Kyren Williams — Week 3: Fifteen Carries, Six Catches
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Williams ran 15 times for 88 yards and four first downs, including a 30-yard run that was the longest run of the game, and caught 6 of 7 targets for 70 yards, 39 of them on the final drive. His 158 yards from scrimmage led both teams, but the third-and-6 throw intended for him with 5:01 left was returned 66 yards for a touchdown by Talanoa Hufanga, in a 30–26 loss to the Broncos.
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The full episode, in writing
19 to 16, Rams, five oh one left in the fourth quarter, third and six at the Denver 38. Matthew Stafford threw short left for Kyren Williams, and Talanoa Hufanga intercepted it at the Denver 34 and ran 66 yards the other way for the touchdown. −9.3 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and −52.6 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The Rams went from an 80 percent favorite to 27 in one snap, the largest swing of the night.
The line: 15 carries, 88 yards, four first downs, six of the 15 successful, +1.6 expected points on the carries; seven targets, six catches, 70 yards, four first downs. The carries went three, four, five, 30, three, eight, four, seven, five, nine, four, three, −2, five and nothing. The 30 was first and 10 at the Los Angeles 33 with a minute 19 left in the first quarter, up seven, up the middle to the Denver 37, the longest run by either team. Nine carries before halftime for 69 yards, six after for 19. Both of his third-down carries were third and one, and both converted. The catches: five on fourth and four at the Denver 35 in the first quarter, a first down that stood when Denver challenged it, on the drive that ended in Tyler Higbee's touchdown; 18 on the first snap of the second quarter, to the Denver 16; 10 on third and 21, short of the sticks, before a field goal; −2 on third and 17 in the third; and then, down 30 to 26 on the last drive, 19 on third and 10 from the Los Angeles 33 with 32 seconds left and 20 to the Denver 14 with 16 left. Two snaps later the game ended on an interception in the end zone. The targets came out at −5.0 expected points; without the pick-six, the other six were worth +4.3.
The backfield did not split this time. Williams had 15 of the Rams' 22 designed runs, Blake Corum six and Stafford one. Seven targets were fourth on the team, behind Davante Adams's 13, Higbee's 11 and Konata Mumpfield's eight. His hundred 58 yards from scrimmage were the most by any player in the game, 21 more than Adams's hundred 37.
Back in June the preview read Williams as a volume back: three straight seasons as a workhorse built on opportunity rather than efficiency, availability as the variable to watch, and Corum as the one real threat to the carries. Week One was 11 carries to Corum's 10 and the Rams' only touchdown. Week Two was 12 12, and that episode said the split the preview saw coming had arrived early. Sunday went the other way, 15 to six, with the most carries and the most targets he has had this season. Through three games it is 38 carries for 214 yards to Corum's 28 for a hundred 48. Three games settle little, and this one answered Week Two in the starter's direction. Los Angeles is at the Eagles on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When Kyren Williams's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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