The Los Angeles Rams managed to make quite a statement with their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at SoFi Stadium in Week 3.
Despite a nail-biter in Week 2, a showdown with quarterback Tom Brady and the defending Super Bowl champs was their first major test of the 2021 NFL season. Fortunately, L.A. did not disappoint as they secured a 34-24 win thanks to an all-around effort from offense, defense and special teams.
While the defense did its part to contain the Bucs’ star-studded supporting cast behind Brady, it was the big plays from the offense that kickstarted the decibels in the crowd. The Rams clearly relished in having all the perks of home-field advantage finally woking in their favor.
Brady acknowledged that the crowd noise at SoFi Stadium was a major factor throughout the course of the game.
“It’s good. It’s (a) very loud stadium. Very loud. One of the louder ones we’ve been in. But there’s a lot of other loud stadiums. We got to do a better job of handling it.”
Brady also gave credit to the Rams’ defense for helping their offense get ahead.
“We got off to a slow start. Anytime you do that, you’re fighting behind all day. I think we played a good team that didn’t turn the ball over. They played well offensively, and we just didn’t make enough plays on offense early to kind of take control of anything. Just not a great complimentary game by us. Got to learn from it. There (were) some things to see and the silent count and working on some different facets of our offense. But anytime you come up short, it’s not a great feeling.”
The NFL’s Game of the Week was billed as a potential shootout between two of the more high-octane offenses in the league. However, things actually got off to a slow start with both sides being held scoreless in the first quarter.
The Rams’ offense started to find their rhythm and went into the break with a 14-7 lead. They then came storming out the second half as quarterback Matthew Stafford found wide receiver DeSean Jackson for a 75-yard bomb just a minute into the third quarter.
L.A. made sure to never look back as Brady was sacked three times while Stafford finished with four touchdowns. In doing so, they have now successfully managed to lend some credence to the Super Bowl hype that was generated this offseason.
