no team played better or was more exciting in the second half of the 2023 season than the rams, from 3-6 to the postseason, the rams will be a top 8-10 power ranked team headed into 2024, the future is bright for rams fans! pic.twitter.com/0y3DOySUan

— roberto clemente (@rclemente2121) January 15, 2024

Rodrigue: Rams’ hard, beautiful, bittersweet season comes to an end in Detroit

By Jourdan Rodrigue

https://theathletic.com/5202807/2024/01/15/los-angeles-rams-playoffs-loss-lions/?source=emp_shared_article

DETROIT — A stadium that echoed deafeningly from its green strands of turf to its lofty rafters for four quarters finally emptied and all that was left over to fill the air inside was every feeling imaginable.

Oh, Los Angeles Rams fans. I don’t know what to say to you tonight except I wish so dearly you could feel what I can feel, sitting up under the rafters having watched a city just about dying for the moment it deserves get that very moment. Having just seen a head coach nearly in tears and players with their heads in their hands and a phenom rookie receiver say, yeah nine catches and 181 yards and a touchdown were fine but missing that one catch on third-and-14 will stay with me forever.

Up here in the quiet of Monday morning, looking out across Ford Field, everything every single person present tonight felt hangs in the air still and it probably always will.

For the Rams in 2023, that was always kind of the point: Be in every moment. Experience every day, every drill, every lesson. It’s a hard thing to do, and harder still for a head coach who has always been in such a dang hurry to be successful.

But there Sean McVay was, at the lectern cursing himself internally for his offense’s 0-for-3 stat line in the red zone Sunday night, a 24-23 loss to the Detroit Lions, his voice hoarse and cracking from trying to communicate with his players and coaches in an absolutely (and truly perfectly) hostile environment at Ford Field. McVay, who disappeared so far into his own head in 2022 some close to him wondered whether he could ever re-emerge.

“I’m so proud of this football team,” he said. “The finality of it is still, it doesn’t totally resonate. But man, did I learn a lot. And I really appreciate this group.

“They helped me find my way again.”

Why “perfectly” hostile? I wish you could have heard it — the way these Lions fans met their moment. They booed Matthew Stafford mercilessly, right from the second he ran onto the field and long into the game. They chanted Lions quarterback Jared Goff’s name, not just in support of him but also to needle Stafford, who played 12 seasons there without winning a playoff game before arriving in Los Angeles and promptly winning a Super Bowl.

“It was a good playoff atmosphere,” Stafford said after the game. He was evaluated for a concussion during the game and also suffered a ribs injury (the severity of which is currently unknown but he did return).

“It was a playoff game. I’m not surprised that (Lions fans) were excited about cheering for their team. I’m not too worried about anybody’s personal feelings toward me that was sitting in the stands.”

The fans had skeleton dolls wearing Rams jerseys in the front row of one of the end zones, waving wildly and slamming into the matting around the edges of the field. They got even louder every time they saw Stafford audible into the second of two plays McVay always sends through the headset. They screamed at the officials, so loudly at times that the crew had to stop time to get an announcement to the game clock operators. When the indoor firecrackers popped out of the catwalk and ribbons of confetti fell from the ceiling as Lions players hugged and slapped backs down on the field, some in the crowd openly wept and stood in their seats long after the game ended.

If you love football, if you have a pulse, you are moved by that. Hell, at minimum you admire it.

But then came the long elevator ride into the bowels of the stadium and silent visitors locker room where a group of guys were working hard to process big feelings. Cooper Kupp, who hasn’t looked like himself all year and finished with just five catches for 27 yards, sat with his head in his hands. So did outside linebacker Michael Hoecht, who missed a tackle on second-and-7 on the Lions’ last drive that absolutely had to be a stop. The Rams had one timeout left — McVay used two of them to avoid a delay penalty because of the bone-shattering crowd noise — so the conversion that resulted from the missed tackle gave Detroit a fresh set of downs and so the ability to call a run on the next play to run the clock down to the two-minute warning.

On second-and-9 underneath the two-minute, Goff — as you are certainly aware, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick of the Rams — threw a quick strike to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown that picked up 11 yards. Second-year safety Quentin Lake was in coverage. The Rams gave up 21 quick points in the first half on Sunday, but clamped down in the second half to allow only three points.

“It’s hard to say (out loud),” Lake said, “but I kind of put the weight of the game on my shoulders. You got to make a play in those situations.”

Before that sequence, the Rams’ offense had the ball with a one-point deficit and faced a third-and-4 at the Detroit 34-yard line, with 4:24 left to play. Right tackle Rob Havenstein was called for a hold, which set up third-and-14. Stafford ducked a pass rusher, then fired a high pass to Puka Nacua, who tried to stretch for it but had his jersey pulled by cornerback Cam Sutton as he coiled up for his jump. The ball tipped off his hands as another Lions player crashed into Nacua.

“It’s going to sting for a while,” Nacua said. McVay implied postgame, without calling out the officiating crew, that teammates and coaches were justified in looking for a flag in their reaction to that play. Nacua said the Lions were a physical team, but he still believed he could have done a better job of separating for the catch.

“Teammates counted on me to make plays,” he said, a few long silences mixed in with his answers. “Coach counted on me and dialed up my number. Just wasn’t able to come down with it.”

Everything in the game Sunday was electricity, noise, successes and failures and reminders, once again, what roster holes there are to fill for the Rams in the coming months. Afterward, it was just bittersweetness personified by the combination of the thousands of devoted Lions fans in the stands and by a small, quiet visitors locker room full of people who are changed forever by this season.

The Lions won their first playoff game since 1992.

When football history is made like this, the loser is preserved, too.

