– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA — The last play of the first half epitomized both the hard luck the Los Angeles Chargers continue to endure in their lost season, as well as the good fortune that the Los Angeles Rams hope to continue to catch on their road back to championship contention.
After an almost completely listless first half, Rams scored three touchdowns without reply between the end of the second quarter and the third to pull away from the Los Angeles Chargers 24-9 in the intercity battle inside SoFi Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Rams’ defense intercepted Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert twice and forced a fumble on a strip-sack (that Aaron Donald comically bumbled out of bounds while trying to recover the ball), while Kyren Williams and Blake Corum each rushed for a score. Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua connected on a score as the Rams have won two in a row to get back to .500.
The Chargers, who held the lead for almost the entirety of the first half despite being held to three field goals, drop to 0-7 and remain the only winless team in the league.
At the end of the first half, the Chargers, down 10-9, were inches away from taking a shock lead into the intermission, as Herbert’s Hail Mary pass was caught off of a deflection by receiver Ladd McConkey right at the goal line. McConkey was pushed back immediately, less than a yard from the goal line as time expired as the Rams secured their tenuous lead. Barely.
The near miss served as a wake-up call for the Rams, who did not pick up their initial first down of the game until 1:22 remaining in the first half. Corum was a bell cow on the drive, rushing five times for 55 yards and capping it off with a 23-yard scamper up the middle for pay dirt and a 17-9 advantage.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Dale Horton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 60 pictures in total.
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