Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is itching to get into the 2023 season after an injury-riddled campaign as reigning Super Bowl champion.

After winning it all in Super Bowl LVI, Stafford went into his offseason program dealing with a lingering elbow issue that would not allow him to throw. He ended up being held out from throwing altogether in the offseason program and was still limited during training camp.

Stafford's spotty preparation led to one of the worst statistical seasons of his career. In his nine starts before a season-ending spinal cord contusion, Stafford led the Rams to a 3-6 record with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

His 10 touchdowns were the fewest in any of his 13 seasons where he has made at least eight starts, while his 10.1 yards per completion was also a career low, and his 231.9 yards per game were the fewest since his rookie year back in 2009.

After two concussions and his spinal cord injury, while also playing on a Rams team seemingly trending in the wrong direction looking forward, there was plenty of speculation if Stafford would play on in 2023, but he told reporters on Monday that he is raring to go.

"I'm not 25, but I definitely feel good," Stafford said after turning 35 in February. "It's fun to be as refreshed as I am coming back into this building.

"I'm in a good head space as far as how I'm feeling [and] what I'm able to accomplish while I'm here, and that puts me in a good mood.

"It gets me excited to be here and kind of helps me make sure that my attitude, my energy level, is at the correct place every single time I come in here – and I feel like it's there right now."

While admitting he is not able to throw every day with reckless abandon like he once could, Stafford said he is "ready to go [and] ready to play".

"It's kind of nice that I'll be able to go out there and have a much more normal offseason experience and be able to be out there and do what I love to do," he said.

"I'm probably not a human Jugs machine like I used to be, [but I] can still get it out there and throw it around a bunch.

"So, it'll be a process as it always is to try and stay as healthy as you possibly can at all times. But I definitely feel like I can go out there and compete and do everything I want to do, which is fun and exciting for me."

Matthew Stafford lost his season to a neck injury, but the Los Angeles Rams quarterback is adamant his NFL career is not done.

Having led the Rams to Super Bowl LVI glory in his first year in LA, Stafford's second season has not gone to plan.

The former Detroit Lions QB underwent elbow surgery in the offseason and did not look the same player as the 2022 campaign began.

In nine games with Stafford under center, the Rams were 3-6, with the QB throwing only 10 touchdown passes and eight interceptions for a passer rating of 87.4 – his worst since 2014.

Stafford had averaged 287.4 yards per game in 2021 but only topped that mark in one game this year.

A spinal cord contusion then cut Stafford's season short in Week 11, prompting concerns around the 34-year-old's long-term future.

But in an appearance on his wife Kelly's The Morning After podcast, Stafford responded flatly to a question asking if he would retire: "No."

Stafford signed a four-year, $160million extension with the Rams in March, and the team are confident he can avoid surgery ahead of a 2023 return.

Coach Sean McVay said earlier this month: "He'll be good. To my knowledge, there's nothing like that [surgery] that's going to be required or necessary.

"And it will be great for Matthew to have a healthy offseason and do a lot of the things that I think he'll feel good about being able to do."

Baker Mayfield says "everything does happen for a reason" after his dream start to life at the Los Angeles Rams.

The former first overall draft pick started the season with the Carolina Panthers, having been waived with a dismal 1-5 record for the campaign.

Picked up by the Rams in the midst of a quarterback injury crisis, Mayfield unexpectedly led the Super Bowl holders to a comeback win against the Las Vegas Raiders in his first game for the team.

Ahead of Monday's match with the Green Bay Packers, the 27-year-old has acknowledged it has been an unusual start to life in California, but suggested his move offered a second chance after his Panthers frustrations.

"Refreshing is an interesting way to put it, considering how stressful last week has been," he said.

"But in the end, everything does happen for a reason. I'm thankful for the group that is here."

Though tasked with leading the Rams against the Raiders, Mayfield was able to call on veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford for advice throughout the match.

Head coach Sean McVay was impressed with the latter's contributions, highlighting his crucial impact in helping his new team-mate keep focused on the game.

"He was even on the headset on the last drive," he added. "He was able to add in a couple of things that would be helpful to Baker.

"That tells you everything that you need to know about Matthew and who he is. I think sometimes being able to get a different perspective can be beneficial."

