PHILADELPHIA — Maybe the rain didn’t wash away the Rams’ season. Maybe it shocked it back to life.
For three quarters Sunday afternoon at a rain-soaked Lincoln Financial Field, the Los Angeles Rams looked determined to drown themselves in their own mistakes.
Matthew Stafford threw two interceptions. Special teams surrendered another enormous punt return. Harrison Mevis missed a field goal. Tyler Higbee dropped a fourth-down pass. The Rams trailed the Philadelphia Eagles by 10 points entering the fourth quarter and appeared headed toward a 1-3 start that would have invited some uncomfortable questions about where this season was headed.
Then, somehow, everything changed.
Kyren Williams scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the Rams defense produced a monumental goal-line stand and Los Angeles erased a 10-point deficit to stun Philadelphia, 24-20, snapping a four-game losing streak against the Eagles and escaping the rain with one of the most improbable victories of the Sean McVay era.
Call it stealing one. Call it survival.
Just don’t call the Rams dead yet.
For most of the afternoon, they looked determined to give this one away.
Stafford was intercepted by Andrew Mukuba on Los Angeles’ opening possession after badly overthrowing Konata Mumpfield.
Special teams joined the misery when Ethan Evans launched a 51-yard punt only for Britain Covey to return it 41 yards, turning a booming kick into a measly 10-yard net change in field position.
Two plays later, Jalen Hurts found Darius Cooper for an 18-yard touchdown and a 13-3 Philadelphia lead.
Puka Nacua, playing for the first time since Week 1, finally provided a spark. He scored on an awkward jet-sweep handoff from Stafford with 1:55 remaining in the first half, cutting the deficit to three.
But Stafford gave the momentum right back.
With Higbee wide open underneath, Stafford inexplicably tried to hit Nacua deep and was intercepted by Cooper DeJean.
Philadelphia eventually cashed in when Hurts connected with Cooper for his second touchdown following a questionable pass-interference penalty against Trent McDuffie.
It was 20-10.
Then Mevis yanked a 48-yard field goal wide left.
When it rains, it pours.
Except this time, the Rams found an umbrella.
The game turned with Philadelphia knocking on the door, threatening to bury Los Angeles for good. Facing third-and-goal from the 2, Hurts bobbled the snap and scrambled for nothing. On fourth down, the Rams pressured him into an errant throw for Cooper.
For the second time in the fourth quarter, the Rams defense had stuffed Philadelphia on fourth down.
Backed up against their own goal line, Los Angeles marched 98 yards. Williams finished the masterpiece himself, bulldozing across from 1 yard out to make it 20-17.
Suddenly, the Eagles weren’t protecting a comfortable lead.
They were hanging on.
The Rams defense forced another punt, Stafford got the football back and Los Angeles marched down the field again.
And once again, Williams finished the job.
His second rushing touchdown of the fourth quarter gave the Rams a 24-20 lead and completed a comeback that had seemed almost unimaginable minutes earlier.
Williams was everywhere, rushing for 80 yards while catching 10 passes for 66 more and scoring the two touchdowns that flipped the afternoon.
Philadelphia somehow went 0-for-12 on third down. The Rams weren’t particularly good themselves at 7-for-16, but when the game reached its defining moments, Los Angeles finally made the plays it had spent much of this young season failing to make.
This wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t clean. It certainly wasn’t comfortable.
But seasons aren’t always saved with masterpieces.
Sometimes they’re saved in the mud.
What it means
The Rams may have just saved their season.
Instead of limping home at 1-3 after another mistake-filled loss, Los Angeles improves to 2-2 by beating an Eagles team it had lost to four consecutive times since 2023.
There are still problems — plenty of them. Stafford’s turnovers and the special-teams breakdowns aren’t disappearing because of one exhilarating quarter.
But the Rams boarded the plane home with something far more valuable than explanations. A win.
Turning point
Philadelphia had third-and-goal from the Rams’ 2 with an opportunity to essentially put the game away.
Instead, Hurts bobbled the third-down snap before the Rams pressured him into an incompletion on fourth down.
Los Angeles took over at its own 2 and traveled 98 yards the other way, with Williams punching in the touchdown that cut the deficit to 20-17.
The Rams went from staring at the edge of the cliff to charging back into the game.
Did you see that?
Welcome back, Puka Nacua.
On his first catch since Week 1, Nacua somehow corralled a juggling 28-yard reception down the right sideline on a gorgeous throw from Stafford.
After missing two games with a hip injury, Nacua needed exactly one catch to remind everyone what the Rams had been missing.
Up next
The Rams return to SoFi Stadium at 2-2 for Monday Night Football against the 3-1 Buffalo Bills.
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