Adams Outgains the Giants on Donald’s Quiet Return

Davante Adams caught eight passes for 195 yards and two scores as the Los Angeles Rams beat the New York Giants 28-6 on Monday Night Football.

Los Angeles did it at SoFi Stadium without Puka Nacua, and with Aaron Donald back for the first time in 981 days. New York lost quarterback Jaxson Dart to a left knee injury on the opening drive and never found an answer.

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— NFL (@NFL) September 22, 2026

How the Rams Scored 28 Without Nacua

Adams finished with eight catches for 195 yards on 10 targets, a 24.4-yard average, a long of 64, and two touchdowns. That was more yards than the Giants’ whole offense (182) and twice as many points as New York put on the board. It was also his 29th career game with multiple receiving touchdowns, tied for fourth most in NFL history, and the most receiving yards by any player in a game this season.

ADAMS AGAINST A FULL TEAM

• The haul: Eight catches, 195 yards, two touchdowns, 10 targets.
• The mismatch: 195 yards against 182 for the Giants, and 12 points against their 6.
• The leftover: Second-year tight end Terrance Ferguson caught six passes for 54 yards and the last score.
• The opener: Adams had three catches for 26 yards in the 7-27 loss to San Francisco on Sept. 10.

Los Angeles listed Nacua inactive with a hip injury, with Jordan Whittington (quad) and Kamren Kinchens (hamstring) also down. Myles Garrett is on injured reserve after arthroscopic knee surgery and will miss at least four games. The Giants knew the ball was going to Adams. NFL Next Gen Stats still had Tyler Nubin as the nearest defender on seven of those 10 targets for 143 yards and a touchdown.

Adams had warned against dumping the offense after Australia. “Everybody’s freaking out, which I understand,” he said last week. “We didn’t put together the greatest showing out there. But you’re a fool if you think that that’s what it’s going to look like every single week.”

Donald Played 32 Snaps and Recorded Zero Pressures

The night was sold as Donald’s return. He came out of retirement on Aug. 30, sat out the Melbourne trip, then ran out last in the introductions at SoFi and, by his own count, “did a little bit more jumping than I used to do.” Matthew Stafford said he was “so juiced” he “couldn’t control myself.”

If you didn’t get chills when he was introduced, then you’re not freaking alive.

Sean McVay, Rams coach, after the Giants game

The box score was quieter. Donald played 32 snaps (58.2 percent), with three tackles, one tackle for loss, and zero pressures per Next Gen Stats. Asked if that was a snap count, McVay said, “What do you think?” then, “You tell him to come out.” Donald called it “two panicked practices and then a game,” said he was “a little sore,” and wore a wrap on his right hand that he waved off as more of the same.

The one play that will travel was not a rush. Late in the second quarter, with the Giants at the Rams’ 3 after Jevon Holland forced and recovered a Kyren Williams fumble, Donald beat his block and dropped Najee Harris for a 3-yard loss on third-and-2. New York kicked a 24-yard field goal. The unit around him still jumped from a 35 percent pass-rush win rate in Week 1, sixth-lowest in the league that week, to 66.7 percent on Monday, tied for third-best in Week 2 and the Rams’ highest mark since Week 11 of 2022. In the first half alone they logged 10 pressures on 18 dropbacks. The attention did work the stat sheet did not.

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— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) September 22, 2026

Nine Completions Downfield After Three in Australia

Stafford went 22 of 31 for 327 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception, a 131.3 rating after a 61.2 rating in the opener. The change sat on throws of 10 or more yards, the ones that died against the 49ers.

STAFFORD ON THROWS OF 10-PLUS YARDS

McVay did not dress it up as a scheme epiphany. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn,” he said. “And sometimes you have a dumbass coach that makes travel plans that put you in a bad spot.” Stafford was sacked once. Abdul Carter got New York’s sack. Byron Young and Wesley Bailey each had one for Los Angeles.

A Catch That Was Not Aimed at the End Zone

The first score was the one that broke Adams’ Rams pattern. On second-and-14 from the Giants’ 31, Stafford threw a sidearm ball over the middle. Adams went up with two hands, came down, and ran. It was a 31-yard touchdown, 17 yards after the catch, and the first of his Rams scores that was not thrown into the end zone. Each of his 15 receiving touchdowns last season, 14 in the regular season and one in the playoffs, had been.

On the next drive he got behind the coverage on third-and-10 for 64 yards and nearly a second score before he ran out of steam. Six plays and 78 yards after that, Stafford hit Williams for a 10-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead. The 11-yard fade in the third quarter, the one that moved Stafford past Philip Rivers for sixth on the career passing-touchdown list, was the vintage ball. Ferguson finished it from the 5 with 8:57 left.

