The Los Angeles Rams seemed likely to make a quarterback change in the fourth quarter of Sunday Night Football.
Matthew Stafford had played most of the game, but with a big lead, he stayed in. Jimmy Garoppolo stayed on the sideline.
It was a bit of an odd call
Why didn't the Rams pull Matthew Stafford from QB for Jimmy Garoppolo?
The Rams left Stafford in with a 34-7 lead and 5:26 to play when they took over for a new possession.
It's not clear why L.A. Would do that.
Stafford only handed the ball off the rest of the way, but couldn't Jimmy G have done that? Get the franchise QB off the field.
NFL teams watched a few weeks ago when Jayden Daniels dislocated his left elbow while in the game with a 31-point deficit and not even close to enough time to potentially make that up for the Commanders.
So there's particularly no reason to take a chance with a QB's health.
The Rams put up 31 points in the first half to lead 31-7. As it turns out, that was more than enough.
Stafford and the offense only got three points in the second half, and maybe Los Angeles' coaching staff just wanted the offense to feel better about itself before departing.
That doesn't seem worth risking any kind of unlucky injury, though. It also stopped Garoppolo from getting a few reps.
More news:
- Florida's 7-foot-9 Olivier Rioux scored his first college point
- J.J. McCarthy had a day so bad it hadn't happened since 2002
- Nation's longest high school winning streak snapped at 76 games
- Thanks to Steven Adams, the Rockets are on pace to break an all-time NBA record
- Shedeur Sanders makes Browns history as he begins to write a story all his own
- Blackhawks' 1st-round pick just led his high school football team to a state title