‘Fantastic day’ for this unit
Rams special teams get two touchdowns vs. Jaguars, including Cooper’s return on opening kickoff.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — John Fassel reminds his special teams unit every week that no Rams player has returned a kickoff for a touchdown since 2005.
Finally, the veteran coordinator can change the date.
The Rams not only returned a kickoff for a touchdown on Sunday, but also blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, helping to lift the NFC West leaders to a 27-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field.
“Put that one to rest,” Fassel said after the game. “We’ll put today’s date in next week’s scouting report.”
It was the first time in Rams history that the team scored on a kickoff return and on a blocked punt in the same game.
Few would have predicted three relatively anonymous special teams players — Pharoh Cooper, Cory Littleton and Malcolm Brown — would help the Rams improve to 4-2.
“It’s always a great day when you can get a special teams touchdown,” Littleton said. “When you get two, it’s a fantastic day.”
Coach Sean McVay credited the unit for the victory.
“That was the difference in winning this football game,” he said.
Cooper, a second-year pro, has said for months that he aspires to be the NFL’s best kickoff returner. Two weeks ago against the Dallas Cowboys, he returned a kick 66 yards.
On Sunday, he wasted no time giving the Rams the lead. Cooper fielded the opening kickoff three yards deep in the end zone, brought the ball out to the 10-yard line, broke right, spun and then ran a tightrope along the sideline, leaving diving would-be tacklers in his wake.
“Just trusted my instincts,” Cooper said. “Went with it to the sideline and took off and prayed that I didn’t get caught.”
Cooper credited the entire kickoff-return unit for the touchdown.
“It takes everybody,” Cooper said. “They work their tails off.”
Littleton, a linebacker who signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2016, made a big play in the second quarter.
With the Rams leading 1714 and the Jaguars in punt formation, Littleton burst through the middle virtually untouched. He dived and blocked a punt, the ball bouncing to the turf and then into the air. Brown scooped the ball, and Littleton was among the teammates who pushed and pulled him across the goal line to give the Rams a seven-point lead.
“They let me free and all I see is the ball dropping on the punter’s foot,” Littleton said. “I just said, ‘That’s my ball.’ And I had to go block that.”
Said Brown, a backup running back: “I don’t think I would have gotten in there if they weren’t pushing and tugging on me.”
Brown said special teams met Fassel’s challenge.
“He challenges us every week to be relentless, to make plays,” Brown said. “We definitely met that goal today.”
Cooper also made his season debut as the punt returner after taking over for the fumble-prone Tavon Austin. On Sunday, Cooper had a couple of his own bobbles. A punt bounced off his hands in the first half before he secured it. In the second half, he muffed the catch but recovered.
Cooper said the first miscue was because of the sun. The second, he took his eye off the ball.
“That was my first game returning and getting comfortable back there,” said Cooper, who returned three punts for 17 yards. “I’ll be fine though.”