Rams’ Benny Cunningham has score to settle, mentally, despite having a productive game against the Jets

The Rams’ longest run of the season belongs not to Todd Gurley, a former first-round pick who was the 2015 NFL offensive rookie of the year, but to backup running back Benny Cunningham, who signed as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee in 2013.

It came in the first quarter Sunday when Cunningham took a pitch from quarterback Case Keenum, found an opening around the right side and raced 24 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the New York Jets’ one-yard line.

The run set up the first of three Greg Zuerlein field goals that gave the Rams a 9-6 victory in MetLife Stadium, but Cunningham said he will remember it more for the final 36 inches he was unable to cover. Had he reached the end zone, Cunningham would have scored his first NFL rushing touchdown in two years.

“Man, that one is going to haunt me for probably the rest of my life,” Cunningham said. “I thought I got in there, but I was pushed out at the one. I’m probably gonna have some nightmares about that one. I’m sure I’ll get ripped by my coaches on Monday.”

Probably not. Cunningham had a solid game, rushing six times for 40 yards. He converted two third-down plays in the third-quarter drive that ended with Zuerlein’s second field goal and a 6-6 tie — rushing four yards on a read-option that gave the Rams a first down at the Jets’ 43-yard line and catching a pass on a quick slant for a six-yard gain that gave the Rams a first down on the Jets’ 26-yard line.

But the Rams failed to score a touchdown despite three trips into the red zone, and they have scored only two offensive touchdowns in their last 12 quarters.

“Execution,” Cunningham said, when asked what it was going to take for the Rams to score more consistently. “There are certain times throughout the game, whether it’s one guy who didn’t get a call, one guy who didn’t block the right person, one guy who didn’t run the right route, a running back who didn’t make the right cut … we just have to get on the same page and get going.”

Cunningham took some solace in the fact that the Rams were at least able to snap their four-game losing streak.

“This is a hard league to win games in, so any time you win, it’s definitely a good feeling, knowing the work you put in during the week,” Cunningham said. “But as an offense, we have to continue to have a chip on our shoulder. We can definitely improve. We know what we’re gonna get from the defense every Sunday, so if we can put this thing together, we can get on a run.”