and how bad the defense has been of late. Now the defense is playing the rest of the season without All-Pro safety Brian Branch. For a while, it looked like the offense could put this one on its back.
Goff was dealing in the first half, and Detroit’s wide receiver tandem was finding the spots in the zone. Then came the Rams. They got whatever they wanted, as the Lions surrendered 519 yards of offense and 41 points. The second half was a disaster for the Lions, who were outscored 24-10 in another contest they considered a must-win. No excuse for an effort like that for a team telling itself it can make the playoffs. A brutal day for this defense. — Colton Pouncy, Lions beat writer
CB questions mount with Ahkello Witherspoon sitting
The Rams have had some things to figure out in the secondary lately, and they made the puzzle a little trickier Sunday by opting to sit Ahkello Witherspoon as a healthy scratch.
Witherspoon came into the season as the team’s top outside option. He’s a physical player who tends to make plays on the ball. However, he hasn’t looked himself since returning after months off due to a broken scapula. So the Rams opted to sit him to activate wide receiver Tutu Atwell again.
The trio of Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and Darious Williams had some tough moments against a loaded duo of Lions receivers. Amon-Ra. St. Brown racked up 12 catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns, and Jameson Williams added seven catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. The Lions were able to get the Rams to cheat in on the run at safety and then hit screen passes and deep post routes that caught those cornerbacks in bad positions.
The pass rush helped overcome the issues in the second half, when the coverage grew stickier. It’s going to continue to be a conversation for this group until it can get star safety Quentin Lake back for the postseason and get back to disguising the looks on the back end. — Atkins
Lions have tough road ahead with pressure to win
As Stafford exited the field to MVP chants, up 14 points late in the fourth quarter, there appeared to be a gap between these two teams. Perhaps a sizeable one. Sure, the Lions aren’t at full strength; few teams are at this point. However, this game showed that the Lions, even if they make the playoffs, face an uphill battle to do anything meaningful. They have three games remaining — against the Steelers, Vikings and Bears — and need to win all of them to give themselves a shot. The Lions haven’t shown the sort of consistency needed to make a run. Today’s loss didn’t inspire much confidence. We’ll see what’s in store. — Pouncy