"Declawed Cats" Todd Gurley turns it up late, Los Angeles Rams gut out a 30-27 win in Charlotte
Charlotte-- Throughout the summer, Sean McVay and Jared Goff echoed that Todd Gurley would be 100% for the season despite chronic knee issues that plagued him early on in his career. But for the better part of three quarters of last night’s game, Todd Gurley was doing the invisible act.
Then the fourth-quarter hit, and the All-Pro running back showed the rest of the NFL that he is healthy, when he ran for 64 of his 97 yards rushing in the final frame to grind out a 30-27 victory against the Cam Newton-led Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers defense came to play, opening Sunday's NFC tilt with enough aggression to keep L.A. bottled up and picking off Goff late in the game to give Newton and company opportunities.
But the home team rarely capitalized when it needed to, either falling short on crucial third downs because of errant Newton throws, coughing up the ball (which D.J. Moore did not once but twice), or waiting too long to establish any kind of rhythm.
It was a rough day for Panthers quarterback Newton, playing in his first regular-season game since Dec. 17, when a lingering shoulder injury forced him to the sideline.
Newton completed 25 of 38 passes for 239 yards but had a costly backward pass that resulted in a fumble deep in Carolina territory, leading to a Rams touchdown. He also had an interception with 5:55 left in the game and was held to a career-low minus-2 yards rushing. Overall, the Panthers were sloppy after turning the ball over three times.
The bright side of all this was Christian McCaffrey. He was the star of the day for the Panthers, racking up 209 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on 29 touches, picking up where he left off last season.
Los Angeles Passing C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT SACKS QBR RTG
Jared Goff 23/39 186 4.8 1 1 1-3 20.0 69.0
TEAM 23/39 183 4.8 1 1 1-3 -- 69.0
Carolina Passing C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT SACKS QBR RTG
Cam Newton 25/38 239 6.3 0 1 3-23 17.1 72.1
TEAM 25/38 216 6.3 0 1 3-23 -- 72.1
Carolina Rushing CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Christian McCaffrey 19 128 6.7 2 23
Alex Armah 1 1 1.0 1 1
Cam Newton 3 -2 -0.7 0 3
TEAM 23 127 5.5 3 23
Los Angeles Rushing CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Todd Gurley II 14 97 6.9 0 25
Malcolm Brown 11 53 4.8 2 17
Robert Woods 2 16 8.0 0 20
Jared Goff 4 0 0.0 0 3
Darrell Henderson 1 0 0.0 0 0
TEAM 32 166 5.2 2 25
Los Angeles Receiving CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Robert Woods 8 70 8.8 0 22 13
Cooper Kupp 7 46 6.6 0 10 10
Brandin Cooks 2 39 19.5 0 24 6
Tyler Higbee 4 20 5.0 1 6 5
Gerald Everett 1 7 7.0 0 7 1
Todd Gurley II 1 4 4.0 0 4 1
Josh Reynolds 0 0 0.0 0 0 2
TEAM 23 186 8.1 1 24 38
Carolina Receiving CAR YDS AVG TD LONG
Christian McCaffrey 10 81 8.1 0 17 11
DJ Moore 7 76 10.9 0 15 10
Greg Olsen 4 36 9.0 0 14 9
Curtis Samuel 3 32 10.7 0 16 4
Jarius Wright 1 14 14.0 0 14 1
Chris Hogan 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
Ian Thomas 0 0 0.0 0 0 1
TEAM 25 239 9.6 0 17 37
Los Angeles Defensive TOT SOLO SACKS TFL PD QB HTS TD
Cory Littleton 14 8 0 0 2 0 0
John Johnson III 11 6 0 1 0 0 0
Taylor Rapp 8 4 0 0 0 0 0
Eric Weddle 6 2 0 0 0 0 0
Marqui Christian 5 2 0 0 0 0 0
Marcus Peters 4 2 0 0 0 0 0
Bryce Hager 4 1 0 0 0 0 0
Clay Matthews 3 2 1 1 0 1 0
Dante Fowler Jr. 2 2 2 2 0 3 0
Michael Brockers 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
Nickell Robey-Coleman 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
Troy Hill 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Johnny Hekker 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Robert Woods 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Aaron Donald 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
Samson Ebukam 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
Morgan Fox 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Aqib Talib 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
Malcolm Brown 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Troy Reeder 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
TEAM 71 38 3 5 3 5 0
Carolina Defensive TOT SOLO SACKS TFL PD QB HTS TD
Tre Boston 9 7 0 0 0 0 0
Shaq Thompson 9 7 0 0 1 0 0
Luke Kuechly 8 4 0 0.5 1 0 0
Eric Reid 5 4 0 0 0 0 0
Jermaine Carter 4 3 0 0 0 0 0
James Bradberry 4 2 1 1 2 1 0
Efe Obada 4 2 0 0 0 0 0
Javien Elliott 4 1 0 0 1 0 0
Kawann Short 3 3 0 1 0 2 0
Donte Jackson 3 3 0 0 1 0 0
Dontari Poe 3 2 0 0 0 0 0
Brian Burns 2 1 0 1 0 2 0
Gerald McCoy 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Cam Newton 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Ross Cockrell 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Rashaan Gaulden 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Natrell Jamerson 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
DJ Moore 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Armah 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Mario Addison 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
TEAM 65 46 1 3.5 6 6 0