-
Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer
BALTIMORE — Trailing by three points from the Baltimore Ravens‘ 18-yard line with 16 seconds remaining in regulation, the Los Angeles Rams had to take a timeout because quarterback Matthew Stafford couldn’t hear the playcall in the headset.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said “there were some issues with the headsets” on Sunday, but Stafford later clarified that it’s not that the headset went out — he just couldn’t hear the call.
“I didn’t hear him good enough,” Stafford said after the Rams’ 37-31 overtime loss. “It’s my fault. I just got to hear it a little bit better. Same play actually got us kind of twice today, just hearing it through there.”
After the Rams’ timeout, the Ravens followed with their own timeout. Stafford’s third-down pass was incomplete to wide receiver Demarcus Robinson, and the Rams kicked a 36-yard field goal to tie the game with 11 seconds remaining.
“Tough situation to be in,” Stafford said. “Find a way to try to score there at the end of the game, just to end it there would’ve been nice.”
McVay said kicker Lucas Havrisik, who had missed two field goals and an extra point in the Rams’ previous two games, “did a great job being able to make the kick.”
“We had our chances as a team and I think to be able to even have those chances, guys did a lot of good stuff,” McVay said. “But when it comes down to it, we’ll learn from it and we’ll respond the right way.”
After each team had a possession in overtime, the Ravens won the game with a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown. It was just the fourth time in NFL history that a team has scored a punt return touchdown in overtime, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
With the loss, the Rams fell to 6-7, putting them a half-game back of the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks entering the late slate on Sunday. A win on Sunday would have given the Rams a 67% chance to make the playoffs, but instead, Los Angeles’ odds fell to 35% with the loss.
Despite the loss, McVay said he loved “the way that our group competed” and that there were “a lot of great plays made, a lot of resilience, a lot of grit, a lot of guts shown by this team today.”
“We’re going to respond,” McVay said. “And it’s OK to hurt right now. That was a gut-wrenching loss. Guys put a lot out there, but we’re not going to let the Ravens beat us twice. I can promise you that.”
