interception

The first time quarterback Baker Mayfield played at SoFi Stadium, he started for the Rams with only two days of practice.

On Dec. 6, 2022, the Rams claimed Mayfield off waivers from the Carolina Panthers to replace injured Matthew Stafford. A few days later, he led the Rams to victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on “Thursday Night Football.”

That performance, one of five games Mayfield started to finish that historic Super Bowl-hangover season for the Rams, jump-started Mayfield’s then-stalled career.

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Gary Klein previews Sunday’s game between the Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at SoFi Stadium.

In 2023, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed him to a one-year contract, and he led them to the divisional round of the NFC playoffs. In 2024, he signed a three-year contract that includes $55 million in guarantees and could be worth as much as $100 million, according to Overthecap.com.

And on Sunday, he returns to SoFi Stadium to face a Rams team that is 8-2 and looks very much like a Super Bowl contender.

“There is no way for me to sugarcoat it. … It was pivotal in my career and in my journey,” Mayfield, speaking about his time with the Rams, told Tampa Bay reporters this week, adding, “It helped me find the fun in football again. … It was instrumental in my career, something I am forever grateful for, and it will be fun to go back and see some familiar faces.”

During his short stint with the Rams, Mayfield brought “a spark” and displayed “pretty impressive mental stamina” to process and put into action so much information, Rams coach Sean McVay said.

“It’s one thing to absorb it, it’s a totally different thing to be able to bring it to life when the enemy has a say,” McVay said. “It was impressive. I think when you watch what he’s done and who he is, I think it’s probably more on par for what we expect of Baker than the outlier when you look at the totality of everything he’s done.”

Mayfield, 30, has passed for 17 touchdowns, with three interceptions this season for the Buccaneers (6-4), who lead the NFC South.

The game matches Mayfield, the top pick in the 2018 draft, against Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, the top pick in 2009.

“His ability to come in and play pretty darn well on a shortened timeline was really awesome,” Stafford said, adding, “He’s been through a lot and came out on the other side playing about as good as ball as anybody.”

The Rams are coming off a 21-19 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, a victory that extended their winning streak to five games and gave them sole possession of first place in the NFC West.

Stafford has passed for a league-leading 27 touchdowns, with only two interceptions. Davante Adams has a league-best 10 touchdown catches.

The Rams will be without three veteran starters — tight end Tyler Higbee, right tackle Rob Havenstein and safety Quentin Lake — who were placed on injured reserve this week.

Midnight Mode, indeed.

On the day the Rams donned black uniforms for the first and only time this season, the offense largely went dark.

Red-hot quarterback Matthew Stafford cooled. Star receivers Davante Adams and Puka Nacua struggled to consistently make the clutch plays that they often make look routine.

But safety Kamren Kinchens and the Rams’ defense managed to keep the Seattle Seahawks at bay — just barely.

Kinchens intercepted two passes, and cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Darious Williams also picked off passes as the Rams held off the Seahawks for a 21-19 victory Sunday before 75,323 at SoFi Stadium that was not secured until Seattle’s Jason Myers missed a 61-yard field goal as time expired.

Stafford tossed touchdown passes to Adams and tight end Colby Parkinson, and Kyren Williams rushed for a touchdown as the Rams improved to 8-2, extended their winning streak to five games and assumed sole possession of first place in the NFC West.

The Rams can thank Kinchens, a second-year safety who has six career interceptions, including four against the Seahawks. His interceptions set up Williams’ touchdown in the first quarter and Parkinson’s in the fourth.

The Rams went into the game having scored at least 34 points in each of their last three games. But that production was absent against a Seahawks team that fell to 7-3 and had its four-game winning streak end.

Stafford increased his league-leading total of touchdown passes to 27 and did not have a pass intercepted for the seventh consecutive game. But the 17th-year pro was not as sharp as he had been during a stretch that put him in the conversation for NFL most valuable player. Stafford completed 15 of 28 passes for 130 yards.

Stafford enjoyed a banner day compared to Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold.

The Rams’ front pressured Darnold into multiple poor decisions, and Kinchens, Durant and Williams made him pay. Darnold completed 29 of 44 passes for 279 yards with four interceptions.

Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who was on pace to set an NFL record for yards receiving in a season, caught nine passes for 105 yards. But he did not score.

Cooper Kupp, the former Rams star making his return to SoFi Stadium, did not have a catch in the first three quarters but had three during a late scoring drive that trimmed the Rams’ lead to two points.

The Rams led 14-9 at halftime on Williams’ one-yard touchdown run and Stafford’s one-yard touchdown pass to Adams.

It was a satisfying situation for the Rams, whose first drive ended at the Seahawks’ eight-yard line when Stafford’s fourth-down pass to tight end Tyler Higbee fell incomplete.