I hope this is also what is remembered about this 2023 Rams team: They were so imperfect. My goodness, what they looked like when they arrived at OTAs in May — I’ve never seen anything like it. The coaches re-taught a group of 44 rookies and new arrivals how to do drills in May, so that they could have functional practices by June. They were laughed right to the bottom of every preseason poll and betting line by pundits from July to September. Many of those people didn’t even start watching this team until December. Growth occurred in small, quiet repeated actions and in failure — and there was a lot of that in the first weeks and even months. They kept showing up.

Their lives — every coach, every player — became about what they could make of that day, not the season.

What clichés, right?

“Be where your feet are.”

“Be present.”

“Work works.”

Yet I was there every day, myself evolving — from grimaces and internal groans at the motivational T-shirts and the catchphrases, to the humbling realization that I was a witness as a group of people grew up, right in front of me. I remember the Super Bowl-winning season in drips and flashes. I will remember this one, far less glamorous as it is, by only a feeling — the pull of being genuinely moved by a group of people who treated each day like the only step backward would be a moment not spent wholly alive.

In a lot of ways they all stayed imperfect, from the kids to the old guys and certainly their head coach. Their cracks were where joy flooded in.

“Whew, a jolt of energy, man,” said Stafford of what he got from his teammates in 2023, many of them a decade or more younger than he is.

“I had a blast. It was a heck of a challenge. I got to sit there and push guys, but also watch guys come into their own in this league. That’s not an easy thing to do. … I’m proud of those guys. And I’m happy to be a part of a team with a group of guys like that

Seahawks put in request to interview Raheem Morris for open HC position https://t.co/C8ykZFZF1T pic.twitter.com/cljyj49Uqx

— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) January 15, 2024

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
according to pff, wildcard game:

when pressured:
——————
stafford – 5/11 for 73 yards, 0 td, 0 int
goff – 3/8 35 yards, 0 td, 0 int

when kept clean:
——————-
stafford – 20/25 for 294 yards, 2 td, 0 int
goff – 19/19 242 yards, 1 td, 0 int

Josh Dubow@JoshDubowAP
Rams averaged 7.73 yards per play and didn’t turn the ball over. No team since at least 1949 averaged 7+ yds/play, had no turnovers and lost a playoff game before tonight

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
We watched Aaron Donald kind of age in reverse this year from a hard 2022, and get back a lot of joy with his young teammates. Asked in his postgame interview if he’s committed to carrying that forward into 2024 with this group, he said, “for sure.”

Field Yates@FieldYates
Jared Goff when not pressured last night:

22-of-22, 277 yards, 1 TD

That’s the most attempts without an incompletion in the playoffs since ESPN began tracking pressures in 2009.

roberto clemente@rclemente2121
can’t remember the last time i saw so many top rams offensive skill position players get so pummeled in one game: higbee, kw, puka, and stafford, the guys took some brutal hits, 2 didn’t return.

InvaderRam wrote:

they need another tight end. hopefully allen can step up. but they need someone else. hopkins. not sure if his contract is up.

Yeah Hopkins is a UFA in 2024. But I doubt they pay him because the Rams have used Allen far more than Hopkins, which makes you wonder if they even want Hopkins. (Allen has 192 snaps to Hopkins 96. Heck Hunter Long saw 55 snaps and he was on IR for all but 4 games.)

There goes Stafford and that no-look again.

📺: #LARvsDET on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/1Ybx8zWkDv

— NFL (@NFL) January 15, 2024

"How often does a game not only live up to, but exceed all expectations?

Stafford was sensational in his Detroit return.

Goff was magnificent.

And the @Lions fans delivered and more."
– @PSchrags pic.twitter.com/dgKoLAoPgH

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) January 15, 2024

pic.twitter.com/EKBxaoCtjK

— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) January 15, 2024

Listen to the whole thing. He does a commerical at one point so just skip over that because there’s more. He has really high praise for Stafford.

from https://www.nfl.com/news/qb-jared-goff-beating-his-former-team-to-secure-lions-first-playoff-win-in-32-years

With fans having chanted his name from the moment he hit the field for pregame warmups, part of what Goff would later call “the best home game atmosphere he has ever experienced,” he rewarded them with a fiery start. He hit his first 14 passes and finished the first half 16 for 18 for 194 yards and a touchdown. Goff’s TD throw to a less-than-full-strength Sam LaPorta put the Lions up 21-10….

…

HEART: This hurts. They almost had the game…

HEAD: Even being in the playoffs exceeded expectations for a young team and promises a great future. Yes losing is bitter but this wasn’t their year–they’re so young, there’s a lot that must be improved, and they would have lost in the post-season at some point anyway. By losing now, they get a higher draft pick. Be proud of their season and take solace in the fact that their future is bright.

HEART: Oh gee great thanks, that was all pretty well said for a Seattle fan….

Zooey wrote:

Puka Nacua.  Good lord. I’d like to think, “Just wait until next year,” but I don’t see how he can improve on his game. Like… how?

Analysts I’ve seen have shown that he still runs routes like a rookie and can improve in that area. He’s just so great at contested catches, it’s not always visible that yes he can improve his route running (and most likely will). At one point he led the league in drops. His catch percentage for 2023 was 65.6%, which is respectable but can be improved. For example in his best years, Kupp was in the mid 70s–around 74% to 76% depending on the year. So PN can improve in that respect too.

And. Just imagine. 😎

Never fear, Puka is here.

📺: #LARvsDET on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/qduFXzSWyb

— NFL (@NFL) January 15, 2024

THERE WE GO, ERNEST!

📺 @SNFonNBC | @ernestjones53 pic.twitter.com/lLC4oAE8cT

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 15, 2024