Connect with us

Seattle, WA

Analysis: Rams finally discover their knockout swagger ahead seismic Seattle showdown

Published

on

Analysis: Rams finally discover their knockout swagger ahead seismic Seattle showdown


It wasn’t just the Chicago Bears who had a pattern this season.

The Rams had one too.

Whereas Chicago stacked storybook endings, the Rams failed to finish what they started with disturbing regularity.

Five losses. Five fizzles.

Advertisement

Remember the unsatisfying finale to “The Sopranos”? Swelling crescendo … then abrupt cut to black? That was the Rams. Out of gas. Out of answers.

Said defensive star Jared Verse: “All our losses were self-inflicted.”

Two weeks into the playoffs and the Rams have turned a corner. Suddenly, they close out games.

Sure, there were blemishes to their 20-17 overtime victory at Chicago on Sunday night, just as their three-point win at Carolina had its wild-card warts.

The point is, when the Rams needed to land the knockout blow, they delivered.

Advertisement

That’s just where they want to be heading into the NFC championship game at Seattle, where last month they frittered away a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and wound up losing in overtime.

Seismologists are at the ready. That’s how loud Lumen Field will be. The ground might be shaking in Seattle, but the Rams won’t be.

“We don’t think about that last game too much,” Rams safety Kam Curl said. “[Seattle] got lucky and won it in the end. I feel like we’re the better team.”

Advertisement
  • Share via

Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 20-17 overtime victory against the Chicago Bears in the NFC divisional playoffs at Soldier Field.

Advertisement

He then conceded, “It’s going to be a dogfight.”

In football vernacular, Curl was a dawg Sunday night, coming up with a huge interception of Caleb Williams in overtime and setting up the winning field-goal drive.

That turned back the almost-supernatural heroics of the Bears, who won games with fourth-quarter comebacks seven times this season, more than any other team. And the touchdown by Williams at the end of regulation, when he dropped back from the 14 to the 40 — the forty! — and somehow found Cole Kmet in the end zone will live in Chicago sports lore.

Advertisement

Yet on a frigid night, in the swirling snow, these Rams told fate to take a hike.

Rams safety Quentin Lake said the down times this season, the frustration of losing those close games, “gave us the experience and confidence” to turn on the afterburners now.

“We know what it takes to not feel that feeling again,” he said. “The only team that’s beaten the Rams is the Rams, just put it like that.”

Among the cold and imposing bodies in Chicago on Sunday: Lake Michigan and Lake, Quentin.

In the fourth quarter, with the Bears two yards from scoring, Lake caught leaping running back D’Andre Swift in the air and planted him into the turf for no gain. It was a key play in a goal-line stand that stole all the oxygen from the crowd.

Advertisement

“I had to channel my inner Carnell Lake on that one,” he said of his father, the legendary UCLA and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back.

That wasn’t the only channeling the Rams did. They converted a fourth and one in the fourth quarter by handing the ball to receiver Puka Nacua, a play reminiscent of a jet sweep to Cooper Kupp in a similar situation in the Super Bowl.

Rams linebacker Byron Young, left, and Poona Ford (95) tackle Bears quarterback Caleb Williams (18).

Rams linebacker Byron Young, left, and defensive tackle Poona Ford (95) tackle Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams during the third quarter of the Rams’ 20-17 overtime win in the NFC divisional playoffs on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

And their win at Chicago had the feel of their divisional win at Tampa Bay four years ago, when they went on to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. In that 30-27 victory over the Buccaneers, the Rams similarly responded to a gut punch near the end — a Tampa Bay touchdown to tie — then marched 62 yards in the final 42 seconds and won it with a field goal.

Advertisement

Like this season’s Rams, there were all sorts of red flags in the regular season for that team. Those Rams didn’t win a game in November, then got hot.

That path to the Super Bowl is woven into the tapestry of great moments in Los Angeles sports. The Rams beat the Buccaneers, then toppled San Francisco in the conference title game at SoFi Stadium before winning it all against Cincinnati on that same field.

Now, yet another showdown with a division rival for a trip to the Super Bowl.

