LONDON — The last two seasons, the Rams have entered their bye weeks doing some soul searching. Three games below .500 each time, coming off humbling losses, in need of a reset to save their season.
There will be no such need this year, as the Rams played one of their most complete games of the season in a 35-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3) on Sunday.
Without receiver Puka Nacua (ankle), the Rams offense faced questions all week about whether it could hold on without the Pro Bowler. Those questions were answered emphatically by quarterback Matthew Stafford, who matched his career-high with five touchdown passes, the first time achieving the feat as a Ram.
To open the game at Wembley Stadium, the Rams (5-2) relied heavily on multiple-tight end sets. Stafford’s first five completions were all to tight ends, including three to Tyler Higbee.
The big guys helped move the ball down the field, but once they reached the red zone, Stafford only had eyes for his receivers.
His first touchdown pass went to Konata Mumpfield on a post route. The rookie celebrated his first career NFL TD with Christiano Ronaldo’s signature jump and pose while playing in London’s historic soccer stadium.
By the time the Rams’ had completed their second drive, they had 11 first downs to Jacksonville’s 0. Stafford capped that possession off with a fade ball to Davante Adams where only the Pro Bowl receiver could catch it.
Adams came down with Stafford’s third touchdown pass, too, through a pass interference call, then made it a hat trick as he went over a defensive back to get his third of the day to wrap things up in the fourth quarter.
But that’s not to say the tight ends didn’t get in on the scoring, too. After one first down in their first four drives to open the second half, the Rams finally got moving to open the fourth quarter. Facing fourth-and-one from the Jacksonville 31, head coach Sean McVay called a bootleg. As Stafford wandered to his left, rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson got past his defender on a post route.
Stafford lofted the ball up, the 6-foot-5 Ferguson came down with it for his first career touchdown.
The Rams had their eyes on their first shutout win since 2018 before a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Travis Hunter. Beyond that, though, the Rams put together a total effort across all three levels with seven sacks and nine passes defended.
It started with outside linebacker Jared Verse sacking Trevor Lawrence on the first play of the game, and soon everyone was in on the action. Like linebacker Nate Landman, not on a blitz assignment, stepping up to sack Lawrence as he tried to scramble and escape pressure. Or safety Kam Kinchens breaking up a pass to Brian Thomas Jr. with his shoulder. Or safety Quentin Lake coming clean on a nickel blitz to drop Lawrence for a 13-yard loss during a threatening drive.
Defensive tackle Kobie Turner had two blocked passes at the line of scrimmage, including one of third down. He and outside linebacker Byron Young combined for a fourth-down pressure of Lawrence that resulted in a throwaway.
That was one of four turnovers on downs for the Jaguars, who also went 3-for-15 on third down.
More to come on this story