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Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff WriterDec 3, 2024, 06:00 AM ET
- Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to cover the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahbarshop.
NEW ORLEANS — The Los Angeles Rams went into the locker room at halftime against the New Orleans Saints with zero points.
Down just 6-0, despite not scoring a point in the first half for the first time in the regular season under Sean McVay, the Rams’ head coach told the team he was committing to the run in the second half.
“He told us he was going to call the plays and we had to execute them. And he did that,” running back Kyren Williams said. “I think when Coach McVay puts that confidence in us and he tells us that he is going to do something, and he actually does it … we’re going to get on a great roll.”
And just like he was during their run for a playoff spot a year ago, Williams was a spark the offense desperately needed in their eventual 21-14 victory that kept them in the hunt in the wide-open NFC West.
“We knew the second half, we was coming out there and that half was going to be ours,” Williams said. “We knew that the running back group, we knew that as an offensive line and as an offense in general. We just knew that we’re going to take over.
“And we’ve seen how the runs were hitting in the first half, so we were excited to come out and do the same thing in the second.”
Williams finished the game with a season-high 104 rushing yards — the second time this season he’s run for more than 100 yards. Rookie third-round pick Blake Corum also made an impact, rushing for 42 yards on eight carries. His 18 offensive snaps (32.1%) were a season-high.
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Williams scored the Rams’ first points of the game, when he ran for a four-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to give Los Angeles the lead. It was his 27th scrimmage touchdown since the start of the 2023 season, which is tied with Derrick Henry and Jalen Hurts for the most in the NFL. Williams did that in 24 games, six fewer games than Henry and five fewer than Hurts.
“Every time positive things happen for him, man, he’s a starter for us,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “He’s got great energy, great play energy, competes both in the run game and the pass game. So it was awesome for him to have a great day.”
Williams’ performance came a week after the Rams’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, where Williams had two fumbles (one lost), giving him four (two lost) in his last four games.
In the locker room after that Eagles game, Williams was hard on himself, saying he needed to do a better job protecting the ball. McVay acknowledged the concern about Williams’ fumbles during the week but said he trusts his running back.
There was an increased focus during the week in practice on “pressing the line of scrimmage [and] having great ball security,” Williams said, something McVay said he saw “come to life” throughout the week and “translated into the game.”
And on Sunday against the Saints, Williams said he felt like he was himself on the field again.
“It felt great,” Williams said. “It felt like I was me, myself and I. And I was out there playing like that. And I was playing instinctual football, had great energy, and I was distributing that amongst the team. And we were just out there playing ball and having fun. So it feels good, honestly.
“It feels good to get back to me.”
At 6-6, the Rams are in third place in the NFC West, one game behind the 7-5 Seattle Seahawks. McVay said the focus is not on the playoff race, but taking it “one day at a time.” But if the Rams are going to make a late-season run toward the playoffs for the second season in a row, there’s no doubt Williams will be a needed jolt for this Rams offense.
“[Williams’ success] is great for everybody on the offense,” Stafford said when asked what difference it made having Williams running the ball the way he did. “I think it’s great for Sean [McVay] too. When he knows that we’re handing the ball off and getting yards, the whole playbook comes alive.
“The ability to move the pocket, play actions, quick game, whatever we want, it’s available when you can get six, seven a carry running the football.”
