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January 21, 2019 at 1:26 am #96993
znModeratorIn Superdome’s silence, Rams take giant step to the Super Bowl
Ryan Kartje
link: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/01/20/in-superdomes-silence-rams-take-giant-step-to-the-super-bowl/
NEW ORLEANS — The silence was deafening. It filled every nook and cranny of the cavernous Mercedes Benz Superdome, a low din bouncing from sideline to sideline and up and down towering bleachers filled with twirling white towels, where tens of thousands here – and millions more elsewhere – held their collective breaths.
Up until that point, before kicker Greg Zuerlein would line up for an improbable 57-yard kick that would send the Los Angeles Rams to the Super Bowl, this vast football cathedral was filled to its brim with a thunderous, unrelenting roar, one so powerful that it literally shook hunks of loose drywall from the stadium’s bowels.
It was no wonder that, until Zuerlein’s kick, the Saints hadn’t lost a playoff game here since 2000 when the Rams wunderkind coach Sean McVay was merely a high school freshman. His young quarterback, Jared Goff, spent most of the game cupping his hands over his helmet to hear McVay’s play calls, before eventually taping the holes shut on either side. The Rams offensive linemen struggled to hear anything outside of the lineman next to him, who was left to scream audibles into those same ear holes, before passing the message down the line for others to hear.
“I’ve never played in anything louder than that ever,” said Andrew Whitworth, the Rams left tackle, who hadn’t won a playoff game in his 13 NFL seasons until last week.
But as they stood on the sideline, their hearts beating through their chests, the noise that rung in their ears for hours melted away. As Zuerlein lined up for a game-winning field goal that will assuredly go down in the annals of franchise history, only the silence remained. And in that silence was an aura of self-assurance that so few teams would prove capable of mustering.
For the Rams, it had been well earned. That process began three years earlier, when the team moved across the country to a city that wasn’t sure yet how to feel about its presence. It continued a year later, when team president Kevin Demoff and general manager Les Snead walked out of an interview, convinced they’d found the coach that could lift the franchise from the league’s lowest rungs.
But this year, it was earned in more subtle, but powerful ways, through the trials and tribulations that pile up over the course of a season spent in contention. The first bit of adversity had struck here, in fact, in this very stadium, as the Saints dealt the Rams their first defeat back in November. From there, the obstacles, big and small, seemed to come in coordinated succession.
Massive wildfires that displaced players and staff. A mass shooting not far from their team facility. A city consumed by heartbreak. On the field, the Rams dropped two games in a row, and the bandwagon emptied. Still, their resolve stuck. “We’ve been through it all,” said cornerback Sam Shields, who just a year ago . “We’ve fought, and we’ve fought.”
Through it all, the disasters and the heartbreak and the usual Sisyphysian slog of a season, the Rams were still standing, watching from the sideline as the kick soared in what seemed like silent, slow motion.
Center John Sullivan had been here before, in this exact moment, almost a decade prior. He’d watched as Drew Brees and the Saints drove the field on the Vikings defense, and he’d stared in disbelief as the Saints lined up for a game-winning field goal in overtime.
That would be his last meaningful chance at a Super Bowl until Sunday, and the memory came surging back in those final moments as Zuerlein’s kick hung in midair.
“It feels like it was a long time coming back around,” Sullivan said.
John Johnson could only understand in theory what the long wait had felt like for Sullivan and other veterans like him in the locker room. This was only the young safety’s second season, after all, and as he came down with the floating, overtime interception that would soon lead to Zuerlein’s field goal, he only had an inkling of what it meant. “It took forever for that ball to come down,” he said. But as he grinned from aside his locker, his teammates buzzing around him, he let the glory of a moment he won’t soon forget sink in.
“That’s a play you have to make,” Johnson said. “You have to make it. I didn’t want the moment to get bigger than making the play.”
But the moment that came soon after, as Zuerlein’s kick split the uprights, as the roar of the Rams elated sideline cut through the silence, felt bigger than life, as if it’d been fated all along.An hour later, in the afterglow of a cramped visitor’s locker room, after winning a game they so easily could have lost, after stamping their tickets to the Super Bowl, two weeks from now in Atlanta, Sullivan sat back at his locker. “I’m just breathing this all in,” he said, and with that, the 34-year old center let the buzz of a Super Bowl-bound celebration wash over him.
January 21, 2019 at 1:33 am #96994znModeratorPerfectly Imperfect Rams Celebrate Bizarre NFC Conference Championship Victory
McVay makes it seem like everything is hunky-dory with Todd Gurley—Rams star back had only four touches vs. Saints, but it apparently wasn’t injury-related
Fowler’s big hit leads to Johnson’s overtime pick, helping clinch NFC Championship
Game Recap: Rams beat Saints in overtime in New Orleans, head to Super Bowl LIII
https://www.therams.com/news/rams-beat-saints-in-overtime-in-new-orleans-head-to-super-bowl-liii
Goff before hoisting NFC Championship trophy: “This team is special and I’m happy to be a part of it.”
