There is a version of Monday night where the Los Angeles Rams do everything a coaching staff asks for and win by two touchdowns. They played that version. They lost 37-34 in overtime anyway.
Buffalo left SoFi Stadium at 4-1. Los Angeles fell to 2-3. And the Rams walked into a statistical category that has one occupant.
The Record Nobody Wanted
Per OptaSTATS, the Rams are the only team in NFL history to lose a game in which they posted 400 or more total yards, 30 or more first downs, five or more touchdowns, a third-down conversion rate of at least 50 percent, and zero turnovers.
Their final line: 454 yards, 33 first downs, five touchdowns, 7-of-14 on third down, nothing given away. They outgained Buffalo 454 to 436.
Matthew Stafford went 40-of-54 for 383 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. At 38, he leads the league in attempts, completions and passing yards. Puka Nacua caught 17 of his 24 targets for 138 yards and a score, a career high and a Monday Night Football record.
None of it mattered.
The Second Half Was Absurd
The first half produced 20 combined points. The second half produced 71, with 890 total yards, eight lead changes and 35 points in the fourth quarter alone. There were 24 combined penalties.
James Cook ran 25 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns for Buffalo, including a five-yard score with 1:39 left that put the Bills up 34-27. Stafford answered with an eight-play, 63-yard drive in 94 seconds, and Kyren Williams punched it in from the one with five seconds on the clock.
Josh Allen finished 12-of-19 for 210 yards with a touchdown and a pick, and added 121 rushing yards and a score on 10 carries. He threw 35 fewer passes than Stafford and for 173 fewer yards, and he won.
Overtime Was a Horror Show
The Rams won the toss and kicked off. Allen immediately hit Khalil Shakir for 57 yards down to the Los Angeles 22, where Kamren Kinchens made a touchdown-saving tackle. On the next snap, Nate Landman forced a Cook fumble and the Rams recovered at their own 20.
Los Angeles drove 50 yards. Stafford found Davis Allen for 21 and Nacua for 21 more. Then Harrison Mevis lined up a 48-yarder and Greg Rousseau got a hand on it.
Allen ran for 19 and 13 on the possession that followed, and Tyler Bass ended it from 45 yards with 1:55 left.
This One Is on the Kicker and the Whistle
Sean McVay did not hide from it afterward, saying the kicking game, “especially with our PAT, field goal,” was “not even close to good enough,” and that it “cost us the game tonight.” He was right, and the Rams acted on it within 24 hours.
Buffalo deserves credit for the Cook punch-out and for Rousseau’s block, which are plays teams win games with. But a team does not get to 454 yards and 33 first downs by accident. The Rams built a winning performance and handed it to a 48-yard field goal attempt that never got off the ground.
Los Angeles has now lost three of five. The offense is not the problem.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.