Matthew Stafford, solid defense helps Rams beat Ravens

BALTIMORE — The Rams won’t be in London until the weekend.

But they got something of a preview and kickoff on Sunday.

On a cloudy, gray fall afternoon that looked very much like London at M&T Bank Stadium, they played the kind of sloppy play that is more common in NFL games abroad.

The Rams came out with a mission 17-3 win On a struggling Baltimore Ravens team, he breathed a sigh of relief after star receiver Puka Nacua returned from what initially appeared to be a serious ankle injury.

Matthew Stafford passed for a touchdown, Kyren Williams ran for another linebacker Nate Landman, and rusher Jared Fiers and safety Quentin Lake led a defense that shut down the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens as the Rams rebounded from their overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers and improved their record to 4-2.

“It was weird,” receiver Davante Adams said. “But we can go ahead and turn the page with at least a W.”

Or as Stafford said: “We did enough to win the game — that’s the name of the game, so we’ll take it.”

The Rams will remain in Baltimore this week before traveling to London to play a Jacksonville Jaguars team that fell to 4-2 after Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

And the Rams are sure to pick up their low-scoring win almost as quickly as they tried to forget their loss to the 49ers.

Oh, there were some highlights.

Stafford moved past Dan Marino To ninth on the NFL’s all-time list with 61,391 career passing yards.

“It’s one of those moments where you pinch yourself, where you sit there and say, ‘Man, I remember watching him do what he did, and I thought he was unbelievable,’” Stafford said. “Being able to be in the same breath is so wonderful.”

Landman set a franchise record with 17 tackles.

Lake, a fourth-year pro, intercepted a pass for the first time in his NFL career.

“I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders,” said Lake, who also recovered from his tumble.

Verse forced a fumble, stopping the Ravens from running back Derrick Henry On a fourth-and-goal play on the one-yard line at the end of the first half.

“That kind of brought us back to life,” Fiers said of the goal-line defensive stance. “That kind of shifted the momentum of the whole game.”

That goal-line situation sparked an early second-half surge that included a short Williams run and a short Stafford pass to Tyler Higbee.

“You check the temperature of your defense in those moments, and you see what you’re made of. … It sets the tone not only for this game, for the second half, but for the future and what we’re capable of doing,” Landman said.

The defensive stance and two quick-scoring goals made it easy to forget the penalty kicks, dropped passes, special teams fouls and Nakoa’s scare that held them tied 3-3 at halftime.

“The way our defense was playing — as long as we didn’t make a catastrophic mistake, I felt like that would be enough to take control of the game,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.

The disaster came to mind when Nakoa went down in the second quarter.

Nacua, who entered the game with an NFL-leading 52 receptions and 588 receiving yards, was helped off the field by coaches with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter after trying to catch a pass in the end zone.

Nacua had a run down the right sideline with the Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey In tight coverage. Both players jumped for the ball and fell hard.

Nakoa got up gingerly, feeling obvious pain, then took a few steps and returned to the ground.

“I was kind of worried about him, but he’s still Puka Nakoa at the end of the day,” Adams said. “You know how strong he is – and he can probably get out of it.”

Nakoa returned in the second half but did not score. Nacua, who declined a request to speak with reporters after the game, finished the ball twice for 28 yards.

“He probably could have gone further, but we were smart more than anything,” McVay said.

McVay said he doesn’t know if Nacua will be able to play Sunday against the Jaguars. The status of receiver Tutu Atwell, who did not play against the Ravens due to a hamstring injury, will also be determined.

The Rams will practice at nearby Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles’ home park, as they prepare to face the Jaguars.

The kicking game will be an area of ​​continued focus.

Unlike their games against the Philadelphia Eagles and 49ers, it didn’t cost them against a Ravens team that fell to 1-5.

But one of Joshua Carty’s field goal attempts bounced off the post.

“The protection was good,” McVay said. “We have to take the kick.”

Another attempt tumbled through the goalposts.

But those concerns were largely overshadowed by a defense that kept the Ravens out of the end zone despite Henry rushing for 122 yards.

“There’s a lot we can learn from, and a lot we can grow from,” McVay said. “And it’s a lot easier to be able to do that after you win.”