The Rams Steal a 24-20 Win the Eagles Handed Them

Kyren Williams scored twice in the last four minutes, and the Rams beat the Eagles 24-20 in Philadelphia. Los Angeles (2-2) had trailed 20-10 and never led until Williams’ 7-yard run with 1:10 left.

Nick Sirianni had the ball at the 2 with a 10-point lead and sent the offense back out rather than kick. Jalen Hurts’ pass to Darius Cooper fell incomplete, and a Rams team that had looked lost all afternoon finally had a field it could use.

Why Nick Sirianni Went for It at the 2

With 7:31 remaining, Philadelphia faced fourth-and-goal from the Los Angeles 2. Jake Elliott had already hit from 29 and 56 yards. A chip-shot would have made it 23-10 and forced the Rams to score twice. Sirianni wanted a third score on the board and a Rams offense pinned on its own goal line.

Third-and-goal had already gone nowhere. Hurts bobbled the snap and scrambled for no gain. On fourth down, the pocket closed, the receivers did not separate, and the throw sailed past Cooper. Next Gen Stats had the Rams’ win probability at 3.2% when Philadelphia still had the ball at the 2.

I wanted to make it a three-score game right there. Fourth-and-2 from the 2, you leave them in a true backed-up scenario. I’m very well aware of how the fourth-down decisions go as the head coach. You go for it and you get it, great. You go for it and you don’t get it, that’s on the head coach. And we didn’t get it, so that’s on me.

Nick Sirianni, Eagles head coach

A made kick still leaves a two-score game and a shorter field for Matthew Stafford. That is the math Sirianni was playing. The miss gave Los Angeles 98 yards of grass and a defense that had been asking for one more snap all day. Hurts had never lost when his team led by double digits in the final five minutes, a run that had reached 41-0 including the playoffs. That streak ended in the rain at Lincoln Financial Field.

It was not even Philadelphia’s first failed fourth down. Late in the third quarter, on fourth-and-1 at its own 38, the Rams stuffed the Brotherly Shove. Los Angeles then turned the ball over on downs itself, from the Eagles’ 36 on fourth-and-8, and still got the ball back at the 2 after the goal-line stand.

Twelve Third Downs and Nothing to Show

The fourth-down call sits on the coach. The third-down tape sits on everyone. Philadelphia finished 0-for-12 on third down, its worst such day in more than 40 years, and the Rams’ 0-for-12 hold was the worst third-down rate for any NFL team since 2020. Over the last two games the Eagles are 2-for-21. They had not moved the chains on third down in more than 90 minutes of game clock, going back through a scoreless second half in Chicago.

Hurts completed 12 of 27 passes for 93 yards. After sacks, Philadelphia netted 68 passing yards, its lowest regular-season total in 23 years. The Eagles’ 172 yards of offense were their fewest in 12 years. Next Gen Stats had the Rams sending extra rushers on 18 of Hurts’ dropbacks; he went 5-for-16 on those snaps. In the last two games, Philadelphia has been outscored 31-0 after halftime.

RAMS AND EAGLES TEAM TOTALS

Hurts called it poor execution and said he did not think there was another way to put it. Asked whether first-year coordinator Sean Mannion’s scheme was the problem, he called it an executing thing. Sirianni backed Mannion and said the coach, the coordinator, and the offense would all wear it. “It hasn’t been good enough,” Sirianni said.

The first half had hidden the stall. Cooper caught touchdowns of 18 and 10 yards, the first after Britain Covey’s 41-yard punt return, the second after Cooper DeJean’s interception return set up a 35-yard snap. Philadelphia led 20-10 at the break. After that, the Eagles went three-and-out on their first two second-half series and never scored again.

Williams Punched In Both Late Scores

Stafford took over at his own 2 after the goal-line stop. He dumped the ball to Williams and Puka Nacua, then hit Nacua for 32 yards. An unnecessary roughness penalty on a Williams catch-and-run kept the 10-play, 98-yard march alive. Williams scored from the 1 with 3:59 left, and the Rams had cut it to 20-17.

Harrison Mevis then kicked the kickoff out of bounds, spotting Philadelphia at its own 40. The Rams defense still forced a punt. Alex Bachman returned it to the Los Angeles 21, and Stafford went back to Nacua three times on a 10-play, 79-yard drive, adding an 8-yard scramble. Williams got the ball on outside zone from the 7, stiff-armed one defender, dragged two more, and dived for the pylon with 1:10 remaining.

“The play came in outside zone, and I’m like, ‘Say less,’” Williams said. “This is my opportunity to go make something happen.”

Kyren Williams POWERS IT IN FOR THE LEAD!!@LARvsPHI on FOX/FOX One
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/LW85llHviL

— NFL (@NFL) October 4, 2026

HOW THE POINTS LANDED

1. First quarter, 8:38 left: Jake Elliott 29-yard field goal, Eagles 3-0.
2. First quarter, 2:08 left: Harrison Mevis 40-yard field goal, 3-3.
3. Second quarter, 10:56 left: Elliott 56-yard field goal, Eagles 6-3.
4. Second quarter, 5:44 left: Hurts 18-yard pass to Cooper, Eagles 13-3.
5. Second quarter, 1:55 left: Nacua 2-yard jet sweep, Rams 10-13.
6. Second quarter, 0:03 left: Hurts 10-yard pass to Cooper, Eagles 20-10.
7. Fourth quarter, 3:59 left: Williams 1-yard run, Rams 17-20.
8. Fourth quarter, 1:10 left: Williams 7-yard run, Rams 24-20.

