The Los Angeles Rams escaped Denver with a narrow three-point win on Sunday, beating the Broncos 23-20. It was a banner day for Todd Gurley and the rushing attack, but Jared Goff certainly wasn’t at his best.
If you missed the game, be sure to check out highlights of all the action, but we’ve compiled the five best stats from Sunday’s win.
In the first five weeks of the season, Jared Goff had been sacked just six times – none of which were pinned on the offensive line. On Sunday alone, the Broncos sacked Goff five times, the most he’s been taken down since Week 17 of the 2016 season when he was sacked seven times.
Rookie Bradley Chubb got the better of Andrew Whitworth a few times, racking up three sacks to set the Broncos’ single-game rookie record.
This may seem hard to believe, but prior to Sunday, Gurley had never gone over 200 yards rushing in his NFL career. In fact, no Rams running back had eclipsed 200 yards on the ground since 2001. The last player to do it was Marshall Faulk, who had 202 yards on 30 carries, adding two touchdowns and another 50 yards receiving. He was beat out by Kurt Warner for NFL MVP that year.
Speaking of Gurley and 200-yard days, he’s had a couple of those. Sunday obviously set a career-high for him in that department, but this isn’t the first time he’s eclipsed 200 yards rushing. He did the same at Georgia, posting the exact numbers he had on Sunday against Denver: 28 carries, 208 yards and two touchdowns.
That game in college came against Tennessee in 2014, adding another 30 yards receiving on four catches. Against the Broncos, he had just two catches for 17 yards, but the rushing numbers remain identical.
Through six weeks, the Rams’ rush defense has been on a roller coaster ride with almost no visible flatlines. Here’s how the defense has fared each week this season.
- Week 1: 95 yards
- Week 2: 54 yards
- Week 3: 141 yards
- Week 4: 54 yards
- Week 5: 190 yards
- Week 6: 60 yards
Up, down, up, down, up down. There’s been no consistency from the run defense, but on Sunday, they stepped up in a big way. the Broncos gained just 60 yards, 55 of which were by running backs. Those 55 yards came on 15 attempts, so that’s fewer than 4 yards per carry.
It’s not often a team rushes for more yards than it passes for, but the Rams did just that on Sunday. In total, they had 270 yards on the ground compared to Jared Goff’s 174 yards passing, posting nearly 100 more yards rushing than through the air. This is the fourth time Gurley and the Rams have done this since 2016, doing so twice last season.
This is the 13th time since 1970 the Rams have had at least 270 yards on the ground, and just the first time since 2001.
