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AFC, American Football Conference, Chargers, football, L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, National Football Conference, National Football League, NFC, NFL, playoffs, pro football, Rams, Southern California, StubHub Center, Super Bowl
![](https://socalsportschronicles.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ldn-l-rams-0924-kb28_26914385_1857283.jpg?w=529&h=363)
Los Angeles Chargers vs. Los Angeles Rams in the first half of a NFL football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, September 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) Photo courtesy of ocregister.com
LOS ANGELES RAMS
Current Record: 13-3
- BACK-TO-BACK NFC WEST CHAMPIONS
- Seeded second in the NFC playoffs
Last Game: Beat the San Francisco 49ers, 48-32, on December 30th
Next Game: NFC Divisional Playoff vs Dallas Cowboys at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Saturday, January 12, 2019, 5:15 p.m.
Key Players:
- Jared Goff, QB: 4,868 yards passing, 64.9% completions, 32 TD, 12 INT
- Todd Gurley, RB: 1,256 yards rushing* (3rd in NFL), 4.9 ypc, 17 TD* (1st in NFL) // 59 receptions, 580 receiving yards, 4 TD
- Robert Woods, WR: 86 receptions, 1,219 yards, 6 TD
- Brandin Cooks, WR: 80 receptions, 1,204 yards, 5 TD
- Cory Littleton, LB: 125 tackles, 9 TFL, 4 sacks, 3 INT
- John Johnson, S: 119 tackles, 3 TFL, 4 INT
- Aaron Donald, DT: 59 tackles, 25 TFL*, 20.5 sacks* (1st in NFL in sacks & TFL)
- Ndamukong Suh, NT: 59 tackles, 4 TFL, 4.5 sacks
Aaron Donald – the best defensive player in the NFL – during the Rams’ 48-32 win over the 49ers on December 30th. Photo courtesy of abc7.com
LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
Current Record: 13-4
- Tied for first place in the AFC West with the Kansas City Chiefs
- Earned the first Wild Card berth
- Seeded fifth in the AFC Playoffs
Last Game: Beat the Baltimore Ravens, 23-17, in the AFC Wild Card Game on January 6th, 2019
Next Game: AFC Divisional Playoff vs the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, Sunday, January 13, 2019, at 10:05 a.m.
Key Players:
- Philip Rivers, QB: 4,308 yards passing, 68.3% completions, 32 TD, 12 INT
- Melvin Gordon, RB: 885 yards rushing, 5.1 ypc, 10 TD // 50 receptions, 490 yards, 4 TD
- Keenan Allen, WR: 97 receptions, 1,196 yards, 6 TD
- Mike Williams, WR: 43 receptions, 664 yards, 10 TD
- Derwin James, S: 105 tackles, 4 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 3 INT
- Jatavis Brown, LB: 97 tackles, 4 TFL
- Adrian Phillips, LB: 94 tackles, 4 TFL
- Melvin Ingram, DE: 43 tackles, 8 TFL, 7 sacks
- Joey Bosa, DE: 23 tackles, 7 TFL, 5.5 sacks
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers during their 23-17 playoff win over the Ravens in Baltimore this past Sunday. Photo courtesy of theintellingencer.com
THOUGHTS & PREDICTIONS:
Unlike (unfortunately) their collegiate counterparts,
Los Angeles and Southern California fans can take heart that they have two professional football teams,
With both of them being very good.
Which is incredible, considering that as recently as three years ago, this country’s second largest city had no teams playing in the National Football League – and hadn’t for 21 years!
It has certainly been fun to have seen both the Rams and the Chargers have such good seasons.
And I, and I’m sure everyone else, are so looking forward to the opening of the new state-of-the-art stadium in Inglewood in roughly twenty months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx6_ZkhNzhE
Full highlights of the Chargers’ 23-17 upset win in Baltimore over the Ravens in the AFC Wild Card Game, courtesy of YouTube (click on the link)
All right, here’s how I think things will unfold in the upcoming playoff games involving these two SoCal NFL teams…
Chargers: I wholeheartedly agree that these Bolts have had a great season.
Philip Rivers has essentially become ageless as he’s still producing, and producing very well, after a decade and a half in the league.
It’s just a complete shame that they have to play in a place this coming Sunday where they have such a slim chance of winning.
Yes, I know that they have lost only one game on the road this year – against the Rams at the Coliseum on September 23rd, which means that they have not lost a game outside of Los Angeles this season, but come on!
I mean, it’s the New England Patriots, who have made appearances in the Super Bowl their birthright for the bulk of this century.
In front of their fans.
In temperatures that are pretty much guaranteed to be in the 30’s if not the 20’s.
With Tom Brady at quarterback, a guy LONG known for winning big games, for goodness sake!
As much as I hate to do so, I just can’t give these Chargers much of a chance at pulling off the upset,
Which is what a win over the Patriots would be – an upset.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW5N_dPxFUM
Highlights of the Rams finishing off their regular season with their 48-32 win over the 49ers in their most recent game, courtesy of YouTube (click on the link)
Rams: It’s a good thing that this divisional playoff game will be at home, because these Cowboys have been on a roll.
The Rams’ fans REALLY need to show up at the Coliseum on Saturday and be loud, because the Cowboys’ fans, of whom there are many in SoCal, will certainly show up and make their presence more than known.
I see this playoff match as being a close one; it won’t surprise me if it unfolds like the shootout against the Kansas City Chiefs, with both teams scoring over 50 points.
All of the Rams’ key players that I have mentioned in this post will need to have good days, especially Gurley, who is rested after sitting out the last two games, and Donald and Suh up front.
My biggest feeling regarding this game is this…
When I was a kid, I used to hate the Cowboys.
I felt that they were arrogant with their “America’s Team” persona, those short-shorted Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders being thought of as a bunch of Athenas and Aphrodites, and with Roger Staubach (and later Danny White), Ed “Too Tall” Jones, and Tony Dorsett being such poster boys (especially Staubach).
And I remember really hating linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, because he had such a big mouth – before I read his autobiography in college and found out that he was a huge cocaine addict that cost him his career and earned him prison time.
I was happily celebrating when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat those Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII.
OK, here’s my point…
Despite my hatred for the Cowboys receding in the 1990s with those Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith-led teams, I still find myself never wanting them to ever win another Super Bowl.
That’s why I so want the Rams to beat them this Saturday, because if the Cowboys – and the Patriots for that matter, as I’m sick of them and Tom Brady – end up in the Super Bowl,
I definitely won’t watch, and will opt to view something else on TV.
![](https://socalsportschronicles.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ldn-l-rams-0924-kb25-1.jpg?w=529&h=379)
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks #12 of the Los Angeles Rams catches a pass for first down over defensive back Casey Hayward #26 of the Los Angeles Chargers in the first half of a NFL football game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, September 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) Photo courtesy of bleacherreport.com