Cam Akers ran for 171 yards, Jared Goff threw for a touchdown, and the Los Angeles Rams defense combined for six sacks Thursday night in a convincing 24-3 win over the New England Patriots at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
Los Angeles (9-4) went right down the field with the opening kickoff, and Goff scored on a one yard keeper on fourth and goal just over 3:30 in to quickly make it 7-0 Rams. Matt Gay later made it 10-0 with a 35 yard field goal. New England (6-7) looked to take momentum when Goff was intercepted at his own 32 yard line by Myles Bryant, who returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. However the play was reviewed, and Bryant was down by contact. On that Patriots possession at the LA 19 yard line, quarterback Cam Newton was pressured and made a bad throw that was intercepted by the Rams Kenny Young and taken 79 yards the other way to make it 17-0. Nick Folk got the visitors on the board with a second quarter field goal of 29 yards, but it was not to be as Los Angeles added a Goff to Cooper Kupp two yard score on a long drive in the third quarter to put the game away. The Patriots replaced Newton with backup Jarrett Stidham with 10 minutes to play. After the game though, head coach Bill Belichik told reporters that Newton is the starting QB going forward.
Newton went 9-16 passing for 119 yards and the interception in the loss. He now has 10 interceptions and only five touchdown passes on the season. Stidham was 5-7 for 27 yards in relief. Damien Harris carried 11 times for 50 yards. N’Keal Harry had three receptions for 49 yards to lead the receiving core. Damiere Byrd (5-48), and Jakobi Myers (4-47) also chipped in. Adrian Phillips led the defense with eight total tackles, also one for loss. Akers was the offensive weapon in the Rams win, going for over 170 yards on 29 carries. Goff was 16-25 for 137 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Kupp had five catches for 33 yards and the score, while Tyler Higbee caught a pair of passes for 34 yards. Young had a big game with six total tackles with the interception and the TD return, along with one tackle for loss. Michael Brockers had two sacks, while Aaron Donald added 1.5. New England losses their seventh game, the most losses in a season since 2002. They are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but will need to win out and get help from others. The Pats are in Miami next Sunday (12/20) to face the Dolphins at 1 p.m.