Although quarterback Matthew Stafford has been cleared from the league’s concussion protocol, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay said he will not play Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.

Stafford has missed two of the Rams' last three games because of concussion protocols and a neck injury. While he’s cleared for the concussion, the team is still gathering information about the neck injury.

"I think there’s so many layers [to that decision]," McVay said. "There’s so much thought and dialogue that goes into it, but I think first and foremost it’s got to get cleared from the medical experts.

"I’m not the expert in that area, but if there’s any sort of sense of, this is something that’ll be better served in the long term or it’s going to be a few more week, things like that, I think that’ll end up taking care of itself."

John Wolford will start Sunday against Seattle and Bryce Perkins, who started last week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, will serve as his backup.

The Rams may be extra careful with Stafford because he felt numbness in his legs after taking a hit against the New Orleans Saints on November 20. That was just two days after he cleared the concussion protocol for the first time.

McVay didn’t rule out that Stafford could be shut down for the season.

"If there’s any inkling that he can play, this guy is going to want to play. Now [there is] a possibility that we say, 'based on what we’re gathering, the doctors, those types of things, the smart thing is not to play you' – and he could be upset with me.

"But I think he knows that I have his best interest and we have his best interest. If that’s the case, then that’s definitely a possibility."

The injury-depleted Rams are enduing a dismal season after winning the Super Bowl last season. They have lost five straight, and at 3-8 are among the worst teams in the league.

The Los Angeles Rams are unsure if Matthew Stafford will return to their roster this season amid a physically testing season.

The quarterback has been ruled out of this weekend's clash with the Kansas City Chiefs with a strained neck, having also suffered from a concussion earlier this month.

The Super Bowl LVI winners have struggled this season, and now look as if they could be without their first-choice QB for the rest of the campaign.

According to a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter, the 3-7 Rams do not know if Stafford will feature again in a campaign that is slipping away from them, with six losses in their last seven games.

Bryce Perkins, a 2020 undrafted free agent, is expected to get his first start against the Chiefs this weekend in Stafford's absence, having replaced him during last Sunday's game with the New Orleans Saints.

If there is a potential revival, Stafford could be considered to feature for a home stretch, but otherwise is likely to be kept on the sidelines as the team lick their wounds from a tough year.

The Rams also remain without star wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who is expected to miss the rest of 2022 following ankle surgery.

Stafford has passed for 2,087 yards this campaign, with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions to his name.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will not play on Sunday at the Kansas City Chiefs after exiting last week's loss to the New Orleans Saints with a possible head injury, coach Sean McVay announced on Wednesday.

McVay told reporters the Rams are still trying to determine whether Stafford suffered a concussion after he was forced to exit last Sunday’s 27-20 loss to the Saints early in the third quarter.

The veteran quarterback previously sustained a head injury in Los Angeles' Week 9 loss at Tampa Bay, and sat out the following week's game against the Arizona Cardinals.

"We're checking all those boxes and going through all that," McVay said. "

"There's a lot of layers to it, but you certainly want to make sure you’re doing everything in your power to [address] exactly what went into that feeling, and letting the experts be able [to] give their opinion, look at the MRI and those scans, and be able to give the right information so that we can move forward accordingly with him."

McVay said Stafford was removed from last week’s game after he felt numbness in his legs after being hit, and was placed in concussion protocol per NFL policy.

The sixth-year head coach added the struggling defending Super Bowl champions could consider shutting Stafford down for the remainder of the season.

"We're not going to do anything that's reckless," McVay said.

"[Stafford] is such a great competitor and I definitely think that's probably one of those deals where if he is cleared, you definitely want to make sure that I'm making a smart decision for him and for our team, not exclusive to this year."

With number two quarterback John Wolford dealing with a neck injury, Bryce Perkins took first-team reps in Wednesday's practice and could be in line for his first career NFL start against the AFC-leading Chiefs.

Perkins, an undrafted free agent who signed with the Rams in 2020, completed five of 10 passes for 64 yards after replacing Stafford last week and added 26 rushing yards on three attempts.

Los Angeles has lost four straight games to fall to 3-7 and are currently three games out of a playoff spot with seven to play.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is possibly dealing with a concussion for the second time in three weeks after he left in the third quarter of Sunday’s 27-20 loss at the New Orleans Saints. 

