https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/11/12/w...-wildfires-philip-rivers-chargers-leveon-bell
By Albert Breer
The Rams for their handling of the last five days. Their Thousand Oaks, Calif., facility is located just five miles from Borderline Bar and Grill, where 12 people were shot and killed last Wednesday, and is in close proximity to the wildfires that are wreaking havoc on Southern California.
After they outpunched the Seahawks on Sunday, coach Sean McVay gave operations staffers Sophie Luoto, Kristen Lee, Kate Cost and Bruce Warwick game balls for their work, and it was deserved. But there are plenty of others who deserve credit.
COO Kevin Demoff empowered those in the organization with resources to make sure everyone was OK. McVay called off Friday’s practice, arranged for players to stay that at the hotel the team uses for the night before home games, and moved Saturday’s practice to USC. Dozens of others have helped one another within the building, as 75 to 80 staffers, players and coaches were evacuated from their homes.
And by now, I’m sure you’ve heard of the bigger projects. Shoutout to Andrew Whitworth for giving his game check to the shooting victims’ families, and also the team for organizing auctions for game-worn jerseys from Sunday—the last bids I saw for the Todd Gurley and Jared Goff ones topped $3,000—with the money going to wildfire relief.
You’d like to think we’d all react this way in a similar situation. Good on the Rams for stepping up.
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The investment in the Rams defensive line came to life in the fourth quarter against Seattle, in a similar way to how Brandon Graham’s strip-sack stole the show in Super Bowl LII. First, with 10:38 left and the Seahawks down five at the Rams 8, and facing third-and-5, defensive tackles Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh came off their blocks and basically raced one another to Russell Wilson.
The result? Three points instead of 7. And then on Seattle’s next possession, the Seahawks sealed up the middle, which left Dante Fowler one-on-one on left tackle Duane Brown. He beat Brown around the corner and slapped the ball out of Wilson’s hand to set up a touchdown that served as the de facto clincher.
The Rams, as we saw last week, aren’t dominant on defense. What they have done, though, is stock up on players capable of making a game-changing play. And as Graham showed us, that can make a huge difference.
