Gurley, Johnson lead Rams to 21-14 win over Lions

Donald continued his strong day in the second half as well, taking down Stafford two more times in the second half to give him a team-leading 11.0 on the season.

It wasn’t a surprise that the Lions didn’t bring him back this season.

Johnson’s touchdown is easy to clip on to highlight reels and it’s also the easiest to point to how it formed the outcome of the game. It will be ten days between games following the shocking loss to the Green Bay Packers on a Hail Mary on an untimed down so the team is undoubtedly eager to get back on the field.

Regardless of who’s playing quarterback, the Rams have been unable to get into a rhythm offensively.

Case Keenum will start in place of Foles this week in what will be his first game action since suffering a concussion November 22 against the Baltimore Ravens.

But then the Lions actually had to go play football against one of those bottom-feeders, and it lost.

“I don’t think we have any quitters in this locker room”, tight end Jared Cook said.

The ensuing drive saw the Lions begin putting things back together as Stafford started to find some rhythm. “We did some coverage adjustments at times – everybody does when you face Calvin – and I thought Trumaine played a really good game”. The Rams finished with just 212 yards of offense and nine first downs, while going 1 for 12 on third down opportunities.

Also factually true: No matter what changes from week to week, Detroit still figures out how to lose more often than not.

Still, Trumaine Johnson’s 58-yard touchdown on an interception return was the difference in the game. It’s hard to just call things and have success all the time. If St. Louis is intent on continuing this focus on the run game in order to open up the pass, they need more than a game manager at quarterback, they need a gunslinger.

Gurley averaged just 42.7 yards for the previous four games behind an injury-riddled line largely populated by rookies and had just 13 yards on seven carries at the half. After a few slow weeks, Gurley reminded us yet again why he’s a special player. They’ve given up big leads, and the Rams are forced to throw the ball.

A Lions punt on the following possession was returned for a touchdown by specialist Tavon Austin, but was called back for a hold during the return.

It’s not known if Pettigrew, who caught one pass for seven yards, will return for a December 21 game in New Orleans. The Lions managed to recover an onside kick with 2:03 left in the fourth quarter and all three timeouts.

The second quarter didn’t go any better than the first. “We’ve got to get better play out of all the position groups”.

There was a landmark to celebrate for Stafford too as he became the fastest quarterback to reach 25,000 passing yards, but it wasn’t enough to put his side ahead and the Rams soon regained the lead through a five-yard Todd Gurley run. Congratulations to one of the greatest undrafted receiver Wes Welker. Aaron Donald’s three sacks had to feel especially painful when considering he was the favored pick by most over Eric Ebron whom the Lions drafted instead.