The utter improbability of what Baker Mayfield did for the Los Angeles Rams and Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday evening actually can’t be overstated. The Rams signed Mayfield on Tuesday to bolster their battered quarterback room, and as losers of six straight video games, you would not anticipate them to drive 98 yards down the sphere, with no timeouts, in a hostile setting (SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles was full of Raiders followers), and that includes a quarterback who had a observe along with his new staff to journey that distance to win the sport.
However after all, that is precisely what occurred. Raiders punter AJ Cole III put the Rams on their very own 2-yard line with two minutes remaining within the recreation, up 16-10, and that was it, for all intents and functions.
Besides it wasn’t. Mayfield was helped alongside the way in which by a pair of Raiders penalties: a go interference that negated an interception and unsportsmanlike conduct that put the Rams in good stead after a sack, however it was what the Raiders did within the closing play of that drive that gave Mayfield and the Rams one of many best comebacks in NFL historical past.
With 15 seconds remaining and the ball on the Las Vegas 23-yard line, the Raiders, for some cause, lined up in press protection with just one security cease. Receiver Van Jefferson was working the fade path to the left facet of the sphere, and the protection gave Jefferson a one-on-one with cornerback Sam Webb.
This was the end result.
Baker Mayfield:
8 performs
98 yardsRecreation successful TD. pic.twitter.com/pzZvYvrd7I
— John Ellis (@1PantherPlace) December 9, 2022
The pitch was on the cash, the catch was wonderful, and even when the Raiders dropped a second deep, it went to midfield, which made no distinction.
“To be sincere with you, I used to be fully stunned that they lined up within the press protection with 15 seconds left on the clock,” Mayfield informed the Amazon.com postgame staff. “I actually thought they have been going to attempt to bounce in and play within the zone, however I noticed that the weakside security acquired down, and Van is a good go-ball rusher to come back up and catch him. He received from the start and he did job”.
We guess Mayfield wasn’t the one one stunned by that protection. Nevertheless it was sufficient to provide him a second in his profession that he’ll always remember.