Rams get Mayfield magic on GW drive

INGLEWOOD (News4usonline) – The script could not have been written any better for Baker Mayfield. Down six points and with the task of going 98 yards to win an NFL football game with less than two minutes remaining. Oh yeah, trying doing this during a nationally televised Thursday Night Football game with a team you joined days before.  

Mayfield, waived earlier in the week by the Carolina Panthers before being picked up by the Los Angeles Rams, made it happen. With 10 seconds left in a mostly stagnant contest between the Rams and the Las Vegas Raiders, Mayfield may have won the hearts of Los Angeles when he connected with Van Jefferson for a 23-yard touchdown strike that eventually tied the game at 16-16. 

Matt Gay’s extra point attempt sealed the Raiders’ fate and the Rams came away with an unbelievable 17-16 win at SoFi Stadium. 

“All right guys, just like we drew it up, unbelievable job,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “(It was) really just total team effort. I can’t say enough about the defense to get the stop to even allow the offense to be able to get back out on the field to go 98-yards.”

Down 16-10, the Rams needed a defensive stop for any type of offensive heroics to come into fruition. They got it. And Mayfield magic came alive in the last two minutes of the ballgame.  

 “You can’t say enough about Baker Mayfield and the leadership, the resilience, the competitiveness, and what a quick study,” McVay said. “He just got here five minutes ago and figured it out a way to be able to do some special things tonight.” 

Statistically, Mayfield, who came on in relief of John Wolford in the Rams second offensive series of the game, finished the night with decent numbers, going 22 of 35 for 230 yards and that huge touchdown pass to Jefferson. Up until the fourth quarter when Mayfield led the Rams to two scores, Los Angeles didn’t do too much offensively. 

But when it was time to turn on the lights, Mayfield did that with ease, especially on the team’s game-winning drive. 

“Yeah, I don’t know if you can write it any better than that. Obviously, we’d like to be a little bit more stress free, but it’s a pretty damn good story, I’ll be honest with you, so it’s special,” Mayfield said”

The top storyline going into the Thursday Night Football game between the Rams and the Raiders was all about Mayfield. The game ended with more talk about Mayfield, who may have had to lean on his five-year experience as an NFL quarterback to come through in crunch time.  

“A lot when it comes to critical situations and kind of those crucial downs, especially when the clock’s rolling like that, just putting the ball up for guys like that,” Mayfield said. “Knowing the clock mechanics… I had (C) Brian Allen screaming in my face with the cadence was for that because we didn’t cover it, and Sean’s yelling in my ear as well. But yeah, ball is ball and when you have guys like that around you that put you in a good spot and they help you out and those guys did it.”

With starting quarterback Matthew Stafford sidelined for the rest of the season, the Rams took a gamble to pick up Mayfield. Mayfield was selected by the Cleveland Browns as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, but didn’t pan out with the two other teams he played for. The Rams make it team No. 3 for Mayfield. 

Shortly after the team picked up Mayfield, McVay sounded a rallying cry around his thoughts why he thought it was in the best interest of the ballclub to go after the former Heisman Trophy winner. 

“I think it’s just the love of the game, the competitor, all the things that he brings from the traits and characteristics of a quarterback,” McVay said during a press conference prior to the Thursday Night Football game. “ He’s a natural thrower, like I said, the ability to be able to throw in the pocket and out of the pocket. 

“There’s a lot of things, whether it be in Cleveland or even in Carolina, that he’s been asked to do that are very similar concept carryover to what we’ve been able to do and some of the things that we have as foundational parts of our offense. That makes it a little bit easier eval(uation), but it’s kind of all those things and certainly not exclusive to one of them.” 

The Week 14 matchup between the Rams and the Raiders turned out to be one of contrasts. The Raiders came into the game needing to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Rams needed a victory to snap the six-game losing streak they took to the field with. 

Thanks to the inspired play by the whole team and the Mayfield mystique, the Rams came up victorious for the first time since their Week 6 24-10 win against Carolina.   

On that game-winning drive, McVay was asked if this was more scheme or Mayfield making the plays he did. McVay gave Mayfield and the offense kudos for doing their thing.  

“I can’t take credit, that was him making plays,” McVay remarked. “The guys made plays too. I thought just some of the opportunity throws, they were playing a lot of man coverage in those situations and guys were able to win. 

“The catch down our sideline where Ben Skowronek goes up over somebody, even to be able to give Van Jefferson the attempt when we were still backed up to draw the PI. Then when you got to get the ball into the end zone with 15 seconds left and no timeouts, for Van Jefferson to be able to win, unbelievable job right there.” 

Featured Image Caption: Los Angeles Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield (17) back to pass against the Las Vegas Raiders during a Thursday Night Football game played at SoFi Stadium on Dec. 8, 2022. Photo by Mark Hammond/News4usonline