:l When counting victories,
500 is a nice number indeed!
Two thumbs up LARAM0! Love this kind of info (related to Rams that is). Thanks.
As for your list of memorable games from 1969 to 78, no doubt they are that. And yet, I try ... I try to
not connect my memory to those. Too painful. But in a paradoxical and nostalgic way, they too are glorious.
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One of my personal and unforgettable Rams games that I enjoy bringing up here is the thriller played at the Coliseum on Dec. 9, 1967. [
Those of you that might have read this story before, please excuse the repetition. I tell it a little differently every time but always truthfully. :-)]
That year, 1967, was to me, an excited Rams fan teen, truly historical. It ended up being the only season where we
lost only one game (okay, we also tied two). It was Coach Allen's second year with the Rams and that season his warriors, ready and willing...
a) Scored the most points in the NFL*, 398 in 14 games -- not bad even for the 16 that are played today (which would almost avg. 25 a game); we had a great OL.
b) Allowed fewest points in the NFL*, 196.
Oh, believe me, we had an
awesome defense! An all around superb D based on the Fantastic Fearsome Foursome who were in their absolute prime. But the other 7 positions also worked magnificently together with the front four. Look at this: only 22 TDs scored against us (keep in mind 14 games were played then, that's 1.5 TD per game). INTs? ...Can you say
32.
How's that for achieving two major team goals! Most points scored in the league and fewer points allowed, the same year. Not sure if any other team has done that.
c) Won what was then the new Coastal Division of the Western Conference: Colts - Falcons - Rams - Whiners. The Colts finished with an identical 11-1-2 record that year but we got the title based on the tiebraker (guess who were the only ones to defeat them).
d) Made Pro Bowl extravaganza. ...9 of them! QB Roman Gabriel; RB Les Josephson; Receivers Bernie Casey and Jack Snow; G Tom Mack; DL Roger Brown, Deacon Jones, and Merlin Olsen (see LARAM0s current avatar); LB Maxie Baughan (see my current avatar).
e) Won last eight games in a row. Nice streak I would say.
f) Confirmed decidedly and forevermore my Rams fanhood. In 65 and 66 I liked them a lot but 1967 etched my love for the team with a loyalty that has never once failed, even during this tough season of 2007.
g) George Allen is NFL Coach of the year. Turned the team around into winners as soon as he took over as HC in '66. He in fact never had a losing season.
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Week 13. That game, next before last of '67, was a MUST win in order to make playoffs. The Rams had to stay in the race, neck to neck, with the powerful and undefeated Colts**. It was such a critical match and the Rams, having won the hearts of Los Angeles, found themselves making history off the field too: this was the 1st sellout before gameday since moving from Cleveland in 1946 (they used to have massive attendances at the huge Memorial Coliseum in the 50s and 60s***, BTW).
Back on the field though, problem was that our next-before-last game was against ... SB Champs, the Green Bay Packers with Mr. Vincent Lombardi. They were already into the playoffs but Coach Lombardi had always maintained there was no such thing as a 'meaningless' game for the Packers. And they proved it.
What a game it was, a hard fought battle that day in L.A. We were down 24-20 very late in the 4th with Green Bay in possesion of the ball; however, our D -- oh, but we had a great defense -- held them 3 and out. In comes lefty punter/RB star Donnie Anderson to kick from the Packer 41 with less than a minute left in the game.
...And in comes Rams Tony Guillory! A spunky Special Teams and backup LB, making his way passed the center, charging with arms in the air, almost falling, just reaching the punted ball to block it hard.
Pandemonium.
It had been a strong rush and four, five, six Rams met around the ball as it went backwards. DB Claude Crabb scooped it up and ran with it toward the Packer end zone surrounded by Rams. Incredibly, Anderson the punter managed to bring him down at the 5 yard line. Still, the Coliseum was roaring and shaking with elation.
Rams offense is now in for battle with The Roman General calling the signals. 1st and goal from the 5 ... 37 seconds remain on the clock: incomplete pass as nearly 70 thousand fans nervously shorten their fingernails. 2nd play also has the looks of a pass, Snow to the left, Casey to the right. Big Bernie runs a pattern into the end zone and breaks across to the left where a pass from Gabriel meets him in ramtastic excellence.
That, my friends, was an electrifying TD!!!
The crowd has simply gone wild. And so have the Rams. After time expires the team invades the field and players jump up and down like little children. Coach Allen is carried on the shoulders of ecstatic Rams and fans everywhere are all smiles and celebration. So good to the soul.
No, I wasn't there to see it, I was a junior highschool kid in northern Mexico. But I had become a Rams fan in '65 and sometimes had access to american TV, newspapers and/or sports / football magazines which I devoured when they contained Rams articles and pictures.
And I vividly recall that victory.
...What a game! :bash:
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PS: The following weekend brought the season finale and next do-or-die game. A dominating Rams team went on to hand the Colts their first defeat 34-10 (Unitas was sacked 7 times). For more on this particular game, see a recount by Roman Gabriel himself here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._62804724/pg_1
*. - That's both NFL
and AFL (they later merged in 1970).
**. - The famous and formidable Baltimore Colts with the legendary Johny Unitas (the Ravens did not exist then of course).
***. - Over
100,000 in attendance during some 1957-58 games. The 1967 squad was the first NFL team to surpass one million spectators in a season, a feat the Rams would repeat the following year. In each of those two years, the L.A. Rams drew roughly double the number of fans that could be accommodated by their current stadium for a full season.
-- Source: armchairgm.com / Rams history.