The Los Angeles Rams have survived an incredible comeback attempt by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning via a last-second field goal after a wild fourth quarter.
It was 27-3 early in the second half before the Rams began to sputter, turning the ball over multiple times as Tom Brady engineered several touchdown drives, ending with a Leonard Fournette touchdown with 42 seconds to play.
There was a sense of inevitability about it all as the Rams fumbled, missed a field goal, punted, and fumbled again on four straight drives – the last of which allowing that equalising score.
LIVE UPDATES: Barty trait crushing her Australian Open rivals
READ MORE: Kyrgios, Kokkinakis reveal details of locker room fight
READ MORE: Legend’s brutal serve for world No.3’s lame exit
So when they got the ball back with one timeout left and less than a minute to play, most would have assumed the game would end up in overtime, with the home side coming out on top.
Instead, quarterback Matt Stafford found his favourite target, Cooper Kupp for 20 and 44 yard completions on back-to-back plays, allowing kicker Matt Gay to knock through a short field goal as time expired.
So far, all three games this weekend have ended with last-second kicks.
It’s the end of Tampa Bay’s bid of going back-to-back, and once again a cloud hangs over Brady’s career – the 44-year-old has clearly shown he can still play, but reports are that some within the organisation are bracing for number 12’s retirement.
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1485211693395369984
The Rams are now one game away from hosting a Super Bowl in their home stadium – and incredibly, would be the second consecutive team to do after the Buccaneers last year, despite it never happening before that in the previous 54 versions of the big game.
Los Angeles will host San Francisco, while Cincinatti will travel to either Buffalo or Kansas City in the AFC.
https://twitter.com/Danny_Heifetz/status/1485393895630462977https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1485398002453864449https://twitter.com/rodger/status/1485393374874066953
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!