I've been making the same one for years.
Ground turkey, red kidney beans, refried beans, tomato sauce , chIle powder, onion are the main ingredients .
Looking for something different for the Super Bowl .

LAST YEAR'S FALCONS LOSS LEFT US ONE & DONE....
AND FOR LOYAL RAMS FANS, THAT WAS JUST NO FUN!
FALCONS RUNNERS DID GASH US ALL THE WAY THROUGH
RAMSNATION WAS LIKE..."SO NOW WHAT DO WE DO?!!"

A SOLID RUN-STUFFER WAS WHAT THE RAMS NEEDED!!!
AND RAMSNATION'S PLEA, LES SNEAD SURELY HEEDED.
FANS SAID TO LES "NOT JUST ANY MEBANE WILL DO!!"
LES ANSWERED, "OH YEAH? HOW'S ABOUT NDAMUKONG SUH??!!"

OUR DEEP BACKS ALSO GAVE UP YARDAGE TO MATTY ICE,
SO, "HEY LES, A COUPLA NEW CORNERS WOULD SURE BE NICE!!!"
SO MAGICIAN LES SAYS "HEY, WATCH...NUTHIN' UP MY SLEEVE...
NEXT THING WADE GETS?? IS MARCUS PETERS AND TALIB!!!

SUDDENLY WADE HAD THE BEST OF DEFENSIVE BACKFIELDS
BUT LES WENT OUT ANYWAYS AND SIGNED-UP SAM SHIELDS!
THEN AS QUICK AS WATKINS' SALARY WAS OFF OF RAMS BOOKS...
LES SNEAD GOES OUT AND TRADES FOR STUD BRANDIN COOKS!!

THE RAMS START OUT UNDEFEATED, BUT THEN WE BEGIN TO FADE,
SO LES SNEAD DECIDES TO, GUESS WHAT? MAKE ANOTHER TRADE!
TEAMS DOUBLE-TEAMED DONALD, BUT STILL NO RAM EDGERUSHER SACKS
SO LES STOLE DANTE FOWLER FROM THOSE DUMB JACKSONVILLE HACKS.

SO THE TRADING DEADLINE HAD PASSED & FOLKS THOUGHT LES WAS ALL DONE...
BUT NOT SO FAST GUYS! CUZ' SNEAD JUST SIGNED BOWLING BALL ANDERSON!!
DON'T LOOK NOW BUT IN TWO SHORT YEARS SNEAD HAS THESE LOS RAMOS ON A SWEET ROLL...
IN FACT IN JUST A FEW DAYS, LES SNEAD'S RAMS ARE WINNING THE SUPER BOWL!!

ANON

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1090278879120449536

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1090285194844622849

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

I have heard this from multiple outlets and I don't get it.

Rams opened up as slight favorites before the line shifted. We have the superior team according to DVOA and FPI.

The only two clear cut roster advantages the Patriots have - QB and TE - Goff had a better season than Brady and Gronk was a shell of himself for much of the season. The Patriots offense and defense were both statistically worse than ours this year by yards. By points their defense was better, but they only allowed 12 points/game against their division. Rams allowed 22 points per game against their division. Remove that and PPG are about the same.

I believe the Patriots can win the game, because despite Goff having a better season statistically, I do believe the Patriots have an advantage at the most important position. I can easily see the Pats winning. But I can easily see the Rams winning too.

Ultimately I'm glad that we're underdogs, and that the world has been saying we don't belong here. But there are four things that line up that are driving me crazy:

DVOA - Rams are better
FPI - Rams are better
Record (and having played more playoff teams) - Rams are better
Statistically - Rams are better

Again, I'm glad that it's happening because it's only going to light a fire under these guys - but I still don't understand people saying "for the Rams to have a chance..." considering the above.

There’s no shortage of big name Pro Bowl type star, even superstar type players on this Ram roster. Household names.

But I want to thank a handful of players without which we wouldn’t be one step from the Promised Land. Some are better known than others, but their contributions have been priceless.

Malcolm Brown
Higbee
Everett
Reynolds
Fowler
CJ
Littleton
NRC
Hekker
GZ

Not necessarily the players that we thought would be the heroes when we thought about our prospects for the season goals last August, huh? Heck, a couple weren’t yet even on the roster.

But each and every one of them made plays that helped make the difference at critical moments that permitted the Rams to move beyond a mere division winner to become a SB participant. The Saint game alone was a showcase for most of these guys. We needed plays from all but MB to win that Saint game. Not some of them, but ALL of them.They are Exhibit A for football being the ultimate team sport.

I’m a little bit in awe when I think of the necessary confluence of plays that had to be made by these guys just to win that NFCC game alone.

Wow!

This Ram O is almost impossible to shut down because of it’s diversity and balance throughout.

Want to take away the pass like the Bears did? Good luck with that now that McVay rediscovered his 12 personnel sets.

Want to sell out to stop the run? Good luck with that, too. With McVay calling the plays and Goff, Woods, Cooks, Reynolds, Higbee, and Everett executing them? Seems like a prescription for disaster.

Either way, having that Ram OL is priceless.

I predict that the Rams will get their usual 30+ points.

As for the Ram D? Well, they’ve been a pleasant surprise lately, to say the very least. Suh, Brockers, Fowler, Barron, and even Peters have all stepped up their game over that of most of the regular season. Add in Littleton, NRC, and JJ and you have a pretty danged potent D vs either the run or the pass.

The results vs the Cowboys (Elliott) and the Saints were very impressive. Honestly, is the Patriot O all that much better than that of the Saints? Or the running game of the Cowboys, for that matter? Of course not.

And do I have to mention our ST accomplishments? Best in the league, IMO. Wouldn’t swap with any other team.

Look, I’m not being overconfident and I certainly don’t advocate disrespecting the Patriots and Belichick/Brady. But I do think that they are all merely human and can be beaten on any given Sunday by a quality team that’s well coached. And the Rams are certainly both of those things.

I said before the Cowboy game and again before the Saints game that I was sensing something about this Ram team. Hard to put my finger on it, but there’s a kind of “look” from McVay and the players that seems undeniable. Call it a purpose, a focus, a “won’t be denied”, a confidence? Heck, even a sense of destiny?

All I know is that I’ve got that same feeling about these Rams as we approach the SB game.

I do not bet on football games. But if I did, I just couldn’t bet against these Rams. Not these Rams, not now...

AND UP THE LIMIT!

Wagered Odds: 1823/1000 for the Rams win

$250,000 bet limit!

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/1/26/18197979/super-bowl-liii-prop-bets

Your Comprehensive Guide to Losing Money on Super Bowl LIII Prop Bets
Who cares which team will win? We’re here to figure out which song Maroon 5 will perform first, how clairvoyant Tony Romo will be, and what will happen to the price of bitcoin.
By Danny Heifetz


Getty Images/Ringer illustration

Thirty-three years ago, on January 26, 1986, two of the most beautiful things in NFL history happened: The New England Patriots were throttled in the Super Bowl, and the proposition bet became a gambling sensation. As a publicity stunt, oddsmakers offered bets on whether Bears defensive lineman William “Refrigerator” Perry would score a rushing touchdown in Super Bowl XX, giving bets paying out as high as 75-1. Shockingly, Perry did score a rushing touchdown.

The bet sparked a wave of prop bets, which have become an international phenomenon in the past three decades. An estimated $4 billion–plus will be wagered on the Super Bowl, and roughly a quarter of that amount will come via proposition bets. That’s more money on prop bets than the Rams were valued at when Stan Kroenke bought a controlling stake in the team in 2010.

Traditional betting offers odds on things that nobody cares about, like “Who will win the game?” or “How many points will be scored?” Meanwhile, prop bets have captured the public imagination by getting to the heart of what matters, like “What will be the first song performed by Maroon 5?” “How many times will the broadcast mention Sean McVay’s age?” and “Will the Chick-fil-A in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome be open on Sunday?” We’ll run through some of these crucial bets and discuss how to win them, but first a quick rundown on what this gambling lingo means:

Over/under: A bet on how often an event will happen. If the number 0.5 is used for something where a half is impossible (i.e., “Jared Goff over/under 0.5 interceptions”) it is eliminating the possibility of a tie. Zero Goff interceptions is a win for those who bet the under, and one or more interceptions is a win for those who bet the over.

Odds: The odds are just a fancy (and unnecessarily complicated) way of communicating the payout. For example, “Will Big Boi and Adam Levine perform ‘Mic Jack’ at halftime?” offers two odds: “Yes: -400” and “No: +250.” For Yes, -400 means 1-to-4 odds, so $4 on a winning bet would net a $1 profit. For No, +250 means 2.5-to-1 odds, so $1 on a winning bet would net $2.50.

