Rams Up 14-3 at the Half, and Davante Adams Is the Reason
Davante Adams is carrying an offense that's missing its best player, and the Los Angeles Rams are winning because of it.
Stafford found Adams for the scores that built a 14-3 halftime lead over the Giants on Monday night at SoFi Stadium, a game the Rams are playing without wide receiver Puka Nacua and pass rusher Myles Garrett. Nacua was inactive with a hip injury and hasn't practiced since late August, which means Matthew Stafford has spent this game throwing to a receiver group that was assembled to be the second option.
So far, the second option looks like a first one.
The bigger problem on the field belongs to New York. Jameis Winston completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards with an interception, a 37.7 passer rating and a 17.2 QBR. Jaxson Dart got five attempts and completed three for 20 yards. When a team splits quarterback snaps like that in a primetime game, it's not a package. It's a search.
Cam Skattebo had 12 carries for 36 yards and put the ball on the ground, recovering his own fumble. Devin Singletary and Najee Harris combined for seven carries and 15 yards. The passing distribution is uglier: Isaiah Likely needed 10 targets to produce five catches and 33 yards, and Malik Nabers has one reception for one yard on four targets. Darnell Mooney's 48 yards on two catches is the only explosive play New York has.
Fourteen points isn't a rout yet. It plays like one anyway.
Stafford has spent a career turning competent receivers into productive ones, and Adams is well past competent. The Rams don't need Nacua to beat a team that can't complete a pass. They'll need him in January, which is why the hip matters more than this score does.
My read: the Rams win this by double digits and the second half becomes a showcase for Adams' target share. The Giants' season story is already written, and it's the one nobody in that building wants to read. Whoever is calling plays in New York has to pick a quarterback by next week, because alternating Winston and Dart is not a plan, it's a symptom.
