Game recap

Giants @ Rams

2026 Wk 2 · LA 28, NYG 6

Davante Adams out-gained the entire Giants offense, 195 yards to 182, in a wire-to-wire Rams win.

FanIQ Research · September 22, 2026 · 5 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Davante Adams, at 33, out-gained the entire Giants offense: 195 receiving yards to New York's 182.

Rare

Receivers aged 33 or older with a 180 yard game, 1999 to 2026

Season	Player	Team	Opp	Age	Rec	Yards	TD
2010	Terrell Owens	CIN	CLE	36.8	10	222	1
2002	Shannon Sharpe	DEN	KC	34.3	12	214	2
2008	Terrell Owens	DAL	SF	35.0	7	213	1
2012	Reggie Wayne	IND	GB	33.9	13	212	1
2004	Rod Smith	DEN	ATL	34.5	9	208	1
2009	Terrell Owens	BUF	JAX	36.0	9	197	1
2026	Davante Adams	LA	NYG	33.7	8	195	2
1999	Tim Brown	LV	NYJ	33.3	11	190	1
2015	Steve Smith	BAL	CIN	36.4	13	186	2
2001	Jerry Rice	LV	NYJ	39.2	9	183	1

Los Angeles receiving, this game

Player	Targets	Rec	Yards	TD
Davante Adams	10	8	195	2
Terrance Ferguson	9	6	54	1
Tutu Atwell	2	1	19	0
Colby Parkinson	2	2	15	0
Blake Corum	1	1	13	0
Kyren Williams	2	2	12	1
Konata Mumpfield	2	1	12	0
Davis Allen	1	1	7	0
Xavier Smith	1	0	0	0

New York offense, this game (pass and run plays)

Plays	Net passing yards	Rushing yards	Total yards
55	130	52	182

That is the complete list of 180 yard receiving games by a player aged 33 or older since 1999, and Adams is the first to add one since Steve Smith in 2015. His 195 yards are the fourth highest of his career, behind 206 in 2021, 198 in 2024 and 196 in 2020. A single receiver finishing with more yards than the opposing offense has happened 39 times since 1999, playoffs included, and Adams did it on 10 targets while every other Ram combined for 132.

Why it matters. Receivers this productive at 33 are rare because the position depends on separation speed, which is usually the first thing to go. Adams did it against a defense that had allowed 20 points to Dallas a week earlier, and did it while carrying more than half of Stafford's yardage himself. The gap to the rest of the Rams' targets says the passing game ran through one player, and the Giants never took him away.

The Giants ran 34 first half plays to the Rams' 22 and went to the break down 14-3.

Split

Score at the end of each quarter

Quarter	LA	NYG
1	7	0
2	14	3
3	21	6
4	28	6

Offense by half (pass and run plays)

Team	Half	Plays	EPA/play	Success%	Yards
LA	1st	22	+0.239	45.5%	233
LA	2nd	34	+0.323	61.8%	251
NYG	1st	34	-0.454	23.5%	112
NYG	2nd	21	-0.389	33.3%	70

Offense by quarter (pass and run plays)

Team	Qtr	Plays	EPA/play	Yards	First downs	INT	Sacks
LA	1	11	+0.408	95	4	0	0
LA	2	11	+0.071	138	4	1	0
LA	3	19	+0.170	142	8	0	1
LA	4	15	+0.516	109	7	0	0
NYG	1	17	-0.392	43	3	0	0
NYG	2	17	-0.515	69	3	1	1
NYG	3	11	-0.224	35	2	0	1
NYG	4	10	-0.571	35	2	0	0

New York had the ball for 12 more snaps than Los Angeles before halftime and turned them into 112 yards, six first downs and a 24 yard field goal. The Rams' 22 first half plays produced 233 yards and two touchdowns even though their second quarter included a Stafford interception, a Kyren Williams fumble recovered by the Giants and a missed 43 yard field goal at the two second mark. The second half was a possession flip: Los Angeles ran 34 plays to New York's 21 and added two more touchdown drives.

Why it matters. Play volume usually tracks with control of the game, so a team that runs 12 more snaps and trails by 11 is telling you its per play efficiency was the whole story. New York's 23.5 percent first half success rate means three of every four snaps lost ground against the down and distance, which is why 34 plays produced one field goal. The Rams' own second quarter was sloppy, two turnovers and a miss, and the margin still grew, which is the clearest sign of how one sided the down to down play was.

Stafford is the eighth passer since 1999 to throw for 300 yards and four touchdowns in a game at 38 or older.

Rare

Passers aged 38 or older with 300+ yards and 4+ TD passes in a regular season game, 1999 to 2026

Passer	Such games	Seasons
Tom Brady	11	2015 to 2021
Drew Brees	4	2018 to 2019
Peyton Manning	3	2014
Brett Favre	1	2009
Ben Roethlisberger	1	2020
Aaron Rodgers	1	2021
Joe Flacco	1	2025
Matthew Stafford	1	2026

Stafford's first two games of 2026

Week	Opp	Comp	Att	Yards	TD	INT
1	SF	15	25	155	0	1
2	NYG	22	31	327	4	1

Stafford's four touchdown passes

Qtr	Clock	Receiver	Yards	Score after
1	0:19	Davante Adams	31	LA 7, NYG 0
2	11:13	Kyren Williams	10	LA 14, NYG 0
3	6:25	Davante Adams	11	LA 21, NYG 3
4	9:02	Terrance Ferguson	5	LA 28, NYG 6

Eight quarterbacks in 27 seasons have posted a 300 yard, four touchdown regular season game after turning 38, and Brady owns 11 of the 23 such games by himself. Stafford, 38 years and 7 months old at kickoff, joined the list a week after a 155 yard, no touchdown opener against San Francisco. It was his 22nd regular season game with four or more touchdown passes and his second against the Giants; the other was 22 of 28 for 251 yards and 4 scores in Week 6 of 2021.

