Rams’ Todd Gurley: Contained by Tampa defense

The latest was a 31-23 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Rams on Thursday night at the Edward Jones Dome.

-WR Donteea Dye dropped a potential touchdown pass in the third quarter that could have pulled Tampa Bay within 21-9 and then almost made a colossal blunder in the fourth quarter, throwing the ball in the air before the play was over after thinking he was down at the 4.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – If this was the Rams’ last game in St. Louis, they did what they could to leave the fans smiling. However, when you consider that the Buccaneers are fighting to keep their slim playoff hopes alive and that this may be the Rams’ final home game in St. Louis, you have the makings of an entertaining Thursday Night matchup.

In return, the Rams offered one of their better performances of the year, leading wire to wire in a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And the Rams’ defense sent all sorts of pressure at Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston in a mostly routine victory.

Quarterback Case Keenum certainly played inspired. “I just have to make throws”. He put together one of the most productive games of his career, catching six passes for 60 yards.

The Bucs are additionally among the many league’s greatest at not permitting lengthy passing performs – they’ve allowed an NFL-low three move performs to realize 40 yards or extra.

“It was just great for them to come out and show the support tonight and it was a lovely thing”, defensive end William Hayes said. “Lesson learned, got to move forward”. Our playoff hopes are probably done. So, Tampa Bay’s total output of 509 yards rang hollow.

“You can’t script a better opening drive”, Keenum said.

“We’re headed in the right direction, but we’re not there yet”, Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith said.

Case Keenum completed 14 of 17 passes with touchdown tosses to Kenny Britt (two catches, 71 yards) and Tavon Austin (three catches, 41 yards) for the Rams (6-8), who close out the season with games at Seattle on December 27 and at San Francisco on January 3.

Waving gold towels to go along with the all-gold uniforms the Rams donned, the fans had reason to cheer from the get-go.

The team announced 51,295 tickets had been distributed for the 66,000-capacity dome.

The halftime deficit was the Buccaneers’ largest since they were down 35-7 against the Titans in their opening 42-14 loss. Running back Doug Martin collected 91 yards on 18 carries, and wide receiver Mike Evans grabbed nine passes for 157 yards.

On the ensuing kick, the Rams’ Benny Cunningham showed some quick-strike ability of his own, coming up with a 102-yard kickoff return to the Bucs’ 3.

Austin also had four carries for 32 yards and a touchdown, and rookie running back Todd Gurley rushed 21 times for 48 yards and a score. Although Winston led the Bucs to two late scoring drives to make the final score respectable, this night belonged to the Rams in what may – or may not – be their final home game as the team tries to get a new stadium built.