Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams should be proud of their season, but the loss is a heartbreaker
The Los Angeles Rams put up a heck of a fight against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Divisional Round before falling by a final score of 28-22. L.A. kept it close through the majority of the game, but in the final quarter it was the Rams who made the costlier mistakes with two turnovers. The Eagles capitalized on those mistakes, and won the game.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair. The Eagles scored first, but the Rams were not deterred as they responded with scores of their own. After two quarters of play it was still anyone’s game with Philly leading 13-10.
In the second half, each franchise exchanged field goals as Chris Shula’s defense kept the pressure on Jalen Hurts, but as the weather conditions worsened, Sean McVay’s offense struggled to control their side of the ball.
Then, with under a minute to go in the third quarter, Shula’s defense forced a safety to give Matthew Stafford another shot on offense while trailing by a score of 16-15.
Would Stafford muster any of the come from behind magic that has followed him throughout his career?
There was no immediate magic for L.A. after the Rams’ safety. Instead, Kyren Williams fumbled the ball back to Philly setting them up to put ample pressure on the Rams, but the defense made an impressive stop holding Philly to a field goal as L.A. trailed 19-15 with over 13:00 to go in the game.
L.A. had another chance to take a late lead, but instead Stafford fumbled on the drive giving the ball back to Philly who once again had good field position and the chance to basically put this game away.
Shula’s defense held Philly to a field goal again setting up Stafford for another chance at some comeback magic.
It was not to be as L.A.’s offense failed to do anything. The Eagles took a huge step towards winning the contest as Barkley broke off another long run for his second TD of the day.
The Rams then scored their second touchdown of the day to tighten the score to a one possession game.
Shula’s defense, then gave Stafford and McVay one final shot as the score was 28-22. Trailing but with 2:23 left in the game, the Rams had a chance to score.
It was an exciting end to the game as Stafford put the Rams in scoring position, but it came up short. The Eagles will be heading to the NFC Championship game as the Rams pack their bags and head home.
As disappointing a loss as this was, the Rams showed up, they went toe-toe with one of the best teams in the NFL, and in theory this team can be all the stronger for it next year.
However, next year is a long way away, and more likely McVay and his Rams will be watching the next couple games...
