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From Gary Klein: The Rams gave away Sean McVay bobbleheads to season-ticket holders Sunday.
The figurines, outfitted with a headset, five o’clock shadow and McVay’s trademark hair spike, could be made to nod up and down, and side to side.
But only the real-life McVay — and his supposedly undermanned team — felt the head-spinning reality of a 27-24 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium.
“Lot of guts,” McVay said. “Lot of grit.”
With another 49ers heavy crowd invading a stadium the San Francisco faithful have dubbed Levi’s South, the Rams sent the 49ers back to Northern California with a second consecutive defeat.
Rams running back Kyren Williams scored three touchdowns, quarterback Matthew Stafford engineered two late scoring drives and rookie Joshua Karty kicked the game-winning field goal with two seconds left to complete a dramatic comeback that improved the Rams’ record to 1-2.
Perhaps more importantly, the Rams avoided falling to a postseason-killing 0-3, a hole the organization has not occupied since 2011, when the St. Louis Rams started 0-6 en route to a 2-14 finish.
“These are the games where you bring just a little more juice,” said Williams, who rushed for two touchdowns and somersaulted into the end zone to complete a touchdown pass play. “These are the games you can’t wait to play, when everybody is doubting you and everybody’s, ‘There’s no way the Rams are going to win. The Rams are going to start 0-3 this season.’
“Like Nah. we’re not listening to that stuff.”
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Kyren Williams flips an NFC West rivalry on its head in three-touchdown game for Rams
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CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: He played through fractured rib cartilage two years ago; a broken left finger last year. But Justin Herbert couldn’t play through this.
The Chargers’ dream start chipped away into a nightmare as their star quarterback re-aggravated a right ankle injury in a 20-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (3-0) on Sunday in front of 66,734 at Acrisure Stadium.
Testing their undefeated record against their first playoff opponent from the previous season, the Chargers (2-1) left Pittsburgh battered and bruised with key injuries on both sides of the ball.
“Not every game’s gonna be a fairy tale ending,” coach Jim Harbaugh said.
Worse than losing a glass slipper, the Chargers gained a walking boot. Herbert left the arena with his right foot in a gray protective boot after getting sacked twice while throwing for 125 yards and one touchdown on 12 of 18 passing before Taylor Heinicke entered in relief.
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Mookie Betts swears he didn’t mean to look at the scoreboard Sunday afternoon.
But when he did, it crystalized the urgent situation the Dodgers found themselves in.
Late in Sunday’s game against the lowly Colorado Rockies, the Dodgers were trailing and in danger of dropping two of three to the National League West’s worst team.
Meanwhile, the NL West’s second-place team, the San Diego Padres, were in the process of completing a series sweep over the historically bad Chicago White Sox, a result that caught Betts’ eye on the out-of-town scoreboard along the right-field wall.
“I didn’t mean to look at it,” Betts said. “But they won. And we needed to win a game there.”
So, win a game Betts and the Dodgers did.
After trailing by four runs entering the seventh, and one run entering the ninth, the Dodgers side-stepped disaster and inched closer to an NL West division title, with Shohei Ohtani and Betts hitting back-to-back home runs in the ninth inning for a walk-off 6-5 win at Dodger Stadium.
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ANGELS
Zach Neto hit two home runs and drove in six, and the Angels came from behind twice to beat the Houston Astros 9-8 on Sunday.
The Angels trailed 4-0 in the sixth before scoring two runs in back-to-back innings, and then took the lead in the eighth on a solo shot from Neto. The Astros responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning before the Angels had a four-run ninth.
Leading 9-6, Jose Quijada gave up a pair of RBI singles to Yainer Diaz and Victor Caratini, making it a one-run game. The Angels called on Guillo Zuniga to close it out. He struck out Jeremy Pena with the tying run on third base. It was Zuniga’s second save of the season. Brock Burke (2-1) got the win.
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SATURDAY’S UCLA GAME
From Ben Bolch: Was it a step forward or another stride to nowhere? Depends on one’s perspective.
Some might see UCLA’s 34-17 loss to No. 16 Louisiana State on Saturday as a reprieve, a setback that felt like a sign of something better to come. The team showed sustained fight one week after being knocked flat. The offense scored multiple touchdowns for the first time this season. A shorthanded defense kept things competitive despite failing to mount any semblance of a pass rush.
Others could question whether incremental improvement is enough in an era when coaches make millions, some players pocket CEO money and fans are asked to keep funding the whole operation, win or lose. UCLA was shut out in the second half by one of the weaker defenses it might face this season and is averaging 15.3 points per game, ranking No. 124 among 133 major college teams.
At some point, it’s indisputable that the Bruins (1-2) are going to need a breakthrough beyond moral victories to have something to sell to recruits and build donor support for the name, image and likeness funds needed to import high-level transfers.
Here are four takeaways from a loss that gave some hope and sunk others further into despair:
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SATURDAY’S USC GAME
From Dylan Hernández: USC played a team that passed for 32 yards.
Not on one play.
In the entire game.
