Top Los Angeles Rams Plays Of 2019

Los Angeles Rams Vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Photo Credit: Ryan Dyrud | The LAFB Network
Los Angeles Rams Vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Photo Credit: Ryan Dyrud | The LAFB Network

Top Los Angeles Rams Plays Of 2019

This Los Angeles Rams season was like a tin of those Danish butter cookies. The ones that are a bunch of different shapes and come in stacks of three in those paper doily cups. They are kinda good, but after a few they are awful. Then you eat more and you think, “Oh, these aren’t too bad.” So you eat like 25 more and make yourself sick. 

You go through the same thing week after week, trying to decide if they are good or trash. You’ve eaten 100 and low and behold you still haven’t eaten half the tin. So you stick the tin in a dark corner of the pantry hoping to forget about them because you can’t bear to throw them out. 

Yes, the Rams season was just like that. After winning three straight, they lost three straight. They beat up on some would-be playoff teams, but they also lost to the Buccaneers and some guy named Mason Rudolph. One week they blow out the Seahawks, the next week they crap the bed against the Cowboys. But as the old adage says, there is always next year. There’s so much offseason still to come. 

But before we look ahead to next season, reach to the back of the pantry and pull out that tin of 2019 Rams cookies. Maybe it’s because you haven’t had any Rams for two weeks or maybe because you discovered that the cookies are actually very good when paired with bourbon. Maybe they weren’t so bad after all. Nine and seven is a winning record and Jared Goff threw a lot of yards and hey, at least we aren’t the Redskins!  

Whatever the reason, let’s celebrate the good ones with the Top Plays of 2019.

Cooper Kupp’s 66-Yard Reception Against The Saints

This game was huge for one reason. New Orleans really wanted revenge for the missed pass interference call in the 2018 NFC championship game. They didn’t get it. The Rams delivered a 27-9 beat down. 

In the fourth quarter, the Rams faced a third and two on their own 33.  Kupp caught a seven-yard pass over the middle from Jared Goff. He took it to the one-yard line setting up a touchdown to go up by 18 with 8:37 left in the game. This touchdown put a nail in the Saints’ coffin, squashing the revenge match up. 

For Kupp, this proved he was back to elite form after undergoing ACL surgery last season. He tacked on 50 yards after contact and evaded four more Saints defenders on his way to the one yard line. Furthermore, his fellow receivers, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, were out front blocking his way down field. A great individual effort is one thing, but that kind of team effort is what every fan wants to see. 

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Double Reverse Flea Flicker 

This is another pass from Jared Goff to Cooper Kupp, but that’s about the only thing it has in common with the previous play. This game was against the 0-8 Bengals and the game was played in London. Apparently, Sean McVay wanted to show the Brits just how dynamic American football can be by calling a double reverse flea flicker. 

With 4:10 left in the first half, the Bengals and Rams were tied at 10. Goff took the snap from under center and handed it off to Kupp. Kupp flipped it back to the streaking Brandin Cooks, who then flipped it back to Jared Goff. By this time, Kupp has made his way 15 yards down the sideline where Goff found him wide open. Because B.W. Webb lost his footing on his way to tackling Kupp, Kupp had a free lane to the end zone. He was able to dive past defenders quickly closing in and put a cherry on that play and go up by 7. 

This is not just a fun play. It is the kind of play that Rams fans have come to expect from Sean McVay. This type of bold play calling only serves to elevate the great talent the Rams have on the field.

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John Jonhson’s Interception Against The Browns 

Big plays are good and all, but what’s a big play worth if you lose the game. This is a big play simply because it sealed the victory for the Rams. 

The Rams were up seven points in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter. With 2:46 left on the clock, Baker Mayfield would have time to make one last drive to try to tie the game. Baker completed two passes and Aaron Donald was flagged for roughing the passer that put the Browns on the four-yard line with 43 seconds left.

After three incomplete passes, it was fourth and goal with 33 seconds left. As they say, it all came down to this. Baker took the snap in the shotgun and was immediately under pressure from Dante Fowler and Clay Matthews. He retreated and heaved a pass into the end zone intended for Damion Ratley. Johnson dove in front of the pass and came up with an interception in the end zone. 

In the NFL every win matters. In fact, the Rams were only one game behind the Vikings for the final wild-card spot. This play shows (the whole last set of downs, in fact) a team effort to step up and win when their backs were to the wall. Matthews and Fowler forced Mayfield into throwing a bad pass that allowed Johnson the opportunity to snag the ball.

Todd Gurley Stiff Arm’s His Way To The End Zone Against Seattle 

For whatever reason, the Rams didn’t use Todd Gurley like they did in years past. Most likely, the reason was lingering issues from a knee injury in 2018. Of course, this decline in usage hurt the team’s offensive potency and certainly didn’t help their chances of making the playoffs. Any time there is an injury to a star player there is the negative effect on the team, but there is also a resignation that football fans won’t be able to see the greatness of that player much longer. 

This play gives us hope that Todd Gurley might have some greatness left in the tank. 

And what better stage to shine on than against a divisional rival on Sunday Night Football. The Rams lost the previous meeting against the Seahawks on a missed field goal in the last seconds of the game. The outcome of the second game would be much different, the Rams blew them out, 28-12. This was one of three games that Gurley had more than 20 rushing attempts. They won all three of those games. 

The drive that set up Gurley’s touchdown started at the Rams five-yard line. Goff threw for 52 yards and Josh Reynolds ran for 29 yards on two attempts. Reynolds’ second run set the Rams up at the seven-yard line. On the first play of the new set of downs, Goff handed the ball off to Todd Gurley, sweeping left. Gurley had the corner, except for Tre Flowers. Flowers came in high for the tackle. Gurley planted his right hand firmly into Flower’s chinstrap and pushed him back like a tackling dummy. This sent Flowers to the ground and Gurley trotted into the end zone.  

This play reminds all Rams fans of just how dominant and down right fun it is to watch this guy run the ball.

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