Kyren Williams — Week 1: The Only Rams Touchdown, Then One Yard
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Friday, Sep 11
Williams scored the Rams' only touchdown Thursday, up the middle from the five on the first play of the second quarter, and finished with eleven carries for forty-one yards and three catches for twenty-four. His one-yard run on second and three from the San Francisco three in the third quarter left the Rams two yards short with two plays to get them, and they got one, in a 27–7 loss in Melbourne.
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Kyren Williams's touchdown was the first play of the second quarter: second and five at the San Francisco five, up the middle, seven to three Rams. The two plays before it had been a Matthew Stafford throw to Puka Nacua for 41 and a Williams run for three, and the drive took four plays from the Los Angeles 43. It was the only touchdown Los Angeles scored, and it was worth +1.6 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position.
The other carry that mattered went the other way. Third quarter, five oh seven left, second and three at the San Francisco three, Rams down 17 to seven late in a 12-play drive: Williams behind the right guard for one yard, to the two. Then third and two, Nacua stopped at the one. Then fourth and one, Stafford stopped at the one. Williams's one-yard carry was worth −0.6, and it left the Rams needing two plays to get two yards, and they got one.
The line: 11 carries, 41 yards, one touchdown, longest run eight yards, five of the 11 successful, +1.1 on the carries in total. Three catches on three targets for 24 yards, the longest a 16-yarder on first down with four 28 left in the half. 11 carries to Blake Corum's 10 and Ronnie Rivers's five, and every running-back carry inside the San Francisco 11 was his. He was on the field for the ball that mattered and did not have a run longer than eight.
Back in June the preview's read on Williams was that an RB9 season had been built on sustained opportunity rather than efficiency, and that availability — not the yards per carry — was the thing to watch. Thursday he was available, he got the goal-line work and the touchdown, and the efficiency was ordinary: 11 carries for 41 against a defense that ranked 20-fourth in expected points allowed a year ago. One game does not move that read, and it did produce a near-even split with Corum on the carries. Los Angeles is home to the Giants on Monday the 20-first.
_Data via nflverse._
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