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  • #1

    Rams - A Team of Firsts

    The long history of the Rams is rich with firsts. Among them are:


    The first professional sports team to move West of the Mississippi
    The first NFL team in the post-WWII era to employ black players
    The first to use an insignia or logo on the helmet
    The first to play before one million spectators in a season
    Participated in the first game to use sudden-death in overtime
    The first to employ a full-time scouting staff
    The first to employ a full-time special teams coach (Dick Vermeil - 1969)
    The first to regularly televise away games
    First team to have a player selected to 14 consecutive Pro-Bowl appearances (Merlin Olsen)
    The first team to win seven consecutive division titles (1973-79)
    The first team with more than six defeats to play in the Super Bowl (1979 record: 9-7)
    The first NFL team to move back East
    The first NFL team to loose all 8 divisional games one year, then win all 8 divisional games the next.
    The first franchise to win a NFL championship in 3 different cities (Cleveland 1945; Los Angeles 1951; St. Louis 1999)
    Tags: None
    • #2
      i have to question the first sudden death overtime game....I believe that was between the Colts and Giants in 1957(?)...the one where Alan Ameche scored on a one yard run, they show it on ESPN all the time.

        Comment

        • #3
          Re: Rams - A Team of Firsts

          Originally posted by RAMble On
          The first NFL team to move back East.

          The first NFL team to loose all 8 divisional games one year, then win all 8 divisional games the next.
          On the first, you didn't really move that far east....

          On the second, your stretching a bit, aren't you? ;)

            Comment

            • #4
              Here is the link and the article regarding the sudden death overtime game:

              Page Not Found | Pro Football Hall of Fame
              http://www.profootballhof.com/history/1950s/overtime.cfm


              Many football fans regard the 1958 NFL Championship Game as the first overtime game in NFL history. Indeed it was the first playoff overtime game, but it was not the first-ever. That occurred three years earlier on August 28, 1955 in a pre-season game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants.

              The two big city teams played at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon in front of 22,222 onlookers. Led by the likes of Charley Conerly and Hall of Famer Frank Gifford, the Giants scored twice in the first quarter to take a 10-0 lead. Tank Younger of the Rams scored on a five-yard run in the second quarter to make the score 10-7 at halftime.
              Los Angeles scored twice in the third quarter to take a 17-10 lead, but it wasn't until the middle of the fourth quarter that New York got back on the board. Alex Webster provided a three-yard touchdown scamper to knot the game at 17-17.

              The final gun sounded and neither team had scored thus thrusting the game, and the NFL, into overtime for the first time. The match would not have gone into overtime if it hadn't been for the game's promoter Harry Glickman. On a whim, he asked for the league's permission for overtime should the occasion arise. Needless to say, he could not have been luckier.

              The sudden-death period, however, did not last very long. The Rams won the toss and, guided by Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin, constructed an 8-play, 70-yard drive that culminated with a two-yard TD plunge by Younger just three minutes and 28 seconds into the extended play.

              The game was not witnessed by many people since it was not televised. None-the-less, the bout laid the foundation for the NFL to adopt the overtime rule for regular season games, finally being approved in 1974.

              As a side note, another innovation was incorporated during this game. The field yardlines were marked from zero to 100 instead of the traditional goal lines to the 50. Not surprisingly, this trend never caught on.

              It's great to be a fan of a team with that much history.

                Comment

                • #5
                  For entertainment purposes only Atlas :p

                    Comment

                    • #6
                      Ahhhh.....I wish I could name all the first by the Titans. :upset: Unfortunately, I was never an Oilers fan and only started liking them when they moved to my home state of Tennessee. I don't even really consider them the Oilers anymore. I hate it when people say Oilers/Titans.
                      Last edited by Guest; -10-31-2001, 05:07 PM.

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                        • #7
                          The crucial question is whether they have to move again to win their fourth championship ;).

                          <mike

                            Comment

                            • #8
                              Not a chance Mike.

                              I think there will be 3 or 4 more championship wins in this DECADE

                                Comment

                                • #9
                                  I certainly hope so. The talent is clearly there, but the talent has
                                  been there before but the championships didn't follow. For instance,
                                  Deacon Jones not having a championship ring is a bigger injustice than
                                  Dan Marino not having one.

