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A Rams oral history of their NFC title game win and that ‘bang-bang play’

Vincent Bonsignore

https://theathletic.com/1207811/2019/09/13/a-rams-oral-history-of-their-nfc-title-game-win-and-that-bang-bang-play/

It makes total sense that so many people attach an asterisk to the ticket the Rams punched to Super Bowl LIII.

There was, after all, an egregiously missed call in the closing minute of regulation in the NFC Championship Game that should have tagged Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman with pass interference on Tommylee Lewis and set up the New Orleans Saints with a first-and-goal at the Rams’ 7-yard-line. Had the penalty been assessed correctly, the Saints would have likely called three straight run plays to drain as much clock as possible before handing things over to kicker Wil Lutz to boot them to a 23-20 lead with just a few seconds for the Rams to mount a comeback.

But we all know that didn’t happen. And as a result of the blown call, the Saints faced third down and had to immediately call on Lutz to kick a go-ahead 31-yard field goal. The Rams got the ball back with 1:41 left to play — more than enough time for Jared Goff to drive them 45 yards and put Greg Zuerlein in position to convert a tying 48-yard field goal and send the game to overtime, where Zuerlein won the game with a 57-yarder.

So yes, it’s understandable why so many people point to that one blown call as the defining moment of the Rams’ journey to the Super Bowl. On some level, the Rams understand.

“Obviously, nobody’s going to sit here and say that wasn’t a pass interference,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said.

Robey-Coleman owned up to it immediately. He, like everyone else in the Superdome, glanced around looking for a flag as soon as the play was whistled dead.

“Never disputed it,” Robey-Coleman said. “I’m on record, from the moment and the time it happened to now. And I never went against what I said. Just clear and honest.”

But trying to boil the Rams’ win down to one single play does a disservice to one of the craziest conference championship games of all time. And it completely overlooks and minimizes the zany, clutch and memorable moments that led to the game-defining play. It also ignores the resiliency of the Rams, who fought back with game-tying and game-winning drives.

“We took advantage of overtime and they didn’t,” Austin Blythe told The Athletic. “That’s really the bottom line. It was called the way it was called and we played the hand that was dealt.”

After talking to some Rams players, executives and coaches, here are their recollections of the wild sequence of events that ultimately sent them to the Super Bowl.

The Saints’ big gamble

To put the blown pass interference into better perspective, it’s important to remember what led up to that play and, in doing so, point out a strategic mistake the Saints made that contributed greatly to their plight.

Moments before Robey-Coleman smashed into Lewis just prior to the ball arriving and sent the Saints receiver sprawling to the ground, New Orleans faced second-and-12 at its own 44-yard line with the score tied at 20-20.

Drew Brees, operating from a clean pocket, threw deep along the right sideline to Ted Ginn. The Saints quarterback didn’t just loft it up into double coverage, with cornerback Aqib Talib trailing Ginn and safety Lamarcus Joyner rolling over the top. He put just enough air under the ball that allowed Joyner to get into position to intercept the pass.

From the team’s owners suite, the assumption was the Rams would come away with the pick.

“The moment Drew threw it I thought we had an interception,” said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ executive vice president of football operations. “There was no way, once you saw where the ball was thrown and where our defenders were, we weren’t going to pick it off. But then Ginn comes down with it.”

All of a sudden, the Saints had the ball at the Rams’ 13 yard-line with 1:58 to play. Hope was fading fast.

“And you’re crestfallen,” Demoff said. “So at that point, you’re starting to work things out in your mind: ‘All right, how many timeouts do we have? How do we get the ball back?’”

This is where the Saints erred. And it was costly.

They were already well into field-goal territory. The prudent play would have been to run the clock down as much as possible and force the Rams to burn their two timeouts, kick the field goal and then put the game in the hands of the defense, likely with under a minute remaining.

Instead, the Saints went for the throat.

“We figured, to some degree, they’d run the ball,” Demoff said. “I just assumed that because I think we had two timeouts left at that point, and it seemed like they would want to take that out of our hands. But then they line up in shotgun and we’re like, ‘OK, give them credit. They’re going to go for this.’”