Coach Lincoln Riley described the 27-24 loss to Michigan on Saturday as a game his team could have won, saying, “We came up one play short.”
In truth, this was a game the Trojans should have won.
This was a game in which the defending national champion Wolverines were booed in their own stadium. This was a game in which USC had the ball and a four-point lead in the last five minutes against an opponent that hadn’t scored in any of its last six drives.
In their two previous games, the Trojans played as if the days of them beating themselves were behind them, but the perception ignored a critical detail.
They were still coached by Riley.
As dynamic as his offenses can be, as much as new coordinator D’Anton Lynn has improved his once-porous defense, Riley hasn’t proven he can remain level-headed in games of this magnitude.
USC’s first Big Ten game offered another example.
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WNBA PLAYOFFS
First round
All times Pacific
No. 1 New York (32-8) vs. No. 8 Atlanta (15-25)
Game 1: at New York 83, Atlanta 69
Tuesday at New York, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday at Atlanta, TBD, ESPN2
No. 2 Minnesota (30-10) vs. No. 7 Phoenix (19-21)
Game 1: at Minnesota 102, Phoenix 95
Wed. at Minnesota, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
*Friday at Phoenix, TBD, ESPN2
No. 3 Connecticut (28-12) vs. No. 6 Indiana (20-20)
Game 1: at Connecticut 93, Indiana 69
Wed. at Connecticut, 4:30 p.m., ESPN
*Friday at Indiana, TBD, ESPN2
No. 4 Las Vegas (27-13) vs. No. 5 Seattle (25-15)
Game 1: at Las Vegas
Tuesday at Las Vegas, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday at Seattle, TBD, ESPN2
*-if necessary
SIGN UP FOR OUR USC SPORTS NEWSLETTER
Hey folks, we have a new sports newsletter you can subscribe to: The Times of Troy, which is all about USC sports. Ryan Kartje, our USC reporter, will be writing it, and he describes it like so:
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THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1926 — Gene Tunney beats Jack Dempsey with a 10-round decision to retain the world heavyweight title.
1952 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to retain the world heavyweight title.
1979 — St. Louis’ Lou Brock steals his 938th base to break Billy Hamilton’s record as the Cardinals beat New York Mets 7-4 in 10 innings.
1983 — Gerry Coetzee knocks out Michael Dokes in the 10th round to win the WBA heavyweight title in Richfield, Ohio.
1988 — Jose Canseco is the first player to steal 40 base and hit 40 home runs in the same season.
1992 — Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play in one of the four major pro sports leagues when she takes the ice in the first period for the NHL expansion Tampa Bay Lightning in an exhibition game. The 20-year-old goalie faces nine shots and allows two goals in St. Louis’ 6-4 victory.
2000 — Ben Matthews ties an NCAA record with five interceptions as Bethel beat Gustavus 14-13. Matthews ties the all-division record shared by eight players.
2012 — The Tennessee Titans become the first team in NFL history to score five touchdowns of at least 60 yards in a game in their 44-41 overtime win over Detroit. The scorers are Tommie Campbell with a 65-yard punt-return; Jared Cook’s 61-yard reception from Jake Locker; Darius Reynaud’s 105-yard kick-return; Nate Washington’s 71-yard reception from Locker; and Alterraun Verner’s 72-yard fumble-return. The Lions also become the first team in NFL history to score two touchdowns in the final 18 seconds of regulation to either take the lead or force overtime.
2017 — The St. John’s-St. Thomas rivalry game obliterates the NCAA Division III attendance record with a crowd of 37,355. The Tommies use a stingy defense to hang on for a 20-17 win over the Johnnies at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. The previous mark was set on Oct. 8, 2016, with 17,535 fans watching Wisconsin-Oshkosh play at Wisconsin-Whitewater.
2017 — Juwan Johnson catches a seven-yard TD pass as time expires and fourth-ranked Penn State rallies to stun Iowa 21-19 in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Saquon Barkley has 211 yards rushing and 94 yards receiving for the Nittany Lions, who outgain Iowa 579-273 but nearly blew the game. With the Hawkeyes leading 19-15, Penn State goes 80 yards on 12 plays to close out the game, and Trace McSorley finds Johnson in a crowded end zone on fourth down.
2018 — Tiger Woods caps off one of the most remarkable comebacks in golf history. Woods ends his comeback season with a dominant victory at the Tour Championship. He taps in for par and a 1-over 71 for a two-shot victory over Billy Horschel. It’s the 80th victory of his PGA Tour career and his first in more than five years.
2018 — Drew Brees sets the NFL record for career completions while passing for 396 yards and three touchdowns and running for two scores to lift New Orleans past Atlanta 43-37 in overtime. Brees breaks the record of 6,300 career completions set by Brett Favre.
2022 — St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hits two home runs in win over Dodgers in L.A. to become fourth player in MLB history to hit 700 career HRs.
2022 — Tennis great Roger Federer plays his final pro match during Laver Cup in London; teams with friend and rival Rafael Nadal but loses 6–4, 6–7 (9–11) to Americans Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
