Matthew Stafford, potent defense help Rams rally to beat Ravens

BALTIMORE — The Rams won’t be in London until the end of the week.

But they got something of a preview and head start on Sunday.

On a cloudy, gray and very London-like fall afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium, they slogged through the kind of sloppy game that is more typical of NFL matchups abroad.

And the Rams emerged with an important 17-3 victory over the struggling Baltimore Ravens, and a huge sigh of relief after star receiver Puka Nacua returned from what initially appeared to be a serious ankle injury.

Matthew Stafford passed for a touchdown, Kyren Williams ran for another and linebacker Nate Landman, edge rusher Jared Verse and safety Quentin Lake led a defense that shut down the Lamar Jackson-less Ravens as the Rams bounced back from their overtime defeat by the San Francisco 49ers and improved their record to 4-2.

“It was a weird one,” receiver Davante Adams said. “But we can move on and turn the page with a W at least.”

Or, as Stafford put it: “We did just enough to win the game — which is the name of the game, so we’ll take it.”

The Rams will remain in Baltimore this week before jetting to London to play a Jacksonville Jaguars team that fell to 4-2 after a loss on Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks.

And the Rams are sure to flush their low-on-style-points victory just as quickly as they tried to forget their loss to the 49ers.

Oh, there were some highlights.

Stafford moved past Dan Marino into ninth place on the NFL’s all-time list with 61,391 career yards passing.

“Kind of one of those pinch-yourself moments, where you’re sitting there going, ‘Man, I remember watching him do his thing,’ and just thinking he was unbelievable,” Stafford said. “Being able to be in the same breath is pretty cool.”

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford throws a pass in the first half against the Ravens.

(Terrance Williams / Associated Press)

Landman made a franchise-record 17 tackles.

Lake, a fourth-year pro, intercepted a pass for the first time in his NFL career.

“Felt like a big weight off my shoulders,” said Lake, who also recovered a fumble.

Verse forced a fumble, and he stopped Ravens running back Derrick Henry on a fourth-and-goal play at the one-yard line at the end of the first half.

“That kind of revived us,” Verse said of the defense’s goal-line stand. “That kind of shifted the whole momentum of the game.”

Rams linebacker Jared Verse applies pressure on Ravens quarterback Cooper Rush on Sunday in Baltimore.

(Nick Wass / Associated Press)

That goal-line stand sparked an early second-half surge that included Williams’ short touchdown run and Stafford’s short touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee.

“You check the temperature of your defense in those moments,” Landman said, “and you see what you’re made out of. … It sets a tone not only for this game, for the second half, but for the future and what we’re capable of.”

The defensive stand and the two quick scoring plays made it easy to forget the untimely penalties, dropped passes, special teams errors and Nacua’s scare that left them in a 3-3 tie at halftime.

“The way that our defense was playing — as long as we didn’t make a catastrophic mistake, you felt like that was going to be enough to control the game,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.

Catastrophic came to mind when Nacua went down in the second quarter.

Nacua, who entered the game with an NFL-leading 52 receptions and 588 yards receiving, was assisted off the field by trainers with about 10 minutes left in the second quarter after attempting to catch a pass in the end zone.

Nacua had run along the right sideline with Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey in tight coverage. Both players leaped for the ball and came down hard.

Nacua got up gingerly in apparent pain, and then took a few steps and went back to the ground.

“You worried about him to a certain extent, but it’s still Puka Nacua at the end of the day,” Adams said. “You know how tough he is — that it’s likely he’ll be able to come out of it.”

Nacua returned in the second half but was not targeted. Nacua, who declined a request to speak with reporters after the game, finished with two catches for 28 yards.

“He maybe could have really pressed through,” McVay said, “but we were kind of more being smart than anything.”

McVay said he did not know whether Nacua would be able to play Sunday against the Jaguars. The status of receiver Tutu Atwell, who did not play against the Ravens because of a hamstring injury, also is to be determined.

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua greets fans as he jogs off the field after Sunday’s win over the Ravens.

(Terrance Williams / Associated Press)

The Rams will practice at nearby Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles home park, as they prepare for the Jaguars.

A continuing area of focus will be the kicking game.

Unlike their games against the Philadelphia Eagles and the 49ers, it did not cost them against a Ravens team that fell to 1-5.

But one of Joshua Karty’s field-goal attempts bounced off an upright.

“The protection was good,” McVay said. “We’ve got to make the kick.”

Another attempt wobbled through the goal posts.

But those concerns were largely overshadowed because of a defense that kept the Ravens out of the end zone despite 122 yards rushing by Henry.

“A lot that we can learn from, a lot that we can grow from,” McVay said. “And it’s a lot easier to be able to do that after a win.”