Livescore
It has been a tough week in and around Los Angeles, as the fires that prompted Monday night’s wild card game between the Rams and Cardinals to move to Glendale, Ariz. still blaze across the city.
But the Rams channeled their emotions to deliver a dominant 27-9 victory over the Vikings and advance to the divisional round.
“Man, I’m really proud of our team tonight,” head coach Sean McVay said in his postgame press conference. “I thought with everything that’s going on with our community, everything that these guys have gone through, I thought they epitomized and represented the city the right way.
“You talk about sports offering a platform for people to come together for a little bit of temporary relief, and I thought the way that our team competed tonight was what it looked like — to stay connected, to stay together. Just to fight, the resilience, all the things that are great traits that this team has really built throughout the challenges that they’ve gone through over the course of this season. And I’m really proud of them.”
The Rams led from start to finish, building a 24-3 advantage at halftime. McVay admitted the club pulled off the gas offensively in the second half, which wasn’t a problem given how well the defense played — tying a single-game NFL postseason record with nine sacks.
But after coming to Arizona early and training at the Cardinals’ facility before playing at their division rival’s stadium, how were the Rams able to so effectively play with emotion?
“I think that you could feel it more than anything I could say,” McVay said. “There was just a look in their eye. They had a focus, the right kind of urgency and enjoyment that we always try to strike that perfect balance. And I was just proud of them. I think you could just feel it. You could feel it in warm-ups. There was just an aura.”
But much of that goes back to McVay’s leadership. Receiver Cooper Kupp — who is one of the longest-tenured Rams as one of the first draft picks under the head coach in 2017 — said McVay’s ability to stay consistent and bring energy on a day-to-day basis is a big part of what propelled L.A. to victory.
“I think it’s one of his greatest strengths, is being able to connect with people,” Kupp said in the locker room postgame. “He’s done a great job of that in the midst of all this stuff to be able to continue to have guys come in here, be where your feet are — I know there’s all this other stuff going on, but we can be here right now. We’re working toward a task at hand where if we handle our business, it’ll be a real special thing.
“He just did a great job in terms of keeping that consistent messaging and keeping on guys.”
Now the Rams have a chance to continue the journey next weekend when they play the Eagles in Philadelphia.
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