Tag: rams steelers

40 years ago, Rams played in their first Super Bowl

The Rams played in Super Bowl XIV 40 years ago today, but lost to the Steelers.

Between their time in Los Angeles and St. Louis, the Rams have reached the Super Bowl four times. Of course, their most recent appearance came just last year in Super Bowl LIII, a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots.

Two of their other Super Bowl appearances were during the Greatest Show on Turf era with Kurt Warner at quarterback and Marshall Faulk leading the way in the backfield. But the Rams reached their first Super Bowl 40 years ago today, where they would face the Steelers.

It was Super Bowl XIV on January 20, 1980, a game which they lost 31-19 at the Rose Bowl. Vince Ferragamo was the quarterback in the Super Bowl after taking over for Pat Haden late in the year, with Wendell Tyler as the top running back and Preston Dennard leading the receiving corps that season. The Rams’ defense, led by Jim Youngblood, Jack Reynolds and Nolan Cromwell, finishing the year seventh in yards allowed and 11th in points.

The defense forced three turnovers against the Steelers that day in the Super Bowl, but Terry Bradshaw’s 309 yards on only 21 attempts and Franco Harris’ two scores were too much for the Rams to overcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OSX3Y-EObk

You could argue the Rams overachieved that year, going just 9-7 in the regular season but still winning the NFC West. They’d come back and go 11-5 in 1980, but finished second in the division and were bounced in the wild-card round of the playoffs.

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Jalen Ramsey criticizes officiating after Rams loss to Steelers

Jalen Ramsey voiced his opinion on the officiating after the Rams’ loss.

There’s been a lot of talk about the officiating in the NFL this season, from the controversial pass interference rule change to players being unnecessarily flagged for roughing the passer on plays that look like ordinary tackling. Clay Matthews took issue with it last month when he criticized the officials in the Lions-Packers game from Week 6, and he was subsequently fined $12,500 for it.

Jalen Ramsey voiced his opinion of how Sunday’s Rams-Steelers matchup was called after the game, saying he was “kind of frustrated” with how closely it was officiated. Ramsey was called for two pass interference penalties, but only one of them seemed to warrant a flag.

The biggest issue Ramsey had was with JuJu Smith-Schuster pushing off at the top of his routes without being called for offensive pass interference.

“I’m kind of frustrated a little bit with the (officiating). I’ll probably get fined for this but it’s all right. I was kind of upset with the officiating a little bit, just because he was pushing off quite a bit – especially on his first pass he caught on me, he pushed off with two hands. I thought that was clear as day. It didn’t get called, I kept playing and remained playing,” Ramsey told reporters in the locker room.

As for the pass interference penalties called on him, he only agreed with one of them. He said the first one was just incidental contact after their feet got tangled. The second pass interference call, Ramsey admitted was fair.

“Then they called a PI on me when it was for the most part incidental. They called a PI when we tripped over each other’s foot. That usually doesn’t get called,” Ramsey said. “And then they called a PI when I tugged him once. That was a tug, for sure. I can’t argue that, that was a tug. But I was kind of disappointed in some of the non-calls. He pushed off quite a bit, but it’s OK. That’s just the type of game we had. I thought they were going to let us play, that’s really why I tugged him on that one.”

This was Ramsey’s first loss as a member of the Rams, but he and the rest of the team will have a chance to bounce back next week against the Bears at home.

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