Rams right at the end
After blowing 24-point lead, FG sends them past Brady, Bucs
TAMPA, Fla. — Matthew Stafford outplayed Tom Brady in the final minute, moving the Rams into position for a last-second field goal that gave the NFC West champions a 30-27 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday after the seven-time Super Bowl champion led his team on a late tying drive.
Stafford threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns, and Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal as time expired sent the Rams (14-5) into next Sunday’s NFC championship game at home against the division-rival 49ers.
Brady rallied the Bucs from a 27-3 secondhalf deficit with help from three Rams turnovers, tying the game on Leonard Fournette’s 9-yard run on fourth-and-inches with 42 seconds remaining. The NFL’s all-time passing leader didn’t get an opportunity to finish the job.
Stafford led the Rams downfield after the ensuing kickoff, using completions of 20 and 44 yards to league receiving leader Cooper Kupp to set up Gay’s third field goal.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Stafford said. “I mean, we sure let them back in the game with a bunch of mistakes on offense. Our defense played outstanding. We’ve got to clean some stuff up, do a little better job in the turnover department.
“This is a tough team, man, this is what we’re all about. Just happy to get a win and keep on moving.”
Earlier, Stafford found Kupp wide open behind the Bucs secondary on a 70-yard scoring play that put the Rams up 17-3 early in the second quarter.
“Man, he’s the heart and soul of this offense,” Stafford said of Kupp, who had nine catches for 183 yards but also lost a fumble.. “What he’s able to do down in, down out, whether it’s in the pass game, run game — he’s an unbelievable competitor.”
Stafford, who had never won a postseason game before beating the Cardinals in the previous week’s wild-card round, completed 28 of 38 passes without an interception. The 13-year veteran also scored on a 1-yard run.
Brady completed 30 of 54 passes for 329 yards, one TD and one interception. He was sacked three times and lost a fumble.
Fournette also scored on a 1-yard run for the Bucs, who pulled within 27-20 on Brady’s 55-yard TD throw to Mike Evans with 3:20 left.
The Bucs (14-5), who lost to the Rams for third time in two seasons, were trying to become the first team to repeat as Super
Bowl champions since the Brady-led Patriots during the 2004 season.
Stafford played one of his best games of the season in the September meeting, when he threw for four TDs and no interceptions in a 34-24 Rams win in Los Angeles. He got off to another fast start Sunday, completing nine of his first 12 passes for 176 yards and the TDs to Kendall Blanton and Kupp to open a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter.
It was 20-3 at halftime, and the Bucs were fortunate their deficit wasn’t bigger. With the Rams on the verge of scoring again in the closing seconds of the second quarter, Cam Akers fumbled at the Bucs 1 and the Bucs’ Antoine Winfield recovered to keep the defending champs to keep from falling further behind.
Akers initially was ruled down by contact, but a lengthy review of the play determined the ball was beginning to come loose before the running back’s helmet hit the turf.
The Rams built the lead to 27-3 on Stafford’s quarterback sneak, with help along the way from some uncharacteristic mistakes by the Bucs. That included unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for taunting and Brady, who was flagged while arguing unsuccessfully for what he felt should have been a penalty on the Rams for a hit that appeared to bloody his lip.