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On Saturday, the Rams will give Los Angeles its first home NFL playoff game in 24 years, yet you would be hard-pressed to spot a flag flying on the 10 or 405 or overhear a conversation centered on Goff or Gurley at the local watering hole or grocery store.
The Rams are playing against more than the Atlanta Falcons this weekend. It’s playing for far more than a Super Bowl.
The L.A. Rams are playing the Atlanta Falcons in a pivotal franchise game. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
This prolific team, this collection of young, electric talent, is playing for its L.A. longevity.
We are just a couple months removed from the Dodgers’ latest foray into the MLB postseason.
The city came alive with the possibilities that it would host the ultimate prize in the form of a World Series championship. Local ratings were solid from the NLCS through the World Series.
On the anecdotal side of things, people would greet you with a nod and a smile or a brief conversation of playoff hypotheticals if you wore anything blue for a few short weeks this past fall.
Fast forward to the opening week of 2018 and you can hear only whimpers from people forced to dredge back to work. Lost in all the melancholy of the post-holiday hangover is the possibility that Los Angeles could soon call itself a Super Bowl champion.
The road starts on Saturday with the Falcons, a team that comes bearing its own long list of difficulties.
The NFC South (10-6) wild-card team is ninth in the league in yards allowed per game (318.4) as well as rushing yards allowed (104.1). It also ranks 12th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game (214.3).
The Rams, a high-scoring machine of gifted receivers, one young quarterback and one versatile running back will have to work this weekend against a well-prepared defense.
The bigger issue at hand is whether anyone in the L.A. market will care to tune into NBC at 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
This is a team whose attendance was 26th in the league in 2017, although I should note that number coincides with a cap of 65,000 fans per game at the Coliseum this year.
As for those watching from the comfy seats at home, Awful Announcing reported that a team on the rise in December was still watched more in its old market than its new one: “For their 32-16 victory in Arizona over the Cardinals on Dec. 3 (having aired on select Fox affiliates), St. Louis posted a 10.9 local rating while Los Angeles drew a 7.8.”
The Los Angeles area is a town spread thin across a large expanse from the San Fernando Valley well into the San Gabriel Valley.
It’s here that you’ll discover Cowboys, Bears and Packers bars that cater to myriad transplants that now call this place home. The Rams, a team that played for decades here, will need to win and do so consistently if it ever hopes to headline with the likes of the Dodgers and Lakers.
When the Rams prepared to move to Los Angeles in 2016, owner Stan Kroenke spelled things out succinctly, via the Sporting News: “The focus has been (on) doing things right on the football side. If the football team performs well on the field, everything else will work out fairly well.”
Over a year later the Rams are still looking for fans. Back in November, quarterback Jared Goff opined: “This is a city that likes people that win. When you win, they come. And we have been winning, so hopefully they’ll come.”
Running back Todd Gurley was just as optimistic for support: “We want fans there and like I said, if we just keep winning, hopefully they keep coming. If they don’t, they don’t. If they do, we definitely appreciate the support.”
The Rams players are diplomatic on their call for fans to show up to its games and boast its colors from the stands.
The simple fact is this team has done its job. It’s a winner and could very possibly take it all just a season removed from being an NFL laughingstock.
Los Angeles last welcomed a playoff game back in 1993 when the Raiders took on the Broncos in a wild-card game. The Rams last brought postseason hope to L.A. in 1989, although it won a Super Bowl while playing in the confines of St. Louis (1999).
Come to the coast, have a few laughs, win some games and the fans will follow; or so they said. That sentiment gets its first true test this weekend with a home game against the Atlanta Falcons.
If ever there was a time to welcome fair-weather Angelenos onto the bandwagon it would be now.
With a few wins this winter, the franchise may just settle back into L.A. better than it ever has in its history. With just a few more weeks of success it may just solidify itself as the Los Angeles franchise it was always meant to be.
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On Saturday, the Rams will give Los Angeles its first home NFL playoff game in 24 years, yet you would be hard-pressed to spot a flag flying on the 10 or 405 or overhear a conversation centered on Goff or Gurley at the local watering hole or grocery store.
The Rams are playing against more than the Atlanta Falcons this weekend. It’s playing for far more than a Super Bowl.
The L.A. Rams are playing the Atlanta Falcons in a pivotal franchise game. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
This prolific team, this collection of young, electric talent, is playing for its L.A. longevity.
We are just a couple months removed from the Dodgers’ latest foray into the MLB postseason.
The city came alive with the possibilities that it would host the ultimate prize in the form of a World Series championship. Local ratings were solid from the NLCS through the World Series.
On the anecdotal side of things, people would greet you with a nod and a smile or a brief conversation of playoff hypotheticals if you wore anything blue for a few short weeks this past fall.
Fast forward to the opening week of 2018 and you can hear only whimpers from people forced to dredge back to work. Lost in all the melancholy of the post-holiday hangover is the possibility that Los Angeles could soon call itself a Super Bowl champion.
The road starts on Saturday with the Falcons, a team that comes bearing its own long list of difficulties.
The NFC South (10-6) wild-card team is ninth in the league in yards allowed per game (318.4) as well as rushing yards allowed (104.1). It also ranks 12th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game (214.3).
The Rams, a high-scoring machine of gifted receivers, one young quarterback and one versatile running back will have to work this weekend against a well-prepared defense.
The bigger issue at hand is whether anyone in the L.A. market will care to tune into NBC at 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday.
This is a team whose attendance was 26th in the league in 2017, although I should note that number coincides with a cap of 65,000 fans per game at the Coliseum this year.
As for those watching from the comfy seats at home, Awful Announcing reported that a team on the rise in December was still watched more in its old market than its new one: “For their 32-16 victory in Arizona over the Cardinals on Dec. 3 (having aired on select Fox affiliates), St. Louis posted a 10.9 local rating while Los Angeles drew a 7.8.”
The Los Angeles area is a town spread thin across a large expanse from the San Fernando Valley well into the San Gabriel Valley.
It’s here that you’ll discover Cowboys, Bears and Packers bars that cater to myriad transplants that now call this place home. The Rams, a team that played for decades here, will need to win and do so consistently if it ever hopes to headline with the likes of the Dodgers and Lakers.
When the Rams prepared to move to Los Angeles in 2016, owner Stan Kroenke spelled things out succinctly, via the Sporting News: “The focus has been (on) doing things right on the football side. If the football team performs well on the field, everything else will work out fairly well.”
Over a year later the Rams are still looking for fans. Back in November, quarterback Jared Goff opined: “This is a city that likes people that win. When you win, they come. And we have been winning, so hopefully they’ll come.”
Running back Todd Gurley was just as optimistic for support: “We want fans there and like I said, if we just keep winning, hopefully they keep coming. If they don’t, they don’t. If they do, we definitely appreciate the support.”
The Rams players are diplomatic on their call for fans to show up to its games and boast its colors from the stands.
The simple fact is this team has done its job. It’s a winner and could very possibly take it all just a season removed from being an NFL laughingstock.
Los Angeles last welcomed a playoff game back in 1993 when the Raiders took on the Broncos in a wild-card game. The Rams last brought postseason hope to L.A. in 1989, although it won a Super Bowl while playing in the confines of St. Louis (1999).
Come to the coast, have a few laughs, win some games and the fans will follow; or so they said. That sentiment gets its first true test this weekend with a home game against the Atlanta Falcons.
If ever there was a time to welcome fair-weather Angelenos onto the bandwagon it would be now.
With a few wins this winter, the franchise may just settle back into L.A. better than it ever has in its history. With just a few more weeks of success it may just solidify itself as the Los Angeles franchise it was always meant to be.