Stafford exited the game after appearing to hit his head on the turf and then being sacked to end that same drive. 

The Rams said Stafford was being evaluated for a concussion, but coach Sean McVay said after the game he was not sure if his Super Bowl champion signal-caller was in the NFL’s concussion protocol. 

Stafford cleared the league’s protocol on Friday after missing last week’s 27-17 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals due to a hit he took in a 16-13 defeat at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 6.  

Following Sunday’s loss, McVay said he had no update on Stafford’s status. 

''I need to talk to the doctors,'' McVay said. ''Obviously we need to make a smart decision for Matthew and see where we're at with that.

"I know how he was feeling, and we made the decision it was going to be in his best interest to not have him continue to play.'' 

The Rams have lost four in a row to fall to 3-7 and equal the worst 10-game record of any defending Super Bowl champion. 

Matthew Stafford will return to the field for Sunday's Week 11 game against the New Orleans Saints after the Los Angeles Rams quarterback missed Week 10 due to a concussion.

With Stafford out and backup quarterback John Wolford in the game, the Rams lost their third game in a row, and their fifth loss from their past six outings.

Sitting at 3-6, the reigning Super Bowl champions look a long way from being contenders this year, with their playoff chances hanging by a thread when they travel to New Orleans.

Stafford, 34, tossed an equal career-high 41 touchdown passes last season in his first year since being traded from the Detroit Lions, but he has struggled this campaign, with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions in eight games.

The Rams are currently last in the NFC West, three games behind the division-leading Seattle Seahawks (6-4). They also have, by far, the worst point differential in the division at minus 52, behind the Arizona Cardinals (minus 28), the Seahawks (plus 16) and the San Francisco 49ers (plus 35).

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is expected to clear concussion protocol and play in Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints, according to head coach Sean McVay.

The reigning Super Bowl QB missed the Rams' 27-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but returned to practice on Wednesday.

McVay indicated he expected Stafford to clear protocol by Friday, having entered on November 8 in the days after their 16-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"The doctors are making sure, everybody, himself, his family, feels good about it," McVay told reporters. "That's always been the priority, the person, the safety, the health.

"But if he is fully cleared and he and his family feel good about that, then I know he's chomping at the bit to be out there with his guys."

McVay said if Stafford was cleared as late as Friday that would not impact his availability for Sunday's game.

"It's not going to inhibit his ability to participate in practice, be a full participant in meetings, all that kind of stuff," he said. "It's just kind of following the necessary steps to fully be cleared."

John Wolford, who stepped in for Stafford but struggled against the Cardinals, did not practice on Wednesday due to a neck issue.

Stafford has a 68.4 per cent completion rate this season, passing for 1,928 yards and eight touchdowns and eight interceptions for the Rams who are 3-6 and last in the NFC West.

The Rams will definitely be without wide receiver and 2021 AP Offensive Player of the Year Cooper Kupp who has undergone ankle surgery following an injury sustained against the Cardinals.

"It's going to give a lot of guys an opportunity to step up," McVay said. "Anytime you lose a guy like that, you never replace him.

"Cooper, we all know what a special player, special person he is. That's a big loss, without a doubt, but it will provide a lot of opportunities for other guys to get chances that they wouldn’t otherwise. You have to look at it through that lens."

Saints head coach Dennis Allen confirmed they will stick with quarterback Andy Dalton for Sunday's game, despite considering a change to Jameis Winston who is available again after injury but not yet 100 per cent.

Matthew Stafford and Kyler Murray could both miss Sunday's clash between the Los Angeles Rams and Arizona Cardinals in a crucial game for each team's seemingly fading playoff hopes.

The defending Super Bowl champion Rams are 3-5 heading into the visit of the Cardinals after suffering successive losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The sole team propping them up in the NFC West is Arizona, who dropped to 3-6 with a home loss to the Seattle Seahawks last time out.

Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray will be a game-time decision with a hamstring injury, and it may well prove a battle of deputy Colt McCoy and Rams backup John Wolford. Stafford (concussion) is listed as questionable having returned to practice in a limited capacity on Friday.

"It could go all the way up until 90 minutes before kick-off," coach Sean McVay said of Stafford. 

"Because when you've got a guy that's a veteran player like him, you're not gonna risk at all… We're not gonna skip any steps, so I don't want that to be misunderstood. But I think it would be silly of me to rule him out."

Even if Stafford cannot play, the Rams can have reason to be optimistic of beating the Cardinals.

The Rams are 10-1 against the Cardinals since 2017, including a win in Arizona in Week 3 this year. The lone loss came at SoFi Stadium last season. The only team with more wins against a single opponent since 2017 are the New England Patriots, who are 11-0 against the Jets.

However, the Rams have the worst offense in the NFL by yards per play, averaging just 4.71. Additionally, they have gone three-and-out on 29.4 per cent of their offensive drives this season, the second-highest mark in the league (Pittsburgh, 31.8). Last season, they did that on just 13.3 per cent of their drives, the second-lowest mark in the league (Kansas City, 10.1).

The Cardinals, therefore, should not have much fear of the Rams pulling away as the Seahawks did last week, but, with Arizona averaging just 4.88 yards per play, a low-scoring game looks likely regardless of who is under center. 

If the Rams are to prevail, wide receiver Cooper Kupp will be the probable offensive difference-maker.

Last week, Kupp produced his 20th career game with at least 100 receiving yards and a touchdown, the most in the NFL since he entered the league in 2017. The only other players with more than 15 such games in that span are Davante Adams (19) and Tyreek Hill (18).

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford has entered the concussion protocol putting him in doubt for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.

Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed on Wednesday that Stafford had entered the protocol on Tuesday with medical staff performing their "cleanup after the game" from Sunday's 16-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Stafford has not missed an NFL game since 2019, but if he is unavailable, John Wolford would be the Rams' starting quarterback.

"We'll take it a day at a time with him," McVay told reporters. "We're still anticipating and having the optimistic approach that there's a possibility that he'll be ready to go."

McVay added: "I know Matthew's going to do everything in his power to try to be able to be ready and we'll just take it a day at a time.

"But John's a guy that when he's been in these situations, he's stepped in and done a really good job. And it wasn't too long ago that he had to come in a game that we had to have to be able to get into the playoffs and he performed incredibly well."

McVay clarified that Stafford had not shown any indication that he was dealing with concussion symptoms during Sunday's game. He said medical staff "determined that they felt like that [entering protocols] was the best thing for him".

Stafford completed 13 of 27 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions against the Bucs. He was sacked four times in the game.

The 34-year-old Super Bowl LVI champion has a 68.4 per cent completion rate for 1,928 passing yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions this season.

The Rams are 3-5 and third in the NFC West, while the Cardinals are 3-6 and fourth in that division.

After a busy NFL trade deadline, the focus is back on the field this weekend.

Josh Allen faces Zach Wilson as the New York Jets confront a major test of their defense against the soaraway Buffalo Bills, while the Los Angeles Rams will look to keep up their remarkable record against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Could Derrick Henry have another monumental game in him after last week's big effort, and after he dispelled worries about a foot problem?

Stats Perform has taken a look at the numbers ahead of Sunday's games, beginning with the travails of the Brady bunch.

Los Angeles Rams (3-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)

The Buccaneers are on the slide, and the Rams are just about the nightmare opponents this weekend, judging by recent games between the teams.

Including Los Angeles' win in last season's Divisional Round, the Rams are 9-1 in their last 10 games against the Bucs, and that includes a 5-0 streak in Tampa.

This game is big for both, and for the Bucs it offers a chance to halt a losing sequence of three. They were beaten 27-22 by the Baltimore last week and are on their longest single-season losing run since a dismal four-game run in the 2019 season.

It remains to be seen whether Tom Brady can get them out of this mess. Brady threw for 325 yards and zero interceptions in last week's loss to Baltimore. Across his stellar career, he is 54-7 when throwing 300 yards and no interceptions, but this season he is 1-2 in such games.

Brady might fancy the job against a Rams team who have scored 14 or fewer points and lost by double-digits four times already this season, including last time out in a 31-14 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Rival quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 187 yards last week on 33 attempts. His team are 2-9 in games where Stafford has thrown the ball at least 30 times and finished with fewer than 200 passing yards.

