After calling team meeting, Rams’ Alec Ogletree helps deliver big win
Alden Gonzalez
http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/30782/rams-alec-ogletree-calls-team-meeting-helps-deliver-big-win
LOS ANGELES — As soon as Alec Ogletree realized that the possession was his, and that a win over the Seattle Seahawks was complete, and that this city could finally celebrate, the Los Angeles Rams linebacker dashed to the other end of the field, found his parents, Allison and Al, and handed them the football.
“I wouldn’t be here without them,” Ogletree said. “I’m definitely thankful to have them both in my life.”
Ogletree’s game-ending strip and recovery — with less than a minute to go and the Seahawks only 35 yards away from a potential game-winning touchdown — culminated the dominant defensive effort that made an emotional, enthralling 9-3 victory possible.
Fitting, too, that it was Ogletree.
It was Ogletree — more vocal, more boisterous now that he is the middle linebacker and signal-caller for this defense — who called a player’s only meeting the night before this game. He told his teammates that they needed to stick together and put the misery of a season-opening loss on Monday Night Football behind them. Most of all, he told them to savor moments like these.
“You play the game long enough, you realize how fast the time flies,” Rams defensive end Robert Quinn said. “Every game is important. You have to realize it. You want to capture the moment because you don’t want to say, ‘We should’ve done this better, that better.’ He was basically just challenging each other to live up to their potential and not play like we did earlier this week.”
The Rams were playing their first home game at the Coliseum since 1979 and more than 91,000 fans showed up for it. The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed a pregame concert, CeeLo Green sang the national anthem, Magic Johnson and LeBron James joined a slew of celebrities in the stands and a collection of Rams Hall of Famers — Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Tom Mack, Orlando Pace, Jackie Slater and Jack Youngblood — helped light the Olympic torch.
The fans, Rams coach Jeff Fisher noted, “were incredible.”
Cornerback Coty Sensabaugh said: “I felt the ground shaking a couple times.”