On first down, Brees threw incomplete to Michael Thomas. That stopped the clock and allowed the Rams to hang onto both of their remaining timeouts.

On second down, Alvin Kamara was stopped for no gain, immediately after which the Rams called timeout. That set up third-and-10 and the infamous missed call.

The pass interference that wasn’t

With Lewis, a wide receiver, flanked to the right of Brees, the Saints were hoping to confuse the Rams’ defensive backfield. Sure enough, it worked.

“So the receiver is in the backfield, and we were having trouble finding him because they have so many different personnel groups,” Rams safety John Johnson said. “So at that point, we’re just trying to get lined up and find him.”

Brees sensed the confusion.

“Quick snap … boom,” Johnson said.

Robey-Coleman, who was positioned on the opposite side of Lewis, the man he was responsible for, finally located Lewis almost at the snap of the ball and began sprinting to his left trying to track him down. The running start played a huge role. Robey-Coleman was so intent on getting to his man that he never looked back to see Brees throwing the ball. He was going so fast there was no way he could stop himself.

“All I remember is like, and I’m thinking this, if (Robey-Coleman) would have looked back it would have probably been a pick-six,” Johnson said. “That’s all I was thinking.”

Instead, Robey-Coleman crashed into Lewis just before the ball arrived.

Pass interference, right?

“The first thing that went through my mind is, watching from the sideline, it’s a bang-bang play,” Blythe said. “I think it’s really easy anytime you slow it down you can obviously see he did get there before the ball, but in real time, the refs didn’t see it that way.”

“I think the one thing, and we’re (up in the suite), you thought it was a penalty, but you weren’t sure,” Demoff said. “I mean, it looked bad, but it was bang-bang. Now, you still kind of thought, ‘OK, there’s gonna be a flag but then, maybe not.’ And you just sort of looked around and you said, ‘OK.’ And the one thing I remember about the game, there were not a lot of flags thrown. It was very … they let them play the whole game.”

“I looked (for a flag), but I wasn’t looking … like, I wasn’t looking like there was supposed to be a flag, you know what I’m saying?” Johnson said. “But you do that on any play. If it’s a good defensive play, you want to make sure: ‘Hey, is everything clean? It’s clean? Cool.’ And I remember dabbing (Robey-Coleman) up like, ‘Come on, let’s go to the next play.’”

McVay sensed the gravity of the moment and the potential ramifications. He quickly gathered his players for a talk.

“It was, ‘Hey, we know exactly what occurred. Fortunately, that worked out for us, but let’s not make any bigger deal than what it is. All we can do is control what we can control and those things are out of our control,’” McVay recalled about his sideline conversation.

“You don’t run away from the fact that that was a call that did benefit us. You address it and then you keep it moving.”

The Rams’ game-tying drive

After the Saints took a 23-20 lead on Lutz’s field goal, the Rams got the ball back at their own 25 with 1:41 to play.

The Superdome was as loud as it had been all game. The Rams, though, were prepared.

“And that all comes down to practice and how we prepare, and that is a credit to coach McVay,” Blythe said. “We have those speakers out there and we crank them up (at practice) when we play on the road just to make it as hard as possible and prepare for a game-like situation. And I give coach McVay and the staff so much credit for getting us ready for that because it becomes such a seamless transition. It’s very hard to prepare anybody for that kind of environment, but I thought we did a great job of it.”

Two plays stand out, both of which Goff was the key. On second-and-10, he hooked up with Josh Reynolds for 19 yards to the Rams’ 44-yard-line. On third-and-3 from the New Orleans 49, he hit Robert Woods for 16 yards to the Saints’ 33-yard line.

“He’s grown a lot since his rookie year,” tight end Tyler Higbee said of Goff. “He’s no longer the little kid he used to be. Ha, at least not on the football field. His leadership is paramount. And it showed in that game. There’s a reason he was voted captain the last two years.”

