 "My First Ram Game--Such Stuff as Dreams
are Made On ...Game On"- By Rammed for Life(12/22) Part 3 of 4 |
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I won't go into the game
itself too much right now. By now, you all know what happened. But I will describe some
impressions. And, in case you were wondering about just how genuine our prevalence was ... We dominated the flaming game from start to finish! (Well, except for those 2 late, garbage, meaningless drives with which NY salved its wounded pride against our defensive second unit). On TV, I don't know if you can get a feel for how completely we dominated this "playoff caliber" team. You all know the WRs dropped passes and fumbled. Let me tell you the other side of that coin. They just flew all over the field, wide open. Warner stood back there with unspeakable calm and just threw darts. He missed 2-3 passes and threw that one bad ball that should have been picked. Other then that, he is simply a mechanic (the term is meant in the best possible sense of the word.) On 96% of the plays he has open, available options and on 90% of them, he hits the mark. I was really impressed by his accuracy. But then, Collins threw some very accurate balls, too, and to some good receivers. But the difference is the way we scatter NUMBERS of incredibly quick receivers all over the field. I mean, this is not exactly breaking news here. But when you are there to see it happen, you just shake your head. So much speed, so much quickness. A defense honestly does not have a chance. Then there are the lines. A couple of weeks ago, I watched KC and the Vikes slug it out, and I wondered if we were up to such a game. Well, the Giants came in with this big, bad D front, and I was wondering all day, was all that just hype? We whipped them. 80% of the time, KW had all day to throw, and when they did get a bit of pressure, he would step around blocks from OLmen who would never give up. Throughout the first half, we moved the ball effortlessly. In the 2nd half, three lightning TDs robbed the O of chances to do its thing. Never in the game did I get the sense that NY was challenging what we did in any serious way. KW threw for over 300 yards and we had like 412 yards of total O. This was all true DESPITE the fact that WRs dropped 5-6 balls, some of which would have been TDs, that Marshall lost his balance and stepped out of bounds on a sure TD run up the sideline, that referees penalized the hell out of us, often on complete nonsense, and that the O only ran 2 drives in the second half in which they were honestly attempting to move the ball and score. Folks, had the Warner Brothers had their stick-um on right and the referees left their flags in their pockets and the D not scored its own TD, we could literally have scored 50+ points and gained 600-700 yards! As for the D--well, let me say this: I LOVE GRANT WISTROM! And that is a way of saying I love the whole D front. Carter had a big stop on 3 and 1 in the first drive. Reserve DLmen played well. They broke about 3 runs off counter action when we stunted away--the usual thing. And those 3 runs added up to about 25 yards. Other than that--we stuffed their running game. The secondary did what it generally does. It contained their dangerous WRs and made some big plays. The Giant O did absolutely NOTHING in the first half, and completed a couple of passes in the second. That was it. Half its yardage came in garbage time. What can you say? This is the best team in the league. I have not really seen Jax or Indy, but I simply cannot imagine a better team out there. The astonishing, terrifying offensive firepower, the play-making D (7 defensive TDs by 5 different players!), the toughness and physical strength in both lines--this is one of the best NFL teams I have ever seen. And in our own house ... ? At half-time, however, the score was only 10-0. We had blown opportunities. I said to Chris, "This is how upsets happen." The Giants came out after the half and moved to the 2 ... During this time, I kept thinking, "Aw, in a minute, we'll make a couple of plays and break it open." Then I would think, "That's exactly how upsets happen--the good team keeps waiting to make plays and never does ..." And that worry was and is rational. I have been saying all year that champion teams have to learn to play without the penalties, the dropped balls ... Yet, in all honesty, I could not get all that worked up with worry. "Aw, in a minute, we'll make a couple of plays and break it open," I would think again. And, presently, Devin, Az, and Mike came through and proved me right. Not even the refs could ruin it for me. I was irritated with them, of course, but when I would try to think of Pace's loss costing us the game, I just couldn't do it. We weren't going to be stopped by a few yellow flags. Forget it. Folks, the Giants were never in it. We beat them by 21 and it was not anywhere near that close. If we played them again, I would expect to beat them worse. A word about the noise in the dome. First, you cannot ask much more from the fans. They ROARED when the Giant O came to the line of scrimmage. On 3rd downs, they screamed. Yet the effect was muted. Why? >From where Chris and I sat in the nosebleed section, we could all but reach out and touch the reasons. When Hack had first led us down by the field, he had pointed up at an array of curious, bowed panels of some unknown substance up in the Dome's ceiling. "They put those baffles up to dampen the noise," Hack said. "I know some metal workers that worked on them." He was right. The dome's ceiling dampens the noise. I have proof. At half time, a Southern Illinois H S marching band played for the crowd. This was a large and very skilled band. Yet, from where we sat, at the TOP of the stadium, we had a terrible time hearing the band. The horns were almost inaudible. The crowd was quiet, resting, busy