Los Angeles, CA (BDCi) – The Miami Dolphins scored two late touchdowns to defeat the Los Angeles Rams 14-10 on an unusual cold and rainy day in front of 83,483 at the Memorial Coliseum. The loss ruined the debut of Rams rookie quarterback and 2016 NFL draft first choice Jared Goff who threw no touchdown passes, but also had no turnovers.
“It took me a couple drives to settle in,” Goff said, adding, “But I felt good.”
The 6 foot 4 inch quarterback from Northern California who played college at the University of California Berkeley was limited by the offensive schemes the Rams’ coaching staff called for him. It was also apparent that the L.A. offensive line did not give him the time he needed to throw downfield for much of the game.
In the last 4 minutes, Miami took advantage of a failed Ram field goal and several unnecessary penalties on defense. Dolphin quarterback Ryan Tannehill found openings in the usually stingy Ram defense and moved his team down field in drives that led to passing touchdowns to Jarvis Landry and Devonte Parker respectively. After the Parker touchdown, Goff and the Los Angeles offense had 30 seconds to score a touchdown and bring sunshine on a steadily rainy day. It didn’t happen with Goff throwing a “Hail Mary” pass on the last play of the game with no Ram receiver in sight.
Without many tools provided by the Los Angeles coaching staff, Goff did well in his debut going against a very hot team in Miami who have now won 5 games in a row. The Rams defense took the blame for the events in the last 4 minutes.
“They gave us a10-0 lead,” end Robert Quinn said. “All we had to do was hold them to field goals or keep them out of the end zone. The best way to put it is we dropped the ball. It’s frustrating, we thought we had a win but I guess that’s why you play until the clock says zero.”
The Rams (4-6) travel in the next two weeks to New Orleans and New England, and then return to play Atlanta. The team that went 7-9 in 2015 in St. Louis, could very well equal those losses after this tough part of the schedule is completed, and with three more games following. For Miami (6-4), the victory pleased the thousands of Dolphin fans in the Coliseum and breathed life into their play-off chances. They host the 1-9 San Francisco Forty Niners the next week.