Goff threw for 297 yards on 25-of-40 passing, which was even more impressive considering the Rams could not get their run game going. That robbed the Rams of their offensive foundation.

“It had been the formula we had succeeded with the previous month: running and play action. But there was just no running game,” Demoff said. “And I know people talk all about Todd Gurley and what happened in the playoffs, but we didn’t have any running game and it wasn’t like C.J. Anderson was doing anything different. So we were kind of back to, for the first time I could remember in a while, not being able to run and Jared having to pick us up on his shoulders and go.”

“It was a wild drive, and I knew we needed our best to go down the field and tie it against a really good defense in crunch time,” Blythe said. “But we had a lot of guys make plays. Jared was moving around well, taking care of the ball, making plays. And then guys were grinding out yards.”

“It’s part of the culture we have around here. Don’t-blink, don’t-flinch culture,” Higbee said. “Things are gonna happen. There’s going to be ebbs and flows in the game. Not everything is going to go your way.”

After Goff’s two completions, the Rams still were well within field-goal range for Zuerlein.

“All of a sudden you’re thinking, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to have a chance to tie this thing,’” Demoff said.

On the sideline, punter Johnny Hekker, who is also the holder on field goals, worked with long snapper Jake McQuade on both punt snaps and field goal snaps in order to be prepared either way. Zuerlein kicked into a net.

“We normally start off working on punt snaps until we get to the 50-yard-line or so, then transition to field goal snaps,” Hekker said. “At that point, we’re one big play away from being in field goal range and we’re ready and we’ve gotten our reps in. We phase out punt snaps once we get past the 40.”

But they were also paying attention to Goff taking the Rams downfield.

“We snap in between plays. So it’s snap, watch the play. Snap, watch the play,” Hekker said. “Then it’s gathering up on the sideline, make sure we’ve got all 11 and then go out there and kick the thing.”

As the Rams prepared for a 48-yard field goal, Hekker tried to make it as normal as possible.

“For the most part, it’s just trying to stay with whatever the routine we had during the week,” Hekker said. “If there’s a timeout before the kick, we just let (Zuerlein) do his thing. We don’t talk before the kick, just sort of show him where the spot is and then let him go through his routine. It’s just relying on our training and what we’ve done thousands of times.”

“Obviously very nerve-racking, because you make it you’re going to overtime (and) you don’t you’re not going to the Super Bowl,” Demoff said. “The gravity of the situation was apparent.”

As Zuerlein’s kick sailed through the uprights to tie the game, the focus immediately shifted to overtime. The Saints won the coin toss, putting them in position to win it with a touchdown drive.

The rush, the wobbly throw and the big interception

The play is rarely mentioned, but a pass interference call on Mark Barron on second down moved the Saints up to their 40-yard-line. At that point, they were one big play away from at least getting into field goal range.

But given the new overtime rules, which mandates both teams get the ball at least one time unless the coin-toss winner scores a touchdown on the first drive, the Saints were thinking big. The Rams were prepared as Brees lined his team up on first down.

“The play of the year was like a special route, like a deep crossing route. Every team in the whole league ran it, or at least some variation of it,” Johnson said. “So we knew that’s what they ran a lot. And in overtime, they’re trying to get the ball to their best players. So we were expecting it.”

As the ball was snapped, Dante Fowler Jr., who lined up with his hand in the ground over right tackle Ryan Ramczyk, took an inside move on Ramczyk then, just as he crossed across Brees, put a reverse spin on Ramczyk and found himself right in front of Brees.

“I have to get there. It’s overtime, (and with) the field position they were in, I knew we could set ourselves up for something good if we stopped them,” Fowler said. “I just knew I had to get to Brees, however possible. At least get a sack.”

He didn’t get the sack, but he did the next best thing. Fowler slammed into Brees just as he heaved the ball. As a result, the ball floated high into the air, and while it was in the general vicinity of Thomas, it was really a matter of who could get underneath it first.

Johnson didn’t see the play Fowler made, but he knew by the trajectory of the ball something happened.