The smaller the payout for a prop (some are as small as -2,500, or 1-to-25) the more confident the bookmaker is that that side will win. The same is true vice versa (i.e., the odds for betting that no touchdowns will be scored is +10,000, or 100-to-1, indicating that oddsmakers are extremely confident there will be a touchdown).

With that in mind, let’s dive into the best prop bets of Super Bowl LIII,
via Westgate, Bovada, Oddsshark, and the Action Network.

Bets on Sean McVay

How many times will the broadcast mention Sean McVay’s age?

Over/under: 1.5

This is an easy bet considering Super Bowl LIII is just an elaborate excuse to discuss McVay’s age. He’s the youngest head coach in the league and the youngest to ever win a playoff game. When Brady famously slid to the sixth round, McVay was 14. The last time the Rams played the Pats in the Super Bowl, McVay was playing on the field for his high school. In college, McVay played a game against Pats receiver Julian Edelman. It’s a guarantee that McVay’s youth will be mentioned throughout the broadcast, but the devil is in the details.

“Mention Sean McVay’s age” likely means the number 33 has to be explicitly mentioned; it won’t count if the announcers just mention that he’s young. McVay turned 33 on Thursday (making him exactly half Belichick’s age), so it is a virtual lock that his exact age will come up at least once. The question is whether the announcers will use the exact number twice.

If the Rams win, it’ll be a massive talking point, but the “broadcast” likely won’t count what happens before the game starts or after the game ends, so we need Jim Nantz or Tony Romo to slip in an extra “the 33-year-old coach” or some other similar phrase after their initial discussion. Even this is tricky. Does it have to be in multiple conversations? Or can it be mentioned twice in the same back-and-forth? There are reasons to be skeptical, but this is not the time to be betting against people talking about McVay.

The Bet: Over 1.5

How many replays of Ted Rath holding back Sean McVay will be shown?

Over/under: 1.5

The “hold me back” player has been replaced by the “hold me back” coach. McVay has a personal body man who drags him back off the sideline, which went viral this week.

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/Brock_JP/status/1088136271543840770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1088136271543840770&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theringer.com%2Fnfl%2F2019%2F1%2F26%2F18197979%2Fsuper-bowl-liii-prop-bets

McVay may be an offensive savant with a photographic memory, but those gifts come at the cost of spatial awareness.

McVay’s body man is named Ted Rath. (“Body Man Ted Rath” sounds like the main character in a John Wick Netflix knockoff movie. In fact, Netflix, if you’re reading this, I give you permission to take that idea.)

This is a strong bet, though not as good as mentioning McVay’s age. It’ll probably be mentioned just once, but they might talk about it at length, and if they do talk about it, they’ll likely show a few instances of it happening and play them back-to-back-to-back rather than just one.

The Bet: Over 1.5

Halftime Show Bets

What will be the predominant color of Adam Levine’s top at the start of the halftime show?

Black: -200
Any other color: +150

Levine wears a lot of black, but these are pretty good odds on the entire visible spectrum of light. Darkness (the Patriots) versus light (everyone else) is the oldest story there is.

The darkness has more territory, but the light is winning.

The Bet: Light

What song will Maroon 5 perform first?

“One More Night”: +300
“Makes Me Wonder”: +500
“Sugar”: +550
“Animals”: +600
“Girls Like You”: +600
“Moves like Jagger”: +600
“Don’t Wanna Know”: +700
“Payphone”: +1,000
“Maps”: +1,500
“She Will Be Loved”: +1,500
“This Love”: +1,500

“One More Night,” “Makes Me Wonder,” and “Sugar” don’t have compelling enough payouts to be enticing bets. Starting with “Animals” would likely resurface questions about the song’s problematic lyrics. The smartest song to play would be “Girls Like You” featuring Cardi B (the music video has 1.7 billion views on YouTube), but “Girls Like You” is not a good song to start the halftime show. The best halftime performances begin with something upbeat and high tempo—a bop, as the kids call it. Bruce Springsteen started with “Tenth Avenue Freeze-out” (total bop).

Coldplay started with “Viva La Vida” (the bop to end all mid-aughts bops).

The halftime performer reliably starts with something upbeat (Lady Gaga’s performance is the exception, but Lady Gaga herself is an exception). The wrench in this plan is when the artists use a song as an intro for 45 or so seconds before transitioning to something more upbeat. Beyoncé did this by beginning with the first moments of “Love on Top,” but then immediately pivoting to the far more upbeat “Crazy in Love.”

The best bet for the upbeat song that Maroon 5 starts with is “Moves Like Jagger” at 6-to-1 odds. It’s a song everyone knows, it’s got the speed to get people going immediately, it can be transitioned out of quickly, and it’s got twice the payout of “One More Night.”

The Bet: “Moves Like Jagger”
The Dream: Levine uses Cardi B as a bridge to bring out her estranged husband, Offset (whom she said this week she wants to get back together with), and the rest of Migos, who are gods in Atlanta, and then they do a Migos song for 30 seconds before switching the beat into “Sicko Mode.”

Utter Nonsense

Will Louisiana attorney Frank D’Amico Jr. win his lawsuit over the missed call in the NFC championship game?

Yes: +2,500
No: -10,000

Spoiler alert: The members of Who Dat Nation will not be compensated for “loss of enjoyment of life” for the Saints’ loss to the Rams last week.

The Bet: Sadly, don’t bet on justice here.

Will Fyre Fest organizer Billy McFarland be caught selling counterfeit Super Bowl tickets?

Yes: +2,500
No: -10,000

“If you’ve never been out on bail before, that’s the time in your life when you want to be committing the least number of crimes,” McFarland says in the Hulu documentary Fyre Fraud. He hasn’t elaborated on how many crimes you should commit while in prison.

The Bet: Avoid anything where your money depends on Billy McFarland.

How many plays will Tony Romo correctly predict during the game?

Over/under: 7.5

Romo (a.k.a. NostraRomos) ascended to another plane last week when he predicted 15 plays and got 12 of them correct during the AFC championship game. Almost all of his predictions were about the Patriots, so he should have a strong chance once again with plenty of time to prepare. But almost all of his calls last week came in the final minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime.

If you had taken this same bet for Romo in the Pats-Chiefs game, you’d have been sweating it out just as much as if you had bet the Rams to win the NFC championship game. Not to mention that Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was so bad at adjusting at the end of the game (and throughout the season) that he was fired on Tuesday.

It’s unlikely that Wade Phillips will do anything as predictable as Sutton did. Romo may make some excellent calls during the Super Bowl, but expecting eight-plus correct calls is a tall order.

The Bet: No

The Actual Game

How many interceptions will Jared Goff throw?

Over/under: 0.5

Fine, we can look at some that actually involve the players in the Super Bowl. Goff played extremely well in McVay’s system in the first half of the season, but he declined after beating the Chiefs on Monday Night Football and getting wrecked by the Bears. Goff has the tools to make every throw, but he often waits to pass until after his receiver has created space, rather than anticipating when the receiver will get open and throwing ahead of time.

That could be dangerous against Bill Belichick. Every time Goff has put the ball in the air 30 or more times since that Chiefs game, he’s had at least one interception. If the Rams can minimize obvious passing downs, it’ll help Goff out a bunch, but the staff that gave Malcolm Butler the information to jump Russell Wilson’s pass in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks will be well prepared to jump on any of Goff’s throws this time around too.

The Bet: Over

How many pass attempts will Tom Brady have?

Over/under: 37.5

The Patriots offense is likely to counter the Rams pass rush with the dinks and dunks and papercut passing, and that lends itself to the over here. If you think Brady is the key to the game, then the over here is solid.

The Bet: Over

Will James Develin score a touchdown?

Yes: +1,200

The Pats fullback has four rushing touchdowns on six carries this season. He’s on the field for the Pats often in short-yardage situations, and the odds of him getting a goal-line carry are better than his +5,000 odds to score first suggest. Ten years after Gary Russell scored first in Super Bowl XLIII, Develin can redeem the Russell faithful.

The Bet: Yes

Financial Instrument Bets

Coin Toss

Heads: -105
Tails: -105

What’s the most you’ve ever lost on a coin toss?

I can’t decide this one for you.

How will the S&P 500 perform by market close on the Monday after the Super Bowl?

Patriots win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes above previous close:+200
Patriots win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes below previous close: +200
Rams win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes above previous close: +270
Rams win the Super Bowl and S&P 500 Index closes below previous close: +270

You’re better off betting on the coin toss.

Will the price of bitcoin go up or down during the game?

Price increases: -130
Price decreases: -110

Betting on this is a half measure. Buying bitcoin is a full measure. No more half measures, Walter.

Locks

Which will finish first?