                                    Comment

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                                    • OldRamsfan
                                      Another blast of rams frist
                                      by OldRamsfan
                                      Rams Famous Firsts

                                      The long history of the Rams is rich with firsts. Among them are:

                                      * The first professional football team to move West of the Mississippi
                                      * The first NFL team in the post-WWII era to employ black players
                                      * The first to use an insignia or logo on the helmet
                                      * The first to play before one million spectators in a season
                                      * Participated in the first game to use sudden-death in overtime
                                      * The first to employ a full-time scouting staff
                                      * The first to employ a full-time special teams coach (Dick Vermeil - 1969)
                                      * The first to regularly televise away games
                                      * First team to have a player selected to 14 consecutive Pro-Bowl appearances (Merlin Olsen)
                                      * The first team to win seven consecutive division titles (1973-79)
                                      * The first team with more than six defeats to play in the Super Bowl (1979 record: 9-7)
                                      * The first NFL team to move back East
                                      * The first NFL team to loose all 8 divisional games one year, then win all 8 divisional games the next
                                      * The first franchise to win a NFL championship in 3 different cities (Cleveland 1945; Los Angeles 1951; St. Louis 1999)
                                      * The first NFL team to score at least 500 points in 3 consecutive seasons
                                      -06-30-2006, 08:29 AM
                                    • OldRamsfan
                                      Rams Famous First
                                      by OldRamsfan
                                      NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GIVE UP ! ! OUR TEAM HAS THE HISTORY TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN...WE FANS CAN MAKE A DIFFERNCE.

                                      Rams Famous Firsts

                                      The long history of the Rams is rich with firsts. Among them are:

                                      * The first professional football team to move West of the Mississippi
                                      * The first NFL team in the post-WWII era to employ black players
                                      * The first to use an insignia or logo on the helmet
                                      * The first to play before one million spectators in a season
                                      * Participated in the first game to use sudden-death in overtime
                                      * The first to employ a full-time scouting staff
                                      * The first to employ a full-time special teams coach (Dick Vermeil - 1969)
                                      * The first to regularly televise away games
                                      * First team to have a player selected to 14 consecutive Pro-Bowl appearances (Merlin Olsen)
                                      * The first team to win seven consecutive division titles (1973-79)
                                      * The first team with more than six defeats to play in the Super Bowl (1979 record: 9-7)
                                      * The first NFL team to move back East
                                      * The first NFL team to loose all 8 divisional games one year, then win all 8 divisional games the next
                                      * The first franchise to win a NFL championship in 3 different cities (Cleveland 1945; Los Angeles 1951; St. Louis 1999)
                                      * The first NFL team to score at least 500 points in 3 consecutive seasons
                                      -11-16-2005, 08:04 AM
                                    • schut39
                                      Rams Fun Facts
                                      by schut39
                                      The Rams Name
                                      The franchise was originated in Cleveland in 1936 as a member of the American Football League. In 1937 the team joined the NFL. Principal owner Homer Marshman and his general manager, Damon “Buzz” Wetzel picked the Rams name because Wetzel had said his favorite football team had always been the Fordham Rams and Marshman liked the sound of the name. The original uniform colors were red and black, also the colors of Fordham U.


                                      The Rams Horn
                                      Halfback Fred Gehrke, an art major in college, made a pen-and-ink sketch of a ram's horn in 1947 and showed the rendering to Bob Snyder, the team's head coach. Gehrke suggested the design would make an eye-catching addition to the team's helmets. Snyder could not visualize the artwork, so Gehrke painted the design on the leather headgear. The following season, the Rams became the first pro team with a helmet insignia. Today, the Cleveland Browns are the only NFL team without a helmet logo.


                                      Gehrke's effort required considerable maintenance. The paint would chip off the helmets from the numerous player collisions during games. Gehrke would take many helmets home after games and retouch the horn. The problem was lessened in 1949, when the Rams went to a plastic helmet, and disappeared in 1972, when decals with strong adhesive backing were used on the helmets.



                                      Rams Facts, Firsts, & Records
                                      • Original Franchise Location:
                                        The team was originally located in Cleveland, Ohio (1937-45).
                                      • First Draft Choice:
                                        Johnny Drake, B, Purdue, 1937.
                                      • First Regular-Season Game:
                                        A 28-0 loss to the Detroit Lions, 9/10/37.
                                      • First Regular-Season Win:
                                        A 21-3 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, 9/17/37.
                                      • Original Team Colors:
                                        Red and black
                                      • First Winning Season:
                                        1945 (9-1).
                                      • First Playoff Appearance:
                                        A 15-14 victory over the Washington Redskins in the 1945 NFL Championship game, 12/16/45.
                                      • First Super Bowl Appearance:
                                        A 31-19 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV, 1/20/80.
                                      • First Player Elected to the Hall of Fame:
                                        QB Bob Waterfield, 1965.