The Rams went all-in, and now they are going to the Super Bowl
Seven Stats: Rams win the NFC Championship, advance to Super Bowl LIII
https://www.therams.com/news/seven-stats-rams-win-the-nfc-championship-advance-to-super-bowl-liii
Zuerlein leads big day for special teams, sending Rams to Super Bowl LIII with 57-yard field goal
January 21, 2019 at 1:06 pm #97033
ZooeyModerator16 Crucial Plays from the Championship Games
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This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by
Zooey.
January 21, 2019 at 1:21 pm #97035znModeratorRams beat Saints in overtime, will face Patriots in Super Bowl
GARY KLEIN
https://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-saints-20190120-story.html
The Rams spent the offseason adding pieces for a Super Bowl run.
Trade for two star cornerbacks and a star receiver here. Sign a star defensive lineman there. Reinforce the roster during the season with a dangerous edge rusher and a veteran running back.
They were the weapons Sean McVay and Jared Goff needed to take the next step, after the young coach and quarterback had returned the Rams to the playoffs and the position of title contender.
On Sunday, all the work paid off.
Amid deafening noise at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Goff helped set up longtime Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein, who nailed a 57-yard field goal in overtime to defeat the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in the NFC championship game before a stunned crowd of 73,028.
The Rams advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2001 season, and the first time since the 1979 season as a Los Angeles team. They will play the New England Patriots, a 37-31 overtime winner Sunday at Kansas City, on Feb. 3 in Atlanta.
“It wasn’t always perfect,” McVay said, “but we made enough plays, and I think really the overtime period personifies what this team is all about.”
The victory was not without controversy.
The officials did not call a penalty against Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman for pass interference or for a helmet-to-helmet hit on receiver Tommylee Lewis in the final two minutes of regulation. Instead of continuing to run the clock, the Saints were forced to kick a field goal that put them ahead, 23-20, but left time for the Rams to tie the score on a field goal with 15 seconds left.
“They blew the call,” Saints coach Sean Payton said.
Said McVay: “I am certainly not going to complain about the way that was officiated.”
There was plenty of hollering and laughter in a jubilant Rams locker room after they overcame an early 13-0 deficit, avenged a November defeat at New Orleans and silenced the crowd.
“I have a really big headache right now from yelling all day,” McVay joked.
Cornerbacks Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh and receiver Brandin Cooks — all acquired in the offseason — celebrated with joyous teammates. All played roles in either neutralizing future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees or helping Goff on clutch drives.
“Nobody in the room’s any happier than those guys,” Rams owner Stan Kroenke said.
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On a day when star running back Todd Gurley scored a touchdown but mainly gave way to C.J. Anderson, the Rams offense got out of an early funk after punter Johnny Hekker completed a fourth-down pass to Sam Shields to keep alive a second-quarter drive.The play allowed Goff to put a first-quarter interception behind him, and he led the Rams to their first three points. The Rams pulled to within 13-10 by halftime, but trailed 20-17 entering the fourth quarter. Zuerlein tied the score on a 24-yard field goal with about five minutes left, and then the Saints settled for Wil Lutz’s 31-yard kick after the non-call involving Robey-Coleman.
Zuerlein’s 48-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in regulation set the stage for another game-turning play in overtime.
The Saints had the ball and a second and 16 at their 34-yard line. Rams linebacker Dante Fowler, a trade-deadline acquisition, and veteran lineman Michael Brockers pressured Brees.
“He was holding the ball a long time,” Fowler said. “He finally threw it and I got my hand on it.”
The ball fluttered toward Saints receiver Michael Thomas and Rams safety John Johnson, who was falling backward.
“I had ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ playing in my head,” offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said. “I was just praying that thing would come down and be for us.”
Johnson joked that he was glad he had his contact lenses in.
“It was up there for forever,” he said. “I kind of felt like a punt returner. I just fell back with it. I’m glad I caught it.”
After the interception, the Rams took over at their 46-yard line. Goff completed two passes to tight end Tyler Higbee before an incomplete pass brought on Zuerlein.
“In your head, it’s like going back to when you’re a little kid,” Zuerlein said, referring to practicing game-winning plays.
Zuerlein’s kick split the uprights and sent the Rams into a celebration.
“This is everything we expected, man,” said Talib, who along with Peters came to the Rams via trades. “We expected to get their best shot from a team with a Hall of Fame quarterback.
“We just knew it was going to take 60 minutes or more, and that’s what we did. We came out and played more.”
Kroenke said McVay, who led the Rams to their first winning seasons in 14 years, “created that special culture, and I think you saw that today.”
Saffold, a ninth-year pro and the longest-tenured Rams player, said it was “un … be … lievable” to be heading to the Super Bowl.
“Just to be able to get to this point, this is the pinnacle,” Saffold said. “Because I know exactly what we’ve been through through the years.”
January 21, 2019 at 1:23 pm #97036znModeratorJared Goff and Rams end up making the biggest noise in New Orleans
SAM FARMER
https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-rams-saints-farmer-20190120-story.html
The biggest game of Jared Goff’s life began with a scramble.
