DENVER — It was a tale of two nights for the Rams' top wide receivers, Davante Adams and Konata Mumpfield, on Sunday Night Football against the Broncos. Adams was reliable all night long in a star-studded matchup with Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II, and Mumpfield shined in the huge moment.
The highly anticipated 1-on-1 matchup heading into the game lived up to the hype. Adams and Surtain lined up opposite each other 57 times, per Next Gen Stats, and were in a battle all night long.
Adams hauled in the ball seven times on 13 targets for 137 yards and was brought down by Surtain on four of those receptions. He had a team-leading 71 receiving yards in the first half, the most yards Surtain has allowed in a half in coverage in his career, per Next Gen Stats. Then in the second half, Adams caught one pass on five targets for 6 yards with Surtain in coverage, but added a 60 yards in the fourth quarter against other players, including a 49-yard reception that led to a Rams touchdown at the end of the drive.
Adams ended with the most receiving yards on the team for a second-consecutive week with wide receiver Puka Nacua (hip) also missing a second-consecutive game.
Although Adams impacted the game all night long with a completion in every quarter and multiple explosive plays, six of his receptions going for 10-or-more yards and three for 20-of-more yards, he understand's there are "no moral victories."
"There's a lot that we can take from a game like this and feel good about, but there's no moral victories," Adams said postgame. "So we're definitely disappointed to not finish it out, but just got to get back to what we do."
Stepping up as a true second option for Stafford when he needed it most was Mumpfield.
Mumpfield finished with four receptions, three of them at a time the Rams needed it the most. After three targets and only one reception for 15 yards in the first half, Mumpfield turned things around on a crucial fourth quarter drive late in the game.
"I thought (Adams) was great. ... I thought Konata did the same," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "Obviously (Konata) had some plays he wanted back early in the game, but just continued to believe in him and go to him, and he made some plays for us there late."
The Rams found themselves down 23-19 with 4:43 left in the game. Stafford was sacked for a loss of a yard on first down. But then on three-straight passes, Stafford found Mumpfield for 21, 9 and 48 yards receptions — the final a touchdown to retake the lead with 3:38 remaining.
Mumpfield ran an out route and a comeback route on the same side of the field for the first two receptions before turning it upfield for the touchdown completion to take back the lead, 26-23.
"We kind of got into a hurry-up offense where we stayed on same side, ran a couple of outs, and so we kind of played off of it, and then ran the out and up, which (Stafford) gave me a great ball, it's a great play call and we were able to execute on it," Mumpfield said recalling the three receptions.
A tale of two stories for Adams and Mumpfield, both impacted the game when the Rams needed it most. Adams was the consistent motor of the passing game, shining in his matchup with Surtain. And Mumpfield had three back-to-back-to-back receptions that completely turned the game back around after Stafford threw a pick-six on the previous drive.
When all was said and done, though, the efforts of Adams and Mumpfield just weren't enough for the Rams to claim a Sunday Night Football win. But with Nacua absent, they both gave Stafford a reliable target in crucial moments.
