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Monday 14 September 2020 11:42, UK
Malcolm Brown rushed for two touchdowns as the Los Angeles Rams opened their new $5 billion SoFi Stadium with a 20-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night.
Brown finished with 79 yards on the ground, as the team's three-headed rushing attack of Brown, Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson gained a combined 124 yards.
Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott had two touchdowns of his own, one receiving and one rushing, the second of which gave Dallas a 14-13 at half-time.
But the Cowboys were limited to just a field goal after the interval and Brown's second score down at the goal line in the third quarter proved to be the game winner.
The Cowboys had one last drive starting with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, but an offensive pass interference call on Michael Gallup negated a gain that would have put Dallas in field-goal position as they looked to at least tie the game and take it to overtime. Dallas ended up turning the ball over on downs with six seconds remaining.
The Rams' secondary had earlier made two key plays in the fourth quarter. Instead of trying for a game-tying field goal from inside of 30 yards early in the quarter, the Cowboys went for it on fourth down, but safety Jordan Fuller stopped rookie receiver CeeDee Lamb one yard short.
On the Cowboys' next possession, cornerback Jalen Ramsey - fresh from signing a new, five-year, $105m deal earlier in the week - prevented a third-down completion to Amari Cooper with just over five minutes remaining.
The Rams' offense, meanwhile, got off to a fast start to the season, going 75 yards in seven plays on the first possession of the game, with Brown scoring on a one-yard plunge up the middle.
On their second drive, Rams rookie kicker Sam Sloman missed a 29-yard field goal and the Cowboys took advantage, with Prescott picking out Elliott for a 19-yard scoring strike to level the game up.
Sloman had better luck with field goals of 35 and 31 yards in the second quarter but Elliott's rushing TD in the dying seconds of the first half had the Cowboys in front by one. But Brown, with the only touchdown of the second half, ensured a winning start for the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
Tom Brady endured a difficult debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the 43-year-old, six-time Super Bowl winner was intercepted twice in a 34-23 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Brady's pair of picks came either side of half-time, with the second of them returned 36 yards for a touchdown by Janoris Jenkins as the Saints scored 24 unanswered points in response to an early rushing TD from Brady.
Colin Kaepernick has hit out at the NFL, claiming the league are "blackballing" his former San Francisco 49ers team-mate Eric Reid, and accusing them of running "propaganda about how they care about Black Life".
Kaepernick and Reid participated in protests during the playing of the national anthem before NFL games to highlight social awareness and racial injustice in 2016.
The pair have both previously filed a grievance letter with the NFL, alleging team owners and the league colluded to prevent their employment due to the protest activities. Quarterback Kaepernick has remained unsigned since 2017, while Reid joined the Carolina Panthers in 2018, but has been a free agent since being released in March.
Shaun Gayle has called for 'tangible action' against social injustice, as the NFL Week One Sunday games featured teams remaining inside and outside the locker rooms.
"The players are sceptical and it's understandable why," Gayle said. "You have to understand this systemic racism, this police brutality. It permeates society and life in the US and here.
"When it comes down to addressing it, there is no room for a coat of paint, a publicity exercise. It has to be something valuable. Some tangible action to prove to those people being affected that something is going to take place."
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