Why it matters. Age 38 is where most quarterback careers have either ended or turned into game management, and the list of exceptions is almost entirely Hall of Fame names. Stafford's version came with a spread of targets, four touchdowns to three receivers, rather than one hot hand, which is the kind of distribution that travels from week to week. A week after a no touchdown opener, this game also restores the 2025 profile that produced 46 touchdown passes.

Six points or fewer for the 11th time since 2020. Only the Jets have more such games.

Milestone

Games of 6 points or fewer by team, 2020 to 2026 (regular season and playoffs)

Rank	Team	Games
1	NYJ	15
2	NYG	11
3	NE	8
3	HOU	8
3	CAR	8
6	ATL	7

Every Giants game of 6 points or fewer since 2020

Season	Week	Opponent	NYG	Opp
2020	15	vs CLE	6	20
2021	15	vs DAL	6	21
2021	17	at CHI	3	29
2023	1	vs DAL	0	40
2023	4	vs SEA	3	24
2023	9	at LV	6	30
2023	15	at NO	6	24
2024	1	vs MIN	6	28
2024	7	vs PHI	3	28
2025	1	at WAS	6	21
2026	2	at LA	6	28

Lowest completion rates by a Giants passer with 25+ attempts, 1999 to 2026

Season	Week	Opp	Passer	Comp	Att	Rate
2011	16	NYJ	Eli Manning	9	27	33.3%
2007	15	WAS	Eli Manning	18	52	34.6%
2017	17	WAS	Eli Manning	10	28	35.7%
2006	16	NO	Eli Manning	9	25	36.0%
2005	8	WAS	Eli Manning	12	31	38.7%
2005	13	DAL	Eli Manning	12	31	38.7%
2026	2	LA	Jameis Winston	11	27	40.7%

Eleven of the 155 team games of 6 points or fewer played league wide since 2020 belong to New York, across 105 games. Jaxson Dart threw the Giants' first five passes, 3 of 5 for 20 yards, and Jameis Winston took every dropback after that, finishing 11 of 27 for 111 yards with an interception; no Giants passer with 25 attempts has completed a lower share since Eli Manning in the 2017 finale. Malik Nabers was targeted four times and caught one pass for 1 yard, the fewest receiving yards of his career.

Why it matters. A low scoring game once in a while is noise. Eleven in six seasons is a pattern that survives three head coaches and a rotating cast of quarterbacks, which points at roster construction rather than any one week's plan. The quarterback line is the mechanism this time: a 40.7 percent completion rate cannot sustain drives, and Nabers, the one receiver a defense has to plan for, was held to a single yard.

The Rams' largest home win over the Giants since 1999, and a fifth straight win in the series.

Milestone

Rams home games against the Giants since 1999, by margin

Season	Week	Result	LA margin
2026	2	LA 28, NYG 6	+22
1999	15	LA 31, NYG 10	+21
2020	4	LA 17, NYG 9	+8
2001	5	LA 15, NYG 14	+1
2002	2	NYG 26, LA 21	-5
2016	7	NYG 17, LA 10	-7
2014	16	NYG 37, LA 27	-10
2008	2	NYG 41, LA 13	-28

Giants versus Rams, every meeting since 1999

Season	Week	Result	Winner	Margin
1999	15	LA 31, NYG 10	LA	21
2000	11	LA 38, NYG 24	LA	14
2001	5	LA 15, NYG 14	LA	1
2002	2	NYG 26, LA 21	NYG	5
2003	1	NYG 23, LA 13	NYG	10
2005	4	NYG 44, LA 24	NYG	20
2008	2	NYG 41, LA 13	NYG	28
2011	2	NYG 28, LA 16	NYG	12
2014	16	NYG 37, LA 27	NYG	10
2016	7	NYG 17, LA 10	NYG	7
2017	9	LA 51, NYG 17	LA	34
2020	4	LA 17, NYG 9	LA	8
2021	6	LA 38, NYG 11	LA	27
2023	17	LA 26, NYG 25	LA	1
2026	2	LA 28, NYG 6	LA	22

Fifteen meetings since 1999 and the Rams now lead them 8 to 7, having won the last five in a row, starting with the 51 to 17 game in 2017 and running through 2020, 2021, 2023 and this one. The 22 point margin edges the 21 point win from the 1999 St. Louis season as the franchise's biggest home win over New York in the database, and only the 51 to 17 game in 2017 and the 41 to 13 Giants win in 2008 were more lopsided anywhere. Before that run the Giants had won seven straight meetings, from 2002 through 2016.

Why it matters. This series has swung in long runs rather than alternating: seven straight Giants wins, then five straight Rams wins. The 1999 comparison is worth the footnote because that Rams team went on to win the Super Bowl, so this is the largest home margin over New York for a franchise that has had two championship rosters in the window. Series records across 27 years say little about the next meeting, but the direction of the last five games is clear.

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