Matthew Stafford, Davante Adams’ growing connection makes Rams’ offense more complete

Sports

add

LONDON — Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams was hungry for an international moment. He needed one, with Puka Nacua sidelined and his 12th season not off to the start he personally expects of himself.

So he stared down a Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback at the goal line as if the rent was due.

From the 2-yard line, Adams swiped away the hands of Jaguars cornerback Greg Newsome II, slithered around Newsome’s hip and lifted his left arm into the air. That was a bat signal for Matthew Stafford to let go of the football. Adams took that left hand and swooped the wet leather pigskin out of the sky.

Stafford took that gamble again and again on Sunday. He lofted two fade routes to Adams in the back right corner of the end zone, one of which Adams created late separation to high-point in the back corner, and another where Adams leapt before the cornerback could turn around and reeled the ball in at his chest.

With three touchdown catches, Adams tied an international game record to help lift the Rams to a 35-7 victory and perhaps create something new — life without Nacua. He did it by scoring a hat trick in a soccer stadium in England.

“I feel like I’m connected with the country, with the people now,” Adams said.

Adams was the star of a day filled with international celebrations and history for the Rams. Stafford threw five touchdowns, the most ever on an international stage. Konata Mumpfield and Terrance Ferguson scored their first career touchdowns, and Mumpfield celebrated by leaping into the air and yelling “Siuuuuu” as a nod to English Premier League star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Adams was begging Stafford to do the celebration during his postgame news conference.

“That’s OK,” Stafford said with a laugh. “That’s all right.”

This is what a growing connection looks like between two players who have been working to bring together the success they’ve enjoyed for so many seasons apart.

Stafford ranks in the top 10 all time in passing yards and touchdowns, and Adams ranks fourth among active players in career receiving yards. But although Stafford has been surging, leading the league in passing yards entering this week, it hasn’t come through his newest target. Entering Sunday, Adams ranked seventh in the NFL in targets but was averaging just a 47.3 percent catch rate.

“I wasn’t satisfied with the efficiency of him targeting me. Whatever it’s been — some of it’s been me, some of it’s been the throw — but it’s getting on the same page,” Adams said. “I take a lot of pride in what I do and the product I’m able to put out on the field.”

The Rams still knew what they had, which is why Adams continues to see so many targets. They selected him as the replacement for Cooper Kupp for a reason.

“I prayed in college and in high school to learn from a guy like Davante,” Mumpfield said. “Every time you step out there, you’re like, ‘Dang, you’re out there with a Hall of Famer.’”

Nacua, who is second in the league in receptions, missed Sunday’s game with an ankle sprain, shifting the pressure to younger wideouts, as well as to Adams, who had to become Batman without a Robin again.

This week of practices brought something different, and not just because the Rams spent them in a baseball stadium in Baltimore to cut down on the transition to London. They were without Nacua the whole week. After Stafford missed most of training camp with a back injury and Adams had been taking some practices off to rest his body and specifically his hamstring, now was the time to drill down on one specific area.

The settings of Camden Yards were ironically conducive to the game that would come. The Rams ran offense on a makeshift field that only stretched about half the length of an NFL field. And so, rather than run the full route tree, including the deep man-beating plays Adams has often run this season, they could spend that much more time on the red zone. With less family around while staying in hotels in Baltimore, the two spent time after practice trading texts and getting more of their communication in sync.

On Sunday, a specific plan came into focus with that first Adams touchdown. Stafford tried to hit him for two earlier passes, but the timing of the connection was off. After Adams scored one of the fade route touchdowns to put the Rams up 14-0, the role simplified. Adams covered 20 yards or more on just two of his eight targeted routes, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. He turned in his second-best catch percentage of the season by hauling in five of eight passes for 35 yards and three touchdowns.

“Davante was on one today,” coach Sean McVay said. “You get a lot of those types of coverages. It’s tight-sticky, there’s no vertical grass and you’ve got to be able to win those one-on-ones. He did that consistently.”

Adams didn’t just transition over into Nacua’s role. After all, he’s here to be something decidedly different, more of an answer to man coverage who draws the opponent’s No. 1 cornerback to allow Nacua to motion around and eat up zone coverage. He’s not just a No. 2 who can elevate to a No. 1 status in case of an injury. He’s here to be a No. 1 at all times.

And on a day without his No. 1 receiver, Stafford turned in his first five-touchdown day in a Rams uniform. He finished with just 182 yards but spread the ball around to 10 different receivers.

Sunday was the evolution that needed to happen with the players around Stafford to inspire that the best-case scenario still exists.

It meant running more three-tight-end sets on Sunday than they had in the previous three seasons with Stafford combined. That set up play action and opportunities to go to any one of the three who were left uncovered, as Stafford did with Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson and Ferguson for multiple targets each.

“It was a good reminder of, ‘Hey, let’s use all of our eligibles. Let’s continue to lean in to being a complete offense,’” McVay said. “You just happen to have two No. 1 receivers and you want to get them their touches, but let’s also make sure we get all these other players involved. I think it makes you more difficult to defend.”

And that unpredictability meant ending drives in touchdowns rather than field goals. The Rams entered with a top-seven offense in production and efficiency but bottom-seven in red zone scoring, only to see that flip on its head for a game in London.

The Rams still have more to unpack during the bye, when they’ll self-scout all of these drives and also hope an extra week can bring a return for Nacua and right tackle Rob Havenstein, who has battled his own ankle issue.

They need to find more of a role for Tutu Atwell, who is averaging 41 yards per catch on four receptions but whose only target on Sunday resulted in a pass interference penalty. They need to continue to find ways to unleash Kyren Williams to extend drives, as he shifted from the pass-catching role he saw the past two weeks to pick up the blitzes that the Jaguars kept throwing their way.

Sunday’s scoring outburst was the latest example of how the Rams are getting the best version of Stafford, even at age 37, even with his mobility largely gone and even if his leading receiver can’t play. Stafford now has 17 touchdown passes and just two interceptions, and his quarterback rating of 109.3 is currently the best of his 17 seasons.

“He’s a killer,” Adams said. “That’s what killers do. They go out and kill.”

For much of the first half of the season, Stafford has been doing it without an efficient connection with his three-time first-team All-Pro receiver.

That changed on Sunday. And if that’s the start of something, the Rams’ passing game will have a ceiling as high as any.

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels (hamstring) questionable to return vs. Cowboys

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Shaedon Sharpe, Trail Blazers agree to 4-year, $90 million contract extension

Sports