From Gary Klein: On the day the Rams donned black uniforms for the only time this season, the offense largely went dark.
Red-hot quarterback Matthew Stafford cooled. Star receivers Davante Adams and Puka Nacua struggled to consistently make the clutch plays that they often make look routine.
But safety Kamren Kinchens and the Rams’ defense managed to keep the Seattle Seahawks at bay — just barely.
Kinchens intercepted two passes, and cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Darious Williams also picked off passes as the Rams held off the Seahawks for a 21-19 victory on Sunday at SoFi Stadium that was not secured until Seattle’s Jason Myers missed a 61-yard field goal as time expired.
“I’m proud of our football team,” coach Sean McVay said. “We’re not going to apologize for finding different ways to win.”
No apologies necessary. Despite some struggles Sunday, the Rams are living up to expectations as a Super Bowl contender.
CHARGERS
From Sam Farmer: Numbers don’t lie. But sometimes NFL teams do.
That’s why All-Pro safety Derwin James Jr. believes the Chargers need to be unmercifully honest in sorting through Sunday’s 35-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the most lopsided defeat of the Jim Harbaugh era.
The Jaguars collected 30 first downs, held the ball for nearly 16 minutes longer, and limited Justin Herbert to a career-low 81 yards passing.
Candor incoming.
“Sometimes you can lie when you want to protect the other side or protect the player,” said James, standing in a cramped and somber visitors’ locker room. “But I feel like this team is very honest, very transparent and everybody don’t got no soft skin. So I feel like everybody can look in the mirror and we’ll be straight.”
The Chargers came to Jacksonville having won four of five, and the Jaguars had lost three in a row. That wasn’t indicative of what was to come, however, as Jacksonville dominated the line of scrimmage and the Chargers were as mild as the balmy day.
USC VOLLEYBALL
From Anthony Solorzano: No. 1 Nebraska displayed every skill that’s made it a powerhouse program — the offense attacked every part of the court, defense never gave up on the ball and the fans showed up at the Galen Center.
In front of a sellout crowd of 9,072, USC’s nine-match win streak came to an end with a straight-set loss to Nebraska (26-0, 16-0 Big Ten).
“I just felt like the game was a little too fast for us today,” USC coach Brad Keller said. “I thought it was slow for them and fast for us.”
The No. 17 Trojans never led and were limited to a 20% point scoring percentage throughout the match. USC (20-6, 11-5) led in attacks, but its 16 errors were costly during the 25-13, 25-16, 25-20 loss to the Cornhuskers.
CLIPPERS
Jaylen Brown scored 33 points and had 13 rebounds, Payton Pritchard added 30 points and the Boston Celtics held off the Clippers for a 121-118 victory on Sunday.
Derrick White scored 22 points with nine assists and seven rebounds, and Neemias Queta chipped in with 14 points and nine boards for Boston.
Playing for the first time since beating Memphis by 37 points at home Wednesday, the Celtics nearly blew a 24-point, third-quarter lead but never trailed en route to their second straight victory.
Coming off his 82nd career triple-double with 41 points in a double-overtime victory at Dallas on Friday, James Harden scored 32 of his 37 points in the second half to lead the Clippers. Ivica Zubac added 16 points and 12 boards.
Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. was injured in a collision with Brown in the second quarter and didn’t return.
KINGS
Forward Adrian Kempe agreed to an eight-year, $85-million contract to stay with the Kings, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the Kings hadn’t announced their deal with the 29-year-old Kempe, who would have been an unrestricted free agent next summer. The deal extends through the 2033-34 season and has an average annual value of $10.625 million.
Kempe has been the Kings’ most dependable offensive player over the last four seasons, earning an All-Star selection in 2022 and leading the Kings to four straight playoff appearances. The Swedish right wing has 200 goals and 220 assists in a 10-year career spent entirely with the Kings, which drafted him with the 29th overall pick in 2014.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1956 — Syracuse beats Colgate 61-7 behind halfback Jim Brown. Brown sets an NCAA-record for points by an individual player in a single game by scoring six touchdowns and kicking seven extra points for 43 points.
1959 — Syracuse’s Connie Dierking becomes the first player to foul out of a game in the first quarter, as the Nationals beat Cincinnati 121-116 at New York.
1968 — The “Heidi” television special starts on time and cuts off the NBC broadcast of the Oakland-New York Jets game in the final minutes, leaving viewers in the dark and unaware that the Raiders score two touchdowns in the last minute for a 43-32 comeback victory.
1975 — Ken Anderson of the Cincinnati Bengals passes for 447 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
1981 — Bill Cartwright of the New York Knicks ties a 20-year-old NBA record by hitting 19 of 19 free throws in a 124-110 loss to the Kansas City Kings.
1984 — Purvis Short of the Golden State Warriors scores 59 points in a 131-114 loss to the New Jersey Nets.
1990 — David Klingler of Houston throws an NCAA-record 11 touchdown passes as the Cougars trounce Eastern Washington 84-21. Klingler completes 41 of 58 passes for 572 yards and ties the NCAA record for touchdown passes in a season with 47.
1991 — Detroit offensive lineman Mike Utley suffers a spinal injury on the first play of the fourth quarter of a 21-10 victory over the Rams and is left paralyzed from the chest down.
2000 — Jason Kidd has a dubious quadruple-double — 18 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 14 turnovers in the Phoenix Suns’ 90-85 loss to the New York Knicks. The turnovers tie the NBA record set by Atlanta’s John Drew on March 1, 1978.
2001 — Lennox Lewis knocks out Hasim Rahman in the fourth round to get back his WBC and IBF heavyweight titles. Rahman’s championship reign of 209 days is the shortest in heavyweight history.
2004 — New Orleans ties an NBA low by taking just two foul shots in a 95-84 loss to Phoenix.
2007 — Martin Brodeur becomes the second goalie in NHL history to win 500 games by stopping 26 shots in New Jersey’s 6-2 win at Philadelphia. Patrick Roy won 551 games in his career.
2013 — Jimmie Johnson wins his sixth Sprint Cup championship in eight years. Johnson, who needed only to finish 23rd or better to wrap up the title, finishes ninth.
2013 — Sebastian Vettel wins the U.S. Grand Prix in easy fashion, setting an F1 season record with his eighth straight victory behind another blistering drive that gave the field no chance to catch him.
2014 — Amber Orrange makes a go-ahead jumper with 1:38 left in overtime and the tying 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds remaining in regulation, sending No. 6 Stanford to an 88-86 victory against top-ranked Connecticut to snap the Huskies’ 47-game winning streak. UConn, which went 40-0 last season, loses for the first time since falling to Notre Dame in the 2013 conference tournament.
2014 — Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton agrees to terms with the team on a $325-million, 13-year contract. The contract tops the $292-million, 10-year deal Miguel Cabrera agreed to with the Detroit Tigers in March.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.