The city of Los Angeles has had a lot to celebrate in the last three weeks after both the Lakers and Dodgers won championships. The Dodgers completed their title run on Tuesday night when they beat the Rays in Game 6 of the World Series, one night after the Rams crushed the Bears.
The next champion won’t be crowned until the Super Bowl in February, but the Rams would love to be the last team standing to finish off a remarkable three-peat in L.A.
Several players congratulated the Dodgers on their win and on Wednesday, Jared Goff was asked if the locker room has talked about being the next Los Angeles team to win a championship, aiming to make it three in one year.
“Absolutely. It’s something that’s really exciting for the city right now,” he said. “It’d be good to make that a little three-peat with us involved there. It’s definitely something that we’re conscious of, absolutely.”
Kyle Kuzma of the Lakers tweeted at the Rams after the Dodgers won the World Series, saying they’re up next.
.@RamsNFL ……… you know what to do!
— kuz (@kylekuzma) October 28, 2020
He’s not the only one feeling that way, either. Goff said he texted Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson to congratulate them on the win, and they replied by saying, “It’s your turn now.” The pressure is on the Rams to come through and finish the three-peat, and Goff knows they have the potential to win it all.
“Of course,” he said. “We’ve got all the pieces. We’re winning games. We are playing well, on offense, defense, special teams. We always believe in ourselves and we’ve been there once with a lot of the same people. We know how to get there. We’ve just got to finish it off and hopefully this is the year.”
Sean McVay may not feel the same way as Goff, though. He’s thrilled for the city of Los Angeles but he doesn’t get the sense that the pressure is now on the Rams. He just wants to continue on the path that the team is on and worry first about beating the Dolphins on Sunday rather than looking too far ahead.
“No, I think really amongst the team it’s, ‘Hey, let’s continue to produce and do our part to hold up our end of the bargain for the city.’ But nothing like that,” he said. “That pressure’s a good thing. I think all 32 teams want to be able to do what the Dodgers just did in their sport. So, we’re no different, but we’ve got to get to number six first.”
Although the Dodgers and Lakers have a decorated history of winning championships, this was the Dodgers’ first in 32 years. That’s not to say they haven’t had success in recent years, having made the World Series three times in the last four years, but they weren’t able to finish it off until this season.
McVay knows how saturated the L.A. market is and understands that in order to stay relevant, you have to succeed at a high level.
“I think just seeing that for the city and the success, I don’t know that you’re any more motivated to try to kind of be on par with those teams,” he said. “But you certainly want to make sure that you continue to compete and produce at a high level, because you’ve got to be great to be relevant here in this city.”
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