Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams beat to the Houston Texans by a final score of 14-9. The Rams trailed at the half by a score of 9-7, and they looked a little off their game as Matthew Stafford struggled to do much with any receiver not named Puka Nacua for the first two quarters, in the second half, things got a bit better for the Rams passing attack, but overall, the Rams looked rusty on offense, though not entirely terrible.
Stafford crossed the 60,000 career yards passing mark and Nacua ended up with over 100 yards, but it’s Chris Shula’s defense which deserves the most praise today as they kept Houston in check and forced turnovers when they mattered most.
The Texans drew first blood with a field goal to take a 3-0 lead, and they also sent Puka Nacua to the locker room after an early hit to the head. Nacua could be seen bleeding after the hit, and though he still looked like the best offensive player for the Rams, he missed much of the first two quarters, and L.A. wouldn’t score until Nacua returned to the game.
The Texans struggled with penalties throughout the contest as their offensive line looked overmatched more often than not against L.A.’s defensive line. Houston didn’t play their sharpest game, but they did enough to hang around, and they made it so that the Rams struggled to take a comfortable lead.
The Rams were able to manage a lead of 7-6 after a Kyren Williams rushing score later in the second quarter, but Houston marched down the field to retake the lead with a 9-7 score as quarter two came to its end.
The Rams returned from halftime with Stafford finding ways to get the ball to his other receivers and not just Nacua, with Stafford’s first passing TD of the year going to tight end Davis Allen as the Rams took a 14-9 lead with almost the entire second half of football to go.
The Rams and Houston proceeded to exchange punts for a good chunk of quarters three and four, and though L.A.’s defense forced an interception on CJ Stroud, the Rams failed to capitalize, then late in the fourth quarter, with the Rams driving and looking like they could finally put the game away, Colby Parkinson caught a pass deep in the redzone, but fumbled it away to Houston, who were given the chance to take the lead with under 5-minutes to go in the match.
Moreso than L.A.’s offense controlling the game, it had been L.A.‘s defense putting up the best effort, and they were tasked with stopping Stroud, and potentially sealing the game after the costly turnover by Parkinson.
It would be Nate Landman, after the two-minute warning with Stroud driving down the field, forcing the fumble that Parkinson was likely praying for after his own mishap only a few plays earlier. L.A. did recover the fumble, but with Houston still having their three timeouts, the game was...
