The ability of professional athletes on the highest level to focus on the task at hand, and block out whatever else is going on in their world, can be remarkable.
The Los Angeles Rams could not have been focused on football over the past week, not with deadly wildfires affecting a huge part of the Los Angeles area. They could see smoke from their practice facility. There was concern about their own homes and loved ones. Preparing to face a very good Minnesota Vikings team wasn’t the priority. It didn’t help the Rams that the game had to be moved from their home of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to a neutral site in Arizona either.
And yet, when Monday night’s game kicked off, the Rams played their best game of the entire season in a 27-9 victory against the Vikings in the NFC wild-card round.
The Vikings, who were 14-3 during the regular season, never had a chance. The Rams dominated from the start, burying the Vikings in a win. The Rams advance to the divisional round, and will face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
The Rams’ win featured a total meltdown by Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, whose good season unraveled in Week 18 and on Monday night, but the Rams’ defense had plenty to do with his mistakes.
If the Rams would have come out flat and lost, nobody would have blamed them. Instead, the Rams had one of the more impressive playoff performances we’ve seen in a while, given the circumstances.
Rams take control right away
If the Rams were distracted by what was happening back in Southern California, you’d have never known it by the way they started Monday night’s game.
On the first play, Matthew Stafford hit Puka Nacua for a 27-yard gain. That started a 70-yard drive that ended with Stafford hitting Kyren Williams for a 5-yard touchdown. Then the Rams forced a quick three-and-out, with the Vikings’ first two plays losing 11 yards. Then came another strong Rams drive, though an unnecessary roughness penalty was a reason it stalled and Los Angeles had to settle for a field goal and a 10-0 lead.
The momentum never really stopped. There was a potentially huge mistake when the Vikings seemed to recover a fumble and return it for a touchdown, but it was overturned on a replay review when officials said Stafford was flipping the ball forward for an incomplete pass. The Rams kept rolling. Darnold was strip-sacked and the fumble was returned by defensive end Jared Verse for 57 yards and a touchdown. In the final minute of the first half, Stafford hit tight end Davis Allen for a touchdown. The Rams led 24-3 at halftime. The Rams had six sacks before halftime, the first time since 1988 that a team had six sacks in the first half of a playoff game.
Everything was going well for the team that was displaced by the wildfires. The team that went 14-3 during the regular season looked like it didn’t belong in the playoffs at all.
Rams dominate the Vikings
When the Rams sat starters in Week 18, it seemed odd. That led to a loss, and instead of a chance at the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, the Rams moved down to No. 4. They were guaranteed to get the loser of the Vikings-Detroit Lions finale, a battle of two teams that were 14-2 at that point.
It revealed that Rams head coach Sean McVay wasn’t worried at all about facing either team, and perhaps the Vikings in particular.
The Rams beat the Vikings once in the regular season and matched up well against them. The Vikings had a great defensive season under coordinator Brian Flores, but Stafford was excellent in identifying the many blitzes Minnesota threw at him and getting the ball out fast. The defense built off what the Lions started in Week 18, making Darnold look like a confused and unsure quarterback. Even when Darnold finally threw a touchdown, to T.J. Hockenson in the third quarter, it was an inaccurate pass that Hockenson made a great play on to pin it to his hip. Darnold was off all night, due in large part to the pressure the Rams consistently generated.
The Rams will move on for a tough matchup against an Eagles team that is 13-1 since the end of September, counting Philly’s win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. But it’s safe to assume the Rams will be mentally prepared for any adversity they face in that game.
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Sam Darnold’s disastrous playoff debut
With the lights turned bright, Sam Darnold did not meet the moment Monday night. What do the Vikings do now?
Click the photo to read more about Sam Darnold’s brutal night against the Rams. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) -
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