The Rams Win Super Bowl LVI
Matt Stafford and Aaron Donald lead the Rams to victory in Super Bowl LVI.
The dust has begun to settle and the Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl champions for the first time since 1999 when Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf beat the Titans. Now, Matt Stafford and Aaron Donald have solidified their legacies with a win in the big game.
My bet of Odell Beckham Jr. anytime touchdown hit early on in the first quarter when he ran a fade route up the sideline and reeled in a seventeen yard score. This also worked towards my Matt Stafford over 23.5 completions bet.
On the first drive of the game before the Odell score on the Rams second drive, the Bengals defense was getting after it. Logan Wilson and Trey Hendrickson were getting things going for Cincinnati as Hendrickson tallied a sack and Wilson made a tackle for loss.
What was unfortunate to see was Odell go down late in the second quarter with a non contact knee injury. The Rams do fear that he tore his ACL.
After the Odell touchdown in the first quarter, the Bengals rolled Evan KickPherson out to make the score 7-3. In the second, the Rams answered the KickPherson field goal with an 11 yard Matt Stafford strike to Cooper Kupp, but a botched hold by Johnny Hekker left the score at 13-3.
That botched hold was like the first play safety in the Broncos vs Seahawks Super Bowl as it destroyed every Super Bowl square pool imaginable.
Cincinnati answered right back as they drove down and on the six yard line they went deep in to their bag of tricks. Burrow tossed the ball to Joe Mixon on a sweep and after a few steps to the outside, he pulled the ball back and lobbed a 6 yard score to Tee Higgins. After a KickPherson extra point, the score was 13-10.
The first half ended and out came Dr. Dre and Snoop D-O-double G for in my opinion, an underwhelming half time show. I enjoyed the performances from Dre, Snoop, and Eminem, but could have done without 50 Cent, Mary J Blige, and Kendrick.
I was frustrated that Eminem only did one song and it was Lose Yourself. He did the same amount of songs as 50 Cent who wasn’t even promoted on the half time show graphics. I would have been happy if they just went with the trio of Snoop, Dre, and Eminem and you have them each do three or four songs instead of one from 50 Cent, one from Eminem, one from Kendrick, and one from Mary J Blige.
Lots of people are billing this the greatest halftime show ever and I have to disagree. In my opinion, the two best are 2016s with Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and Beyonce and then in 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
The second half opened up with a blown call by the officiating crew as Bengals wideout Tee Higgins face masked Jalen Ramsey and burnt him for a 75 yard score. This put the Bengals up 17-10.
The next drive, Matt Stafford threw a slant to rookie pass catcher Ben Skowronek which was tipped and fell into the arms of Bengals corner Chidobe Awuzie.
Cincinnati was able to get a KickPherson field goal out of the Awuzie interception to push their lead to 20-13. The Rams got the ball back and on a third and short in field goal range, attempted to one up the Bengals trickery. Stafford handed the ball off to Cam Akers who pitched the ball to Cooper Kupp who then over threw Matt Stafford who was wide open on the sideline.
After this miss on third and short, the Rams knocked down a field goal to make the score 20-16 going into the fourth.
In the fourth, following a Von Miller sack, Joe Burrow grabbed for his knee and hobbled off. After the game he stated that he refused medical attention because he didn’t want to leave the Super Bowl. Gritty.
The Rams got the ball late in the fourth and drove down to the red zone, then the refs interjected themselves in the game. On third down, Stafford threw an in route to Cooper Kupp when Logan Wilson made perfectly LEGAL contact with Kupp and was flagged for pass interference.
It was truly a blasphemous call at that point in the game.
Then, Stafford threw to Kupp again for a touchdown. This time it was called back as there were offsetting penalties on the play. Two plays later, Stafford and Kupp reconnected for what would be the game winning score.
Cincinnati got the ball back with limited time down 23-20 and were trying to run the two minute drill to get KickPherson in range, but on fourth down, Bengals guard Quinton Spain got beat by Aaron Donald. Donald tore Burrow to the ground and while Burrow was spinning to the turf he tossed the ball in Samaje Perines direction and it hit the turf.
Heartbreak in Cincinnati, jubilation in Los Angeles.
Cooper Kupp was named Super Bowl MVP after he reeled in 8 passes for 92 yards and 2 touchdowns while rushing for 7 yards on one crucial carry. Matt Stafford and Aaron Donald solidified their legacies and Andrew Whitworth went out on a high note against his former team.