Before going on the field for his first series, in the deafening cacophony of the Superdome, the Rams quarterback realized the coach-to-quarterback earpiece was on the fritz. He couldn’t get the plays. So he swapped helmets with backup quarterback Sean Mannion, also fitted with an earpiece, and ran out to face the New Orleans Saints.
While the equipment staff worked frantically on his helmet, Goff cupped his hands over his earholes, trying to hear his coach. The Saints showed that on the video board, which only encouraged the crowd to scream louder. When he finally got his helmet back on the next series, he had to tape over the earholes for any prayer of hearing coach Sean McVay.
In the wake of a 26-23 upset Sunday that sent the Rams to the Super Bowl, let the record show: Goff lost his helmet but not his head.
“It was disorienting loud, but we fought through it,” Goff said. “It wasn’t loud enough, I guess.”
Three years into his NFL career, one that began with an 0-7 starting slide as a rookie, Goff has the Rams four quarters away from the second Lombardi Trophy in Los Angeles history, one to match the feat of the L.A. Raiders 35 years ago.
Goff completed 25 of 40 passes for 297 yards and a touchdown, with an interception that glanced off the hands of Todd Gurley. The Saints’ Drew Brees, sure to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, had one more completion than Goff — 26 of 40 — for 249 yards and two touchdowns.
Goff, 24, was the “other guy” in this final-four cluster of quarterbacks. Even though he was the No. 1 overall pick in 2016 and made back-to-back Pro Bowls the last two years, Goff ran a distant fourth in the eyes of many to Tom Brady, Brees and Patrick Mahomes, the likely most valuable player.
“We’re sure glad he’s our quarterback, we have a lot of belief in him,” McVay said of Goff. “When you look at the trajectory of his career, what he’s done over the last two years since our coaching staff has had a chance to work with him, we feel like he’s certainly been one of the best quarterbacks in this league. And I wouldn’t want anyone else leading our football team.”
The Rams are fine with that assessment. They’re headed to the Super Bowl, their ears still ringing from the Superdome. Goff had to get so close to his teammates in the huddle, they had to touch facemasks with the quarterback so they could hear him.
“We were almost in a piano formation, where you had one guy low, another guy high, another guy low, and he’d go down the line,” guard Rodger Saffold said.
Goff showed against the Saints what he has displayed throughout the season: uncommon poise under intense pressure. It showed in the final two minutes of the first half, when he threaded a 17-yard completion to Brandin Cooks on third and 10, then dropped the ball into a bucket on the next play, a 36-yard completion to Cooks that set up the Rams’ first touchdown.
It showed in the fourth quarter, too, when he started the tying field-goal drive at the Rams nine, as the decibel count climbed like the temperature in Dubai, and squeezed in throws for gains of 39 and 33 yards.
Then there was the toss for 16 yards to Robert Woods on third and three to set up another tying kick by Greg Zuerlein at the end of regulation …
The 12-yard throw to Tyler Higbee to cross midfield in overtime and set the stage for Zuerlein’s game-winner …
“The performance was amazing,” Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “To beat Drew Brees in this arena, this is one special place to play. … He’s just a special kid. I’ve said it since we came to training camp, and really since the day I met him.
“I told my wife before the playoffs started, this was the first year that it really wasn’t about me. I honestly felt like I was more nervous for these playoffs because I believe in Jared Goff. I believe that he deserves to win, and I just want to be right about that.”
This is the dream scenario the Rams envisioned for themselves, and for Goff, when they flew to Berkeley to work him out before the 2016 draft. It rained that day, and they gave Goff the opportunity to postpone the workout. No, he told them, he wanted to throw.
“The great thing about Jared, and Sean talks about it all the time, is he never blinks,” said Kevin Demoff, Rams chief operating officer. “He had let Cal from 1-11 to a bowl game a couple of years later. You saw that confidence that he could take over a program.
“I remember having some long chats with Jared — and certainly he had them with Les [Snead, the general manager] as well, where he said, ‘I know what this looks like. I know how to turn around this team. I’ve been part of it. We did it at Cal. We’re not that far.’ ”
Goff knew what it looked like. And Sunday, as that winning kick sailed through the uprights of the silenced Superdome, he knew what it sounded like, too.
January 21, 2019 at 10:14 pm #97084
AgamemnonParticipant
AgamemnonJanuary 22, 2019 at 1:45 am #97093znModeratorJared Goff performs well under pressure to send L.A. to Super Bowl LIII
https://www.therams.com/news/jared-goff-performs-well-under-pressure-to-send-l-a-to-super-bowl-liii
January 22, 2019 at 11:25 am #97105AgamemnonParticipant AgamemnonJanuary 22, 2019 at 11:49 pm #97136AgamemnonParticipant AgamemnonJanuary 23, 2019 at 5:31 am #97144znModeratorHi, AG. The Orlovsky was already here: http://theramshuddle.com/topic/play-analysis-saints-game-orlovsky-and-others/#post-97130
I generally put “play break down” vids from any given game (by Orlovksy, Baldinger, etc) all in the same thread.
January 23, 2019 at 9:00 am #97156AgamemnonParticipantThat is fine, zn.
Agamemnon -
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