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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/12/rams-seahawks-fires-nfl-week-10-fmia-peter-king/
Rams Manage Win After Fire-Filled Week of ‘Horror’
By Peter King
Getty Images
Circumstances like this.
Thursday morning, about 4:10. The cellphone on Whitworth’s night table kept vibrating. He picked it up to text from two former Bengals teammates, including NFL Players Association president Eric Winston. Like: Are you okay? Can’t believe what happened? Whitworth had no clue what happened, but he checked online and found there’d been a shooting at a Thousand Oaks nightclub.
The place was four miles from the Rams’ training facility. There were deaths and injuries, perhaps many of each. Whitworth and his wife stayed up, trying to figure out what it all meant, particularly for their four children and school. And for what they could do to help whatever this latest mass shooting left in its wake.
Thursday, 10:35 a.m. McVay and Whitworth spoke to the team about being good community members in a time of crisis. Whitworth was at LSU when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and said to his teammates, “Do something.You’ll never regret trying to help in a tragedy.”
Thursday, about 1 p.m. Before going out to practice, Whitworth decided to put his money where his emotion was. He called his wife, Melissa, and said he wanted to donate his gamecheck, about $60,000 after taxes, to a fund established to help the victims of the shootings, and their families. “I’m in,” Melissa Whitworth said. “One hundred percent.”
Thursday, about 3 p.m. At practice, two separate mega-fires popped up, visible for the players and coaches to see. “Those are pretty close,” Whitworth said. They were about three miles away from the practice facility, as it turned out. In a few hours, firefighters would dig a trench across the street from the Rams’ facility, the kind of trench that gets dug when firefighters are trying to stop a wildfire from advancing.
Before Whitworth left for the day, he learned the 101 freeway, which he uses to get to and from his home in nearby Sherwood, was partially shut down. But he got home, as did most of his teammates.
The Woolsey fire has burned more than 85,000 acres near the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. (Getty Images)
Friday, 2 a.m. Whitworth woke up in his bedroom, the smell of acrid smoke everywhere. “We need to go,” he told his wife. But wait. His friend and teammate, center John Sullivan, lived in the same neighborhood. “We can’t leave them,” Whitworth said, and he went to bang on the Sullivans’ door. The two families quickly packed. The Whitworths piled their kids in one of their cars and headed south, to Los Angeles. By 4:15, they were in a hotel in Beverly Hills, not knowing if they’d ever see their house again.
The Rams canceled everything Friday, customarily one of their two biggest practice days. Hard to work when no one can think about football. The players and coaches either packed or tensely awaited word whether to evacuate or sat in hotels, nervously watching fires eat up acres by the minute.
“Friday,” Whitworth said, “was a day of horror.”
One more story. “My story, I’m sure, is one of a hundred stories,” said the Rams’ senior director of communications, Artis Twyman. His community was evacuated, and he called Luoto, the manager of football administration, for help finding lodging for he, his wife, and their two children. She found a hotel in nearby Agoura Hills that seemed safe.
“At 3:30 in the morning,” Twyman said, “someone’s beating at our door, telling us we have to get out, the fire is close.” So he called Luoto. She found them a hotel 45 minutes south, in Marina Del Rey. Never made it. Freeway closed. Twyman called back. She said they’d have to go north, to Santa Barbara, about an hour away. She booked the Twymans into a hotel there. Finally, at 6 a.m., they could sleep. “She was instrumental in doing things like that for family after family,” Twyman said.
“People sprang into action, leading with their hearts,” Rams vice president Kevin Demoff said Sunday. “Think of how much happened in such a short period of time. You go from 7 a.m. Thursday, trying to figure a way to help rebuild our community after the shooting. By 3 p.m., you’re wondering if you’re even going to have a community. Two gut punches, one hours after the other.”
Rams 36, Seattle 31. The Rams who could go home did, but at least half the organization went to hotels scattered around Los Angeles to see what would happen next. The team is supposed to leave for Colorado today at 4 p.m., and a week of practice there in advance of the mega-Monday-nighter against the Chiefs.
Pretty big deal, the teams tied for the best record in football at 9-1, playing in Mexico City. The Rams are going to Colorado Springs because it is 6,035 feet above sea level; Mexico City is 7,382. The Rams want to get accustomed to playing in the thin air.
What to expect? Well, the trip was still on as of 11 p.m. ET Sunday. But what form it will take, and who is going, and lots of the details stuff … TBD.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Whitworth said. “I got four kids and a wife who need me right now. Will they be in school? Will they have school? Will our house make it? Should I take them all with me to Colorado? I just don’t know. It’s a little stressful.”
A little? In advance of the game of the year, the Rams might have survived the adversity of the year.
------------------------
• Five nuggets about the Chiefs-Rams showdown in Mexico City next Monday:
1. There’s significant worry about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, a multi-use combined grass-and-synthetic surface used for soccer and concerts mostly, made soupy by heavy rains in this year’s rainy season. Recent photos of the pitch look awful. The NFL will mobilize there today and tomorrow to see if surgery will be needed on the field before the game.
2. Raul Allegre, the former NFL kicker now working for ESPN Deportes, was born in Mexico. This matchup, he said, was received poorly because there aren’t big fan bases for the Chiefs or Rams, and it didn’t sell out right away. But he says the atmosphere in the city the night of the game will be like for a World Cup game. “Everyone’s beyond excited,” he said.
3. The Rams are scheduled to work in Colorado Springs, at altitude, for a week beginning Tuesday, because Mexico City is 1.3 miles above sea level. The Chiefs studied that and chose to stay in Kansas City for the week before making the 3.5-hour flight Sunday. Coach Andy Reid told me, “The elevation’s the elevation. I’m sure the Rams are gonna work at elevation. We’re not. I don’t think it becomes an issue. We did our homework on that this past offseason. It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the parking lot of the CVS.”
4. The Chiefs will fly home directly after the game, arriving around 5 a.m. Central Time to start their bye week. The Rams will stay over in Mexico City and leave Tuesday morning, beginning their bye week mid-day Tuesday. Why? There’s a 12:30 a.m. PT curfew for the customs office at Los Angeles International Airport, and the Rams couldn’t make it home in time to go through customs late Monday night.
5. Huge advantage for each team to have a Week 12 bye. The two teams will have byes on the weekend of Nov. 25, and if they get one of the top two seeds in the playoffs, they could each have another bye five weeks later. Washington and Carolina had their byes in September, and likely won’t have byes at all if they make the playoffs. Ask those teams about the difference between a bye in Week 4 and in Week 12.
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MVP Watch
4. Todd Gurley, RB, L.A. Rams. Last week: 3. He has a touchdown in 13 straight games. That seems good.
---------------
Andrew Whitworth is one of the best free-agent signings ever.
I mean that about the Rams left tackle, signed from Cincinnati last year. It’s not hyperbole. A month shy of turning 37, Whitworth is a road-grader at a position that’s vital in today’s game, and he’s turned into the kind of leader every team longs for.
-----------------------
Ndamukong Suh is still a huge factor, even if Aaron Donald sucks all the defensive attention (rightfully so) out of the Ram room.
----------------------
I think in the span of two hours, Dante Fowler Jr., went from goat to semi-hero in Los Angeles. He gave the Seahawks new life with two awful penalties early, then sealed the Rams win with a strip-sack of Russell Wilson, leading to the needed insurance touchdown. That’s going to turn out to be a smart trade by the Rams—and Fowler is going to be an important part of the Rams’ chances next Monday against the Chiefs.
-----------------
I think it’s hard to envision anyone beating out Aaron Donald (10 games, 12 sacks, rushing from all over the Ram front) for his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award.
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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/12/rams-seahawks-fires-nfl-week-10-fmia-peter-king/
Rams Manage Win After Fire-Filled Week of ‘Horror’
By Peter King
Getty Images
Circumstances like this.
Thursday morning, about 4:10. The cellphone on Whitworth’s night table kept vibrating. He picked it up to text from two former Bengals teammates, including NFL Players Association president Eric Winston. Like: Are you okay? Can’t believe what happened? Whitworth had no clue what happened, but he checked online and found there’d been a shooting at a Thousand Oaks nightclub.
The place was four miles from the Rams’ training facility. There were deaths and injuries, perhaps many of each. Whitworth and his wife stayed up, trying to figure out what it all meant, particularly for their four children and school. And for what they could do to help whatever this latest mass shooting left in its wake.
Thursday, 10:35 a.m. McVay and Whitworth spoke to the team about being good community members in a time of crisis. Whitworth was at LSU when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and said to his teammates, “Do something.You’ll never regret trying to help in a tragedy.”
Thursday, about 1 p.m. Before going out to practice, Whitworth decided to put his money where his emotion was. He called his wife, Melissa, and said he wanted to donate his gamecheck, about $60,000 after taxes, to a fund established to help the victims of the shootings, and their families. “I’m in,” Melissa Whitworth said. “One hundred percent.”
Thursday, about 3 p.m. At practice, two separate mega-fires popped up, visible for the players and coaches to see. “Those are pretty close,” Whitworth said. They were about three miles away from the practice facility, as it turned out. In a few hours, firefighters would dig a trench across the street from the Rams’ facility, the kind of trench that gets dug when firefighters are trying to stop a wildfire from advancing.
Before Whitworth left for the day, he learned the 101 freeway, which he uses to get to and from his home in nearby Sherwood, was partially shut down. But he got home, as did most of his teammates.
The Woolsey fire has burned more than 85,000 acres near the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. (Getty Images)
Friday, 2 a.m. Whitworth woke up in his bedroom, the smell of acrid smoke everywhere. “We need to go,” he told his wife. But wait. His friend and teammate, center John Sullivan, lived in the same neighborhood. “We can’t leave them,” Whitworth said, and he went to bang on the Sullivans’ door. The two families quickly packed. The Whitworths piled their kids in one of their cars and headed south, to Los Angeles. By 4:15, they were in a hotel in Beverly Hills, not knowing if they’d ever see their house again.
The Rams canceled everything Friday, customarily one of their two biggest practice days. Hard to work when no one can think about football. The players and coaches either packed or tensely awaited word whether to evacuate or sat in hotels, nervously watching fires eat up acres by the minute.
“Friday,” Whitworth said, “was a day of horror.”
One more story. “My story, I’m sure, is one of a hundred stories,” said the Rams’ senior director of communications, Artis Twyman. His community was evacuated, and he called Luoto, the manager of football administration, for help finding lodging for he, his wife, and their two children. She found a hotel in nearby Agoura Hills that seemed safe.
“At 3:30 in the morning,” Twyman said, “someone’s beating at our door, telling us we have to get out, the fire is close.” So he called Luoto. She found them a hotel 45 minutes south, in Marina Del Rey. Never made it. Freeway closed. Twyman called back. She said they’d have to go north, to Santa Barbara, about an hour away. She booked the Twymans into a hotel there. Finally, at 6 a.m., they could sleep. “She was instrumental in doing things like that for family after family,” Twyman said.
“People sprang into action, leading with their hearts,” Rams vice president Kevin Demoff said Sunday. “Think of how much happened in such a short period of time. You go from 7 a.m. Thursday, trying to figure a way to help rebuild our community after the shooting. By 3 p.m., you’re wondering if you’re even going to have a community. Two gut punches, one hours after the other.”
Rams 36, Seattle 31. The Rams who could go home did, but at least half the organization went to hotels scattered around Los Angeles to see what would happen next. The team is supposed to leave for Colorado today at 4 p.m., and a week of practice there in advance of the mega-Monday-nighter against the Chiefs.
Pretty big deal, the teams tied for the best record in football at 9-1, playing in Mexico City. The Rams are going to Colorado Springs because it is 6,035 feet above sea level; Mexico City is 7,382. The Rams want to get accustomed to playing in the thin air.
What to expect? Well, the trip was still on as of 11 p.m. ET Sunday. But what form it will take, and who is going, and lots of the details stuff … TBD.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Whitworth said. “I got four kids and a wife who need me right now. Will they be in school? Will they have school? Will our house make it? Should I take them all with me to Colorado? I just don’t know. It’s a little stressful.”
A little? In advance of the game of the year, the Rams might have survived the adversity of the year.
------------------------
• Five nuggets about the Chiefs-Rams showdown in Mexico City next Monday:
1. There’s significant worry about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, a multi-use combined grass-and-synthetic surface used for soccer and concerts mostly, made soupy by heavy rains in this year’s rainy season. Recent photos of the pitch look awful. The NFL will mobilize there today and tomorrow to see if surgery will be needed on the field before the game.
2. Raul Allegre, the former NFL kicker now working for ESPN Deportes, was born in Mexico. This matchup, he said, was received poorly because there aren’t big fan bases for the Chiefs or Rams, and it didn’t sell out right away. But he says the atmosphere in the city the night of the game will be like for a World Cup game. “Everyone’s beyond excited,” he said.
3. The Rams are scheduled to work in Colorado Springs, at altitude, for a week beginning Tuesday, because Mexico City is 1.3 miles above sea level. The Chiefs studied that and chose to stay in Kansas City for the week before making the 3.5-hour flight Sunday. Coach Andy Reid told me, “The elevation’s the elevation. I’m sure the Rams are gonna work at elevation. We’re not. I don’t think it becomes an issue. We did our homework on that this past offseason. It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the parking lot of the CVS.”
4. The Chiefs will fly home directly after the game, arriving around 5 a.m. Central Time to start their bye week. The Rams will stay over in Mexico City and leave Tuesday morning, beginning their bye week mid-day Tuesday. Why? There’s a 12:30 a.m. PT curfew for the customs office at Los Angeles International Airport, and the Rams couldn’t make it home in time to go through customs late Monday night.
5. Huge advantage for each team to have a Week 12 bye. The two teams will have byes on the weekend of Nov. 25, and if they get one of the top two seeds in the playoffs, they could each have another bye five weeks later. Washington and Carolina had their byes in September, and likely won’t have byes at all if they make the playoffs. Ask those teams about the difference between a bye in Week 4 and in Week 12.
------------------
MVP Watch
4. Todd Gurley, RB, L.A. Rams. Last week: 3. He has a touchdown in 13 straight games. That seems good.
---------------
Andrew Whitworth is one of the best free-agent signings ever.
I mean that about the Rams left tackle, signed from Cincinnati last year. It’s not hyperbole. A month shy of turning 37, Whitworth is a road-grader at a position that’s vital in today’s game, and he’s turned into the kind of leader every team longs for.
-----------------------
Ndamukong Suh is still a huge factor, even if Aaron Donald sucks all the defensive attention (rightfully so) out of the Ram room.
----------------------
I think in the span of two hours, Dante Fowler Jr., went from goat to semi-hero in Los Angeles. He gave the Seahawks new life with two awful penalties early, then sealed the Rams win with a strip-sack of Russell Wilson, leading to the needed insurance touchdown. That’s going to turn out to be a smart trade by the Rams—and Fowler is going to be an important part of the Rams’ chances next Monday against the Chiefs.
-----------------
I think it’s hard to envision anyone beating out Aaron Donald (10 games, 12 sacks, rushing from all over the Ram front) for his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award.
