- Nacua, Kupp returns fuel Rams’ season-changing win. Puka Nacua was — surprise! — active for Thursday’s game, and he was also surprisingly active in the victory, fueling the Rams’ upset of the Vikings with seven catches for 106 receiving yards as if he never left the lineup. Matthew Stafford looked for Nacua early and often, feeding him the ball on three of the first five plays. Also back was Cooper Kupp; he started a little slower, but drew two pass-interference flags in the red zone and worked to get open after Stafford brilliantly evaded a sack, finding Kupp for a welcome-back touchdown in the second quarter. Nacua and Kupp entered Thursday having played together only 24 snaps this season, and the Rams’ offense suffered because of it. But even Demarcus Robinson flourished with the band back together, both of his receptions going for second-half TDs. Stafford just looked different Thursday — not the sometimes frazzled, harried version we saw without his top two targets playing. The Rams have turned their season around in the past four days with the return of L.A.’s dynamic duo.
- Vikings suffered second loss in four days, big injury to Darrisaw. The Vikings’ trajectory has changed in less than a week, both with their first two losses of the season after a 5-0 start and with the injury suffered by left tackle Christian Darrisaw. Late in the first half, Darrisaw was rolled up on and was eventually ruled out. Even worse, it came on a play the Vikings didn’t even technically need to run, backed up against their own end zone. Darrisaw was replaced by David Quessenberry, who allowed six pressures on 14 pass-block snaps, per Next Gen Stats, and was at least partially responsible for Jared Verse’s 13-yard sack with five minutes left and the Vikings down. Minnesota started out sharply, as Sam Darnold ripped the Rams’ defense early with precision, but things had bogged down before Darrisaw left the game. Even while showing some life in a few field-goal drives in the second half, it wasn’t enough. The Rams got away with a facemask that was missed on the game-sealing safety (another sack by Verse), but the protection broke down on a key play with a chance to tie the game late.
- Why couldn’t the Vikings find Jefferson late? During the early offensive fireworks, Justin Jefferson was the Vikings’ go-to guy, shredding the Rams’ defense in the first half and continuing with catches for 27 and 14 yards on the third-quarter field-goal drive that put the Vikings up, 17-14. Darnold missed Jefferson, who stumbled in the end zone on third-and-goal prior to that kick, and then … he never saw the ball again. The Vikings attempted seven passes, and none had Jefferson’s name on it. Granted, the Rams were trying their best to make the ball go anywhere but Jefferson’s hands, but it felt like Darnold didn’t even look his way on most of those throws. A few of them worked. Not enough did. Darnold was accurate most of the night but struggled on third downs. He hit Aaron Jones on a pretty fade but couldn’t convert any first downs on his other five third-down throws. The third-and-goal pass was Jefferson’s only third-down target of the game. He finished with his first 100-yard outing in five games, which was great. But the Vikings really needed him, especially with T.J. Hockenson still a week away from returning, in the second-half drives that came up short.
Cooper Kupp caught a touchdown pass and Puka Nacua had 106 yards receiving in their returns from lengthy injury absences, and Matthew Stafford passed for 279 yards and four TDs in the Los Angeles Rams ‘ 30-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.
Demarcus Robinson caught two TD passes from Stafford for the Rams (3-4), who won back-to-back games for the first time this season with 386 yards from an offense that looked exponentially more dangerous with its top two receivers back in uniform.
After missing the previous five games, Nacua had seven catches while posting the eighth 100-yard game of his short career. Kupp returned from a four-game absence with five catches for 51 yards, including a 27-yard grab for a key first down late in the fourth quarter.
Kyren Williams rushed for 97 yards and caught an early TD pass for the Rams. Robinson caught a 25-yard TD pass late in the third quarter to put Los Angeles ahead, and he caught a 10-yard TD throw with 6:17 to play for a 28-20 lead.
Byron Young then sacked Sam Darnold for a safety with 1:36 left, grabbing Darnold’s facemask on the play. Officials didn’t throw a flag, sealing the Rams’ third straight win over Minnesota.
Darnold passed for 240 yards for the Vikings (5-2), who followed up their first loss of the season with an ineffective defensive performance. Minnesota also lost starting left tackle Christian Darrisaw to a knee injury late in the first half.
Justin Jefferson had eight receptions for 115 yards, while Josh Oliver and Trent Sherfield caught TD passes from Darnold. Minnesota was held to two field goals in the final three quarters.
Stafford threw at least four TD passes for the 16th time in his career, including four with the Rams. The veteran had thrown just three TD passes in the Rams’ first six games combined.
McVay also won his first head-to-head meeting with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who was his offensive coordinator during the Rams’ Super Bowl championship season three years ago.
Both teams scored touchdowns on their first two drives in front of a sellout crowd at SoFi Stadium. Darnold went 8 for 8 on those drives, while Stafford clearly enjoyed having his two favorite targets back in uniform.
Williams caught a short pass on the Rams’ opening drive and scored a touchdown in his 10th consecutive game. The Vikings hadn’t allowed a TD in the first quarter all season, and the Rams hadn’t scored on their first drive all season.
Darnold found Jefferson five times on the first two drives, but finished them with throws to Oliver and to Sherfield, who scored a touchdown for his fifth NFL team.
Byron Murphy intercepted an overthrown pass by Stafford in the third, and Minnesota went up 17-14 after Jefferson extended the drive with a bobbling, one-handed reception.
Los Angeles answered with another 70-yard TD drive capped by Robinson’s catch.
Injuries
Vikings: TE T.J. Hockenson (knee) and G Dalton Risner (back) were out. … Darrisaw got injured while Minnesota was trying to run out the clock to end the first half.
Rams: Rookie WR Jordan Whittington was inactive with a shoulder injury. … S Kam Curl injured his knee in the first quarter, but returned in the second.
