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It's Official: Rams' Return To Los Angeles Is A Rousing Success
Raise your hand if you thought the Rams would manage something in the neighborhood of 4-12 upon returning to Los Angeles in 2016. All of you? That's what I thought.
Samson Ebukams. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
Now raise your hand if you expected anything resembling an 11-5 rebound season in 2017. Now raise a leg if truly, honestly, if your life depended on it, you expected the team to improve after seven straight losses (and 11 of 12) to finish their first season in L.A. to the playoffs the following year, behind a second-year leader named Jared Goff, who'd finished his rookie season with a total quarterback rating of 18.3?
Now raise your other leg if you expected the season you're watching now: the 10-1, 35-points-per-game Super-Bowl-contending-powerhouse third-year-return-home Los Angeles Rams. A lot of fans, having lifted both legs, rolling on the floor with big smiles, I see.
I don't know about you, but truth be told, happy as I was about the Rams returning to L.A. -- which I wished for for years -- I never really expected any great success on the field. Not this much success, and certainly not this fast. I'd heard the warnings out of St. Louis, about how Stan Kroenke doesn't really care about winning, and even if he did, he wouldn't know how to go about it.
I bought into it to a degree. Not a lot, but a little. I figured Kroenke wouldn't move halfway across the country and build not just a stadium, but a mini-city off the 405 just to fall all over himself, piling up losing season after losing season. Sure, his team had managed five double-figure-loss seasons out of the previous 10 in Missouri, with an 8-8 campaign as the absolute best they could do (in 2006) but I was hopeful. I wasn't expecting anything like what we're watching now, however. Not in season three.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Josh Reynolds (83) catches a touchdown pass over Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Orlando Scandrick, lower right, during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Of course, I didn't know at the time that Jeff Fisher would be given the heave-ho 13 weeks into the 2016 season, and a grand total of eight days after being awarded a generous contract extension by club management. I didn't know then -- I couldn't know then -- that the Rams had 30-year-old Sean McVay up their jersey sleeve, that'd he blossom essentially overnight into the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year, that he'd actually improve upon that the next season, and be responsible for what the rest of the league is watching with envy now.
I didn't know then what I know now, and that must be said as emphatically as is humanly possible: It's official -- the Rams return to Los Angeles is a rousing success. It's something not even the most optimistic of prognosticators could have foreseen three years ago. The team is averaging 72,178 in attendance this season, in an old stadium for built track and field, with crappy parking and even worse freeway access. Some 77,002 Southern Californians showed up early and were in their seats at rush hour last night, for a game that was scheduled to be played in another country just days before, roaring from the outset.
The team rewarded the patrons with an historic 54-51 Monday Night Football win over the previously-9-1 Kansas City Chiefs and now stands as the NFL's winningest team. They'd likely clinch the NFC West next weekend, if not for the fact this it's their bye week.
I'm looking forward to the Detroit Lions December 2, I'm looking forward to the playoffs this year, the final season at the Coliseum next year, and the opening of the new stadium in 2020. And I think the city of Los Angeles owes a hearty thank you this Thanksgiving week to Mr. Kroenke, to Mr. McVay, to Executive Vice President of Football Operations and CEO Kevin Demoff, and perhaps most importantly, to General Manager Les Snead.
I didn't know Snead had it in him. Raise your hands and legs -- not all at once, please -- if you did.
[www.forbes.com]
Raise your hand if you thought the Rams would manage something in the neighborhood of 4-12 upon returning to Los Angeles in 2016. All of you? That's what I thought.
Samson Ebukams. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
Now raise your hand if you expected anything resembling an 11-5 rebound season in 2017. Now raise a leg if truly, honestly, if your life depended on it, you expected the team to improve after seven straight losses (and 11 of 12) to finish their first season in L.A. to the playoffs the following year, behind a second-year leader named Jared Goff, who'd finished his rookie season with a total quarterback rating of 18.3?
Now raise your other leg if you expected the season you're watching now: the 10-1, 35-points-per-game Super-Bowl-contending-powerhouse third-year-return-home Los Angeles Rams. A lot of fans, having lifted both legs, rolling on the floor with big smiles, I see.
I don't know about you, but truth be told, happy as I was about the Rams returning to L.A. -- which I wished for for years -- I never really expected any great success on the field. Not this much success, and certainly not this fast. I'd heard the warnings out of St. Louis, about how Stan Kroenke doesn't really care about winning, and even if he did, he wouldn't know how to go about it.
I bought into it to a degree. Not a lot, but a little. I figured Kroenke wouldn't move halfway across the country and build not just a stadium, but a mini-city off the 405 just to fall all over himself, piling up losing season after losing season. Sure, his team had managed five double-figure-loss seasons out of the previous 10 in Missouri, with an 8-8 campaign as the absolute best they could do (in 2006) but I was hopeful. I wasn't expecting anything like what we're watching now, however. Not in season three.
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Josh Reynolds (83) catches a touchdown pass over Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Orlando Scandrick, lower right, during the first half of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 19, 2018, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Of course, I didn't know at the time that Jeff Fisher would be given the heave-ho 13 weeks into the 2016 season, and a grand total of eight days after being awarded a generous contract extension by club management. I didn't know then -- I couldn't know then -- that the Rams had 30-year-old Sean McVay up their jersey sleeve, that'd he blossom essentially overnight into the 2017 NFL Coach of the Year, that he'd actually improve upon that the next season, and be responsible for what the rest of the league is watching with envy now.
I didn't know then what I know now, and that must be said as emphatically as is humanly possible: It's official -- the Rams return to Los Angeles is a rousing success. It's something not even the most optimistic of prognosticators could have foreseen three years ago. The team is averaging 72,178 in attendance this season, in an old stadium for built track and field, with crappy parking and even worse freeway access. Some 77,002 Southern Californians showed up early and were in their seats at rush hour last night, for a game that was scheduled to be played in another country just days before, roaring from the outset.
The team rewarded the patrons with an historic 54-51 Monday Night Football win over the previously-9-1 Kansas City Chiefs and now stands as the NFL's winningest team. They'd likely clinch the NFC West next weekend, if not for the fact this it's their bye week.
I'm looking forward to the Detroit Lions December 2, I'm looking forward to the playoffs this year, the final season at the Coliseum next year, and the opening of the new stadium in 2020. And I think the city of Los Angeles owes a hearty thank you this Thanksgiving week to Mr. Kroenke, to Mr. McVay, to Executive Vice President of Football Operations and CEO Kevin Demoff, and perhaps most importantly, to General Manager Les Snead.
I didn't know Snead had it in him. Raise your hands and legs -- not all at once, please -- if you did.
[www.forbes.com]