with its half time chores. Yet we simply could not hear the band. This should not be! I have heard smaller college bands in the Metrodome fill that place with sound. Apparently, the powers that be among Ram ownership wanted to provide a quieter, less raucous atmosphere for the Ram games. So, they purposefully dampened the noise levels and reduced the effect that the home crowd could have on the opposition. As long as those baffles are there, you won't see opposition Os breaking down because they cannot hear. Yet, having said all that, the noise WAS loud. When I say the effect was muted, I don't mean to suggest that the noise wasn't a howling wind. It was. More importantly, it filled that stadium with enormous energy. Opposition teams know the fans are there, in force. And so do the Rams! Every time a big defensive play came up, you could see the Ram defenders waving to the crowd, pumping up the volume, but more importantly, feeding off the crowd's energy. In the end, I think that effect is more important than the other O jumping off sides a couple of times. The team has really bonded with its fans. You can tell they feed off of every minute of the showering adoration. And that bond was probably the thing that gave me the biggest thrill of all. The dome was bathed in Ram blue. Probably 75% of the crowd was wearing Ram gear of some kind. Banners and signs hung everywhere. My favorite was a simple message: "Jacksonville--keep our expansion team!" I just absolutely love the spirit of that, a kind of healing in which all the disruptive political maneuvering of the past is healed and forgotten. Billy Bidwell took the Cards, then the NFL finessed away the expansion team, and St. Louis finally paid through the nose to get the losingest franchise of the nine ... Well, not any more. St. Louis is now the proud possessor of the finest team in the league. Most citizens, I think, are still a little stunned by it all. As Chris and I left the building, and young man in his late 20s wearing an elegant, long leather coat, exclaimed, "12-2! Jeepers Creepers, can you believe this?" [Remarks altered to maintain our PG rating.] He struck me as an ordinary St. Louis citizen, nowhere near a die hard, wondering whether this team really was that good, whether he was in the end willing to invest himself in the team. We die hards sometimes have a tendency to dismiss such people. Well, we have some good reasons for that. But in St. Louis' case, we need to cut these people some slack. Vermeil has been right on all year in his remarks about the way this magical season is forging bonds between team and fans. St. Louis has gone more than 40 years without knowing what a football winner is like. It has gained and lost teams, having watching Billy Boy rip its Cardinal heart out. Now the Rams roll into town demanding premium prices and offering cut-rate, pathetic football. Sure, there has been some skepticism and some reluctance to fully invest. Folks--ain't no reason to hold back any more! This is YOUR team, and it is a truly great one. Go ahead--invest your heart. These players are tremendously gifted and they lay their hearts on the line each week. They are championship caliber--they have even convinced James JM to be confident!--and they will NOT let you down. Of course, there is no such thing as a guarantee. If you invest yourself in this team, your heart may indeed break. Those of us with 30+ years of emotional scars will tell you that. Something might happen ... But it will be worth it. Ask anyone of us. Ask Ram Fan, or GRITS, or Ram 23, or James JM, Ram Ble, or Jack YBlood, or Ram 66 or Niner Hater, or Zooey, or san fRAM, or Zack, or me. Those of us who lived through that Super Bowl, when Lambert picked off Ferragamo and Bradshaw and Stallworth broke our heart. Ask us if it was worth it! Such highs and such crushing belly flops. Has it been worth it? Hell, yes! Outside the Ram family, nobody remembers how good those teams were. But we do we remember Roman Gabriel standing there like an oak tree, completing passes with defenders hanging off of every limb. We remember the Deacon terrorizing QBs and chasing down sweeps from behind. We remember Tom Mack standing rock still on the goal line and being victimized by yet another gawdawful referee's flag. We remember the world's greatest defense holding Seattle to negative yardage for an entire game. We remember Jack Youngblood playing the Super Bowl on a broken leg. We don't have the rings. But our pride is intact. And we know it has been worth every moment. I'd do it again in a moment. Even if a seer could SHOW me that we would blow it again this year, and next ... I'd still howl about the greatness of this team. Well, eventually, as good things do, the clock ticked away and Chris and I filed out of the building surrounded by happy folks in blue. We hooked up with Old Hacker and ScRam again and went over to drink champagne with Howard. Chris picked up a few more autographs, and first ScRam, then Old Hack took their leave. Guys, it was such an honor to meet you and cement that bond of brother hood that makes this board so special. Thanks so much for thinking of us and bringing the cereal and the coveted Herd Tee shirt. Chris and I were deeply touched. As the early evening dusk began to fall, Chris and I wandered back to our rooms. I was incredibly tired. We had been on our feet some in the morning, but had done a lot of sitting, too. Yet I felt exhausted. The draining away of all the emotion of that glorious day was leaving me feeling my age. We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and went back to the room. Chris turned on the Buffalo/Cardinal game, and fell asleep by 8:15; he never did undress or even climb into the bed. I turned off the TV and unwound in the darkness for about an hour. I was asleep by 9:30. |
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