THE SCORING AT SOFI

1. First quarter, 0:19 left: Adams 31-yard pass from Stafford (Harrison Mevis kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, 5:24, Rams 7-0.
2. Second quarter, 11:13 left: Williams 10-yard pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 6 plays, 78 yards, 3:28, Rams 14-0.
3. Second quarter, 0:29 left: Dominic Zvada 24-yard field goal, 4 plays, 5 yards, 2:41, Rams 14-3.
4. Third quarter, 6:25 left: Adams 11-yard pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 7 plays, 86 yards, 3:35, Rams 21-3.
5. Third quarter, 3:54 left: Zvada 52-yard field goal, 7 plays, 18 yards, 2:32, Rams 21-6.
6. Fourth quarter, 8:57 left: Ferguson 5-yard pass from Stafford (Mevis kick), 9 plays, 64 yards, 5:36, Rams 28-6.

Mevis missed his only field-goal try and went 4-for-4 on extra points. Adams later called the night with Stafford “just a blessing.”

What Happened to Jaxson Dart?

Dart was 3 of 5 for 20 yards when it ended. On third-and-8 of the first series he threw deep for Theo Johnson, and Young and Josaiah Stewart hit him as the ball came out, Stewart’s body pushing the left knee inward. He grabbed the knee, stayed down, then walked off under his own power, into the blue tent, and later to the locker room. General manager Joe Schoen told sideline reporter Laura Rutledge at halftime, “He’s going to be OK,” and that Dart had already had X-rays. The club ruled Dart out with a knee injury at the start of the third quarter. He watched the rest in a track suit.

Coach John Harbaugh, asked after the game about a report of a sprained MCL, said, “We’ll know more tomorrow. That’s in the neighborhood of it, I would say.” He added that a Tuesday MRI would give the club “a really good feel for it,” and that avoiding “the devastating outcome” was “really good news.” Ian Rapoport said early exams pointed to a sprained MCL, X-rays were negative, and Dart is expected to miss some time.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The play: Left knee, first drive, third-and-8, hit by Young and Stewart as Dart threw for Johnson.
• The tests: X-rays at SoFi were negative; Harbaugh scheduled an MRI for Tuesday.
• The grade: Harbaugh put it in the neighborhood of a sprained MCL and said it was not the worst-case result.
• The others: Malik Nabers said his shoulder popped out and he popped it back in, then returned; Brian Burns hurt his lower left leg in the fourth quarter and turned down a cart.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• Dart’s missed time: No official week-to-week window until the MRI is read.
• Nabers and Burns: Both finished the game in some form; Week 3 status is not posted.
• Andrew Thomas: The left tackle was banged up in the fourth quarter of a game already gone.

Jameis Winston went 11 of 27 for 111 yards and a red-zone interception to Trent McDuffie. Darnell Mooney led New York with two catches for 48 yards. Nabers had one catch for 1 yard. Isaiah Likely had five for 33. Dart will not develop if that pocket keeps collapsing around him, and a defense that has to win games without him did not come close to covering Adams.

Fifty-Two Rush Yards After a 165-Yard Night

The Giants ran for 165 yards and 4.5 yards a carry in the 28-20 win over Dallas. They came west betting the same physical style would hold up against a Rams front the 49ers had just run over. It did not. New York finished with 52 rushing yards on 2.5 yards a carry. Cam Skattebo had 12 carries for 36 yards. Harris had four for 6.

WHAT FELL OFF AFTER DART LEFT

• The run: 52 yards at 2.5 a carry after 165 at 4.5 against Dallas.
• Third down: 3 of 14, with Winston heaving into coverage on the money downs.
• The backup: 11 of 27 for 111 yards and the McDuffie pick, after Dart’s 23-of-29, 230-yard, three-touchdown night in Week 1.
• The math: 182 total yards, 11 first downs, 27:25 with the ball, 3.3 yards per play.

Williams ran 12 times for 85 yards. Blake Corum had 12 for 79. Together with Stafford’s four kneel-downs that netted minus-1, that is the Rams’ 163 on the ground, 5.8 a carry. Los Angeles put up 481 total yards to New York’s 182, 23 first downs to 11, and held the ball 32:35. Holland still took the ball away twice, an interception of Stafford and the fumble at the 11, and the Giants turned both into three points.

Sunday Night in Denver, With the Same Holes

Both clubs sit at 1-1. The Rams go to Denver on Sunday, Sept. 27, at 8:20 p.m. ET, still without a timetable for Nacua and with Garrett on injured reserve. The Giants host the Tennessee Titans at 1 p.m. ET and will spend Tuesday reading Dart’s MRI. Adams has 11 catches for 221 yards and two touchdowns through two games. Donald has one tackle for loss, a sore hand, and a snap count McVay will not pretend is anything else. The billed return was real. The 28-6 win over the Giants was Adams, a cold Giants huddle, and a pass rush that got louder around a man who never hit the quarterback.