Rams-Eagles recap: Jared Goff, Tyler Higbee power Rams to 37-19 win

The Los Angeles Rams have two wins this season and Tyler Higbee has three touchdowns. The Rams went on the road and beat the Philadelphia Eagles 37-19 on Sunday, moving the ball efficiently on offense for most of the game, with much of that success coming thanks to the relationship between Jared Goff and his fifth-year tight end who came into Week 2 with seven career touchdowns prior to facing the Eagles.

On Sunday, Higbee finished with five catches for 54 yards and three touchdowns, including LA’s first two touchdowns of the game and a pivotal fourth quarter score to keep Philadelphia at bay and to ensure that Sean McVay would start 2-0 for the third year in a row.

The Rams got off to a hot start for the second time in two games this season, outdoing themselves from last week against the Cowboys by getting out to a 21-3 lead in the second quarter with three touchdowns on three drives. Goff completed his first 13 pass attempts of the game with those two touchdowns to Higbee and Robert Woods ran in the other from nine yards out.

That confidence in scoring-at-will changed on the Rams fourth drive when the offense reached the Eagles 31-yard line but a Goff scramble, incomplete pass and sack took them out of field goal range and gave the ball back to Philadelphia, who on their previous drive went 75 yards for a touchdown. The Eagles went nowhere on that series but the ensuing punt led to a Cooper Kupp fumble at the 11-yard line.

Philadelphia running back Miles Sanders scored two plays later to cut the lead to 21-16, which is how it remained until halftime.

Things seemed to continue in the Eagles direction by forcing a three-and-out to start the second half and driving deep into Rams territory with two key third down completions by Carson Wentz targeted at LA cornerback Troy Hill. But those efforts were dismayed by the presence of Darious Williams, whose leaping interception of Wentz in the end zone kept points off the board.

The Rams drove to the Eagles two-yard line on the following drive but settled for a Sam Sloman field goal to extend the lead to 24-16 near the end of the third quarter. The Eagles soon answered to make it 24-19 in the fourth quarter.

But on Los Angeles’ first play of the next drive, running back Darrell Henderson took the ball 40 yards — a career-high and more than he’s ever had in all but one game prior to this week — to setup Higbee for his third touchdown, a 28-yarder from Goff to increase the lead to 31-19.

Los Angeles did get some bad news on the injury front when Cam Akers left the game on the first drive with a ribs injury and did not return. That meant an increased role for Henderson, who finished the day with 12 carries for 81 yards and two catches for 40 yards, including a key 28-yard reception to set himself up for his first career touchdown on the next play.

Malcolm Brown had 11 carries for 47 yards.

The statistical defensive standout for the Rams was linebacker Micah Kiser, who finished with 16 combined and 11 solo tackles. There were a lot of questions about missed tackles on defense and Kiser’s role in that last week but LA held the Eagles to just 5.3 yards per play and 5.6 yards per pass attempt in the win.

The Rams return home and then go back on the road to face the Buffalo Bills next Sunday.

• Jared Goff finished 20-of-27 for 267 yards, 3 TD and no INT. It is his 10th career game with at least 3 TD and no interceptions. He had four such games in 2018 and only one in 2019, so to get his first this year in Week 2 is better than waiting to do so until Week 17 last year.
• Overall, Goff looks improved through two games and we’ll have to start speculating on the impact of Kevin O’Connell on his part in the development and evolution of Goff if it continues.
• Carson Wentz looks terrible through two games. He finished 26-of-43 for 242 yards and two interceptions.
• A week after being the team’s leading receiver, Robert Woods only caught two of five targets for 14 yards. He did have three carries for 19 yards and a touchdown. This isn’t necessarily a negative though and that’s not why I’m point it out: the Rams scored 37 points without needing Woods involved in the passing game. That’s a good sign for the offense.
• Cooper Kupp had five catches for 81 yards. Will McVay continue to put him out there on punts?
• Van Jefferson’s gonna keep trying to set a new career-high each week and the benchmark is now 45 yards. Jefferson caught four of five targets including an impressive 21-yarder.
• Goff was sacked one time, just like last week. The offensive line seemed to perform well against a talented Eagles defensive line that was healthier than they expected entering the week.
• There was a lot of talk about Kiser’s seven missed tackles last week and we’ll see what the numbers say in a couple of days, but I doubt there will be many complaints after his numbers on Sunday. He also had a pass defensed.
• Jordan Fuller followed up last week with nine more tackles. For any rookie to come in and be a significant contributor immediately like Fuller, it’s worth noting how rare that really is and Fuller is having an impact. This could be Les Snead’s best draft pick in a while.
• Wentz was sacked eight times last week and no times against the Rams. Concerns that the Rams are lacking a pass rush were not alleviated today.