Matthew Stafford’s 88-yard TD pass to Tutu Atwell rallies Rams to win over Colts

Tutu Atwell appeared to be the forgotten man.

After signing a one-year, $10-million contract, he seemed to be virtually ignored while playing in the shadow of stars Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Atwell went into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts with only one target in each of the first three games.

He got only two targets against the Colts.

But the speedy Atwell made it count.

With less than two minutes left, he broke free, caught a mid-range pass from Matthew Stafford and turned it into an 88-yard touchdown that gave the Rams a 27-20 victory before 71,257 at SoFi Stadium.

Rams 27, Colts 20 — FINAL

Rams safety Kam Curl picked off a deep pass from Colts quarterback Daniel Jones intended for Michael Pittman Jr. that essentially secured the Rams’ third win of the season.

It was Curl’s second interception of the game.

Kyren Williams picked up a first down after runs of seven and four runs to secure the win.

🏈 Rams 27, Colts 20 — 1:33 left in the fourth quarter

Tutu Atwell caught an 88-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to push the Rams into the lead late in the fourth quarter.

After forcing the Colts to punt, the Stafford connected with a wide-open Tutu down the sideline on the first play of the ensuing possession.

The Colts have three timeouts left and will start from their 11-yard line.

🏈 Colts 20, Rams 20 — 3:20 left in the fourth quarter

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua caught a nine-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to help tie the game late in the fourth quarter.

Nacua has 13 catches for 170 yards against the Colts. It was his first touchdown catch of the season.

The play capped an 11-play, 83-yard drive for the Rams.

🏈 Colts 20, Rams 13 — 8:58 left in the fourth quarter

Spencer Shrader kicked a 38-yard field goal after the Colts capitalized on a Rams turnover.

The Colts got the ball at the Rams’ 17-yard line when Matthew Stafford fumbled the ball on a handoff to Kyren Williams. Cornerback Mike Hilton disrupted the handoff and defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore recovered the ball.

🏈 Colts 17, Rams 13 — 11:34 left in the fourth quarter

Colts quarterback Daniel Jones completed a two-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. to put the Colts ahead early in the fourth quarter.

The touchdown capped an 11-play, 90-yard drive that included a 23-yard reception by tight end Tyler Warren to set up the score.

🏈 Rams 13, Colts 10 — END OF THIRD QUARTER

The Rams retained their lead after getting a huge break.

Early in the third quarter, Colts quarterback Daniel Jones completed a mid-range pass to Adonai Mitchell, who slipped a tackle and appeared on his way to a 76-yard touchdown.

But Mitchell lost control of the ball at the one-yard line and fumbled, the ball traveling out of the end zone for a touchback.

The Rams, however, could not capitalize on the miscue.

🏈 Rams 13, Colts 10 — 12:33 left in the third quarter

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua left for the locker room in the third quarter after sustaining a thumb injury. He returned to the field a short time later.

Nacua sustained the injury on the Rams’ first possession of the second half.

🏈 Rams 13, Colts 10 — HALFTIME

Matthew Stafford connected with Davante Adams for a 10-yard touchdown pass with seven seconds left in the second quarter to put the Rams back in the lead.

Stafford masterfully engineered a 13-play, 96-yard scoring drive, finding Puka Nacua, tight end Tyler Higbee and Adams for key completions.

Stafford has completed 16 of 24 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown.

Nacua has seven catches for 112 yards, Adams three catches for 31 yards.

Kyren Williams has rushed for 55 yards in seven carries.

Daniel Jones has completed 10 of 14 passes for 85 yards for the Colts. Jonathan Taylor has rushed for 25 yards in five carries.

🏈 Colts 10, Rams 6 — 5:21 left in the second quarter

The Rams’ problems scoring touchdowns when they have the ball inside the 20-yard line continue.

After reaching the Colts’ 13, the Rams had to settle for Joshua Karty’s 37-yard field goal.

Matthew Stafford connected with Puka Nacua for completions of 14 and 31 yards. But the drive stalled after a holding penalty.

Stafford has completed nine of 13 passes for 78 yards. Several passes have been dropped or bounced off the hands of receivers.

🏈 Colts 10, Rams 3 — 12:17 left in the second quarter

Colts tight end Tyler Warren scored on a two-yard run on fourth down as the Colts took the lead for the first time.

The Colts got the ball at the Rams’ 45-yard line after Matthew Stafford attempted to sneak for a first down for the Rams. Officials initially ruled that Stafford had gained the necessary yard, but the Colts challenged the call and it was reversed on review.