Super Bowl 53: -120
James Harden’s 30-point-game-streak: -120

Harden is averaging 17 3-points attempts per game since Chris Paul got hurt on December 20. He is pushing the limits of basketball and has invented a new kind of triple-double in the process. Do not bet against him.

The Bet: The Super Bowl. (Seriously, this is the best one on this list.)

Will Jim Nantz or Tony Romo say “Philly Special”?

Yes: +250
No: -330

If I had to bet my life on one of these, it might be this one.

Bet: Yes.

The Boring Bet

Who will win the Super Bowl?

Patriots: -150
Rams: +130

I cannot predict the future. Ask Tony Romo.
----------------------------------------------------
https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2019/01/28/nfl-rams-patriots-super-bowl-prop-bets/

By: Cameron DaSilva

PointsBet.com has a long list of prop bets for Sunday’s game and we’ve selected the best ones from the bunch.

First touchdown scorer
Sony Michel is the favorite at +700, which is a good bet considering he has five touchdowns in his last two games. However, a sneaky pick is Rex Burkhead at +1300. On the Rams’ side, Todd Gurley is the second overall favorite at +750, but C.J. Anderson (+900) could poach a score from him, so betting on No. 30 is a tad risky.

QB passing yards

• Tom Brady: Over/under 289.5
• Jared Goff: Over/under 272.5

The Rams haven’t allowed a 300-yard passer since Week 11, but after throwing for more than 500 yards in Super Bowl LII, Brady is a decent bet to go over 290 yards (-120). Goff is a tougher bet because he’s only surpassed 273 yards twice since Week 13.

Outcome of first drive

• Punt: -105
• TD: +160
• FG attempt: +450
• Turnover: +800

Bet on the punt. Offenses typically come out slow in the Super Bowl.

Either team to score 3 unanswered times

• Yes: -333
• No: +240

It’d be surprising to see this happen. It should be a back-and-forth game and neither offense goes cold very often.

Will there be a fourth-quarter comeback?

• Yes: +300

This is a good bet. Brady is the comeback king and as long as the game is close down the stretch, someone is going to be credited with a fourth-quarter comeback. It’ll be back-and-forth in the final 15 minutes.

For every logical game-centric prop bet, there are two ridiculous ones.

If There is a Streaker Who Touches/Tackles First (BetOnline)
Player +175
Security +200
Referee +300
Coach +500
Other +400

Nickell Robey-Coleman Called for PI during Super Bowl (BetOnline)
YES +210
NO -310

Whose Age Will be Closer to the Total Points Scored (BetOnline)
Bill Belichick (66 years old) -400
Sean McVay (33 years old) +250

How many replays will be shown of Ted Rath holding Sean McVay back during the game? (Bovada)
Over 1.5 -175
Under 1.5 +135

Will Maroon 5 play “Sweet Victory” at halftime as a SpongeBob SquarePants tribute? (Bovada)
Yes -220
No +155

Who Will Have More Carries? (BetOnline)
Todd Gurley -120
CJ Anderson -120

What Happens First? (BetOnline)
Aaron Donald Sack -120
Tom Brady Interception -120

Color of Liquid Poured on Winning Coach (BetOnline)
Clear/Water +200
Yellow +250
Red +300
Blue +700
Purple +700
Green/Lime +700

Odds on what color hoodie/shirt Bill Belichick will wear (SportsBettingDime)
Blue: 2/3
Grey: 3/1
Red: 24/1
FIELD: 35/1

Over/Under on the number of plays Tony Romo correctly predicts (SportsBettingDime)
Over/under: 2.5

Total times Jim Nantz and Tony Romo say “Gronk” (BetDSI)
Over 2.5 (-110)
Under 2.5 (-120)

https://www.wralsportsfan.com/from-jv-to-super-bowl-tarboro-coach-remembers-gurley-s-rise/18153938/

A little NC news for you.

The Rams will look to continue to fill out their coaching staff once their guys get poached
By Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP Jan 26, 2019, 12:48pm CST

The Washington Redskins announced that they’ve employed a new TE coach, which means there’s likely an addition coming to the Los Angeles Rams’ staff as the former Redskins TE coach was Wes Phillips, current Rams Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips’ son:

The Redskins announce that they have hired a new TEs coach. Former TEs coach Wes Phillips is expected to join Sean McVay's staff out in LA, sources say.

As Grant noted, it’s expected that Wes heads to Los Angeles to join his father (and Head Coach Sean McVay) once again. Phillips has spent his 12-year NFL coaching career with only two teams: the Dallas Cowboys (Wade Phillips’ former head coaching spot) and the Washington Redskins. Wes has generally stayed on the offensive side of the ball being employed as a Offensive Assistant Coach/Quality Control Coach, Assistant Offensive Line Coach, and for the past six years (five of which came in Washington) a Tight Ends Coach.

It’s not known what Wes will be asked to coach in Los Angeles, but it could be a possibility for him to takeover QB Coach duties as current QB Coach Zac Taylor is expected to be named the Cincinnati Bengals’ Head Coach upon the end of the season.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...pected-to-join-los-angeles-rams-wade-phillips

Suh very familiar with Brady playing him twice a season. Dolphins didn't have a bad record vs the Pats when he was there.

Pics courtesy of Rams site.

First off why in the F are both teams in grey??? Rams should be in BLUE dammit! But anyway...

"Ebumpaloompa"


"Gnatson rockin a child size"


"Press like sharks on a blood scent"


"All Stars baby"


"Under the radar"


"Gumbolicious"


"Yarbs bout to show his 40 time away from the cameras"


"Lotta swag at this bar"


"T the real G"

At the age of 8 i remember watching Jim Everett hit “Flipper” Anderson on a walk off touchdown that he took into the locker room in the playoffs. I was hooked, rams fan 4 life. Little did i know the freight train known as the 90’s was coming. We lost the 9ers 18 consecutive times.

I grew up in middle Tennessee. So when the Rams moved to St Louis it gave me and my brother(also a life long Ram fan) the opportunity to go see them. We were at the first St Louis Rams home game at Busch stadium. When the GSOT came alomg it was like a dream. A dream that Tom Brady and New “@&$&-?! England Patriots stomped on. There is only one player from both teams from that 2001 superbowl that will be on the field come sunday-Tom “@&&! Brady. I love the fact thay NRC is not afraid and hates the pats like i do. A victory this sunday would be so sweet for those of us who still feel the sting of spy-gate. It would help erase 17 years of anger. So come on Rams-lets stomp them out and begin our dynasty like they did to us 17 years ago. WHOOOOS HOUSE!? #HORNSUP!

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/...ades-brandin-cooks-ndamukong-suh-aaron-donald

You’re Either In or You’re Out: Ranking the Impact of the Rams’ Offseason Moves
Los Angeles is playing in Super Bowl LIII after an all in approach to free agency and the trade market heading into the year. From trading for Brandin Cooks to extending the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, let’s look at which moves were most important in getting the team to this point.
By Danny Heifetz


Getty Images/Ringer illustration

There’s a reason teams don’t listen to fans in the offseason. If front offices went with what fans wanted, they’d be chasing splashy move after splashy move in the (misguided) belief that their team is just a move or three away from the Super Bowl. More often than not, those splashy moves that sound great in March and April need only about six months of hindsight to look terrible.

Front offices are the Fyre Festival employees requesting to push the festival off for a year to prepare. Fans are the Fyre Festival marketing executive who said, “Let’s just do it and be legends, man.”

The Rams are on the cusp of becoming legends. The team parlayed the most aggressive offseason in the NFL into a Super Bowl appearance. With quarterback Jared Goff on a cheap rookie contract that allows the team to splurge at other positions, and after head coach Sean McVay turned what was the 30th-ranked team by Football Outsiders’ DVOA in 2016 into the second-ranked squad in 2017, Rams general manager Les Snead made a series of win-now offseason moves to maximize a title window.

It worked. The Rams are in the Super Bowl largely because of the cannonball-sized splashes they made in trades, free agency, and contract extensions from late February to late August. Here are the eight biggest offseason moves that fueled the Rams’ Super Bowl run, ranked.

No. 8: Trading Away Alec Ogletree and Robert Quinn
The Move:

• Rams Received: 2018 fourth-round pick, 2018 sixth-round pick
• Giants Received: Linebacker Alec Ogletree and 2019 seventh-round pick

The Move:

• Rams Received: 2018 fourth-round pick, 2018 sixth-round pick
• Dolphins Received: Defensive end Robert Quinn, 2018 sixth-round pick

The Impact: These deals are the forgotten moves of the Rams’ offseason, but they made just about everything else the team did possible. Combined, the two trades saved the Rams more than $8 million of cap space in 2018, almost $25 million of cap space in 2019, and almost $12 million in 2020. The two trades cleared the space necessary to pay Los Angeles’s high-profile stars while recouping some draft capital in the process.

