Tags
champions, City of Champions, football, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Rams, National Football League, NFL, NFL Draft, pro football, SoFi Stadium, Southern California, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Champions, Super Bowl LVI, Vince Lombardi Trophy
AND THEIR FIRST NFL TITLE IN LOS ANGELES IN SEVENTY YEARS!
AS WELL AS THEIR SECOND SUPER BOWL,
And the first NFL team that calls L.A. home to win an NFL championship since the Raiders in 1984 – 38 years!
SUPER BOWL LVI – BY THE NUMBERS
FINAL SCORE: Los Angeles Rams 23 – Cincinnati Bengals 20
Passing:
- Matthew Stafford, LA: 26-40, 283 yards, 3 TD, 2 INT
- Joe Burrow, CIN: 22-33, 263 yards, 1 TD
Other Top Players:
- Cooper Kupp, LA (*SUPER BOWL MVP): 8 catches, 92 yards, 2 TD
- Tee Higgins, CIN: 4 catches, 100 yards, 2 TD
- Ja’Marr Chase, CIN: 5 catches, 89 yards
- Aaron Donald, LA: 4 tackles, 2.0 sacks
- Von Miller, LA: 2.0 sacks
A Key Stat: The Rams sacking Burrow seven times, a Super Bowl record.
Attendance: 70,048
ANALYSIS AND THOUGHTS:
Right now as I type this after this ultimate triumph of the Rams,
I can’t help wondering of anyone else besides me realizes that this championship that those Rams earned at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood,
Is the third title won by a team from Southern California in the past sixteen months?
First it was the Lakers winning their 17th NBA Finals – and 12th in Los Angeles – in October of 2020,
Then it was the Dodgers winning their 7th World Series – and sixth in Los Angeles – a few weeks later,
Now it’s the Rams hoisting a championship trophy – the Vince Lombardi Trophy to be precise;
I suppose it’s safe to say that this second largest city in America can officially be called the,
“City of Champions”.
I think every Rams fan will agree with me when I state that what won Vince Lombardi’s Trophy for Sean McVay’s team was the fact that, in the grand tradition of the John Wooden maxim,
“Be at your best when your best is needed”,
The Rams’ stars were both at their best when it was desperately needed and came through big time,
With the Bengals playing – just like I had said they would – like they had nothing to lose for pretty much the entire second half with that 75 yard touchdown pass (yes, I know the referees blatantly missed Tee Higgins pulling Jalen Ramsey’s face mask on that play and subsequently swallowing the flag on that) to open the third quarter and shutting down the Rams’ offense with those two interceptions;
First it was Cooper Kupp showing why he was the best wide receiver in football this year with his second touchdown catch with 1:25 left in the game, clinching Super Bowl Most Valuable Player honors in the process,
Then Aaron Donald showed why he was the best defensive player in football for the past eight years in harassing Bengals QB Joe Burrow into a bad, incomplete pass on fourth and short with less than a minute left, ending the Bengals’ chances and securing the title for L.A.
Like I had stated in the Super Bowl preview that I posted on this blog,
As long as Donald and Kupp are on the field, the Rams have a very good chance to win.
And that held true for this game, despite fellow wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. hurting his knee in the second quarter and having to miss the rest of the contest, maiming the Rams’ passing attack as that made it all the more easier for the Bengals to focus on shutting down Kupp.
Like the rest of So Cal, I was and am quite happy over the Rams being the newly crowned NFL champions.
And for once, I actually enjoyed the halftime show featuring L.A. natives Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar along with 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige and Eminem.
In fact, I liked the show very much as it gave homage to Compton, South L.A. and Watts.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 concerns I won’t be able to attend the parade through downtown Los Angeles that is sure to happen by the end of this week,
Which in my opinion should include the Dodgers and Lakers as their championships were won during a pandemic lock down and killed any chances of any parades for those two teams.
However,
I’m looking to buy at least a Rams T-shirt to commemorate this title.
And now with football season finally being over, with the next event the NFL Draft in April,
I can focus on college hoops on this blog, which is heating up as two SoCal teams – UCLA and USC, which recently beat the Bruins for the fifth straight time at a sold out Galen Center where the students rushed the court at game’s end – are in the AP top 20,
And also the troubles that Major League Baseball is having with the owners and the players engaging in what probably should be called a war, as the owners locked the players out on December 1st and are nowhere near close to resolving their differences.
Kind of like in 1981 and particularly 1994, when the strike killed both the season and the World Series.
I’ll offer my thoughts on that issue soon.
But until then,
CONGRATULATIONS, RAMS!