Rams 24-10 Bengals: Cooper Kupp shines as Los Angeles overcome winless Cincinnati in NFL London tie at Wembley

Star of the show: Cooper Kupp was in excellent form as the Rams won at Wembley
Getty Images
George Flood28 October 2019

Cooper Kupp lit up Wembley Stadium as the Los Angeles Rams defeated the winless Cincinnati Bengals 24-10 in the latest NFL London contest.

The speedy wide receiver - deservedly named as man of the match - tallied 220 yards on seven receptions while scoring off a remarkable trick play to help the Rams clinch a second consecutive win as they enter their post-trip bye week at 5-3 in the highly-competitive NFC West division.

The Bengals were competitive for large stretches, but their execution was once again lacking in key moments on both sides of the ball and first-year head coach Zac Taylor was unable to utilise his inside knowledge as an ex-Sean McVay assistant in LA as AFC North basement-dwellers Cincinnati fell to 0-8 on the season.

The Rams’ first play of the game after a stalled opening Bengals drive went for 32 yards thanks to Robert Woods’ determined catch-and-run, but fellow wide receiver Brandin Cooks had to be quickly evaluated for a concussion after being hit hard by safety Jessie Bates III as he attempted to make a big play over the middle.

LA were moving the ball with ease as quarterback Jared Goff utilised his favourite attacking option in Kupp, though their offense sputtered on their first redzone trip after an overthrow to Josh Reynolds - filling in efficiently for Cooks, as he did last season - on third-and-goal from the Cincinnati five-yard line.

Getty Images

Kicker Greg ‘The Leg’ Zuerlein made no mistake with a short-range field-goal attempt from 23 yards.

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton showed a spirited response to that narrow early deficit, moving the chains nicely with the help of Tylers Eifert and Boyd.

However, he was then sacked by a combination of Dante Fowler and Michael Brockers, while a false start penalty also worked against Cincinnati as they too were forced to settle for a field goal. Randy Bullock connected from 28 yards to begin the second quarter.

A positive Goff - who answered his critics as the Rams ended a three-game losing streak in Atlanta last weekend - continued to fire over the middle to the speedy Kupp, who made catches of 32 and 23 yards in quick succession to help tee up the game’s first touchdown, with Reynolds making the 31-yard catch to extend the lead to 10-3.

Despite having the AFC’s leading rusher in Joe Mixon in 2018, the Bengals’ rushing offense has been almost historically bad so far this term, though the former Oklahoma star - who carried 10 times for just two yards during the loss to Jacksonville in Week 7 - began to show signs of life with some hard running that worked in tandem with the pass-catching of change-of-pace team-mate Giovani Bernard.

Dalton connected with C. J. Uzomah at the Rams’ 11-yard line and a roughing the passer call on Brockers then saw Cincinnati set up first-and-goal at the three.

Mixon gained two extra yards on the run before Dalton rolled to his right and picked out his running back for the easy one-yard passing score.

Getty Images

The scores weren’t level for long as LA needed just three plays to regain their advantage.

After a first-down pass to tight end Gerald Everett, the Rams’ inventive double-reverse flea flicker worked to perfection as the electric Kupp took advantage of a crucial slip from cornerback BW Webb to sprint home from all of 65 yards.

In response, Dalton leaned on receiver Alex Erickson, wiping out the damage inflicted by an offensive holding penalty to fire a 19-yard pass to Auden Tate before successive incompletions were followed by a timely third-down sack from Fowler that forced a punt.

Leading 17-10 at half-time, the Rams wasted little time in further underlining their authority in the third quarter.

SCOREBOARD Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 T
Los Angeles Rams 3 14 7 0 24
Cincinnati Bengals 0 10 0 0 10

Kupp was once again a central figure, bringing in another eye-catching 40-yard pass after an initial 15-yard catch to set up a three-yard touchdown run to the left from Todd Gurley, whose workload once again paled in comparison to previous seasons.

The Bengals’ next drive ground to a halt - despite sharp passes to Eifert and Boyd - as Fowler deflected a Dalton pass back into the hands of the Cincinnati quarterback.

Back-up runner Darrell Henderson and Reynolds - the latter staying strong to make a pretty 30-yard grab near midfield - continued to showcase the sheer depth of this Rams attack, but Goff was lucky not to commit the first turnover of the night when his pass to the left sideline went through the hands of Bengals safety Shawn Williams.

On the defensive side, the Rams were bringing plenty of pressure to try and thwart any hopes of a fourth-quarter comeback and second-year linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo was the next to sack Dalton before formidable tackle Aaron Donald registered his first of the game in typically emphatic fashion.

Both teams exchanged numerous punts as the game began to fizzle out, but the 83,720-strong crowd inside Wembley were then awoken by a tremendous diving catch attempt from Tate.

Getty Images

Dalton was smothered again by Okoronkwo and Cory Littleton, yet he rebounded with an 18-yard pass to Boyd.

The Bengals came within a whisker of reducing the arrears when Troy Hill thwarted Tate, and their frustration was compounded when Dalton inexplicably threw short of the sticks on fourth-and-goal at the LA six-yard line.

A heave downfield was later gathered in impressive fashion by Erickson as the seconds ticked down, but a subsequent Dalton laser was too hot for Boyd and a sprawling Tate touchdown was taken off the board as he lost control of the ball as he went to ground.

Ultimately the Rams had little trouble in seeing out a victory that follows their 33-0 rout of the Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham on their last visit to London in 2017.

The 2019 NFL London series concludes next weekend with an AFC South showdown between familiar UK tourists the Jacksonville Jaguars and Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in