Dealing Quinn was not surprising, considering he signed a four-year extension for $41.2 million guaranteed and worth as much as $57 million after registering 19.0 sacks in 2013, and followed it up with 19.5 sacks in the next three seasons combined. Trading Ogletree was a bigger surprise (just five months earlier, the team extended him on a $42.8 million deal with $21.4 million guaranteed). The two moves cleared the Rams’ muddied financial picture and turned the risk level of their offseason down multiple notches.

No. 7: Extending Todd Gurley
The Move: The Rams signed Gurley to a four-year contract extension worth up to $57.5 million with $45 million guaranteed.

The Impact: The deal will keep Gurley a Ram for the foreseeable future and reset the running back market in the process, but it is more influential in terms of the Rams’ future than the present. Unlike Aaron Donald, Gurley was not entering a contract year and gave no indication he would hold out.

Gurley led the league in combined rushing and receiving touchdowns this season, but there’s no evidence that his play would have been significantly impacted by his contract status. It’s a big move for their future, but not as critical to their success this season as it would seem.

No. 6: Choosing Lamarcus Joyner Over Sammy Watkins
The Move: The Rams franchise-tagged safety Joyner for one year at $11.3 million and let Watkins walk in free agency.

The Impact: With only one franchise tag and two candidates to use it on, the Rams chose Joyner over Watkins, who left for a three-year, $48 million deal ($30 million guaranteed) with the Chiefs. The $11.3 million price tag on Joyner is higher than other safeties who signed this offseason (or midseason) like Eric Reid and Kenny Vaccaro, and the Rams safety has been burned multiple times this postseason. Still, Joyner has become an important and versatile part of coordinator Wade Phillips’s defense.

No. 5: Re-signing Center John Sullivan
The Move: The Rams signed Sullivan to a two-year, $10.75 million contract with $5.25 million guaranteed.

The Impact: It’s hard to quantify what a good center can mean for an offensive line, but Sullivan is an underrated part of what makes the Rams offense tick. At 33 years old, he’s the same age as head coach Sean McVay, and McVay leans on Sullivan to fine-tune the offense in a way that can be downright adorable. The Rams offensive line this year finished as the best run-blocking team by Football Outsiders’ adjusted line yards and graded the highest in run-blocking by Pro Football Focus.

On paper, the Rams line is not the most talented in the league, but it performed among the league’s best in large part because of the veteran savvy of Sullivan, left tackle Andrew Whitworth, and left guard Rodger Saffold. The Rams line would still be good if Sullivan had signed elsewhere, but it may not have ranked among the best in the league.

No. 4: Cornerback Shopping Spree
The Move:

• Rams Received: Cornerback Marcus Peters, 2018 sixth-round pick
• Chiefs Received: 2019 second-round pick, 2018 fourth-round pick

The Move:

• Rams Received: Cornerback Aqib Talib
• Broncos Received: 2018 fifth-round pick

The Move: The Rams signed cornerback Sam Shields to a one-year, $1 million deal.

The Impact: You know when you try to buy something on Amazon and click the purchase button too quickly and accidentally put three of the same item in your shopping cart? That was the Rams and cornerbacks this offseason. Cornerback was slated to be a weakness with Trumaine Johnson (who had been franchise-tagged two years in a row) leaving, but the team acquired some serious talent, though not as much production as it had likely envisioned when it made the moves.

Talib played just eight games this season after injuring his ankle, while Peters started all 16 games but played through a calf and groin injury that sapped his burst. Shields mostly contributed on special teams after sitting out all of 2017 with lingering effects of head injuries.

Peters has played much better since his tough start, Talib is back for the playoff run, and Shields caught the fake punt that swung the tide of the first half in the NFC championship game. Individually, each move was underwhelming in the regular season, but collectively, they shored up what would have been the weakest part of their roster.

No. 3: Trading for (and Extending) Brandin Cooks
The Move:

• Rams Received: Receiver Brandin Cooks, 2018 fourth-round pick
• Patriots Received: 2018 first-round pick, 2018 sixth-round pick

The Impact: The Rams offense was among the league’s best this season, and Cooks played a larger part than his numbers indicate. His 80 receptions on 117 targets for 1,204 yards and five touchdowns may seem underwhelming for the no. 1 receiver in an upper-echelon passing offense, but Cooks allows the Rams’ other receiving options to thrive.

His versatility, both in where he can line up and his movements on end-arounds, keeps defenses from focusing on Robert Woods or (before his injury) Cooper Kupp. (And at $16 million annually for five years, the Rams signed him for the exact annual value that Sammy Watkins got for three years in Kansas City.)

None of Cooks’s individual games jump off of the page (he had 159 yards on seven catches against lowly Arizona in Week 2 and no more than 116 against anyone else) but his presence is a big part of why the Rams’ whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

No. 2: Signing Ndamukong Suh
The Move: The Rams signed Ndamukong Suh to a one-year, $14 million deal.

The Impact: The one-two punch of Suh and Donald many envisioned has finally come to fruition this postseason, as Suh has logged his two best games of his season against the Cowboys and Saints, including stuffing Ezekiel Elliott on a fourth-and-1 run in the fourth quarter of the divisional round.

He made things easier for Donald on the interior in the regular season, and Donald is likely going to repeat as Defensive Player of the Year (he led the league with 106 quarterback pressures a year after he led the league with 91). The job of a defensive tackle isn’t always glamorous, but Suh has been critical in their two playoff wins.

No. 1: Extending Aaron Donald
The Move: The Rams signed Aaron Donald to a six-year extension worth as much as $135 million, with $86.9 million guaranteed.

The Impact: Aaron Donald was a serious threat to hold out into the season without his extension, and without him, the Rams would have likely had one of the worst pass rushes in football and gone without the 20.5 sacks from the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. But even if Donald had returned without an extension, the negotiations may have wrecked the team’s chemistry. Donald is perhaps the most valuable non-quarterback in the sport.

If the Rams had chosen to play hardball with him, it might have fostered a serious bitterness toward the organization, especially after the team signed Suh to a $14 million deal and extended Cooks with a long-term deal before he had played a game in a Rams uniform.

Instead of a tense Khalil Mack–esque standoff that could have divided a locker room with many new personalities, the Rams gave Donald the biggest deal for a defender in NFL history (at least for 24 hours until Mack signed an extension after being traded from Oakland to Chicago). Donald is the Rams’ top dog, and everything fell into place after they took care of him.

Check out the video in this tweet ... how awesome is this for the Rams org. to reward this guy in this way.

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1088570017350770689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1088570017350770689&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbsnews.com%2Fnews%2Fdream-come-true-la-rams-surprised-facility-employee-with-super-bowl-tickets%2F


Story here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good...per-bowl-tickets/ar-BBSRvhk?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Many things that we did not know about him are revealed here.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...om&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

NICKELL ROBEY-COLEMAN ISN'T GOING TO HOLD BACK NOW
National outrage around his name. Death threats. Facing the GOAT in the Super Bowl. B/R had to know: How's the suddenly infamous Rams CB handling it all? The answer: He's reveling in it.TYLER DUNNETHOUSAND OAKS, CALIF.JANUARY 28, 2019
The party was raging 30,000 feet in the air, far, far above the mass hysteria raging on the ground. Flying from New Orleans back to LAX, fresh off an overtime stunner of an NFC Championship Game, Nickell Robey-Coleman soaked in the moment. Music blared. Players danced. His Los Angeles Rams were going to the Super Bowl, and the blatant pass interference he somehow got away with was a huge reason why.

Amid the beautiful chaos, the 27-year-old slot cornerback decided mid-flight to turn on his Wi-Fi, and...hello.

Notifications tripped over themselves by the dozens. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. All of his accounts were blowing up with messages on a continuous loop and, no, they were not all congratulatory. There was a Saints fan promising to burn his house down. Another vowing to "f--k you up" at the airport. Another telling him he better leave the city ASAP or he "might not see tomorrow." There were countless death threats from what he presumed to be fake names.


Was he shaken? Did he alert authorities?

Uh, no. And no.

He closed his phone and kept celebrating.

"Wolves," he says, "don't concern themselves with the opinions of sheep."

Everyone below might have been up in arms over the egregious non-call heard 'round the world—the cannon blast that should've been flagged, that should've sent the Saints to the Super Bowl. Robey-Coleman, frankly, never gave a damn. Not about those cowards threatening his life or about any of the other sheep, including the Saints themselves.

Not about Asshole Face, whom he's heard whining since the game. "We outplayed them. We out-schemed them. And we outcoached them. ... The Saints need to hold themselves accountable. They did not play championship football. Their numbers were low. Michael Thomas had 36 yards receiving. They had 50 yards rushing. They didn't capitalize on the turnovers we made early. We capitalized on the breaks we got at the end."

