Cal Football in the NFL, week 11: Rams, Goff Win Shootout on Monday Night
With Cal football getting an unexpected bye week, focus turned to Golden Bears in the NFL where one shined the brightest on Monday night.
On Monday night, the Chiefs and Rams engaged in one of the best football games you’ll ever see. They combined for 105 points, making it the highest-scoring Monday night game in history and third-highest-scoring game ever. In the end, it was the Rams and their quarterback (and former Cal football star) Jared Goff that stood tall, having finished one of the finest games of his NFL career.
The third-year quarterback finished the day with 413 yards on 31-of-49 passing, including four touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown, his first rushing score of the season and his third in his three seasons. Goff set career-highs in completions and attempts, and it was his second-most prolific yardage day. He’s gone over 300 yards 12 times in his career, and over 400 yards twice now. It was also his fourth game of at least four touchdowns.
Goff threw the most important touchdown of the night, the final one. With the Rams down by four points and about three minutes on the clock, Goff led the Rams down the field and finished the drive with his fifth total touchdown of the night. He hit tight end Gerald Everett down the right side of the field for a 40-yard scoring strike, with Everett doing a nice tightrope walk along the sideline to score.
Goff has reached 59 touchdowns in his career, tying him for eighth-most in Rams’ franchise history. He’s matched Sam Bradford’s total with the Rams, despite having played 16 fewer games with the team. He was the winning quarterback for the 21st time, also tying for eighth-most in franchise history.
Allen Climbing
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The Chargers’ six-game winning streak was snapped on Sunday at the hands of the Denver Broncos, but receiver Keenan Allen had another nice game. He caught a season-high nine passes for 89 yards, and was on the receiving end of a wide-open touchdown early in the first half. That was Allen’s 15th career game with at least nine catches, and his third straight game with at least six grabs.
Allen, who is Cal’s all-time leader in receptions, is climbing the Chargers’ franchise leaderboard for receivers. He’s up to 385 receptions, moving past Ronnie Harmon for seventh all-time. He also has 4,786 yards in his career, passing Vincent Jackson for ninth in the team’s history. Allen is up to 25 touchdowns, which ties him with Sean Dawkins for sixth among Golden Bears in the NFL.
Mr. Reliable
On the other side of the epic Monday night contest was Chiefs’ right tackle Mitchell Schwartz, who continues to be one of the most reliable and consistent players in the NFL. It marked his 107th consecutive start, and he has surpassed 7,000 consecutive snaps. Since entering the league as a second-round pick with the Cleveland Browns in 2012, Schwartz has not missed a single snap.
Around the League
Bengals linebacker Hardy Nickerson had his best day on Sunday against the Ravens, setting career-highs with 11 tackles and nine solo stops. Nickerson started for the first time since week three, and he had zero stops in his last three games before this week.
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Victory Bell Rings
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan only had one tackle in New Orleans’ blowout win against the Eagles, but it was a big one. Jordan stopped Golden Tate on an end-around, causing an eight-yard loss. It marked Jordan’s 90th career tackle for loss. He also batted a pass at the line of scrimmage, and had a hit on quarterback Carson Wentz.
Packers return specialist Trevor Davis was activated off injured reserve before Thursday night’s game, hoping to provide a boost to the Packers’ lackluster return game. He returned three punts for 31 yards, and had one kick return for 20 yards. Davis also had a 55-yard kick return that would have been the Packers’ longest of the season, but it was wiped out by a holding penalty. Davis added a solo tackle on special teams as well.
Steelers defensive end Tyson Alualu had his best day of the season against his former team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. He made a season-high seven total tackles, including six solo stops that tied for the team lead. Alualu had seven total tackles in his first eight games of the season.
DeSean Jackson caught four passes for 38 yards for the Buccaneers on Sunday. One of those receptions went for 20 yards, his 12th catch of 20-plus yards this season and the 172nd of his career. He’s had at least one of those big plays in eight of the 10 games so far this season. Jackson is up to 10,218 career receiving yards, passing Andre Rison for 45th all-time.
Next. Pro Bears, week 10. dark
Cowboys long snapper L.P. Ladouceur was on the field again on Sunday, his 215th straight regular season game dating back to his debut in 2005. He’s four games shy of tying the NFL record for most consecutive games by a long snapper. Ladouceur made the snap on Dallas’ game-winning field goal as time expired, and he’s approaching 2,000 career snaps on kicks and punts.