Daniel Jones has completed seven of nine passes for 71 yards. Jonathan Taylor has rushed for 19 yards in four carries.

🏈 Rams 3, Colts 3 — 4:55 left in the first quarter

Spencer Shrader tied the score with a 52-yard field goal for the Colts.

The Colts started their drive in good position after Anthony Gould returned a kickoff 38 yards.

Daniel Jones connected with tight end Tyler Warren for a 24-yard gain, but the drive stalled after Rams safety Kam Kinchens broke up a pass and the Colts were penalized for holding.

Jones has completed four of six passes for 50 yards. Jonathan Taylor has one carry for five yards.

🏈 Rams 3, Colts 0 — 7:32 left in the first quarter

Joshua Karty kicked a 42-yard field goal to give the Rams the lead.

After Rams safety Kam Curl intercepted a pass by Colts quarterback Daniel Jones — Jones’ first turnover of the season — the Rams drive 57 yards in 11 plays.

The Rams reached the Colts’ 25-yard line but the drive stalled when tight end Tyler Higbee was penalized for holding.

Kyren Williams has three carries for 30 yards.

No reset necessary. No reason to make more of some rare misfires.

After 16-plus seasons, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford knows how to put less-than-efficient performances behind.

So the passes he missed in last Sunday’s defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles are not cause for concern as he prepares for Sunday’s game against the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium.

Mention Aaron Donald and nearly everyone thinks Rams, the team he spent his entire 10-year NFL career with and led to a Super Bowl championship in 2022. Donald was a three-time NFL defensive player of the year, nine-time All-Pro and is regarded as one of the greatest defensive tackles of all time.

But before Los Angeles there was Pittsburgh, where Donald grew up and where he went to college. And it is the University of Pittsburgh where Donald became an unstoppable force from 2010 to 2013, setting an NCAA record with tackles for loss by an interior lineman before the Rams plucked him as their first-round draft pick.

Here are the players who will not be suiting up for the Rams and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday:

Rams

TE Terrance Ferguson

OL Beaux Limmer

OL D.J. Humphries

DL Desjuan Johnson

QB Stetson Bennett

Colts

G Matt Goncalves

DT Eric Johnston II

QB Riley Leonard

TE Will Mallory

CB Kenny Moore II

WR Alec Pierce

OT Luke Tenuta

A few months ago, Rams safety Quentin Lake met former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Jones told Lake he got into a confident mindset by talking to himself before each bout.

“They call him ‘the baddest man on earth,’” Lake said, “so why not take that little thing of advice from him and kind of do the same thing.”

Lake, who went into this season intent on making more plays on the ball, put Jones’ advice into practice. As he prepared for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium, Lake was achieving his goal.

He is tied for second in the NFL with five pass breakups.

So what does Lake say to himself before each series?

“Telling yourself like, ‘Man you’re the best. You’re going to go out and make a play. That God has your back. You’re going to be OK. Dominate every snap,’” Lake said. “Just kind of reminding yourself that you’re at a point where you deserve to be here, and you can go out and make plays and be whatever you want to as long as you have the confidence.”

Lake, a team captain, played every snap of every game last season until coaches held him and other starters out of the season finale to rest for the playoffs.

The fourth-year pro has excelled as a nickel back and hybrid linebacker, but he remains in search of his first interception.

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On Sunday, Lake and the Rams’ defense will try to neutralize Colts quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Jonathan Taylor.

“If you just watch the way that he plays snap in and snap out, this guy’s a dog,” coach Sean McVay said of Lake. “He has such a great way about being able to lead his teammates. He’s so damn smart. He’s so tough. ... He’s a complete football player.”

But Lake is not satisfied.

“Can you make splash plays — game-defining plays?” Lake said. “That’s the goal. That’s the one thing I want to take my game to the next level.”

After the third game of his rookie season in 2024, Joshua Karty could not have felt better.

His field goal in the final seconds gave the Rams a victory over the rival San Francisco 49ers.

A year later, Karty felt different going into Week 4.

Last Sunday, his potential winning field-goal attempt against the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles was blocked and returned for a touchdown.

“I’m honestly never going to forget that moment my whole life,” Karty said. “But I will say I’ll learn from it, practice getting better and do my part to try and make kicks.”

Karty has made six of eight field-goal attempts, including his first four against the Eagles last Sunday in Philadelphia. But the Eagles blocked his next two attempts.

On Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium, Karty will attempt to regain his rhythm for field-goal and extra-point attempts.

And continue his success on kickoffs.

The NFL tweaked kickoff rules this season, awarding the receiving team the ball at the 35-yard line after a touchback.

Karty then began working on a technique that would cause problems for kick returners.

“I’m just going out and I’m trying to hit a knuckleball,” he said, pointing to the trouble Eagles players experienced attempting to field his kicks. “If I do everything I can to hit a great ball, and I get a little fortunate with the bounces, there’s nothing the returner should be able to do.

“But you have to rely on a little bit of luck.”

Karty began experimenting during offseason workouts, trying 10 different styles, he said. Some he scrapped immediately because it was clear it would not be effective.

“But this one I tried and it worked,” he said.

Karty arrived at his formula for success by thinking back on his worst kicks in high school and at Stanford.

“Whenever I would shank a kickoff, what was that feeling?” he said. “So I would try to replicate that and I was able to find something that worked.”

Eagles kick returners struggled mightily to handle Karty’s knuckleball kickoffs.

“Josh has been a real weapon being able to hit some of those liners or those squibs, however you want to really be able to look at it,” coach Sean McVay said, adding, “The field position was a big advantage for us the majority of the day because of that.”

Tutu Atwell exhibited patience ever since the Rams chose him in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft.

An injury ended his rookie season, but in the next three the speedy receiver never had more than 67 targets.

So it was somewhat surprising that in March, a few days before the Rams agreed to terms with star free-agent receiver Davante Adams, Atwell accepted a one-year, $10-million contract to remain with the team.

Through three games, quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown 93 passes. Puka Nacua has a team-best 35 targets, Adams 29.

Atwell has been targeted only once in each game. He has one catch for four yards going into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Atwell remains patient.

“Just waiting my turn — waiting for my number to be called,” he said. “When my number’s called, and things come to me, I know I’ll make it. Just needing to do what I need to do to help us win.”

During the previous three seasons, coach Sean McVay repeatedly said that getting Atwell more involved as a pass catcher was a priority.

McVay said this week that he was impressed by how Atwell has handled the situation.

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“I love Tutu,” McVay said. “I think a lot of stuff is made of just trying to maximize guys and there’s only one football.

“I appreciate the heck out of the way that he’s approached it. ... I want to try to be able to figure out a way to get him involved. It still is about moving the ball, scoring points and those are the things that I’m the most interested in while still taking advantage of guys’ skill sets.”

Offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said the stat sheet does not tell the whole story regarding Atwell.

“He’s been extremely valuable in other ways right now and in the pass game because of the threat that he poses,” LaFleur said, adding. “There’s a long way to go. ... His time is going to come. I don’t know when, but it will come.”

Puka Nacua has a short but impressive history playing against the Indianapolis Colts.

In 2023, in his fourth NFL game, Nacua caught nine passes for 163 yards, including a 22-yard touchdown catch in overtime that gave the Rams a 29-23 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.

It was Nacua’s first touchdown, and one of the highlights of his record-setting rookie season.

“Everybody remembers their first one,” Nacua said.

On Sunday, the Rams play host to the unbeaten Colts at SoFi Stadium.

Nacua has 29 catches and is averaging 111 yards receiving per game, both league bests. He has rushed for a touchdown, but is still looking for his first touchdown catch.

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It will be hard to match the first of his career.

Nacua said he recalled “just being like, ‘holy cow,’” as he ran his route toward the end zone and saw quarterback Matthew Stafford firing the ball his way.

“I put my foot in the ground and there was nobody in there and this ball is coming right to me,” said Nacua, who caught the ball at the eight-yard line. “I was like, ‘Man, I have to find a way in the end zone.’’

The immediate aftermath was just as exciting.

“Everybody’s screaming, everybody’s slapping my head up and I’m screaming,” Nacua said. “Then seeing the postgame clip of [the play], I just launched my first touchdown as far as I could.

“Luckily I got that ball back.”

Rams star receiver Davante Adams is dealing with a hamstring injury and receiver Puka Nacua was given a rest day Friday, but both are expected to play on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium.

Adams, 32, did not practice Wednesday or Thursday and was scheduled to be limited Friday.

The Rams play the Colts and then play the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium on Thursday night.

The NFL always provides surprises.

Who could have predicted the Rams would lose to the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles when the Eagles blocked a potential winning field-goal attempt on the final play and returned it for a touchdown?

Now the Rams face something else completely unexpected: The unbeaten Indianapolis Colts.