                                      • First All-League Selection:
                                        Johnny Drake, 1940.
                                      • First to Rush 200 Yards in a Game:
                                        Dan Towler, 205 yards vs. the Baltimore Colts, 11/22/53.
                                      • First to Gain 300 Yards Receiving in a Game:
                                        Jim Benton's 303 yards receiving vs. the Detroit Lions on 11/22/45, was a Rams and NFL first.
                                      • First 1,000-Yard Rusher:
                                        Dick Bass, 1,033 yards (1962).
                                      • Most Rushing Yards, Career:
                                        Eric Dickerson, 7,245 yards
                                      ...
                                      -09-03-2008, 12:29 PM
                                    • Nick
                                      ESPN: We just watched the greatest regular-season NFL game ever
                                      by Nick
                                      We just watched the greatest regular-season NFL game ever
                                      8:54 AM ET
                                      Bill Barnwell
                                      ESPN Staff Writer

                                      If you missed Monday night's Chiefs-Rams game, stop reading this and rectify that problem immediately. Do what you have to do. Call in sick to work. Sit in the back of class and watch it without even pretending to pay attention to what's going on up front. Buy a copy from your sketchy friend. This will still be here when you come back, and you're going to feel a lot happier having spent three hours in football ecstasy.

                                      It's going to take the rest of the season to break down what happened. It was the first game in league history in which both teams topped 50 points, and it was somehow decided in the end by punter Johnny Hekker, and Travis Kelce struggling to sustain a block on Samson Ebukam, who might have been the game's MVP. Both offenses came up with spectacular plays and left opportunities on the field. Both coaches were hitting on virtually every playcalling cylinder imaginable and still struggled with clock management late in the fourth quarter. It was a game that was somehow everything to everyone besides Todd Gurley fantasy owners.

                                      Was it the greatest regular-season game of all time?

                                      I'm not sure there's a concrete, quantitative way to answer that question. I can't imagine anyone watching the Rams' 54-51 win and thinking it wasn't fun, but I'm sure there are people out there who might prefer a defensive struggle in subzero temperatures. If your football pinnacle is the Seahawks-Vikings game from the 2015 playoffs, live your truth. It's not for me.

                                      In an attempt to answer this question, I've gone back through the history of regular-season contests since the merger to try to find other games that might compare to Monday night's instant classic. I'm sure a game might have slipped through the cracks, but I was looking for a few key criteria:
                                      • The game had to be high-scoring. Sorry, Seahawks-Vikings guy. I set my limits at a minimum of 35 points for each team. Anything less doesn't compare.
                                      • Both teams had to eventually make the playoffs. I don't want to jinx either team, but I feel pretty confident that the Chiefs and Rams are both going to advance to the postseason come January. I'll give extra credit to matchups in which we knew both teams were already great, either because they had an excellent record at the time of the game and/or had been to the playoffs the prior season.
                                      • There had to be at least one fourth-quarter lead change. I don't think you can be as excited about a game where one team gets up by multiple touchdowns and another team makes a late run before coming up narrowly short.
                                      • The final margin of victory has to be seven points or fewer. Ideally, the losing team needs to have a drive late in the fourth quarter with a chance of winning the game, or the game has to end in overtime.
                                      • No ties. I refuse.
                                      • The game can't involve replacement players
                                      ...
                                      -11-20-2018, 09:18 AM
                                    • Tony Soprano
                                      The Cold, Hard Truth
                                      by Tony Soprano
                                      .
                                      When you are 0-8, there's no honor in trying to go 4-12.

                                      The Most Important - by FAR - piece of any team is a QB. Some teams go a decade looking to get a Pro-Bowl QB. We had one - now his mechanics may be ruined, he may very well have concussion issues. In short we may have ruined our shot at a Top QB.

                                      Every draft has multiple good RB's. Hell, Denver finds Four 1,000 yard rushers in a five year stretch. When you don't have a dynamic passing threat, teams can shut down impressive running games. There's only so many ways to run the ball and they've been done since the 60's. The QB position is what teams must solve.

                                      It was short-sighted and Stupid, frankly, to put Bulger out there when we couldn't solve basic problems on the Off-line (some caused by injuries).

                                      We haven't had good Depth on the O-line and with the past years were we had Starting O-lineman go out for the year in the first game of the season, depth on the O-line should've been a Priority.

                                      I think many don't realize the damage caused to Bulger (and not just from this game) and the damage caused to the future hopes of this team. A major rebuilding project lies ahead.

                                      We've seen questionable decisions again and again from the Ram's organization. 2 QB's?
                                      Razor thin O-Line?
                                      -11-25-2007, 09:55 PM
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