Kinchens’ 31-yard interception return, however, set up Williams’ touchdown. And after Myers kicked the first of three first-half field goals for the Seahawks, Stafford led a long drive that ended with Adams’ 1,000th career reception and his 10th touchdown catch of the season.

The Rams had an opportunity to seize control early in the third quarter when Durant returned an interception to the Seahawks’ 35-yard line. But two plays later, Nacua lost a fumble after making a catch.

Myers’ fourth field goal pulled the Seahawks to within 14-12 midway through the third. But Kinchens intercepted another pass late in the quarter, setting up Stafford’s six-yard touchdown pass to Parkinson for a 21-12 lead.

Still, the Rams struggled to put away the Seahawks. Kenneth Walker III’s one-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter pulled the Seahawks to within 21-19 with 2:23 left.

After Ethan Evans’ punt pinned them at the one-yard line, the Seahawks got the ball back with 1:40 left and drove 56 yards in nine plays.

But Myers could not match his career-best 61-yard field goal against the Rams in 2020. This time it went wide right.

The Rams play host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-4) next Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

On a flight to Houston to play in his first college football game, Kenny Easley was told that he would split time at free safety with a veteran UCLA teammate.

“That’s what happened,” Easley told The Times in 2017, recounting the story 40 years later. “Michael Coulter started the game and played the first two quarters, I played the second two and Michael never played again.”

Such was the dominance of a player who would be called The Enforcer for the way he inflicted his will on college and NFL opponents. Easley finished that first season with nine interceptions and 93 tackles, school records for a true freshman, and was just getting started on the way to becoming the first player in Pac-10 history to be selected for the conference’s first team all four seasons.

Easley, one of the most revered players in school history, died Friday from unspecified causes, the school announced. He was 66. Easley had long battled kidney issues that forced the five-time Pro Bowler to retire prematurely in 1987 after spending all seven of his NFL seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Seahawks legend Kenny Easley,” the team said in a statement. “Kenny embodied what it meant to be a Seahawk through his leadership, toughness, intensity and fearlessness. His intimidating nature and athletic grace made him one of the best players of all-time.”

Much of that resolve was forged thanks to a childhood game that Easley called dynamite pigskin. A pack of kids would gather on the athletic fields in Easley’s hometown of Chesapeake, Va., and a football would be tossed into the air.

Safety Kenny Easley also returned punts for UCLA.

(Courtesy UCLA Athletics)

Whoever caught it would take off running and everybody else would try to catch him until the ball carrier found himself hopelessly surrounded, forcing him to throw the ball back into the air, where the game earned its dynamite nickname. The game would go on for hours until everyone was bruised and exhausted.

One of the nation’s top prospects out of high school, Easley appeared bound for Michigan, telling everyone he was going to play for the Wolverines. But on the day of his college announcement, Easley blurted out that he was going to play for UCLA, his other finalist, during a ceremony at his high school auditorium.

“So just like that, the proverbial genie is out of the bottle and it’s on videotape that I’m going to UCLA,” Easley would recall many years later. He suspected he changed his mind because the Bruins had said from the start they were recruiting him to play free safety while Michigan wanted him as a quarterback, his other high school position.

Easley tallied 19 interceptions during four college seasons, which remains a school record. Having made 13 interceptions during his first two seasons, Easley developed a ready explanation for why he couldn’t sustain that pace.

“They didn’t throw the ball down the middle,” he said of opposing quarterbacks. “If I was playing against Kenny Easley, I wouldn’t throw the ball down the middle either.”

Easley also returned punts and was a punishing hitter, logging 105 tackles during his senior season in 1980. He would finish ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy that year. His 374 career tackles remain the fifth most in UCLA history and he became the second player from the school to earn consensus All-American honors three times, joining linebacker Jerry Robinson.

“Kenny Easley was the most competitive person I’ve ever met in my life,” Robinson wrote in an email to The Times. “No matter what he was doing, whether it was sports or life, he was in it to win it! Whether it was football, basketball, pick-up softball games, playing cards, high diving into the swimming pool or golf, everything he did he wanted to be the best at it. And he was the best at it. He was the greatest all-around athlete that I have ever played with. RIP ‘Force 5’.”

The Seahawks selected Easley with the fourth pick in the 1981 draft, and he went on to make 32 interceptions in seven seasons. But his time with the franchise ended acrimoniously after he accused the team of providing medicine that led to his kidney problems. The sides would later resolve their differences. Easley was named one of the 50 greatest players in franchise history.

Elected into the college and pro football halls of fame, Easley had his No. 5 jersey retired by UCLA in 1991 and was also enshrined in the school’s athletics hall of fame.

Jameis Winston entered last Sunday as the New York Giants’ No. 3 quarterback.

This week, he appears to be set to make his first start of the season.

Winston has been moved ahead of fellow veteran quarterback Russell Wilson on the Giants’ depth chart, according to multiple media outlets. The move puts Winston in line for what appears to be a likely start Sunday against the Green Bay Packers as regular starter Jaxson Dart remains in concussion protocol.

It’s the first major decision made by interim coach Mike Kafka since the Giants’ firing of coach Brian Daboll on Monday. New York went 20-40-1 in three-plus seasons under Daboll, including a 2-8 start to this season.

A 10-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson started 11 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, his 13th NFL season. He was signed during the offseason by the Giants to be their 2025 starting quarterback.

Winston was signed to be Wilson’s backup. In his previous 10 NFL seasons, Winston had gone 36-51 as the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns, with 154 touchdowns and 111 interceptions.

In April, the Giants traded up nine spots in the draft to select Dart with the No. 25 overall pick. The rookie out of Mississippi ended up earning the No. 2 quarterback spot. But Wilson was largely ineffective during the Giants’ 0-3 start, and Dart was promoted to starting quarterback in Week 4.

Dart helped spark the Giants to wins over the Chargers and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in two of his first three starts. Overall this season, Dart is 2-7 as a starter, completing 63% of his passes for 1,417 yards passing with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Last week against the Chicago Bears, Dart hit his head on the ground during the third quarter and eventually was checked for a concussion for the fourth time this season. Wilson entered the game mid-drive and led the Giants to an eventual field goal and a 20-10 lead.

Overall, however, Wilson was ineffective again — he completed three of seven passes for 45 yards and was sacked twice — as the Giants collapsed and lost the game 24-20.

SANTA CLARA — This is not a one-off.

This is no hot streak or a flash in the pan.

So don’t look away. Pay attention.

Otherwise, risk missing the master class that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is conducting this season.

One that has the 17th-year pro squarely in the conversation for his first NFL most valuable player award.

“I see those people say stuff like that,” Stafford said Sunday after passing for four touchdowns in the Rams’ 42-26 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium, “and all I can think about is like I’m just lucky to have unbelievable teammates.”

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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 42-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Stafford, 37, is playing as if he were in the middle, not near the end, of a possible Hall of Fame career.

On Sunday he tossed touchdown passes to receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and tight ends Davis Allen and Colby Parkinson as the Rams avenged an overtime loss to the 49ers in Week 5 and improved to 7-2.

How efficient has Stafford played this season?

He has passed for a league-leading 25 touchdowns.

With only two interceptions.

“He can walk on water right now,” Nacua said.

In the last three games, Stafford has passed for 13 touchdowns. His second touchdown pass Sunday, to Allen, was the 400th of his career.

Stafford’s name already fills the NFL record book. He is among the top 10 in several passing categories. But he never has been this efficient for this long.

Stafford has not had a pass intercepted in the last six games, the longest such stretch of his career.

“It looks like the game is really in slow motion to him right now,” coach Sean McVay said.

Rams players (from left) Puka Nacua, Matthew Stafford, Jordan Whittington and Davante Adams celebrate in the third quarter of a 42-26 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday.

(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)

Stafford’s recent run of excellence is on par with other awe-inspiring Los Angeles sports icons.

He has been as dominant as the UCLA fast break and full court press from the 1970s. Clayton Kershaw’s 12-to-6 curveball. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off homer swing.

This is a Wayne Gretzky assist. A Nolan Ryan no-hitter.

A Reggie Bush breakaway run. A Serena Williams backhand winner. A Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sky hook, a Magic Johnson no-look pass, a Kobe Bryant game-winning three. A Lisa Leslie low-post move. A Candace Parker dunk.

A Jim Murray or Bill Plaschke column.

A fill-in-the-blank run of excellence.

Overblown? Perhaps. The NFL is a humbling league. Stafford’s recent run could end next Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.

So enjoy it in real time. Follow Stafford’s lead.

“I have fun out there,” he said when asked about what Nacua described as Stafford’s ‘shimmy shake’ touchdown celebration. “I lose my mind when we score touchdowns.”

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford smiles while being interviewed after the Rams’ win over the 49ers on Sunday.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

That’s how defensive coordinators must feel when Stafford completes one of his patented no-look passes.

Adams played eight seasons in Green Bay with Aaron Rodgers. He knows what an MVP looks like.

“It’s looked like MVP play to me all year,” Adams said, pointing to a Week 2 game against the Tennessee Titans, when Stafford shook off an interception and led the Rams to victory. “Just to rally a team and continue to lead at a high level when things don’t go your way, I think that’s what really shows what an MVP is like.”

Stafford’s success harks to 2021, when he passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title. He is on pace for an even more impressive statistical finish.

“The heater that he’s on, it’s elevating everybody else’s play,” Nacua said, “and we’re continuing to jump on that bandwagon with him and let him take us as far as he can.”

If Stafford continues his stellar play the Rams could find themselves right back here at Levi’s Stadium.

