Kyren Williams flips an NFC West rivalry on its head in three-touchdown game for Rams

The Rams’ Kyren Williams scores a touchdown to tie the score against the 49ers in the fourth quarter. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Script, flipped.

The Rams finally beat the San Francisco 49ers in a meaningful regular-season game.

Kyren Williams flipped too.

If you haven’t seen it, you soon will. It’s an Instagram instant classic, a bit of in-your-Facebook flair. The Rams running back ran what’s called an arrow route through the middle of the 49ers defense, caught a beautifully timed pass from Matthew Stafford — one that required the precision of throwing into an open car window passing on the freeway — and punctuated the 15-yard touchdown with an impromptu front flip into the end zone.

Williams wound up on his tush instead of his toes.

“He didn’t stick the landing,” needled rookie running back Blake Corum from the locker next door. “I teased him about that.”

That’s about the only valid critique of Williams in the 27-24 stunner, an ultra-rare upset of the NFC West bullies by the Bay. He scored all three touchdowns, adding a pair of scoring runs to his gem of a catch and carry.

“We haven’t gotten to use him as a pass catcher enough,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I thought he did a great job of breaking off man coverage and then be able to have the swag to flip in was pretty cool.”

The Rams were in a desperate spot, in danger of dropping to 0-3 and losing a second division game on the heels of a dispiriting blowout defeat at Arizona.

“Obviously there was a sense of urgency to this week about our preparation and the mentality of what we were going to do and how we were going to play,” Williams said. “But I think it was something that was kind of unspoken, something that we knew we had to do. An 0-3 start is not good. We prepared this week to make sure that didn’t happen.”

Read more: Rams’ Sean McVay on shocking comeback to beat 49ers: ‘Lot of guts. Lot of grit’

The game was a battle of the backups on both sides, with the Rams…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kyren-williams-flips-nfc-west-031334852.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-09-23 03:13:34

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