The Los Angeles Rams put on an offensive showcase in their 30-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. Quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 25 passes for 279 yards, becoming 10th in NFL history in career all-time passing yards. He currently has 57,718 passing yards.
Stafford had nine targets in the contest, including running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum. Some of his completed passes went up to 27 yards. On their first game back from injury, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua caught mid-range shots.
“I haven’t had a whole lot of reps with those guys in the last month or so, especially [Nacua],” Stafford said. “These guys come out and compete, that’s what I’m proud of. Just coming out and showing up for our football team.”
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The offensive line played a key role in giving Stafford time to make his plays. What helped was understanding the Vikings defensive line, according to Rams offensive lineman Kevin Dotson.
“Their defense is a little more complicated than most teams but we knew most of their stuff came from the inside,” Dotson said. “We knew if we had the inside, we can keep the pocket clear because their defensive linemen on the outside run pretty wide.”
In the third quarter, Matthew hit wide receiver Demarcus Robinson with a 25-yard touchdown pass.
“[The Vikings] did a lot of those double covers so that leaves me with a lot of one-on-one time and Matthew was able to see that,” Robinson said. “He saw me out there, he saw me getting pressed … I was able to take it down hill.”
Wideout Puka Nacua lead the Rams receivers with 106 yards. On Monday, McVay had a talk with vice president of sports medicine and performance Reggie Scott about Nacua being ready for game action. McVay noted how they initially projected for him to return for their November 3 away game against the Seattle Seahawks.
“He went and had a workout session where he ran routes and did a great job. His movement looked good,” McVay said about Nacua. “He took part of the walkthrough on Tuesday , did a little bit more movement on his own and then yesterday, in practice, he looked really good.”
