It was the perfect get-right game for the defending NFC Champions as the Los Angeles Rams went into Week 7 to take on the Falcons and won in convincing fashion, 37-10.
The win was a much-needed one as the Rams suffered their first three-game losing streak under head coach Sean McVay. Los Angeles had been struggling in all three phases of the game, but seemed to find their mojo and groove in Atlanta as they were able to get anything they wanted.
The offense and Jared Goff finally got rolling as they were able to continually pull off big plays that quickly got them in scoring position. Goff looked like the quarterback the Rams envisioned when they inked him to his four-year extension, finding his receiving trio and breakout tight end Gerald Everett for chunk gains all afternoon.
Jalen Ramsey made his Rams debut and made his presence felt, limiting Julio Jones to only four catches for 79 yards and forced a fumble that the Falcons ended up recovering. The rest of the defense also had a field day against a struggling Atlanta offensive line as Dante Fowler Jr. racked up three sacks while Aaron Donald notched a sack of his own while also recovering a forced fumble.
With the game out of hand for the Falcons and frustration clearly building, running back Devonta Freeman and Donald got into it and had to be separated. Donald literally picked up the smaller Freeman by his shoulder pads, as captured in this video of the scrum, viaLeadingNFLCLips:
— LeadingNFLClips (@LeadingNFLClips) October 20, 2019
Freeman wound up being ejected from the game for starting the fight. Afterward, Donald tried to explain how it got started and why he reacted the way he did, via Gary Klein of the L.A. Times:
“Just barking back and forth, and one thing led to another and then he grabbed my facemask and I’m like, ‘All right,’ ” Donald said. “I just wanted to get him off my facemask.”
“Once I picked him up, I was like, ‘I can’t,’ ” Donald said. “I didn’t want to throw no punches and get myself kicked out of the game and hurt my team. I’ve been through there before and made dumb mistakes. I wasn’t going to let that happen again.”
Matt Ryan threw a pass that was intercepted by Cory Littleton prior to the fight and it appears that the turnover was enough for Freeman to get into Donald’s face. Freeman appeared to grab Donald’s facemask and the defensive lineman responded by lifting him off the ground in an effort to get him to let go.
After everything was settled, the Rams continued their roll and eventually came away with the victory. Sitting at 4-3, the Rams still have some ground to make up if they hope to catch the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. They get another good oppotunity to close the gap as they head to London to take on the Cincinnati Bengals.
