Todd Gurley leads Rams to win over Titans, division title

Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/37031/todd-gurley-leads-rams-to-win-over-titans-division-title

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Aaron Donald wore an “NFC West Champions” cap and smiled like he never has in front of a camera.

“The last time I won a championship, I was 7 years old,” Donald revealed. “It’s been a long time, and I’m just happy — happy to be a part of it with these guys.”

Backed by another MVP-caliber performance from Todd Gurley and a defense that buckled down late, Donald’s Los Angeles Rams beat the Tennessee Titans, 27-23, at Nissan Stadium on Christmas Eve and thus secured the franchise’s first division title since 2003.

Watching from a luxury suite was their former coach, Jeff Fisher, who was fired 13 games into a 2016 season that finished with a 4-12 record. Now the Rams, under 31-year-old rookie head coach Sean McVay, are 11-4, sitting as the No. 3 seed in their conference and getting ready to host the first NFL playoff game in L.A. in nearly 25 years.

“I’m still sitting here just trying to wrap my mind around it,” Alec Ogletree said, a big smile on his face. “I’m excited, happy. And just thankful and blessed to be a part of this.”

Many had a hand in it, but nobody more so than Gurley, who amassed 276 scrimmage yards and scored two touchdowns on Sunday.

The Rams fell behind by four near the midway point of the second quarter, when a Jurrell Casey sack of Jared Goff led to a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. But on the next drive, Gurley took a screen pass and went untouched for an 80-yard score. The Rams went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Titans’ 13-yard line near the midway point of the third quarter, largely because their new kicker, Sam Ficken, missed an extra point and field goal. But Gurley took what could’ve been a 5-yard loss and turned it into a 10-yard gain, putting the ball at the 3-yard line to set up an easy touchdown pass from Goff to Sammy Watkins.

The Rams trailed again, 23-20 at the start of the fourth quarter. But Goff capped a six-play, 68-yard drive with a pass to a diving Cooper Kupp in the corner of the end zone. It became the winning touchdown, thanks to a defense that held a Marcus Mariota-led Titans offense to 64 yards — and zero points — over the last 16 plays.

The drive was made possible by Gurley.

“He’s been doing that all year,” Rams outside linebacker Robert Quinn said. “When things don’t go right, it seems like he always comes out and adds a spark, or gives life back to the team.”

Gurley made 10 catches for 158 yards and needed only 21 carries to pick up 118 rushing yards against a defense that entered the game allowing the third-fewest rushing yards in the NFL. With that, he became the first player since Herschel Walker in 1986 with at least 100 rushing yards and 150 receiving yards in the same game, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Gurley, with 2,093 scrimmage yards on the season, is the third player in NFL history with 2,000 scrimmage yards, 10-plus rushing touchdowns and more than five receiving touchdowns in a single season, joining Hall of Famers Marshall Faulk and O.J. Simpson. His 19 touchdowns easily lead the NFL. And after the game, several Rams players pushed hard for Gurley to win the MVP, an award that has gone to quarterbacks after nine of the past 10 seasons.

Gurley was more excited about the division championship.

“Breathtaking” was how he described the scene in the postgame locker room. “Everybody was happy for each other and giving hugs and telling everybody that we love each other. That’s what football is all about — getting to have this feeling, winning games and a playoff spot. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

At this time last year, the Rams dropped a heartbreaker at home to the division-rival San Francisco 49ers. It was their sixth of seven consecutive losses to end their first season back in L.A. They didn’t have a head coach or a competent offense, and they had no idea whether they actually had a franchise quarterback. Goff stood behind the podium that Saturday and said, “I promise you guys it will get fixed. Everything in my heart and soul to get it all fixed.”

Three-hundred and sixty-five days later, Goff went 22-of-38 for 301 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in a game that wrapped up the division.

He was asked how the turnaround happened so quickly.

“I guess from the outside looking in you could be surprised,” Goff said. “But being on the inside of it and being there daily, and seeing all the changes that happened, and everything that went in the right direction this offseason, coming in through OTAs and through training camp, and trending upward and feeling good about it — you never know how this whole season is going to play out, but we felt good about our year and coming into it. And now we are sitting here division champs, and it feels really good.”

J.B. Long@JB_Long
Most overlooked @RamsNFL story this season: @iamjohnthethird. (John Johnson)
Reputed as a cover guy, now 3rd among safeties in run stop%. After taking over in Week 5, on track to be @PFF’s highest graded rookie safety since 2006.
Oh, and he turned 22 this week.

Rams clinch NFC West title, home playoff game with victory over Tennessee Titans

RICH HAMMOND

link: https://www.ocregister.com/2017/12/24/rams-clinch-nfc-west-title-home-playoff-game-with-victory-over-tennessee-titans/

NASHVILLE — The moment felt slow, dramatic and almost corny, like an action scene out of one of those old football movies. The ball floated, floated and floated, touched a couple hands and fell softly to the turf.

