Matthew Stafford connected on a deep shot to Cooper Kupp to lift the Los Angeles Rams to the NFC Championship Game after pulling out a wild divisional-round win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The ensuing game-winning kick earned Los Angeles a 30-27 victory at Raymond James Stadium after the second-seeded Buccaneers mounted a 24-point comeback to tie the game with less than a minute remaining.
Fortunately for the Rams, and perhaps unbelievably, it overshadowed a laundry list of mistakes that started on the final play of the first half and lasted until the third-to-last play of regulation.
— It started with a Cam Akers fumble at the goal line with 24 seconds left in the first half. The Rams held a 20-3 lead at the time. Tampa Bay recovered the ball at its own 1-yard line and went into the half trailing by three scores.
— Kupp fumbled the ball on the first play of LA’s third second-half drive. The Buccaneers recovered while trailing 27-6 with 3:02 left in the third quarter.
— The Rams used a mere 31 seconds of clock on the next offensive possession after the Bucs cut their deficit to 27-13. LA punted the ball nine seconds into the fourth quarter after going three-and-out.
— Los Angeles fumbled the snap on the first play of its next drive. It came after the Bucs gave the Rams the ball back with a fumble of their own. Tampa Bay recovered the LA fumble, trailing 27-13 with 14:33 left in regulation.
— Rams safety Eric Weddle committed a brutally stupid penalty after a turnover on downs by the Bucs. It forced LA to start its next offensive drive on its own 1-yard line rather than its 36-yard line.
— The Rams then put together a nine-play drive, covering 49 yards. LA went out for a 47-yard field goal attempt that would have allowed them to extend its lead to three possessions. The field goal attempt from Matt Gay came up short, and it kept it a 27-13 game with 6:36 remaining.
— The Rams punted the ball away after going just three plays and taking 30 seconds off the clock. The Buccaneers, to their credit, used their three timeouts. Tampa got the ball back with 4:07 left, trailing by two scores.
— After the Buccaneers cut their deficit to 27-20, Akers coughed up his second fumble of the game. It came on the second play of the possession, and Tampa recovered with 2:32 left. The Buccaneers went on to score the game-tying touchdown after a seven-play drive which covered 30 yards. The Bucs tied the game 27-27with 42 seconds remaining.
— All of that preceded Stafford’s connection to Kupp, which perhaps was the biggest mistake of the game — though that miscue came from the Buccaneers.
