Rams, 49ers Rivalry To Be Even More Interesting In 2013
Every year when the schedule is released Rams and 49ers fans always circle the same two games that have been going on for 62 years, the St. Louis Rams vs the San Francisco 49ers. This year the two teams play on prime time Thursday Night Football week four in St. Louis and then will play at Candlestick Park week 13 with the playoffs and division possibly being on the line. When these two teams play, you are almost always guaranteed a classic close NFC West game. The division did slightly change with the Panthers and Saints leaving in 2003 to the NFC South in exchange for the Cardinals and Seahawks, however the games have still remained high quality and new rivalries have formed. The NFC West has always been competitive and consisted of some great games, and it looks like this year will follow traditions.
Last season the Rams and 49ers played 10 quarters of football with the Rams finally coming out on top in the final seconds of the second game with a Greg Zurlein field goal to win. Until that kick, a winner had yet to be decided in either game. The Rams and 49ers tied for the third time in the history of the series with both teams missing out on opportunities, more so the Rams than the 49ers however. Alex Smith was also replaced by Colin Kaepernick in that game as well. Smith never saw the field again as Kaepernick led the ’9ers to the Super Bowl. In a sense you could blame the Rams for the 49ers success.
In the second meeting, it was the 49ers who missed out on numerous chances to win the game, but the Rams prevailed winning in overtime, and winning the 2012 series going 1-0-1. Since the 49ers and Rams began playing the series is now dead even at 62-62-3. You can bet Harbaugh and company will want some revenge this season. With some added drama between the two teams in the past week, these teams hate each other even more and this rivalry just got a whole lot more interesting as it has been one in which the 49ers have dominated over the past five years winning seven of the ten meetings.
The thing that makes this series more interesting now than it has in the past five years, is that the Rams could actually be a contender in 2013 and caused the 49ers troubles in 2012. Both teams have great defenses that have the ability to carry the team and both teams have a young quarterback that will be the face of the franchise for hopefully many years to come. If you didn’t think that would make the series interesting enough for the upcoming season, well here’s some drama that occurred over the past week that will make the games next season that much more exciting.
Last week Craig Dahl was reported to have revealed the Rams’ formula of success against the 49ers last season saying the Rams were able to beat and tie the 49ers in their two games last season partly because the 49ers were tipping their plays. Finnegan then responded by saying “Craig Dahl we know how you play thanks for the tips,” Finnegan wrote, “we know who to attack early and often.” He also called the safety lame and weak. You might have thought that would be the end of that, but Rams defensive end Chris Long had his say on the situation as well on Twitter. Long had a series of tweets that included:
“I see where some niners fans talked pretty bad 2 @cortfinnegan today. just remember yall havent beaten us in 500 days or so…”
“oh my bad i believe its 528 days”
“and neither of us got any trophies my dear”
“what have some of yall done in the last 528 days, i’ll go first”
“climbed mt kilimanjaro, turned 27 and 28, restructured my contract, sat courtside at a heat game, ate over 2000 small meals you get the idea”
“In truth, by the time the teams square off in Week 4, it will have been 634 days since the Rams lost to the 49ers. That calculates to one year, eight months, 25 days (or for you alternative time counters: 90 weeks; 15,216 hours; 912,960 minutes; 54,777,600 seconds).
Start counting down now, because in 8,294,400 seconds the Rams will play the 49ers September 26th on Thursday Night Football on prime time in the Edward Jones Dome, and you better believe that dome will be packed. The fans will be there to support their team and witness some great football. The Rams 49ers rivalry in more interesting and exciting as ever and will be as long as the two teams keep the pieces in place. There will be some new faces and new and new matchups this season, but the games will be just as good if not better. Make sure you tune in when these two teams play this season, because believe me, you wont want to miss a second of it.