Cue the wild celebration, the hugs, the tears, the hats and T-shirts and, amid it all, a feeling of joyous bewilderment. The Rams, who started this season as a running joke, clinched the NFC West championship Sunday with a hold-your-breath 27-23 victory over Tennessee at Nissan Stadium.

“This is big. It’s history,’” cornerback Trumaine Johnson said. “I’ve been with this team for six years and have been on the other side. Hard times. It’s all glory to God. When you look back at it, you put so much into this with your teammates, going back to training camp and OTAs. All for us. It’s been 14 years.”

The Rams (11-4) hadn’t celebrated a division title since 2003. Their coach was in high school. Their star running back (and perhaps league MVP), Todd Gurley, had just turned 9. The ensuing 14 years would include a laundry list of ineffective coaches and players and never more than eight victories in a season.

Then came Sunday, and fourth-and-4.

The Titans had the ball at the Rams’ 43, down four points with plenty of time. Quarterback Marcus Mariota rolled out of pressure for a moment, but then had Rams linebacker Connor Barwin on his heels. Mariota heaved a pass into a cluster of players from both teams, and it got knocked to the ground.

“It seemed like that ball hung up in the air for a long time,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.

Game over. Season, just beginning, thanks in large part to Gurley, who boosted his MVP chances with an extraordinary effort that included 118 rushing yards, 158 receiving yards and two touchdowns. After the game, Gurley smiled broadly while wearing a NFC West champions hat.

The Rams will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the NFC and will host a first-round playoff game in two weeks. Four months ago, that idea seemed preposterous.

The Rams went 4-12 in 2016 with the NFL’s worst offense, then hired the youngest coach in NFL history. It was an absurdly bold move, one that seemingly would take years to pay off, if it ever would.

Former coach Jeff Fisher attended Sunday’s game and watched from a luxury box. He couldn’t have recognized what took place on the field. McVay transformed the Rams from laughingstocks to champions.

“He deserves all the credit,” veteran offensive lineman Rodger Saffold said, “because the staff he put together and the way we’ve been coached has been top-notch, and we all appreciate that. … We haven’t always done everything the right way. The way he’s been coaching us, we could have been 16-0.”

Getting to 11 wins was hard enough. The Rams didn’t totally need this game. They could have clinched the division with a final-week win against San Francisco next Sunday, but why leave it to chance?

The Rams muddled through much of this game. Their new kicker missed a field goal and an extra point. The offensive line gave up a strip-sack that the Titans returned for a touchdown. The special-teams unit, usually a strength, made a handful of uncharacteristic mistakes.

Yet the Rams hung tough against a Titans team that probably needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. The game was tied 13-13 at halftime and 20-20 at the end of the third quarter, before Tennessee’s Ryan Succop made a 27-yard field goal to give the Titans the lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Rams responded with a six-play, 68-yard drive, and scored the winning touchdown 3:09 into the fourth quarter, when quarterback Jared Goff connected with receiver Cooper Kupp for a circus-catch, 14-yard touchdown to put the Rams up 27-23 with 11:51 to go.

The Rams’ defense, porous at times, came up big in the fourth quarter and stopped the Titans on three drives, including the final one. That’s when Barwin, who broke his forearm last month, chased down Mariota on fourth down and forced him into the game-clinching incomplete pass.

“I’m just thinking, don’t let him run for the first down,” Barwin said. “I knew it was fourth down and I knew he was going to run it if he had the chance, so I just tried to cut him off and run as fast as I could.”

All around the Rams’ locker room, there were redemption stories. It started with management, which got mocked for McVay’s hiring. It went to Gurley, whose status as an elite NFL running back was doubted last year. It went to a defense that underachieved last season, even with solid talent.

Most of all, perhaps, it centered on Goff, who had been dismissed by many as a “bust” after his rookie season of 2016, in which he started seven games and lost of them and, at times, looked lost himself, thanks in large part to substandard coaching, blocking and receiving targets.

Exactly one year earlier, on Dec. 24, after the Rams’ penultimate game of 2016, Goff stood, subdued but unbroken, and made a promise to Rams fans during his postgame news conference. Goff said he would give “everything in my heart and soul to get it all fixed.”

Goff threw for 301 yards and four touchdowns against the Titans. After the game, Goff started to pull on the dress shirt he wore upon arrival. Instead, he stuck with the blue T-shirt he had pulled on moments earlier, one that designated him as a champion.

“You never know how the whole season is going to play out,” Goff said, “but we felt good about our year coming into it, and now we are sitting here division champions and it feels pretty good.”

InvaderRam wrote:

http://latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-rams-titans-farmer-20171224-story.html#nt=oft01a-1li2

“He’s the most complete back I’ve ever played with, and he’s having the best season of any back I’ve ever played with,” Rams center John Sullivan said.

the same john sullivan who blocked for adrian peterson during his mvp season.

Hey invader. You have access to the Times? Mine ran out for this month. Could you post the whole article? Thanks.

PA Ram wrote:

The Seahawks offense did nothing

Wilson got a couple of clutch first downs and that’s all they needed.

