The Greatest Game Ever Played?

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Mojo Ram

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Haden began the 1979 season as the starter, but a broken finger midway through the season sidelined him in favor of Vince Ferragamo.

Because of Rams' coach Ray Malavasi's policy of giving an injured starter his job back, Haden began the 1980 season as the starter with Ferragamo as the backup. Haden was injured in the Rams season opener against the Detroit Lions. Ferragamo took over as the starter and didn't relinquish the job (despite Haden returning mid-season), passing for a then Rams-record 30 touchdown passes. Link
Thanks for the info....old timer :)
 

Prime Time

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Thanks for the info....old timer :)

Glad to be of help young whippersnapper. :sneaky:

That Super Bowl signaled the end of a 7-year drinking binge. A few months later I cleaned up and had to watch any and all Rams losses after that sober. Damn!

1957, August 18
Pro Football: Rams vs. Redskins


 

SteveBrown

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The difference between Hadena nd Ferragame is like the difference betweena B+ and a D. In the last few years, I re-watched about 10+ games from the Haden era. He consistently hitt he TE's and RB's with perfect passes, and he hit a few bombs. And that was it. He was really bad; I know, I know they went to the NFC championship game iwth him in 1978; They also had the best running game, and a top 5 Defense. He was very, very bad. He wrote a book about his rookie year. He was not accurate--and that was consistently. Maybe he was too short to see where he was throwing. And he was 180 pounds, maybe.

Ferragamo had 30 td's in 15 games in 1980 with ok WR's. It was that O line that made that whole offense.
 

moklerman

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Ferragamo's one of my favorite Rams ever but I think much of his early success came due to defenses focusing on the Rams running game. Which was legendary. The more Vince threw the ball, the more he turned it over. Of course, I still remember the beginning of the end of his career when he broke his thumb against Pittsburgh in 1984. He was criticized for not coming back as soon as possible and then when he did come back, he just wasn't the same. Of course, that was his last game as a Ram and he finished his career with Buffalo and Green Bay.

He was so popular that they actually showed Bills games on local tv(Bakersfield, CA) when he first got there.

But all of his troubles with the Rams started much earlier than that. For whatever reason, the team just wouldn't commit to him for most of his time with Rams. Early on, it was Haden vs. Ferragamo. They kept giving the job back to Haden. Ferragamo had a great playoff run in '79 and great season in '80 and wanted to be the starter and get a new contract and the Rams wouldn't do it. They forced him to take a contract with the Montreal Allouettes of the CFL. At the time, the CFL was competing with the NFL and signing players to good contracts.

Vince was a bust in Canada though. Lucky for him, so were Haden, Pastorini and Rutledge who combined to throw for 14TD/32INT and a 6-10 record. So, Vince got another shot with the Rams but he still wasn't THE starter. In '82 they also brought in Bert Jones who was all used up from his time in Baltimore(Colts). But the Rams did everything they could to give Jones the job. '82 was also the strike year and the end of the Malavasi era.

USC's John Robinson came in as the new coach in '83 and Ferragamo, along with rookie Eric Dickerson, finally got the starter's job all to himself. He proceeded to put up 23 interceptions and weaken his grasp on the starter's job. He got off to an even worse start in '84 before he broke his thumb and that was it for his Rams career.

I wish I was older and knew more about the game and got to see him play more back then. I don't really know all the details of what was going on back then on and off the field. Vince played some really good ball at times early in his career but he was always prone to the interception. I just don't know if that was because he had trouble reading defenses or because of the Rams predictability on offense. They were often a run, run, I guess we have to pass since it's 3rd down type of offense so that may have been part of his problem.
 
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Prime Time

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Pat Haden was 5' 10." Here he is at the Browns with Jim Brown as analyst. Love the commercials. :cool: For some of you younger Rams fanatics this is a chance to watch some Rams players that you may not have seen in action before like John Cappelletti, Billy Waddy, Bill Simpson, Pat Thomas, Lawrence McCutcheon, and Jack Hacksaw Reynolds. The Rams went 10-4 that season.





























 

SteveBrown

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Greatest ram game:
1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 1


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 2

1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 3



28%

1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 4


22%

1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 5


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 6


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 7


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 8


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 9


1989 LA at New Orleans 10


1989 LA at New Orleans 11


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 12


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 13


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 14



1989 LA at New Orleans 15


1989 Los Angeles at New Orleans 16
 

LesBaker

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2000 v. the Chargers. That was MaxQ at it's finest and was an offensive showcase like I have never seen before or since. Had they left the starters in the Rams would have broken the points in a game record and Warner would have broken the single game TD pass record. It was THAT overpowering.