The Rams offense this summer did something that has never happened in National Football League history: Ten of their 11 starters on offense did not play a single minute of preseason football, according to The Orange County Register. Players have been complaining for years about the four-game exhibition season, and so have some coaches. And […]

[Read more →]

We thought we had buried the XFL after one limp and forgettable season, in 2001. But now it is back, a ragged zombie out of the grave, with wrestling impresario Vince McMahon planning to take another whack at the 11-on-11 game two years from now. McMahon promises a “re-imagined” game … and I imagine it […]

[Read more →]

So, there we were, feeling … well, not fat and sassy about the Los Angeles Rams’ chances in the first round of the playoffs … but reasonably confident. Worried about the placekicker, a little concerned about the defensive secondary, but in all pretty optimistic about their chances of defeating the Atlanta Falcons at the Coliseum. […]

[Read more →]

The Los Angeles Rams should be well-prepared for their first home playoff game since 1985. –As winners of the NFC West, they get to play at home, presumably before a capacity crowd at the Coliseum, just like the old days, before the Anaheim interlude and the stint as that St. Louis Club. –Having clinched a […]

[Read more →]

This is not an exercise in academic rigor. I did not have someone sitting with a note pad writing down literally the first 10 facts I could recall pertaining to sports in 2017. But … it is a fairly accurate recreation of a fairly quick trip through my brain to see what stuck from the […]

[Read more →]

Back before the Los Angeles Rams went on their two-decade sabbatical to St. Louis, in 1995, I would have been opposed to this: Sitting many of their best players for the final regular-season game — to ensure they are as healthy as possible for the club’s first playoffs home game in Southern California since 1985. […]

[Read more →]

* – L.A. Rams only The last time a team named the “Los Angeles Rams” won the NFC West division title? In 1985. In the one and only season of the Dieter Brock Era. A long time ago, then. A very long time — 32 seasons, actually. Which means fans of the current, L.A.-based Rams […]

[Read more →]

The moment the danger hit home was about halfway through the fourth quarter in Seattle, when a bunch of rowdy/giddy Rams posed on their sideline, celebrating what would finish as a 42-7 rout of the Seahawks. The expression “all but clinched” the NFC West ricocheted around the NFL, on Sunday, when mentioning the game. And […]

[Read more →]

The Los Angeles market has been slow to embrace the revenant Rams. Thousands of empty seats at the Coliseum, the Rams’ home again while the $2.1 billion stadium in Inglewood is built, can be seen in the background of TV shots. Late last week an L.A. podcast pundit sarcastically said, “I’m seeing tons of Rams […]

[Read more →]

The Los Angeles Rams can take a huge step toward winning the NFC West for the first time since 2003 if they win in Seattle on Sunday. The Seahawks can be had. The Legion of Boom is decimated, Seattle’s linebackers are wobbling, the offensive line is porous and the club might be 5-8 instead of […]

[Read more →]