Speaking of flashbacks, three of the four potential Super Bowl matchups are rematches: Rams-New England, Seattle-New England and Seattle-Denver.

There is a healthy amount of respect between the Rams and Seahawks, and — at least from the Rams in the locker room Sunday night — a feeling that this matchup was fated.

Advertisement

“Something about that moment when we lost that game [in Seattle] that I felt like we’ll be back here again,” defensive lineman Kobie Turner said. “And honestly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

So after dumping destiny on its head in Chicago, the Rams are cool with it again. They used to freeze under pressure. Sunday, somehow, they thawed.



Source link

Advertisement

Seattle, WA

Two local soccer scribes to discuss Seattle’s road to 2026

Published

on

Two local soccer scribes to discuss Seattle’s road to 2026


From miners, lumberjacks and seamen to the world arriving on our shores this summer, Folio Seattle will host a program Monday night, with two local soccer scribes detailing the region’s collective footy history in “Seattle’s Road to the 2026 World Cup.”

Matt Pentz, a former soccer reporter for The Seattle Times and The Athletic, is teaming with historian Frank MacDonald, executive director for Washington State Legends of Soccer and occasional Sounder at Heart contributor. The program goes from 6-8 PM at the Folio location in Pike Place Market. Donations of any amount are accepted. 

Pentz and MacDonald will dive into the state’s century-plus adoration of the game and highlight what’s changed in the last generation, since Seattle failed to land matches for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Seattle, WA

Seattle Torrent put Olympic captain Hilary Knight on long-term IR – Seattle Sports

Published

on

Seattle Torrent put Olympic captain Hilary Knight on long-term IR – Seattle Sports


Olympians Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Erin Ambrose have all been placed on long-term injured reserve by their PWHL clubs after sustaining injuries during the Milan Cortina Games.

Kraken sign forwards Ben Meyers, Ryan Winterton to extensions

Knight, a five-time Olympian and captain of the United States team that won gold, will be out of the lineup for the Seattle Torrent indefinitely after sustaining a lower-body injury in Italy, the team announced Friday.

Knight had three goals and three assists for the U.S. at Milan Cortina including a goal in the 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the final. She has three goals and seven assists during the current PWHL season.

Advertisement

USA comes back to beat Canada in OT for women’s hockey gold

“While we’re eager to be at full strength and recognize the anticipation of Hilary’s return, we’re focused on putting her and our team in the best position for a playoff push,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a statement.

Minnesota Frost captain Coyne Schofield was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday retroactive to Feb. 19 with an upper-body injury. Coyne Schofield scored three goals for the United States during the Olympics.

“I am incredibly proud of all our Frost Olympians who demonstrated true excellence on the world stage,” general manager Melissa Caruso said in a statement. “We are fully committed to supporting Kendall throughout her recovery, and our medical team will be working diligently to help her prepare for her return to the ice.”

The moves by the Torrent and Frost came a day after the Montreal Victoire announced that Ambrose has been placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 19 for a lower‑body injury suffered while representing Canada in the gold medal game. Ambrose had a pair of assists at the Olympics.

Advertisement

The Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s captain in Italy, was listed as day-to-day with an Olympics-related injury.

Victoire general manager Daniele Sauvageau said of the team’s Olympians “we are confident that they will be back in the lineup in the near future.”

PWHL influence apparent at Olympics with OT medal games




Source link

Continue Reading

Seattle, WA

Three trapped after car goes into ditch near Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum

Published

on

Three trapped after car goes into ditch near Seattle’s Washington Park Arboretum


Firefighters are responding to a car that drove into a ditch near Lake Washington Boulevard East and East Foster Island Road on Friday, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Crews arriving at the scene reported that three people are trapped inside the car.

Firefighters were working to stabilize the car and get everyone out safely. Crews worked to remove the roof of the car to get everyone out, according to fire officials.

Authorities are urging the public to avoid the area while emergency crews respond.

Advertisement

The crash occurred in the area between the Montlake and Broadmoor neighborhoods, and traffic can be expected as emergency crews respond.

No additional information was immediately available.



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending