Rams reach red zone on final drive but can’t | College News
PHILADELPHIA — It was a cold solution to finish a season.
The Rams got here to Lincoln Financial Field with an alternative to win an NFC divisional-round recreation and host the NFC championship.
The Philadelphia Eagles had been having none of it.
On a snowy and windy day, Eagles operating back Saquon Barkley as soon as again dominated the Rams, who couldn’t overcome two late fumbles in a 28-22 defeat.
The Eagles will play the Washington Commanders within the NFC championship recreation subsequent Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I’m happy to be a part of this team and proud of this group, coach Sean McVay said. “And I’m really bummed out that this journey is over.”
As they did in 2021, once they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the lower-seeded San Francisco 49ers defeated the top-seeded Green Bay Packers within the divisional-round video games, the Rams would have hosted the Commanders with a probability to advance to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
“You don’t minimize how difficult it is to put yourself in positions where you’re on the precipice of hosting an NFC championship,” McVay mentioned. “I think we all wanted that a lot, and it didn’t go down for us today.”
Barkley performed a large function, scoring on runs of 62 yards within the first quarter and 78 within the fourth quarter. He completed with 205 yards dashing in 26 carries.
The Rams had seen that act earlier than.
On Nov. 24, Barkley rushed for 255 yards and scored on runs of 70 and 72 yards in a 37-20 victory over the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
“Whenever he gets up to the second and third level [of the defense], that’s really when he becomes really dangerous,” sort out Kobie Turner mentioned.
The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts breaks a sort out by the Rams’ Neville Gallimore on his solution to a 44-yard landing run.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
This time Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts additionally scored on a long run, and the Rams misplaced two fumbles within the second half. Hurts accomplished 15 of 20 passes for 120 yards and in addition rushed for 70 yards.
“I was really proud of this group, really all season and the way that we battled,” mentioned quarterback Matthew Stafford, who performed via a rib harm and handed for 324 yards and two touchdowns, but misplaced a fumble. “It wasn’t perfect by any means, but this group really stuck together. … It’s disappointing to end it this way but proud of the way we battled.”
Three years in the past, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford needed solely 42 seconds to engineer a game-winning drive to defeat Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a divisional-round recreation at Tampa.
He engineered one late scoring drive Sunday, but his fourth-down cross on the 26-yard line within the final minute fell incomplete.
“I didn’t see it going any other way than us winning that game 29-28,” McVay mentioned. “Just had a couple things that we couldn’t overcome.”
Stafford agreed.
“Felt like as an offense we had them on the ropes, and I bet they probably felt it too,” he mentioned. “We were moving the rock really well the last two drives and just a couple unforced errors here and there.”
Stafford accomplished 26 of 44 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
The Rams contained Barkley at instances and so they adopted up their nine-sack efficiency towards the Minnesota Vikings with seven towards the Eagles.
Rookie edge rusher Jared Verse, who riled the Eagles’ rabid fan base final week by saying he hated Eagles followers and located them annoying, had two sacks.
Verse mentioned he thrived on the hostile atmosphere — “It doesn’t faze me, it hypes me up more,” he mentioned — but lamented the defeat.
The Eagles’ Jalen Carter makes a key sack of quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) on the following to final Rams play of the sport.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I could have been better,” Verse mentioned. “There’s more I could have done.”
The Rams trailed, 28-15, late within the recreation after Barkley broke free for his 78-yard landing.
Stafford engineered a drive that he capped with a landing cross to tight finish Colby Parkinson with 2:48 left.
The Rams obtained the ball back with 2:23 left and had been driving again, but got here up short.
The defeat ended a season wherein the Rams had been pressured to climate quite a few accidents during coaching camp and the primary few video games en path to a 1-4 begin that put them on the brink of playoff oblivion.
But by Week 9 they had been 4–4. The November loss to the Eagles dropped the Rams to 5-6.
A couple of days later, McVay addressed his gamers and wrote on a whiteboard the quantity 39, the quantity of days left within the common season. He challenged them to decide to getting essentially the most out of each.
The Rams received 5 video games in a row earlier than and clinched the NFC West by power of victory earlier than McVay rested starters within the season finale towards the Seattle Seahawks.
Because of security issues brought on by the wildfires in Southern California, the NFL moved the Rams wild-card recreation towards the Vikings to State Farm Stadium in Arizona. With McVay and his gamers saying they had been “Built for This,” the Rams received and set the stage for the divisional-round rematch towards the Eagles.
“Love this team,” McVay mentioned. “It’s just hard because you didn’t want it to end.”
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