Not about Benjamin Watson, who called on the NFL to make a statement. "Ben Watson, you didn't even play! Be quiet. I respect you as a 14-year veteran. I respect you as a league rep. But, no, in this case. No, bro. No, bro."

Not about the league itself for fining him $26,739. He finds it funny the league waited five days to fine him, as if scrambling to put on a Band-Aid only because of the unprecedented public backlash. "It's like, it's like...How could you? Come on. Five days later? I can understand next day." And he finds it downright hilarious that the league technically fined him for targeting. He tilts his head back and howls. "Targeting! Targeting! C'mon man."


Not about anyone still bemoaning the hit itself. "I put his ass on a Waffle House frying pan! It was football! If you don't know the sport, well, then, news flash: We hit people. It's the NFL. And sometimes, we'd rather take a flag and hit somebody than somebody catch and score on us."

Not about that petition with 760,000 (and counting) signatures demanding a do-over. What'd happen if the teams played again? "No ifs. It's irrelevant."

Sitting on the edge of the Rams' practice field end zone on a perfect, breezy, 72-degree late January day, a gorgeous canvass of mountains behind him, he grins. The beauty of this all, to Robey-Coleman, is he can kill 'em with kindness. He has noticed a correlation. The wider he smiles, the more everyone can see he doesn't give a damn, the more pissed everyone gets. So he'll keep smiling, all the way to Super Bowl Sunday.

Because now he's letting everyone know he most certainly does not give a damn about the New England Patriots' mystique, either.

No, he sees a very beatable team and a very beatable, aging quarterback.

He hates the Patriots to his core. That's right: "Hate."

Robey-Coleman, formerly of the Patriots-punching-bag Bills, repeats that word several times.

If you thought the wreckage he left behind in the NFC Championship Game was rough, you haven't seen anything yet. Robey-Coleman wants everyone to picture the the bar fight scene in A Bronx Tale. That's how he envisions Sunday going down. The Rams will be the Italian mobsters at the bar, the Patriots will be the visiting biker gang, and Robey-Coleman will play the role of "Sonny," Chazz Palminteri's character. The neighborhood kingpin.


"We kick 'em out of the bar, beat 'em up—and the one thing he said, he looked down at a guy and said, 'I did this to you.' That's how I want to feel: I did this to you. I did this to you."




Justin Edmonds/Getty Images
As he says this, Robey-Coleman re-enacts the scene. He points an index finger down at the blacktop in front of him, and a twisted smile crosses his face.

The Super Bowl cannot come fast enough.

Soon, he's sure, everyone will know him for far more than one play. He rattles off his duties, one by one—eliminate receivers, mash tight ends with a two-hand shiver, blitz, break on the ball, sacrifice his body against the run, pinball all over the field—and makes it clear he wants to be the new gold standard at his position. A player who's feared. This mentality to "make history," to "change the game" in ways other cornerbacks do not, is what drives him from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep.

The sound of an engine interrupts Robey-Coleman's train of thought, and Todd Gurley zips by in the end zone in the passenger seat of a cart. "What up, Lifesaver?!" he yells. He's been calling him that all week. Not bad. Robey-Coleman likes it. But he prefers to go by "Slot God." "Robey Island" never sufficed as a nickname because he does so much more. Whatever you call him, though, just know that this 5'8", 180-pound corner oozing with swagger isn't worried about what you or anyone else thinks. His life led him to this moment, and now that he's here, he doesn't intend to shrink in it.


After everything he's been through, you best believe his confidence is bursting.

So move along, Saints.

Nickell Robey-Coleman is on to Atlanta.

Death threats aren't going to faze him. Ever.

Not when he has faced actual death up close. Not when he lost the two people closest to him.

Before this moment in the spotlight, Robey-Coleman had seen the darkness. Twice. First as a senior in high school. Fifteen days after he committed to USC, on Feb. 18, 2010, his mother died from a massive heart attack. Then again just this season. On Nov. 15 of this year, his son died five days after birth.

The reason Robey-Coleman plays and speaks and lives so freely starts here, with tragedy.

He can still remember walking into his mother's bedroom before heading to class, to check on her because she was just in the hospital and had been dealing with high blood pressure. And there Maxine Robey was, passed out on the floor. He called 911. He performed CPR. He tried talking to Mom, but as her lips moved no words came out. An ambulance rushed Maxine to the hospital, and family told Nickell to go to school, to try to take his mind off this.

He couldn't, of course. He soon redirected to the hospital, walked into her room, and there was his mom, his "everything," deceased at 44 years old.

Nickell asked everyone to leave the room for a moment and knelt beside Mom's bed. Right then, he promised her he'd finish college, play in the NFL,live in her honor.


With Dad faded out of the picture, Mom handled it all in their household. Discipline. Empathy. Love. So Robey-Coleman knows his raw fearlessness absolutely comes from Mom, that willingness to attack receivers one-on-one despite being the smallest player on the field as far back as he remembers.

He'd go on to tell USC coaches to stick him on Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd one-on-one, even though Floyd was eight inches taller and 50-plus pounds heavier. He shut him down. He kept a picture of Mom with the letters "R.I.P." on it in his locker. He eventually added Mom's maiden name, "Coleman," to his last name and continues visiting her tombstone in Frostproof, Florida, every chance he can.

To chat. To continue that conversation in the hospital room.

And yet, one promise he made Mom was in question. When he entered the NFL draft in 2013, not a single team was willing to use a pick on him. So to this day, Robey-Coleman still can't get one number out of his head: 254.

That's the number of draft-eligible players this league deemed better than him that year.

It still baffles him. He still can rattle off the names of players who were drafted instead of him.

"It gave me that chip on my shoulder—being undrafted," he says.

What scouts didn't account for was that this was someone who idolized the ultimate lightweight-conquering heavyweights in Allen Iverson, someone who YouTubed clips of Spud Webb winning the NBA's dunk contest and returner Dante Hall dominating at 5'8", someone who took up boxing because he knew he'd need to be the bully and throw the first punch at the line of scrimmage.


He clawed his way onto the Buffalo Bills' roster as an undrafted free agent that year and never looked back.

His attitude fuels his play. He's been saying whatever he wants for years. When a pass interference call on Robey-Coleman cost the Bills a 2015 win in London, against the Jaguars, he shredded the officials. He called it "the worst call I've ever been a part of in my life," and the league basically admitted it was bogus by not fining him for his scathing comments.

He'd be doubted again. One of Sean McDermott's first orders of business in March 2017 was (inexplicably) to release Robey-Coleman. He was quickly scooped up by the Rams and became a voice to follow on one of the league's best defenses, earning a three-year extension ahead of this season. Size be damned.




Robey-Coleman and coach Sean McVay after the win over the Saints.Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
The Rams have a $135 million defensive tackle (Aaron Donald) and another (Ndamukong Suh) who once inked a deal nearly as large, and they coughed up a load of draft picks for the enigmatic Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib and Dante Fowler Jr. But talk to those in the locker room, and this is the kind of personality that was desperately needed. A gnarly, brash throwback who serves as the glue for all of this talent and keeps everyone hungry. Always.

"You need guys like Nickell and the energy that he brings. That spark," says safety Lamarcus Joyner. "Whether you feel like coming to play or not, just seeing him doing his job can always motivate you."


Adds cornerback Troy Hill, "He's got that heart."

Its strength never clearer to teammates than this November, when Robey-Coleman lost his son.

After L.A. took down the Seahawks at home, 36-31, Robey-Coleman received chilling news. His son-to-be, Nickell Jr., was arriving a month early, and an emergency C-section was needed. He arranged for the best medical care possible, then headed to Colorado Springs with the Rams to prepare for their game against the Chiefs. The situation back in L.A. worsened and worsened, though, and on Nov. 15, five days after his son was born, Robey-Coleman hopped on a plane back to L.A. to be there for his son.

Upon landing, he learned Nickell Jr. had died due to collapsed lungs.

"A very, very empty feeling," Robey-Coleman says. "A feeling that I don't want anybody to go through."

Empty because he knew those traits Mom passed on to him—her fight, her determination—were going to live on in his son. Now he was gone too.

Was Robey-Coleman depressed after each of those tragedies? Absolutely. There are days he thinks about the son he won't have a chance to raise. The memories Sr. and Jr. will never share. Just like there are still so many days he thinks back to Mom. To her cooking, to rubbing her sore feet at night, to her unconditional love.

Says Robey-Coleman: "There were times when my son passed that I was depressed. I was down. When Mom passed, I was depressed. I was down."

He misses both, terribly. Losing both grandfathers along the way hurt too.

But he had powered through before, and would again. He played the Chiefs that week.

