Tavon Austin, Todd Gurley lead Rams past Buccaneers, 31-23

Rams players saw the signs, heard the chanting, noticed the volume was turned up. The effort was inspired on what could have been the final home game for the franchise in St. Louis.

“It was a great atmosphere,” quarterback Case Keenum said after the Rams beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 31-23, on Thursday.

Tavon Austin scored twice, Todd Gurley topped 1,000 yards rushing, and Keenum threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter. The 31st-ranked offense rolled to a 21-3 halftime lead.

“It was just great for them to come out and show the support tonight and it was a beautiful thing,” defensive end William Hayes said. “We haven’t been putting the best product on the field the whole year.”

Fans chanted “Keep Our Rams! Keep Our Rams!” and carried signs, one of them reading “We Don’t Need Kroenke, We Just Want our Rams.”

Owner Stan Kroenke, who wants to move the Rams (6-8) to Los Angeles, attended the finale but kept a low profile.

The team announced 51,295 tickets had been distributed for the 66,000-capacity dome.

Jameis Winston finished with a career-best 363 yards passing, his first 300-yard effort, for Tampa Bay (6-8).

“The first half, I didn’t play good enough for us to win,” he said. “We were protecting good enough, I just have to make the throws.”

Austin is the first player since Gale Sayers in 1965 to score at least four rushing touchdowns, five receiving touchdowns and one touchdown on a punt return in a season. He leads the Rams with 10 total touchdowns.

Several stars from the 1999 Super Bowl championship team attended the possible St. Louis finale, including Orlando Pace, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, plus Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk from the NFL Network.