“Because, honestly, Drew Brees ain’t throwing no ball like that,” Johnson said. “At that point, it’s one on one, me and the ball. Go catch it.”

“Please let us catch it,” Blythe told himself on the sidelines. “It just seems like in those situations anybody can come up with it. But John made a great play.”

Not before smashing into Thomas as Johnson tried to circle the ball.

“My first thought after they bumped into each other, was ‘Please don’t have there be a makeup call,’” Demoff said. “It was clear it was incidental, and they bumped into each other. And then you saw John sort of fall and catch it, come up with the ball and you’re like, ‘Oh my God!’”

“As soon as John caught the thing, I’m talking to Jake and Jake says, ‘One first down and we’re going to kick this thing,’” Hekker said. “It’s one of those deals where we know what Greg’s range is, and it’s indoors where he’s impressive. He’s also impressive outdoors — he has one of the livest legs in the NFL — but one play and we’re in Greg’s range.”

“I knew where John intercepted it and where the ball was and that we needed 15 or 20 yards to get in Greg’s range,” Blythe said. “It’s like, ‘Let’s go do this.’”

The play before the kick

On first down from the Rams’ 46-yard line, Goff and Higbee hooked up for 12 yards to the Saints’ 42 — right on the edge of Zuerlein’s range. But on second down, Anderson was thrown for a 3-yard loss. That set up one of the great short-yardage completions in Rams history.

But first, Goff rolled to his right on third-and-13 only to be confronted by Saints defensive end Cam Jordan.

“It’s a bootleg, and three guys come free, in Jared’s face,” Demoff said. “And if he gets sacked, we’re out of field goal range.”

“And Jared makes one hell of a throw,” Higbee said.

Higbee caught the pass one yard off the line of scrimmage, then fought for five more yards.

“I thought we were going to get a few more yards, but dude grabbed my facemask and started pulling on me. But it didn’t get called,” Higbee said. “I was just trying to do everything I could to make a play and put Greg in range.”

But a decision had to be made. Do you attempt a 57-yard field goal knowing that if you miss you set up the Saints almost at midfield? Or do you punt it, play the field-position game and try to get the ball back to the offense with a fresh set of downs?

“It was really, once we had gotten in range that we felt like Greg could make it,” McVay said. “There was never any second-guessing. It’s to the confidence that we have in Greg. You don’t even think about the alternative solution or alternative outcome.”

The only thing left to do was kick a game-winning field goal.

“I was on the right end of the field-goal protection (and) we were on the right hash, so they weren’t rushing from that side so I didn’t have anybody pressing on me. I could just watch it go through,” Blythe said. “And as soon as it came off, you could tell it was going in. It wasn’t drifting to the right or the left. You know it was true.”

“‘Oh shoot, one of my dreams is about ready to come true. All Greg has to do is hit the field goal and one of my dreams comes true,’” Fowler said of his thoughts at the time. “It happened so fast, I was like, ‘Please God.’”

“I didn’t even watch him kick it,” Johnson said. “I think I was sitting down. It was total nerves, and I’m just saying to myself, ‘Come on Greg, knock it through.’ I had all confidence in him, of course.”

Zuerlein made the kick with room to spare. The Rams were on their way to the Super Bowl.

“We had an overhang where we were, so you could see it but not great, and all I remember is seeing the ball hit the back of the net and nobody made a sound,” Demoff said. “And given how loud that building had been all day, that was noticeable.”

“It’s hard to explain — just all the hard work you put in over 18 games, whatever it was — to get to the Super Bowl is being realized,” Blythe said. “And you’re just trying to enjoy it with your teammates and coaches.”

“I broke down in tears. I was sobbing. I was a wreck show,” Fowler said. “It was a surreal moment.”

“Emotions are high. It was awesome,” Higbee said. “Going to the Super Bowl didn’t really set in. Obviously, it was more just winning a crazy game, so emotions are going to be high. But I mean, you’re going to the Super Bowl.”

“I just remember the place going silent, and me running around the sideline, end zone, doing circles around the stadium,” Johnson said. “And I remember my teammates going crazy: ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl.’”