Hill couldn't believe Robey-Coleman's demeanor in the wake of this tragedy. He inspired everyone. "That's a person you're going to ride with every time," he says. "That's some real stuff that you're going through. And you're still here? I'm going to battle for you. I'm going to go harder for you."

Robey-Coleman says he's as proud of his response to the tragedy as anything he's ever done on the field. He thought about Mom. About his hometown, tiny Frostproof, where he knows so many kids more talented than him never even had a shot. About going undrafted. About Nickell Jr. And he harnessed it all and turned it into motivation. His daily routine, his thought process, the way he treated people, his maturity—"everything changed," he says.

"From that point, I was like, 'You know what, this season has to be the season,'" Robey-Coleman says. "This season has got to be the season. I've got to give it all I've got right here. There's too much going on. I've got to make the world feel this."

He has his chance in a Super Bowl showdown with—who else?—the New England Patriots.




Robey-Coleman arrives in Atlanta on Sunday.David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Robey-Coleman wouldn't want it any other way. His animosity for this team was planted the first four years of his pro career.

"I've got Buffalo blood running through my veins, so you know I hate these guys," Robey-Coleman says. "I naturally hate them. I never liked New England."

It's the little things, he explains. The "arrogance." The fact that Bill Belichickis going to go for it on 4th-and-3 when he's leading 17-0 in the fourth quarter. The Patriots love "antagonizing" teams, Robey-Coleman says.

"S--t like that. Little s--t to look down upon a team," he adds. "Little assh--e stuff like that. That's what makes you not like New England."

He does respect the Patriots in this regard: They always seem to throw a punch the opponent doesn't see coming. A swing that catches everyone off guard. Then, for three hours, they proceed to psych teams out. They crawl inside your head, stay there and force you to make the costly mistakes. Suddenly, Dee Ford is lining up offsides, negating what would've been a game-clinching Chiefs pick. Suddenly, the Chiefs are giving up 10 yards and one inch on 3rd-and-10 after 3rd-and-10.

Suddenly, Tom Brady is leaping in celebration en route to a ninth Super Bowl.

Robey-Coleman, though, is ready.

Robey-Coleman has a plan.

When he speaks, he's animated in every possible way. His head bobs. His blond-tipped dreads sway. His cadence is rhythmic, like a boxer rapping into a mic. Sitting here near the field, through the eerie calm before the Super Bowl storm, Robey-Coleman explains that you first must prepare like you've never prepared before to swing at the enemy. The Patriots.

Then, his adrenaline pumps. His right hand balls up into a fist.

He's holding an imaginary knife and staring down an imaginary foe.

Once you've prepared?


"Stick a dagger in them. They're not a team that you want to play around with. Stick the dagger in them and don't leave it in them! Take it out!" says Robey-Coleman, then pulling out his knife. "And let them leak. Let them leak slow. Put the dagger in them, pull it out, and let them leak slow. Just kill 'em slowly. That's how you do them."

He can't even put into words what it'd feel like to take down the Patriots. What a feeling that'd be. All he can do is stumble over his words and muster an "Oh my God" as he looks up into the sky.




Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press
All he knows is that he is built to be that virtual dagger in this year's Super Bowl.

"Because I know the art of war," Robey-Coleman says. "I know when to sink my teeth in. And when it's time to take advantage, when somebody's on their heels...you've got to come at them. Stick the dagger in them. Leave no doubt. That's all you've got to say. Leave no doubt. Don't fear, don't fear, don't fear beating the giant. Don't fear beating the GOAT. Don't fear it. Embrace it. Embrace it. Take it in—while you're doing it."

There's zero need to put the Patriots on a pedestal. He knows you cannot play afraid against New England because that's what Brady and Belichick feast on. They sense weakness and attack. So, no, Robey-Coleman won't play scared and won't speak like he's scared, because he sure as hell isn't.


He knows most everyone outside of New England is pulling for the Rams. He says he can feel it.

And it's precisely that vitriol that Brady's feeding off like never before. He's searching for every slight he can, real or perceived, to keep fueling and refueling that legendary fire within.

In other words, you'd think every Ram would be treading extremely carefully all week.

But, no, Robey-Coleman doesn't care. He sees signs that the Rams can get to Brady "all over the place."

"We have to stay connected," he says. "And he will slowly start to reveal himself."

Asked if there are signs that Brady isn't the same Brady, he nods aggressively.

"Yes. Yes. Age has definitely taken a toll. For him to still be doing it, that's a great compliment for him. But I think that he's definitely not the same quarterback he was," Robey-Coleman says. "Movement. Speed. Velocity. Arm strength. He still can sling it, but he's not slinging it as much. Whatever he was doing—because of his age and all that—he's not doing as much of that anymore. He's still doing the same things; he's just not doing as much of it. And sometimes, it's not the sharpest. But it still gets done."

The Chiefs had opportunities and the Chiefs failed to take advantage.

The Falcons were up 28-3, and we all know how that ended.

Robey-Coleman's volume rises.

"You've. Got. To. Take. Advantage."

So no way will that NFC title controversy slow down Robey-Coleman. If anything, it'll speed him up. It'll take him to a new level. Because this is his moment.




David J. Phillip/Associated Press

His one-on-one assignment Sunday, he knows, will be Julian Edelman, and this is what he says Edelman should fully expect for three hours:

"A savvy football player that's been through a lot, that's hungry, that's willing to do anything to win right now."

This is his season, his moment, and so much has led to it.

Mom will be there with him in Atlanta.

His son, too.

With that, Robey-Coleman jolts to his feet and darts inside to the locker room, where a pack of local reporters are waiting for him to address his fine. As he snakes through the TV cameras, other Rams DBs watch him closely, and Marcus Peters yells from a few lockers away, "Tell them to take it up with your lawyer!" Robey-Coleman is diplomatic. He speaks for about five minutes before heading to his locker and pulling a Money Talks hoodie over his head.

The legacy he envisions for himself is simple. He says he wants to be known as someone who overcame adversity and changed his position. He makes it clear he's not depressed anymore. No, Robey-Coleman hasn't had a bad day in weeks. He tosses clothes into a laundry bin, checks a nearby clock and shoots out the door. A defensive meeting starts in about five minutes.

Robey-Coleman sprints into the dark, cackling with the other corners all the way.

Prepare accordingly, and he believes his dagger moment will come. He'll watch the Patriots bleed. He'll hoist the Lombardi Trophy. And, deep into the night, he'll check his phone, where more trolls will absolutely await.


The language will likely be nasty, and Robey-Coleman won't care. He'll just do what he did before: fire up a live stream, turn the camera on himself and have one reaction.

He'll laugh.


Tyler Dunne covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter:@TyDunne.

2nd row where arrow is.

I am the WORST when it comes to visualizing things, does this seem really high up? I traded height for placement (on 45 yard line), but to me this is looking really high as these construction shots are evolving...

Any thoughts?

These are excerpts. To read the whole article click the link below.
*******************************************************************
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...an-mcvay-drive-rams-patriots-fmia-peter-king/

Driving The 101 With Sean McVay: On Texting Belichick, Trusting Goff and the Plan for Super Bowl 53
By Peter King

ENCINO, Calif. — Sean McVay said he’d be leaving his home for work Saturday at 4:15 a.m., Insane Standard Time. But there he was, on Coughlin Time, at 4:10, opening his Range Rover driver-side door in this silent neighborhood in the hills north of Los Angeles.

“I felt bad about you waiting out here,” said McVay, perky even two hours before dawn.

Truth is, I had no idea if he’d be on time or a half-hour early for our date, a ride to his office on the last day of Super Bowl LIII preparation at the Rams’ home base. So I got to his place at 3:30 a.m. PT and waited. McVay, about to be the youngest coach in Super Bowl history (he turned 33 last Thursday), is so excited about his job, it’s hard for him to sleep. On this night, he got about four-and-a-half hours. “I gotta do better,” he said. “Big week coming up.”

For the Rams, Super Bowl week is a stunning culmination of the franchise turnaround executed by the energetic McVay. But it’s no time for McVay, exactly half Bill Belichick’s age, to turn all doe-eyed about the craziness of what he and the Rams (26-9 under McVay) have done. Though he is gee-whiz about it all—and you’ll hear that plenty in the next few minutes—you could feel a more chip-on-his-shoulder McVay when I asked him, “How do you think you guys will play next week?”

“If we continue to prepare like we have, I think we’ll play well,” he said. “Our guys have a nice confidence and respect for the Patriots. But I don’t think for a second this game will be too big for our team. I know that we don’t have a lot of the experience New England has, and I respect that. But we’re confident. The Patriots are a great team but I think we’re pretty good too.”

McVay

Entering the 101 South, headed to the Rams training facility.

“What would you be doing right now if you were alone in the car?”

