What I don’t understand is why – if Gurley was well enough for 10 or 12 touches – why isn’t he good for 20? I hope it’s not his meniscus, as someone suggested quite plausibly.

I think it’s a different game if Kupp is in there. He is the Rams’ Edelman…that guy who just gets open somehow. He would have – at least – moved the chains a couple of times to keep the D off the field, and improve the field position game.

One other thing…and I haven’t seen anybody reference this yet, and I thought it was a big momoment – I would have taken one of those penalties with 2:25 left in the game to push NE out of FG range. I don’t get it. I mean…from right there where it happened, declining the penalty meant NE lost a down, and has a 50-yd FG to make. But they have 2 downs to improve on that position – which they did. Now the Rams are down 2 scores with 1:12 to play. Seems to me a no-brainer to try to push them back and stop them and getting the ball back with – say – a minute to play down by one score.

There are a bazillion articles out there. I’m sure somebody has addressed this, but I don’t understand that call at all.

I got spanakopita, dolmas, buffalo wings, and a pasta salad I made.

This time tomorrow, the Rams will be up by 20 points.

On Bradford…I think that guy is the Anti-Foles.

Nick Foles is an Adequate Guy who benefited from every imaginable circumstance. A guy who was always in the right place at the right time. Everything outside his control always came together for that bastard. Luckiest guy in the world. And that’s not a knock on Foles personally. I like the guy…you know…on that level. Nice guy. Good for him.

Bradford is just the opposite of that.

Bradford was a very talented guy who just always got the short straw in the NFL.

He couldn’t throw a fade. That’s the worst I can say about the guy. That pass eluded him…at least in his time with the Rams. I didn’t watch him after that. But that was his limitation while I watched him. But he did everything else. And did it well.

He was fucked over by injuries and limited talent around him. That’s Sam Bradford in my book.

On the 5th weapon…I agree. A TE would just make this offense completely unstoppable.

I think the Rams have bigger needs…as you say…DT, LB, OL…but if they landed a blue chip TE…the Rams would score on every fucking possession.

zn wrote:

ferragamo79

Interesting comment on Golic and Wingo radio show

they had Adam Thielen on and he picked the Rams to win the Super Bowl due to their offense. Said Belichick is very good at game planning and taking away one weapon, but the Rams have multiple weapons and their offense is legit.

This makes no sense, except it does…

I have to say that my confidence level would be double what it is if Kupp was still active.

I just have always seen Kupp as the straw that breaks the camel’s back. You simply cannot stop Woods, Cooks, Gurley, AND Kupp.

I think a good defense…a REALLY good defense…can limit up to 3 guys.

I don’t think there has been a defense EVER that could stop 4 guys.

I think the storyline of the Rams winning is too good to fail.

Too Good To Fail.

That’s my line.

Okay. I’ve been thinking about it a long time, and now I am ready to issue my prediction (i.e. proclamation).

The Rams are going to win this game by 15 points.

I will give you 10 reasons why:

1) I really have no idea. I think this game could be played 10 times, and the two teams would split the series 5-5.

2) I have nothing at stake with this prediction other than my reputation, and frankly, I don’t have much to lose in that department to begin with, so what the hell. Only Upside here.

3) Fuck the Patriots.

4) Fuck Tom Brady.

5) Fuck Bill Belichik.

6) Go Rams.

7) The Rams have been playing really well the past 4 games. Hitting on all cylinders, as it were. Stopping the run. Stopping the pass. Nailing kicks. Scoring points. This is a really good team.

8) Karma.

9) It makes a good story. The Rams bookend the Patriots dynasty. This is Bill and Tom’s last SB. It’s just good literary parallelism, and I think people dismiss that beautiful symmetry of life at their own peril.

10) It would make me glad.

Final score: Rams 31 Patriots 16

I don’t care if the Patriots are deeper. I care about the first string guys. Because in the Super Bowl…guess who plays the most?

wv wrote:

I think it was Goff’s best game, ever. I think he was fucking awesome. Dont care about the stats. To perform under those ridiculous conditions, and manage the game, and to overcome Gurley’s big screw up, and to make four or five elite, clutch throws under pressure, on the road, in a dome, for the NFC Championship — well…just fucking awesome.

And legatron. Good lord.

w
v

I think I might agree with that. I certainly believe his response to the crowd noise was amazing, especially with the championship on the line like that. He has had better numbers, of course. But the noise, the pressure…the falling behind by 13, and then by 10 half way through the 3rd…and he never got the yips. He had the presence to immediately dive on the muffed snap. When he got hit, he got right back up. He just kept playing.

He is 24.

This guy…give him another 6 years…he may very well be the best Rams QB of all time. And it may not be close. Warner might have been if not for the busted hand and the reckless coach. I never saw Waterfield, and really I was a child in the Gabriel era, and how many games did I see? Not sure. But I had no idea what I was watching, really. Who else is even in the conversation? Hadl lasted one year, I think. Good…but only a year or two of service. Everett was very good, but…he never got to the Holy Land, and there’s that phantom sack that he will never, ever live down. Warner. Bulger was very, very good, but…no results. Not his fault, but…no results. He was good.

Post-Bulger, the only QB worth a mention is Goff. IMO. And I highly doubt I’m in the minority on that.

And he’s 24, on his way to the Super Bowl, and still has a line graph with an upward angle.

I think I might be falling in love with Goff. Wow. Did not see that coming. Right now, he is still a very good accessory on that team. But if he wins the Super Bowl….

I either forgot, or never knew, that Fisher tried to hire Kyle Shanahan as OC.

That would have changed the course of history.

InvaderRam wrote:

watched superbowl opening night.

there’s noticeably waaaaaaaay more pats fans there than rams fans.

hope it’s not like this during the actual game.

They survived New Orleans. There has never been a Super Bowl climate anything like that.

zn wrote:

Andrew Siciliano@AndrewSiciliano
Teams that return to the Super Bowl after losing in the Super Bowl the previous year have lost five straight Super Bowls.

Does that make sense?

This is certainly the key statistic that will determine the outcome of this year’s super bowl.

I think what the scoreboard shows will be secondary to this.