Buffalo Bills (6-1) at New York Jets (5-3)

The Buffalo Bills are 6-1 for the first time since 1993, the season they last made it through to the Super Bowl. This weekend they go after a fifth win in a row after getting the better of the Green Bay Packers last time out.

What's more, they have strung together a four-game winning streak in road games against the Jets, second only in franchise history to a seven-game streak from 1987 to 1993.

The Bills have outscored this season's opponents by 105 points (203-98) so far, the widest differential in the NFL.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen has urged the Jets to show patience with his struggling counterpart Zach Wilson, who has completed just 54.9 per cent of passes this season, the second-worst rate in the NFL heading into Week 9. Wilson has thrown for 1,048 yards across five games, with three touchdowns and five interceptions, compared to Allen's 2,198 yards for 19 TDs and six interceptions from seven games.

Stefon Diggs has at least 100 yards and a receiving touchdown in three straight games, the longest streak of the Bills wide receiver's career and tied for the longest streak in team history with Elbert Dubenion (1964). The last NFL player with a longer streak was Adam Thielen in 2018 (five). How Diggs fares against Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner will be a factor.

The Jets have already topped last season's four wins, but they are 8-30 against divisional opponents since 2016, the worst record in the NFL.

Tennessee Titans (5-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-2)

What does Titans running back Henry have in store for an encore? Henry last week recorded his sixth career 200-yard rushing game, with 219 yards and two touchdowns against the Texans, tying Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson for the most all-time. All other active players have combined for just four such games.

The Chiefs will be wary of that threat, and will look to their own WR, JuJu Smith-Schuster, to make his own impact. After failing to reach 90 yards or find the endzone in his first five games this season, Smith-Schuster now has back-to-back games with at least 100 yards and a touchdown. He had not had such a game since Week 8, 2019 and now has eight such games in his career.

The Titans have won four straight regular season matchups with the Chiefs but lost in the 2020 AFC Championship Game in Kansas City.

Their respective 5-2 records this season disguise the fact each of those wins has been relatively close. The Titans and Vikings have only won by single digits this season. Only five teams in NFL history have seen such a streak reach six games – the 2020 Chiefs, 1997 Vikings, 1994 Giants, 1988 Saints and 1986 Giants. Of those, only the Chiefs' streak reached seven.

Elsewhere...

The Miami Dolphins (5-3) will be looking for a fourth consecutive road win against the Chicago Bears (3-5), which would make the Dolphins the first AFC team since the conference came into being in 1970 to have such a streak in Chicago. Miami's Tyreek Hill has gone 52 consecutive receptions without a receiving touchdown. That accounts for the longest streak of his career, nearly doubling his previous career-long streak (27, twice).

Memories of a record-setting 2014 game between the Carolina Panthers and the Bengals will be stoked when the teams meet in Cincinnati on Sunday. The last time these teams met at the home of the Bengals it finished in a 37-37 tie, and entering Week 9 in 2022 that remains the highest-scoring tie in an NFL game since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970.

The New England Patriots are 4-4 for the fifth time in the Bill Belichick era (since 2000) as they approach a home game against the Indianapolis Colts (3-4-1). The other four times the Patriots started 4-4 under Belichick, they made the playoffs three times (2001, 2005, 2021) and missed the playoffs once (2002). Between the regular season and playoffs, Belichick owns an 18-9 career record against the Colts, with only Don Shula (36 wins as coach of the Dolphins from 1970 to 1995) having achieved more such wins.

The Buffalo Bills claimed a statement win as John Allen threw three touchdown passes as they improved to 5-1 with a 24-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Allen, who completed 27 of 40 attempts for 329 yards with no interceptions, found Dawson Knox for the game-winning touchdown with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Bills sealed the win when Von Miller broke a double team to apply pressure on Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes whose pass for Skyy Moore was picked by cornerback Taron Johnson with 0:41 remaining.

It ended a seesawing contest that had four lead changes, was tied at every change and was within one score throughout, with the AFC East-leading Bills moving ahead of the AFC West-leading Chiefs who fall to 4-2.