“Maybe calling my parents, or friends back east,” McVay said, steering the truck into the right lane in the darkness. “Probably, I’d be listening to a book on tape that my grandfather [former Niners executive John McVay] got me: Mike Lombardi’s ‘Gridiron Genius.’

It’s focused on Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick—Mike worked for both of them. It’s got a lot of great stuff. I’ve read all Bill Walsh’s books just based on my grandfather’s history and so much of what we do stems from a lot of the things that they did. But now I’ve gotten to know Bill [Belichick]—we talked at the combine last year—so that’s been cool.

“He was really great in the conversation we had, really enlightening. This is wild: This season, he has basically texted me after every one of our games. After we beat Minnesota in September, he texted, ‘Man, you guys are really explosive and impressive and fun to watch. Congratulations—keep it rolling.’ For him to even take the time to say congrats, it’s pretty cool. That’s one of the things I like about our business, our fraternity of coaches. As competitive as it is, guys find time to share when they can. I’m still young, still figuring it out. That stuff’s been really helpful to me.”

Maybe it’s not just the professor, Belichick, giving the answers to the test to the student, McVay. McVay’s got a lot to share too. I’ve met two other current head coaches (not in the McVay’s NFC West) who have sought advice on offensive trends and schemes from him, though he’s more than a decade younger than they are. Belichick keeps relationships with lots of coaches who aren’t just the big-name guys. He wants to learn what’s new and what’s next.

Getty Images/2

All sorts of NFL traditions are being broken in the modern game. If short quarterbacks can play, and Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Baker Mayfield obviously can, then why can’t a 5-foot-9-and-change passer like Kyler Murray get picked in the first round and make it? “I see Murray going in the mid-first round,” draft authority Gil Brandt said the other day. And if kid coaches can lead and prove to players they can make them better, players will follow. Last week, star Rams wideout Brandin Cooks called McVay “Einstein.”

There’s an allegorical story that’s important to why McVay is here. It has to do with running a bit more of a democracy than some old-time coaches would be comfortable. In high school, McVay was an option quarterback at Brookhaven (Ga.) Marist School, and, as a senior in 2003, his team trailed a defensively superior team, Shaw High, 17-12, in the fourth quarter of a state quarterfinal game. Marist had the ball at the Shaw 5-yard line. Third-and-goal. Timeout. McVay went to the sidelines. Coaches wanted to call a power-run to the right. McVay’s suggestion of a naked bootleg won.

“That’s kind of a blur right now,” McVay said, eyes straight ahead on the 101. “This was one of the best defenses in the state—they’d dominated everybody they had played. And we ran a couple plays where you could feel they were pursuing hard off their edges.

We just kinda had an intuition that if we just sold out to the power run … we were a power wishbone team … if I kept that ball and just hid it right on my stomach and booted it wide left, there was a chance we’d walk in. So we called it. We called ‘Fake 32 Wham Naked Left.’ Our backs did such a good job selling [the fake] that the Shaw guys tackled everybody and they were celebrating like they’d won the game right there when I was running into the opposite end of the end zone. We won 18-17.”

Moral of the story?

“Listen to players,” McVay said. “Players have the best feel for the game. Especially guys who have the right insight and the right understanding of what’s going on. Giving them that ownership, they’re likely to make it work.

“Players get an intricate feel being out there, more than I have as a coach on the sideline. There are nuances of the game that I can’t feel on the sideline.”

“Got an example? Maybe something Jared Goff felt last week in New Orleans?” I asked.

“Hundred percent,” McVay said. “So this was arguably one of Jared’s best throws, where he throws the deep out to Cooks in the third quarter.”

First down Rams, at their 37, 7:06 left in the third quarter. Saints 20, Rams 10. Goff, at the line, stepped back from center. He gathered himself, and for about two seconds, he stared at the ground like he was concentrating, maybe trying to hear something. He was trying to hear, in fact … the voice of his coach.

With 21 seconds left on the play clock before coach-to-quarterback communication shut off at 15 seconds, McVay called the “Blaze Out” play. Goff yelled something and signaled to the lone receiver to the left, Cooks. Three receivers in a bunch right next to the right tackle—wideouts Robert Woods and Josh Reynolds, and tight end Gerald Everett—leaned in to get the new call.

As McVay explained: “Jared had suggested that because he felt like some of the underneath zoning defenders were making him feel like, ‘I gotta really layer this ball, and I’d rather be able to drive it to Brandin.’ Usually, Brandin runs an in-breaking route there, but I could tell from talking to Jared, he’d feel a lot better throwing an out-route to the sideline.“

Translation: In this one-by-three-receiver formation, instead of Goff aiming to throw to one of the three men in the bunch with more traffic around them, and having to “layer” the ball, or throw it with touch between the linebackers and the safeties, he preferred to throw it against the Saints’ best cover player, Marshon Lattimore, because there’d likely be no cover help on that side.

Cooks, running what the Rams called a “Blaze Out,” would win that battle. If he ran inside, linebacker A.J. Klein would be there creating traffic, and Goff would have to “layer” the ball over him and under Lattimore. Not optimal.

The ball traveled with heat, and 24 yards in the air, straight to Cooks on the sideline at the Saints’ 49-yard line. Gain of 14. Perfect throw, in tight coverage. “Best throw he’s made all day,” Troy Aikman said on TV.

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/camdasilva/status/1087109392657465345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1087109392657465345&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fprofootballtalk.nbcsports.com%2F2019%2F01%2F27%2Fsuper-bowl-53-sean-mcvay-drive-rams-patriots-fmia-peter-king%2F

“So,” McVay said, “the drive before he had asked me, Can we throw the Blaze Out? I said, ‘Hey, if you feel comfortable with it, your ownership. You’re more likely to make it work.’

“That’s a level of trust right there. If he hadn’t said he wanted to throw the Blaze Out, I wouldn’t have called it.”

First time in my life I found myself wishing for traffic on a highway. Thick, snarled traffic. I had 48 more topics to discuss, but with each story McVay detailed, the tributaries grew, and they all were interesting.

But I really wanted to hear what happened on Nov. 8, 2015, in Foxboro.

“2015,” I said. “New England 27, Washington 10. You’re the offensive coordinator for Washington, and I think that’s the only time in your five years as a play-caller you’ve faced Belichick.”

Rueful smile behind the wheel.

“Oh yeah, that was a … I’ll tell you what. Not good. And our touchdown that day was a cheap touchdown, last minute, in a two-minute drive when the game was over. Coach Belichick and [defensive coordinator Matt] Patricia took us to the woodshed. Very humbling day.

“Couple things. That was the first time I’d been to Foxboro. You come out for warmups, before actual team warmups. That song by Jay-Z, ‘My name is Hov,’ starts blasting in the stadium, and you see Tom Brady walking out by himself. Fans are going crazy. I’m in the corner of the field like, Oh man! I wanna clap for him! Then you’re thinking, like, Oh crap. How we gonna win this one?

“This is something that I haven’t said to anybody really other than some coaches. But it really gives you an appreciation for just the experience factor of the Patriots. My first year as offensive coordinator, Jay’s first year as the head coach in Washington, 2014, we practiced against the Patriots in training camp. I remember watching their operation. The efficiency … not a single minute wasted.

When we would have the special-teams period—every single player with the Patriots, if you’re not involved with an urgency in special teams, the offensive coaches and defensive coaches had their own individual drills set up where they’re maximizing every minute. If you knew nothing about football—not a thing—and you just watched them, you’d say, ‘There’s something different about that team.’ A well-oiled machine. You’re just thinking, ‘This is the team we gotta compete with, man. We gotta get to their level.’

“That was the only time I had gotten that exposure. I knew this: That’s what it looks like when it’s done right.”

I wasn’t sure if McVay would recall a moment from his team’s low point this year. So I asked. You beat the Lions on the road, but it’s kind of shaky, and then you lose to Chicago there and lose to the Eagles on a Sunday night at home, and in those two losses, Goff throws no TDs and five picks. After that Philly game, at your press conference, you really looked shaken. Do you recall felling that way?

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1074527715875680256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1074527715875680256&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fprofootballtalk.nbcsports.com%2F2019%2F01%2F27%2Fsuper-bowl-53-sean-mcvay-drive-rams-patriots-fmia-peter-king%2F

“I can’t remember the exact emotion,” McVay said, “That Chicago loss was a game unlike anything we’ve experienced in our two years. Then Philly … We’re down 30-13 and Nick Foles is driving to blow it open, and Aqib Talib makes a big-time [interception] to get us back in it. But we lose.

I do remember thinking it’s easy to talk about your traits, your characteristics, your core values that you want to embody as a team. You gotta be what you say. If I’m really gonna be the leader that I expect to be for this team and be mentally tough like I talk to the players about, there’s a real chance to demonstrate that right now.

