Rams rally in second half behind Matthew Stafford, Kyren Williams to overcome Saints
NEW ORLEANS — They ran three plays in the first quarter.
They were shut out in the first half.
It was anything but easy for the Rams on Sunday in the Big Easy.
Still, Matthew Stafford passed for two second-half touchdowns, Kyren Williams ran for another and rookie edge rusher Jared Verse made a late clutch play as the Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints 21-14 at the Caesars Superdome.
Williams rushed for more than 100 yards and receivers Demarcus Robinson and Puka Nacua caught touchdown passes as the Rams bounced back from an embarrassing defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles to improve to 6-6 and keep alive their playoff hopes.
The Seattle Seahawks (7-5) lead the NFC West, and the Arizona Cardinals (6-6) hold the tiebreaker over the Rams. The San Francisco 49ers (5-7) fell into last place in the division after getting blown out by the Bills during a Buffalo snow storm Sunday night.
The Rams have five games left, including Sunday at SoFi Stadium against the Bills and a matchup against the 49ers in Santa Clara four days later. They finish with a road game against the New York Jets and home games against the Cardinals and Seahawks.
“One day at a time,” coach Sean McVay said.
Someday — and for the Rams, the sooner the better — McVay’s offense will start a game fast, finish drives and sustain momentum.
That did not happen Sunday.
After the Saints kicked a field goal on the opening possession, the Rams went three and out.
Then the offense waited. And waited. And waited.
The Rams did not run another play until after the Saints kicked another field goal on the first snap of the second quarter.
The Rams were scoreless in the first half, but behind running of Kyren Williams and Blake Corum the offense rallied for three touchdowns to beat the Saints.
“You’re sitting there going, ‘Man, there’s plays out there. We gotta go get ‘em, make ‘em happen,’” Stafford said.
It was a “weird situation,” receiver Cooper Kupp said.
“It’s a lot of standing around,” he said, adding, “It is an odd feeling.”
The Rams got the ball twice in the second quarter and Williams and rookie running back Blake Corum ran well but the Rams could not finish drives and they went into the locker room trailing 6-0.
“We got like three drives,” in the first half, veteran lineman Rob Havenstein said. “Normally, you want to get that in the first quarter. We got one and it was three and out, so obviously that was not ideal.”
It also will not be sustainable if the Rams aim to make the playoffs and return to the Superdome in February for Super Bowl LIX.
“We’ve got to be able to figure it out,” McVay said of slow starts and poor execution early in games, adding, “but I also don’t want to overreact.”
The Rams did not panic Sunday.
The second half “was going to be ours,” said Williams, who finished with 104 yards in 15 carries.
“We knew that as a running back group,” he said, “and we knew that as the offensive line and the offense in general.”
Williams scored on a short run midway through the third quarter, and Stafford’s short touchdown pass to Robinson on the first play of the fourth extended the lead.
The Saints tied the score with a touchdown and two-point conversion but rookie Jordan Whittington’s 43-yard kickoff return set up a drive that Stafford capped with a touchdown pass to Nacua.
Verse sealed the win with less than two minutes left and the Saints facing a fourth and two at the Rams’ nine yard-line. Verse rushed off the right edge and got his hand on the ball as quarterback Derek Carr attempted to pass.
What was going through Verse’s mind as he pursued Carr?
“Hold on to that ball, hey just one second longer,” Verse said, chuckling. “Hold on to it. You don’t gotta do anything extra. Just hold on to it a little bit longer.”
Verse’s play was the final one for a defense that had given up 481 yards in a 37-20 loss to the Eagles, including 255 yards rushing by Saquon Barkley.
Saints running back Alvin Kamara rushed for 112 yards but the Rams prevented him from breaking off long scoring runs as Barkley did.
The Rams need their offense to start producing earlier than the second half but Stafford, who completed 14 of 24 passes for 183 yards, did not sound overly concerned.
The 16th-year pro said he has played in enough games to know that teams can quickly build an early lead “before you blink, and then at the end of the game, you’re in a nail-biter.”
It’s a game of ebbs and flows, he said.
“Very rarely do you go down, score 14 points and just run away with the football game,” he said. “So, your time’s going to come.
“You’ve got to find those opportunities and when they come you’ve got to capitalize on them.”
For the Rams, doing that at the start of games would be a start.
Go beyond the scoreboard
Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