Mahomes made 25 of 40 attempts for 338 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, with Bills rookie Kaiir Elam picking off a redzone pass in the first quarter. Chiefs wide receiver Travis Kelce made franchise history by reaching the record for consecutive games with a reception (132), finishing with eight receptions for 108 yards but no TDs.

JuJu Smith-Schuster, who had five receptions for 113 yards, spun past two defenders after receiving a Mahomes pass for the opening TD, before Allen found Gabe Davis to reply before half-time, with Harrison Butker's franchise-record 62-yard field goal tying it up at half-time.

Stefon Diggs, who had 10 receptions for 148 yards, added his sixth receiving touchdown this season when Allen found him for 17-yard score but the Chiefs responded again as Mahomes punched a pass to Mecole Hardman.

Butker put the Chiefs up 20-17 in the fourth quarter, but Allen found Knox in the endzone to flip the script.

Rams respond as Anderson thrown out by Panthers

The Los Angeles Rams ground their way to a 24-10 victory over the Carolina Panthers to snap their two-game skid and move to 3-3.

Scores were locked at 10-10 with 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter when wide receiver Ben Skowronek swept down the outside and into the endzone for his career-first TD.

Matthew Stafford shook off the Rams' offensive issues to complete 26 of 33 passes for 253 yards and one touchdown for Allen Robinson, while Darrell Henderson rushed a fourth-quarter TD to pad the win.

Amid the Panthers' own offensive struggles, interim coach Steve Wilks threw Robbie Anderson out of the game after a heated argument with position coach Joe Dailey.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford needs help, according to head coach Sean McVay.

The Super Bowl LVI champions suffered their third loss of the season, with Stafford and the offense struggling again in a 22-10 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

The Rams have managed only one touchdown in their past nine quarters, with Stafford finding wide receiver Cooper Kupp in a 75-yard catch and run against the Cowboys.

Stafford has also been left banged up with the Rams' offensive line cursed by injuries, allowing five sacks on Sunday, for a total of 21 for the season. The QB was also pressured 20 times by the Cowboys defense, the equal second most in a game for Stafford's career.

"I love Matthew Stafford," McVay told reporters. "He is competing and doing everything in his power for this team. He needs some help. We've got to be able to help him."

McVay had no quick fixes for his side's offensive line issues, while he continued to back Stafford.

"I think he's doing everything he can," he said. "I think he needs more help. Guys got to play better around him.

"We've got to be able to help him be able to give himself a chance to sit on his back foot, just past even a hitch on some things.

"I'll ride with that guy to the end of time. And he's continuing to do everything in his power to try to help our team move the football, score points and we've got to be able to help him out more."

Stafford completed 28 of 42 attempts for 308 yards with one interception against the Cowboys, showing that he has been able to play through pain after copping so many hits.

"I feel OK," Stafford said. "It's part of the game."

"We've got to find a way to get the ball in the end zone. Got to do a better job sustaining some drives, giving ourselves some more manageable situations and find a way to get more points."

The San Francisco 49ers kept the Los Angeles Rams from scoring a single touchdown as they secured a convincing 24-9 home win on Monday night.

Deebo Samuel was the star on the offensive side of the ball for the 49ers, catching six passes for 115 yards and one highlight-reel touchdown.

After Jeff Wilson Jr scored the first touchdown of the game for the 49ers, Samuel caught a short pass on third-down and ended up breaking three tackles, gaining 50 of the 57 yards on the play after the catch to put his side up 14-6 heading into halftime.

A missed field goal in the fourth quarter at 17-9 meant the Rams would get a chance to tie the game, but a poor showing from quarterback Matthew Stafford was punctuated with a 52-yard pick-six as he was intercepted by Talanoa Hufanga.

Fittingly, the 49ers forced another turnover on the next drive as well, capping off a spectacular performance from their defense in a game where quarterback Jimmy Garropolo only needed to complete 16 passes.

Samson Ebukam and Nick Bosa both collected a pair of sacks each as the 49ers brought down Stafford seven times, and Bosa was credited with five hits on the quarterback in total, while the Rams had one as a team.

Despite the poor offensive game from the Rams, top receiver Cooper Kupp and tight end Tyler Higbee had big days, with Kupp catching 14 of 18 targets for 122 yards while Higbee caught 10 of 14 targets for 73 yards.