How did they beat the Eagles?

…

wv wrote:

I have to say, that is really surprising to me. I thought Seattle would get blown apart. Maybe i should give the Rams more credit for last week, i dunno.

w
v

Remember Seattle beat Phil, Phil beat the Rams, Rams beat Seattle.

My take on the game? The Rams DL always plays Seattle tougher than anyone. But this time it just snowballed. Rams got a points advantage that allowed them to T off on defense, and on offense, they played the whole 1st half on the Seattle side of the field.

So again it was just that the Rams match up well with them, plus things just snowballed.

Seattle was not that bad. In the last 5 games they beat SF, beat Phil, lost to the Jagz, lost to the Rams, and beat Dallas. That sounds about right.

Rich Hammond‏@Rich_Hammond
Rodger Saffold, on Sean McVay: “He deserves all the credit, because the staff he put together and the way we’ve been coached has been top-notch, and we all appreciate that.”

Robert Quinn: “With McVay and Wade leading this team, I don’t know what they did, but they just brought the best out of everybody, brought some new guys in and everybody rose up to the challenge.”

Saffold, on Gurley’s MVP candidacy: “When you see the numbers that Tom Brady puts up and the numbers Drew Brees puts up, they’re around the same, it seems like, every year. This guy has just been dominant, every single game, and put us in position to be NFC West champions.”

Rodger Saffold, more on McVay: “We haven’t always done everything the right way. The way he’s been coaching us, we could have been 16-0.”

Lindsey Thiry‏@LindseyThiry
Wade Phillips also keeps his streak alive. Every team where he’s taken over the defense has made it to the playoffs in the first year.

Joe Curley@vcsjoecurley
Since McVay is the youngest coach since 1938, he’s automatically the youngest coach to win a division in at least 79 years. @CVRamsClub

He’s the youngest head coach/manager to make the playoffs in the 4 major sports since Jerry Colangelo coached the 1969-70 Suns to the NBA playoffs at age 30

Alden Gonzalez@Alden_Gonzalez
Rams OLB Robert Quinn, in his seventh year with the organization: “It was worth the wait, I can tell you that.”

Rams OLB Robert Quinn, on Todd Gurley: “When things don’t go right, it seems like he always comes out and adds a spark, or gives life back to the team. TG for MVP.”

Rams DT Aaron Donald, on Todd Gurley: “MVP for sure. If he don’t win it, there’s something wrong. You see it.” .

Rams QB Jared Goff, on going from 4-12 to first place: “I guess from the outside looking in you could be surprised. But being on the inside of it and being there daily, and seeing all the changes that happened, and everything that went in the right direction this offseason, coming in through OTAs and through training camp, and trending upwards and feeling good about it. You never know how this whole season is going to play out, but we felt good about our year and coming into it. And now we are sitting here division champs. And it feels really good.”

LG Rodger Saffold exited the game early with a rib injury, but Sean McVay said, “I think he’s OK.” Saffold was in good spirits and seemed fine postgame. ILB Mark Barron, a surprising inactive, has some soreness in his Achilles and has had a multitude of other ailments this season. “We’ll have some updates on that moving forward,” McVay said. Doesn’t sound good.

==

Jared Goff has now thrown for more touchdowns in a season than any @rams QB since Kurt Warner (36, 2001). On the road in 2017, 18 TD and just 2 INT. Congrats on an NFC West title, QB1.

A post shared by J.B. Long (@ramsradio) on Dec 24, 2017 at 4:28pm PST

==

Here’s @TG3II’s 80-yard touchdown catch and run on #RamsRadio with @MJD. https://t.co/P0yuILoLWT pic.twitter.com/LmdU6j9fz8

— J.B. Long (@JB_Long) December 24, 2017

.@JaredGoff16 with his 4th TD of the game!@CooperKupp for 6️⃣! #LAvsTEN pic.twitter.com/WetOmtmHMQ

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 24, 2017

THERE GOES GURLEY! 💨💨💨

80-yard TD for @TG3II! #LAvsTEN pic.twitter.com/pFQc6TUqMD

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) December 24, 2017

InvaderRam wrote:

gurley is getting big time publicity for mvp honors.

i gotta think he at least wins offensive player of the year.

and donald gets defensive player of the year.

that’d be cool.

And then also they clearly have a franchise qb in Goff.

That’s 3 first round picks in a row that must count as big scores.

2 of them in the conversation for either mvp or offensive/defensive player of the year.

I know some teams in the past have used the first round well, but who has surpassed that?

I don;t literally mean the players have to be in line for mvp etc, that’s just a way of talking about how good they are.

So 3 such 1st round players in five years.

First five years of Noll they took Greene, Bradsha, and Franco Harris. Maybe that tops the Rams a bit.

What about the Perkins/Parcells Giants? Starting with Lawrence Taylor in 1981, they took….Woolfolk, Kinard, Banks, and Adams. So, unh-unh.

It’s just not a common thing.

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