“When I deal with players, it’s not just the hokey ‘Oh you’re great, man, I love you, I believe in you.’ It’s, ‘Let’s look at why we didn’t have success.’ Jared is a pretty mentally tough guy anyway. He’s pretty unshaken. Last week I think was the greatest example of his mental toughness where we’re down 13-nothing, and that place was f—ing loud!

When we were there earlier this year, it was not even close. Those fans had an extra buzz. I mean, it was unbelievable. I used to get this headache that was a killer after games. Last week was the first time as a coach I’ve had a headache like that after a game.”

McVay was off the highway now, driving onto the campus of Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. He was itching to walk through the door. Close to 5 a.m. now. I could tell … Still cordial, but feeling late.

“And what they did was genius during that game. Our players get interviewed in the week leading up. ‘Hey, is the noise gonna be a factor?’ So Robert Woods says, ‘You know, we don’t expect it to be. Their defense has to deal with it too.’ So in the stadium, they put that Robert Woods interview up there in between break. The fans go even crazier then, and I’m looking at Robert. Why the hell did you say that? Anyway, Jared just dealt with it. Figured a way and dealt with it. He’s about doing more than saying.”

Now at his parking space. Time, fleeting. We haven’t talked game-planning, or playing the Super Bowl in the backyard of his youth, or very much about his love of John Wooden and the Pyramid of Success. And he’s meh about why Belichick’s teams are masterful with two weeks to prepare this time of year.

But one thing sticks with me, one of the last things he said. A throwaway line. McVay has this ridiculous memory of plays he’s called and plays he’s seen, and he can rip off details in staccato bursts, like they’d just happened and he was watching them on replay. The subject: imaginative play-design.

I mention how impressive I found it that New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels installed eight new plays on the day of the AFC title game last week, and the Patriots did a quick walk-through of them six-and-a-half hours before the game. New England used four or five in the game, all for positive yards. That’s when you know you’ve got a smart team, with veteran coaches who can complete each other’s sentences.

Getty Images

Then I bring up the winning touchdown pass by the Eagles in last year’s Super Bowl, the 11-yard Foles-to-Zach Ertz game-winning touchdown pass out of the weird Philly formation New England had never seen, the play the coaching staff invented the week of the game, a week after the regular game plan had been installed.

“The four-by-one,” McVay interrupted, suddenly remembering it. “Yeah.”

The Eagles used the odd formation 51 weeks ago—one receiver (Ertz) to the left, four to the right, and Foles picking the one over the four in traffic. McVay’s instant recall of the play that flummoxed the Patriots stood out because it gave me an idea of his mindset now. Which is: I bet he’s thinking of distinctive plays like this today. A reminder of how this messed with the Pats: Patricia, the defensive coordinator, was caught by NFL Films before the play saying, “We’re gonna have to double 86.” Ertz. They never did.

The coverage got lost in translation. But McVay’s reflexive recall in the California darkness reinforced to me that, as with the Eagles and Doug Pederson last year, the latest of this new cadre of young (very young, in this case) and imaginative offensive thinkers will test Belichick.

Plus, McVay knows Belichick will test him. McVay has great admiration for Belichick, but he also knows business is business. Last April, McVay thought he had this deal in place with the Patriots: Rams trade their first-round pick to New England for Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick.

But when McVay went to finalize the deal, the Rams ended up throwing in a sixth-round pick at Belichick’s request. So it turned out to be Cooks and a four from New England to the Rams for first- and sixth-round picks. (The Patriots, not surprisingly, turned that sixth-round pick into two seventh-rounders in 2018 and another seventh-rounder in 2019.) Still, a deal the Rams were happy to make. But a good lesson for McVay.

There’s no doubt in my mind that McVay and offensive coordinator Zac Taylor have used this week to mine for things the Patriots have never seen in formations and plays and maybe even personnel groupings, and so won’t have been able to prepare for them. The Eagles used that approach last year, and it worked.

If I’m McVay, I’m thinking Brady’s gonna Brady; in their last three playoff games, the Patriots have averaged 37 points and 399 Brady passing yards. The Rams are probably going to have to score in the thirties to win, or to have a chance to win. It won’t help this week that they’ll hear some version of Are you sure you belong here after that non-call in New Orleans?

(This, by the way, is how McVay addressed it with me, and it’s what I think will be something close to his response: “We understand the Saints and their fans are upset. Clearly that was pass-interference. But it’s not the only thing that led to the outcome of the game.

The way we are with our team is that we have the mindset of it’s always about the next play, and you can’t control what the officials do. We can’t control it, but we can try to control the next play, and that’s how we played.” In other words, there will be no apology, no regrets from the Rams. It’s not their place.)

The Rams have been good at ignoring the noise in two seasons with McVay, and when he walked into his office at 5 Saturday morning to prep for his last pre-Atlanta practice of the week, he didn’t seem too uptight. He seemed excited.

I don’t think for a second this game will be too big for our team.

Probably not for the youngest Super Bowl coach ever, either.
----------------------
Numbers Game

I

Rams’ points-per-game in Sean McVay’s first 35 games: 30.69.

Rams’ points-per-game in Jeff Fisher’s last 35 games: 15.51.

Improvement in points-per-game, McVay vs. Fisher: 15.18.

II

In the past 16 regular seasons, the New England Patriots have averaged 12.50 wins per season—5.47 more wins per year than any other team in the division.

III

Dating back to the Patriots’ Super Bowl win over Atlanta, New England has played six playoff games, and averaged 34 points and 494 yards per game.
---------------------
Starting with each team’s 11th game of the regular season, here are the last eight results for the Super Bowl teams:

Pats: win, win, loss, loss, win, win, win, win.
Rams: win, win, loss, loss, win, win, win, win.
--------------
Intelligent Football

There are going to be two big stars in this Super Bowl, and I do not mean Aaron Donald and Tom Brady. Of course they will be, but thanks to the advanced metrics and study of Pro Football Focus, here are two more. They are the two left tackles in the game: Andrew Whitworth of the Rams and Trent Brown of the Patriots.

One of the things that makes the difference between winning and losing is the front-office re-stocking of teams, particularly with moves that don’t look so impactful at the time of the deal. Another thing is scheming. You’ve got to give credit to Whitworth for great play, and to Rams GM Les Snead for what was a pricey deal for Whitworth in 2017 (three years, $33.8 million), and to Sean McVay for using Whitworth well.

In New England, kudos to Bill Belichick and Nick Caserio for pinpointing Brown with the Niners in trade, and to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels for his quick-pass game-planning so Brown plays a little better than maybe he is.

• Through two postseason games, Whitworth has played 145 snaps and allowed zero sacks, zero hits, and zero pressures of Jared Goff.

• Through two postseason games, Brown has played 179 snaps and allowed zero sacks, zero hits and two pressures of Brady (blocking Melvin Ingram and Dee Ford).

Those are wow stats.

You know what else I think when I consider Whitworth and Brown? I wonder if Whitworth would ever have been signed if former first-round left tackle Greg Robinson hadn’t busted with the Rams. And I wonder if Brown would be the starting left tackle if first-round rookie tackle Isaiah Wynn hadn’t torn his Achilles in New England’s preseason opener in August. The best teams are ones that adjust.

It's really starting to piss me off that they aren't selling any gameday jerseys for the rams. We've waited a long time for this, and I would love nothing more than to commemorate our first Super Bowl of my adult life than with a jersey that has that nifty Super Bowl patch. They have the Blue/Golds and the Whites, but we're playing in our throwbacks so those are kinda the ones I want.

Any body else waiting until they sell throwback superbowl jerseys?

Also, people in LA, are you seeing a lot of Rams gear in stores? I'm half tempted to drive down (it's day trip) and collect some stuff if it's widely available.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ted-after-every-one-of-our-games-this-season/

If there's one thing that will always get Bill Belichick talking, it's good football conversation. While he's known for his stoic answers to people asking about Rob Gronkowski trade rumors or Tom Brady drama, Belichick has also developed a reputation for glowing about special teams play and his breakdowns of key plays. With that in mind, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Belichick and Sean McVay, given McVay's similarly brilliant football mind.

According to McVay, that respect has become a text-heavy friendship, per Peter King. McVay said that he and Belichick met at the NFL Combine last year, and since then they've talked fairly regularly.

"This is wild: This season, he has basically texted me after every one of our games," McVay said of his Super Bowl opponent this year. "After we beat Minnesota in September, he texted, 'Man, you guys are really explosive and impressive and fun to watch. Congratulations—keep it rolling.' For him to even take the time to say congrats, it's pretty cool."

McVay and the Rams will play Belichick and the Patriots on Sunday in the Super Bowl. McVay, 33, will try to become the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl in NFL history. Belichick, at 66, will try to become the oldest.