For Super Bowl LX.

Don’t start planning any parades just yet. Hold off on those February plans to travel to Santa Clara.

The Rams still have a long way to go make the playoffs and try to advance to the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium.

Their 34-10 victory Sunday over the struggling New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium was no revelation or landmark win. But the Rams did something important. Something championship-caliber teams are supposed to do: They convincingly dispatched of a weaker opponent before 72,055.

Matthew Stafford passed for four touchdowns, receiver Puka Nacua returned from an ankle injury in spectacular fashion, and the defense dominated again as the Rams won their third game in a row, improved to 6-2 and showed that the Dodgers might not be the only L.A. team hoisting a championship trophy.

“We’ll see if we can continue to do some good stuff like they did,” coach Sean McVay said of the World Series champions.

The Rams’ victory put them atop the NFC West heading into next Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

“I like the fact that we’re getting better,” McVay said, adding, “There’s just a good vibe.”

On most fronts, anyway.

The Rams’ first victory over an NFC opponent did not come against the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles or the rival 49ers, teams the Rams lost to in part because of kicking-game disasters.

Rams coach Sean McVay watches from the sideline during the first half Sunday against the Saints.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

And those issues remain: Joshua Karty missed a field goal and an extra point.

So McVay’s patience with the kicking game is wearing thin. And no team will win a title without a competent one.

McVay once again said he had confidence in Karty, but that was after he said “it can’t continue like this … it’s gone on for too long,” and “it’s not getting better,” among other things.

Can the Rams be a championship team without an adequate placekicking unit?

“No,” McVay said. “It’s going to cost us — it’s cost us already. It’s been a momentum killer. … The harsh truth of it is this is not sustainable.”

But if the Rams solve the kicking issue and stay healthy — Nacua said he would play against the 49ers after leaving the game in the second half because of a chest injury — and McVay can keep his team focused against division opponents and other playoff contenders, the Rams might earn their own parade.

Stafford is positioning himself to lead one.

Already a fixture on NFL career passing lists, the 17th-year pro is enjoying another sensational season.

As he did in 2021, when he passed for 41 touchdowns and led the Rams to a Super Bowl title, Stafford is playing at a level that should have him in the most-valuable-player discussion.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes in front of Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan during the first quarter Sunday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

On Sunday his two touchdown passes to Davante Adams and one each to Nacua and tight end Tyler Higbee increased Stafford’s season total to 21, with only two interceptions.

Stafford, who passed for five touchdowns in an Oct. 19 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars, completed 24 of 32 passes for 281 yards and extended to five his streak of games without an interception.

Stafford’s wife and their daughters attended the game wearing No. 22 Dodgers jerseys, a salute to retiring pitcher Clayton Kershaw, Stafford’s high school teammate.

Now Stafford is chasing a second Super Bowl title.

“It’s not like we’ve got it all figured out,” he said, adding, “Got to keep continuing to find ways to put more points on the board.”

Nacua sat out against the Jaguars because of an ankle injury. But he said in the days leading up to the game that he was “feeling fantastic.”

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, left, celebrates with wide receiver Davante Adams after catching a touchdown pass in the second quarter Sunday against the Saints.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

He looked like it at the outset, making two catches for first downs to start a drive that ended with Stafford’s touchdown pass to Higbee. The veteran tight end, in an apparent salute to the Dodgers, celebrated by taking an imaginary swing and then doing their post-hit celebration.

Adams then followed his breakout three-touchdown performance against the Jaguars with the first of two more red-zone touchdowns. The 12th-year pro is tied for eighth all time with 111 touchdown catches.

Early in the second quarter, Stafford and Nacua went for the home run, connecting on a 39-yard pass that Nacua hauled in for a touchdown and a 20-3 lead.

Stafford’s short strike to Adams in the third quarter put the game out of reach, and Kyren Williams’ short touchdown run early in the fourth quarter provided the finishing touch.

Williams rushed for 114 yards and Blake Corum ran for 58 on a day when the Rams once again utilized all four tight ends in the pass and run attacks.

Meanwhile, the Rams defense made it rough on Saints rookie quarterback Tyler Shough in his first start.

Several Rams defensive players tackle Saints quarterback Tyler Shough in the second quarter of the Rams’ 34-10 win Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Lineman Braden Fiske got his first sack of the season, linebacker Nate Landman forced another fumble, and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. intercepted his first pass as a Ram.

“We’re growing at a great rate,” Landman said, “and we’re going to peak at the right time.”

The game against the Saints was the start of a stretch that includes two home games after the 49ers. Only two remaining nine games — a late November trip to play the Carolina Panthers and a late December trip to play the Atlanta Falcons — will require the Rams to travel farther east than Arizona.

A lot can happen between now and the start of the playoffs. But the Rams look like the Super Bowl contender they were built to be.