Rams remain resilient in second preseason win

Rams remain resilient in second preseason win

By Joe Curley of the Ventura County Star

[www.vcstar.com]

LOS ANGELES — Case Keenum looked ready for the regular season. Jared Goff felt like he was back in college.

And the Los Angeles Rams came from behind to win another preseason game at the Coliseum Saturday night, 21-20, over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs.

"Across the board, whoever is out there is fighting," Keenum said. "It's not always going to go your way, which we saw tonight and even last week."

One week after the Rams dug out of a 24-7 halftime hole to beat the Cowboys, they reversed a 20-14 fourth-quarter deficit to improve to 2-0 in the preseason.

"To be able to battle through when the ball isn't rolling your way can say a lot more about your team than when everything just happens to go your way," Keenum said.

Keenum directed the offense to touchdowns on its first two possessions, completing 4 of 5 passes for 53 yards and a touchdown pass to Pharoh Cooper.

"I'm just playing football, man," Keenum said. "I'm trying to do the best I can. We're doing a pretty good job right now."

Second-year running back Todd Gurley ran four times for 20 yards and a touchdown in the first preseason action of his career.

"It's always nice to have Todd out there, as you can see," Keenum said.

The offense didn't run quite so smoothly under Goff, who took the field behind the first-team offensive line with the score tied 14-14 with 10:08 in the second quarter.

He promptly tripped over guard Cody Wichmann's leg and fumbled the ball away.

"Can't do it," Goff said. "I've got to hold onto the ball there.

"But that's what the preseason is for and that's what these reps are for, to make mistakes I won't make again and that I can learn from."

Goff played the better part of the final three quarters and combined with running back Malcolm Brown for the game-winning drive.

"It did take forever to kind of get in rhythm but once I did, I was happy I was left in there as long as I was," Goff said.

Trailing 20-14 in the fourth quarter, Goff hit Brian Quick for a 17-yard pass and Brown raced 28 yards around right end to move the Rams to the Kansas City 15.

"When guys are ripping off runs like Malcolm was on that drive … it always helps," Goff said.

Two plays later, Brown reeled in a 10-yard pass to put the Rams ahead 21-20 with 10:30 to play.

It was Goff's first professional touchdown pass.

"It was exciting," Goff said. "It didn't really hit me until I hit the sideline. I was like, 'Oh, that was my first one.'

"It kind of felt like a regular touchdown, like it was at Cal and high school. It was cool, but I was much more happy we won the game."

The Chiefs were in position to take the lead after the two-minute warning, but Quinton Coples forced a fumble that Jabari Washington recovered in the red zone with 1:47 to play.

The Rams' second- and third-team defense shut out its second straight postseason opponent after halftime.

"I thought Case did a nice job early on managing the game," Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said. "The scoring drive was outstanding. You can see Todd's value. I'm glad we got Todd in for the series."

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