When Rams running back Kyren Williams had a run with 3:59 left and another with 1:10 left to cap off his team’s fourth-quarter comeback victory over the Eagles on Sunday, he was doing something that hadn’t been done in the NFL in a decade: No player had scored multiple rushing touchdowns in the NFL’s final four minutes.
Then, later Sunday afternoon, it happened again.
With 3:21 left in the fourth quarter Sunday in Las Vegas, Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker ran for a two-yard touchdown that gave them the lead. The Raiders fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Chiefs recovered, and on the next play Walker ran for a 22-yard touchdown that sealed the Chiefs’ victory.
Williams and Walker became the first NFL players in 10 years to score two rushing touchdowns in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter of an NFL game. Or, to be precise, Williams became the first player to do it in 10 years, and then Walker became the first player to do it in three hours.
Before Williams and Walker, the last player to score two rushing touchdowns in the final four minutes was Washington running back Rob Kelley, who scored on touchdown runs with 3:54 left and 2:26 left in a win over Green Bay on Nov. 20, 2016. Kelley was an undrafted rookie running back against Washington who surprisingly became Washington’s biggest player that day. Packers, carrying 24 times for 137 yards and three touchdowns. Unfortunately, Kelley never reached those heights again and his NFL career ended two years later.
For Williams and Walker, who have been two of the NFL’s best players for years, it’s no surprise they stepped up when their teams needed them. But their late-game heroics on Sunday represent a staggering feat for any player, let alone two players to achieve just hours apart.
