Advertisement

Third time lucky for LA Rams in London as Chargers shut out Broncos and Seahawks beat the Giants

Getty
Getty

It was third time lucky for the Los Angeles Rams in London as they enjoyed a 33-0 rout over the Arizona Cardinals.

Todd Gurley and Jared Goff scored quickfire touchdowns late in the first half, Zach Guerlein kicked four field goals and Cooper Kupp added the exclamation point late on as the Rams cruised to victory in this critical match-up between two NFC West rivals.

It came almost 12 months to the day after Los Angeles lost 17-10 to the New York Giants on this ground, and five years after the Rams - then of St Louis - were thrashed 45-7 by the New England Patriots at Wembley.

But this is a new-look Rams team under the NFL's youngest ever head coach, 31-year-old Sean McVay, and he has them on course for the play-offs at 5-2.

McVay has got the offence firing, highlighted here by big nights for quarterback Goff (22-of-37 for 235 yards) and running back Gurley, who ran for 106 yards and a score.

But he will be just as proud, if not more so, of how his team shut down an Arizona offence boasting two surefire future Hall of Famers in Adrian Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald.

They were helped by the fact Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer would not finish the first half due to an arm injury, but had already done a fine job in shutting down Peterson (11 carries for 21 yards), while receiver Fitzgerald finished the night with three catches for 29 yards

That left Peterson stuck on 99 career rushing touchdowns for at least one more week.

Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke was present as Rams owner (Getty)
Arsenal majority shareholder Stan Kroenke was present as Rams owner (Getty)

A crowd of 73,736 had packed into Twickenham for the home of rugby's second ever NFL game, and they were all on their feet midway through the first quarter to pay tribute to the late broadcaster Kevin Cadle.

Cadle, who is credited with doing a huge amount to grow the game in the UK, died on Monday at the age of 62.

The contest was effectively all over by half-time, with a brutal sequence late in the second quarter killing off the Cardinals.

The Rams had already nosed in front with a pair of field goals from Zuerlein, but they would completely take over in the last six minutes of the half.

Alec Ogletree struck the decisive blow, barrelling into Palmer as he tried to throw it long to JJ Nelson. Lamarcus Joyner picked off the errant pass and ran it back 29 yards to the Arizona 18, while Palmer headed to the locker room with an arm injury and would not return.

On the next play, Gurley ran into the end zone from 18 yards to put Los Angeles 13-0 up.

With Drew Stanton in for the injured Palmer, Arizona's next drive soon stalled and Los Angeles rubbed it in as Gurley picked up 35 yards on a short toss from Goff before the quarterback himself ran it in from nine yards to make it 20-0.

There were only 41 seconds left in the first half, but that was long enough for Stanton to be picked off and Guerlein to add another field goal.

With a 23-point lead at the break, the Rams could assume cruise control for the rest of the night.

Guerlein added another field goal early in the third quarter, and Goff found Kupp with an 18-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth.

(Getty)
(Getty)

The Denver Broncos offence failed to fire up as they were shut out by the Los Angeles Chargers 21-0 in Carson on Sunday.

But it was the defence that let them down early in the first quarter, when Travis Benjamin sailed through a wide-channel to return a punt for 65 yards and a touchdown.

Benjamin found the end zone again in the fourth quarter when Philip Rivers connected with a 42-yard pass.

Trevor Siemian completed 25 out of 35 attempted passes for 207 yards, but the Broncos failed to score after twice opting to go for it on fourth down instead of attempting long field goals.

Meanwhile, the New York Giants slumped to their sixth defeat of the season 24-7 to the Seattle Seahawks.

Russell Wilson found the end zone three times in the second half to put the visitors out of sight, after New York went into the break 7-3 up courtesy of a Evan Engram touchdown.

Ezekiel Elliott scored two touchdowns on the ground and one from the air as the Dallas Cowboys brushed aside the San Francisco 49ers 40-10.

Elliott, whose six-game suspension was put on hold earlier this week, doubled up in the first quarter with a one-yard and 25-yard run to put the Cowboys up 14-0.

Three further touchdowns in the second half - a 72-yard pass from Dak Prescott to Elliot, a Prescott run for two yards and a Dez Bryant pass for the same distance - condemned the 49ers to 0-7 for the season.

In Pittsburgh, Ben Roethlisberger threw two touchdowns as the Steelers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 29-14 to go 5-2 and lead the AFC North.

(Getty)
(Getty)

It may have been pretty foggy in Foxborough, but there was one clear winner as the New England Patriots took on the Atlanta Falcons in a rematch of last year's Super Bowl.

After a scoreless first quarter, the home side scored twice through Tom Brady passes - the first a short pass to Brandin Cooks with Rob Gronkowski clearing a path to the end zone - to put his side up 17-0 at the break.

Two field goals for Stephen Gostkowski in the second half sealed the win before Matt Ryan found Julio Jones for a consolation touchdown for the Falcons, who lost 23-7.

Results

Buffalo Bills 30 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27

Chicago Bears 17 Carolina Panthers 3

Cleveland Browns 9 Tennessee Titans 12 (OT)

Green Bay Packers 17 New Orleans Saints 26

Indianapolis Colts 0 Jacksonville Jaguars 27

Los Angeles Rams 33 Arizona Cardinals 0

Miami Dolphins 31 New York Jets 28,

Minnesota Vikings 24 Baltimore Ravens 16

New York Giants 7 Seattle Seahawks 24

Pittsburgh Steelers 29 Cincinnati Bengals 14

San Francisco 49ers 10 Dallas Cowboys 40

Los Angeles Chargers 21 Denver Broncos 0

New England Patriots 23 Atlanta Falcons 7