Whether its crossing the NFL’s color barrier or moving to the west coast, Jalen Ramsey doesn’t know Rams history
Jalen Ramsey told the media this week that he’s never played for a “storied franchise” before, including the Los Angeles Rams. I don’t know what Ramsey thinks the threshold for “storied” is supposed to be, but someone over there in Pittsburgh should give him a history lesson. Like the fact that the Rams re-integrated Black players into the league in 1946 or that they became the first professional sports team to move to the west coast that same year.
“I’m excited for everything that has to do with this organization. This is a storied franchise. Obviously, I won a Super Bowl, loved my time with the L.A. Rams, but I can’t say I’ve played for a storied franchise like this yet. So this is very exciting for me. I’m just embracing all of it, really,” Ramsey said.
What exactly is Ramsey’s criteria for a “storied franchise” that would mean that the Steelers are one of them but the Rams are not? Because he thinks it seems that way?
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The Rams were founded in 1936, only three years after the Steelers
- After winning the NFL Championship in 1945 with Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield, the Rams moved to Los Angeles the following year
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No other professional sports team had set their home base on the west coast prior to the Rams
- That same year, the Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode to the roster as part of their agreement for playing in the L.A. Coliseum, ending a 12-year ban of Black players in the league; because of the Rams moving to L.A. and making this agreement, that ban ended in 1946
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SI’S Albert Breer called the 1946 Rams team the eighth-most impactful team in NFL history
- The Rams went to three straight NFL Championship games between 1949-1951, winning the last of those with Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin
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The NFL named Van Brocklin the 25th-best QB of all-time in 2019
- Van Brocklin’s 554 passing yards against the Yanks in 1951 is still the single-game record!
- While Van Brocklin revolutionized the passing game, receiver Tom Fears (who also played cornerback) revolutionized catching the ball. He set an NFL record at the time with 77 catches in 1949, then he broke it the next year with 81 catches. This is in 12 games, mind you.
- Teammate Elroy Hirsch, would then have 1,495 yards and 17 touchdowns in 1951, an incredible average of 124.6 per game. Both are obviously in the Hall of Fame.
- That Rams team would reach the NFL Championship game once more time, in 1955, but this time under new head coach Sid Gillman. Gillman is called “The Father of the Modern Passing Game”, **considered one of the most important coaches in football history and that’s because he got his start in the NFL with the...
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