Byron Young had already sacked Hurts for an 11-yard loss that set up Elliott’s 56-yarder. On the last series he added two sacks on the final drive, a 7-yard hit and a strip-sack for an 8-yard loss, before Hurts’ fourth-and-25 heave to Cooper was broken up. Young finished with 2.5 sacks. The Eagles never trailed until that 7-yard run.

Williams carried 16 times for 80 yards and the two scores and caught 10 passes for 67 yards, 147 yards from scrimmage on a soggy field. Nacua, back after two games with hip and groin injuries, caught nine balls for 125 yards and scored on the jet sweep. NFL Next Gen Stats credited him with 42 yards after the catch and plus-18 yards after catch over expected. Stafford said he played like Puka.

Philadelphia’s Injury List Grew by the Quarter

The Eagles entered without six starters and left with more holes, on a roster already preparing for a transatlantic trip. Sirianni said he would never use any of it as an excuse. The absences still shaped every fourth-down look he saw.

WHO DID NOT FINISH THE AFTERNOON

• Pregame scratches: Right tackle Lane Johnson (personal reasons, a late inactive Sirianni did not explain), left guard Landon Dickerson (knee), receiver DeVonta Smith (hamstring), tight end Dallas Goedert (knee), linebacker Zack Baun (concussion), and safety Marcus Epps (groin).
• Saquon Barkley: Left with 11:34 remaining in the first quarter after a 6-yard run, right hamstring, two carries for 8 yards. He was seen walking normally leaving the stadium. The club gave no timetable.
• During the game: Cornerback Quinyon Mitchell (knee, third quarter), linebacker Jonathan Greenard (ankle), and Tank Bigsby, Barkley’s replacement, who needed help off the field after a hard tackle late. Bigsby had 14 carries for 55 yards before he went out.

Los Angeles was shorthanded too. Aaron Donald sat with a sore back, and Myles Garrett did not play either. Tight ends Colby Parkinson and Terrance Ferguson were out, which cost the Rams the three-tight end looks that had juiced last year’s offense. Konata Mumpfield hurt a shoulder late in the first half and returned in the third. The Rams still held Philadelphia to 3.0 yards per play.

Stafford Threw 51 Times for One Lead

This was not a clean MVP encore. Stafford went 32 of 51 for 317 yards with no touchdown passes and two interceptions, both in the first half, both of which became 10 Eagles points. Andrew Mukuba returned the first 24 yards and set up Elliott’s opening field goal. DeJean returned the second 25 yards and set up Cooper’s second score with three seconds left in the half. Stafford’s rating was 63.9. He has six interceptions in four games.

Mevis missed a 48-yarder wide left in the third quarter. Two Rams explosives on a later drive came back on penalties, including an unsportsmanlike conduct on the bench. Los Angeles was flagged eight times for 100 yards. Davante Adams, who had 332 receiving yards in two games without Nacua, caught four balls for 32 yards and dropped a pair. For more than three quarters the Rams looked old, wet, and out of sync, a 3.5-point road favorite that had blown a 16-point lead in Denver a week earlier.

STAFFORD WHEN THE CLOCK GOT SHORT

• The comeback count: Sunday was his 40th career fourth-quarter comeback and his 51st game-winning drive.
• The defense’s ask: Safety Kamren Kinchens said the sideline kept repeating the same line, just give him an opportunity.
• The finish: Quentin Lake said the week’s motivation was to be able to finish, a week after Denver.

Sean McVay had huddled the entire offense near the end of the third quarter, down 10, and told them they were capable, that they had to believe, and that they had to string good plays together because the defense was doing everything it could to keep them in it. Stafford later said there were plenty of plays where they did not get the result they wanted, but they got the result they wanted at the end of the game.

McVay said he could not say enough about a defense that kept getting stop after stop. “I think a lot of teams would have folded in those situations,” he said. “I think our defense kept giving us a reason to believe.” He also said he had a headache from hell.

The First McVay Win Against Sirianni

Until Sunday, Sirianni had never lost to McVay. The Eagles coach was 4-0 in the series, including a 23-14 win in Los Angeles in 2023, a 37-20 win there in 2024, a 28-22 playoff escape in the 2024 divisional round, and a 33-26 win last season after a blocked field goal came back the other way. McVay is 1-4 against him now.

Philadelphia had won 10 of the previous 11 meetings with the Rams. Sportsbooks still made Los Angeles a 3.5-point visitor, and the Rams covered. McVay skipped and sprinted down the sideline when the last score landed and nearly leapfrogged Lake. A year earlier on this field, Williams had said he hated the Eagles after a blown lead. He did not need the line this time. He had the ball on outside zone and a pylon in front of him.

London Is Next on a Thin Roster

The Eagles (2-2) play the Jacksonville Jaguars on October 11 in London, a 9:30 a.m. ET kick, with Barkley’s hamstring, Mitchell’s knee, Greenard’s ankle, and Bigsby’s late exit still ungraded. Smith, Goedert, Dickerson, Baun, Epps, and Johnson were already out of this one. Giants sit at 3-1 atop the NFC East; Philadelphia is tied with Dallas at.500.

The Rams host the Buffalo Bills on Monday, October 12, at 8:15 p.m. ET, still waiting on Donald and Garrett, still kicking through Mevis’ misses and out-of-bounds boots, still throwing 51 times to buy one lead. Attendance on Sunday was 69,879. The turf was wet. The third-down math never moved. And the game turned when Sirianni left three points on the grass and asked an offense that could not convert a third down to convert the one snap that would have buried Los Angeles.