Robert Griffin III had his moments. The St. Louis Rams, though, have what counts most of all – a win.
Sam Bradford threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns and Danny Amendola caught 15 passes for 160 yards as the Rams rallied for a 31-28 victory over RG3 and the Washington Washington Football Team on Sunday in their home opener.
“The dome was rocking and it should be in a couple of weeks when we get back,” Amendola said. “It was a good game, it came down to the wire, came down to the last kick.”
Steven Jackson sat out most of the last three quarters after drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spiking the ball, but coach Jeff Fisher said it was because Jackson had a groin strain and not because he’d lost his cool.
“It had nothing to do with the spike,” Fisher said. “His groin was real tight and we just didn’t want to subject him to it. I didn’t think he’d be 100 percent.”
Jackson said he thought he’d be able to re-enter the game but said the groin tightened on him.
Griffin led the Redskins (1-1) to a 21-6 lead, but the Rams came back thanks to the pass-catching of Amendola. The receiver tied an NFL record 12 first-half receptions, and caught a 1-yard TD pass to cut the lead to 21-13 at the half.
Amendola was out virtually all of last season after dislocating his left elbow making a cut in the opener.
“Obviously it’s nice to have him back out there on the field,” Bradford said. “He’s a tremendous player. We knew going into this game that we were going to try to get him the ball.”
Bradford had second-half scoring passes of 34 yards to Brandon Gibson and 1 yard to Matthew Mulligan.
Griffin ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third for Washington (1-1).
The Redskins got a final shot after DeAngelo Hall recovered running back Daryl Richardson‘s fumble at the Washington 37 with 2:40 to go. Josh Morgan was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for throwing the ball Rams cornerback Cortland Finnegan after a 7-yard catch on 3rd-and-8 to the Rams 29, leaving the Redskins with 4th-and-16.
Shanahan called for a 62-yard field goal attempt, and Billy Cundiff was wide right and well short with 1:13 to go.
