All week, the talk surrounding “Monday Night Football” between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams was the potential that this would be a preview for Super Bowl LXI.
If this does indeed come to fruition, football fans will be mighty happy because this game was cinema in Inglewood on Monday night.
A back-and-forth battle that saw 35 total fourth-quarter points, an overtime period filled with clutch plays, and more led the Bills to beat the Rams, 37-34, to improve to 4-1. The Rams fell to 2-3, a record nobody predicted through their first five games, but they are still a top NFC contender.
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In a game filled with offensive fireworks from both Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford, it was Rams defensive captain Nate Landman who came through with the most important play of the game in overtime.
Allen and the Bills got right into Rams territory on the opening drive thanks to Khalil Shakir’s 57-yard catch-and-run on second-and-long. On the very next play, James Cook, who had two touchdowns but a fumble earlier in the game, wasn’t cautious with the football when he got the handoff from Allen. Landman punched at the ball, knocked it clean out of Cook’s arms, and his teammate landed on it.
Instead of the Bills getting the potential game-winning score, Stafford and the Rams had a chance to go downfield and win it all thanks to Landman’s efforts.
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Stafford did just that, using his star receiver Puka Nacua, who exploded for 17 catches on 25 targets for 138 yards and a touchdown, to get into field goal range for kicker Harrison Mevis to try a 48-yard field goal for the win.
But just when it seemed one team would finally come away with the win and get the final word, the other team stepped up.
The Rams have dealt with special teams woes in recent seasons, and Mevis, who had missed a 50-yarder earlier in the game, had his game-winning field goal blocked. The game remained tied, and the Bills’ offense breathed a sigh of relief knowing they could rectify Cook’s mistake.
Allen took matters into his own hands, rushing for 32 yards on the drive and getting well within field goal range for Tyler Bass to get his shot at glory. The snap was clean, the kick was true, and the Bills celebrated a hard-fought victory that had football fans thinking about the Martin Scorsese “ABSOLUTE CINEMA” meme (if you don’t know that one, look it up).
This game truly had it all, especially in the fourth quarter where, just to get to overtime, Stafford had to lead his third straight touchdown drive with 1:39 left on the clock and one timeout. He didn’t even need the timeout, as he found Davante Adams for his second touchdown of the game on a perfect route that left him wide open.
Rams head coach Sean McVay elected to go for the tie with an extra point instead of going for a two-point conversion. He had tried earlier at that, but the Rams failed to convert after Stafford was sacked.
In the box score, Allen threw for 210 yards with one touchdown and one interception, while rushing for a game-high 121 yards on just 10 carries with his score. Cook finished with 111 yards on the ground with his two touchdowns, while both Kyren Williams and Blake Corum scored for the Rams.
From the stars showing up under the bright L.A. lights to the beautiful scoring dance between these two high-octane offenses, to key plays flipping momentum left and right, this game deserves another meeting for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
It was football entertainment at its finest and lived up to every ounce of the hype.
