The NFL recognizes only “home” and “away” designations for teams each game. But this Week 5 in Los Angeles, the Cowboys could unofficially be considered the “home-away-from-home” team in their battle with the Rams.
America’s Team always travels well, drawing a healthy contingent of fans wherever they play their road matchups, but this Sunday the home squad is preparing for SoFi Stadium to be taken over by fans wearing the opposing silver and blue.
Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence is used to it by now.
“When the Cowboys make a big play, you can see the momentum shift inside the stadium,” he said on 105.3 The Fan this week. “You can hear our crowd, see our fans. It’s a beautiful thing to see the Dallas fans wherever we go.”
Maybe not so beautiful, though, for the hosts and defending Super Bowl champs.
Rams coach Sean McVay told reporters this week that the team has been pumping in extra noise during their practices to get ready for Cowboys Nation’s significant presence. He even allowed that there may be times when quarterback Matthew Stafford will have to shift to a silent count to counter their volume with the home team’s offense on the field.
Sean McVay says that they are anticipating, preparing, that there's the possibility they'll need to go to a silent count against the Cowboys on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
— Lindsey Thiry (@LindseyThiry) October 7, 2022
The Rams had to use a silent count multiple times in their own building in Week 1 versus Buffalo, as the Bills Mafia also managed to turn SoFi Stadium into a quasi-home game. Said Stafford after that meeting, “It wasn’t something that we haven’t done before.”
Except it’s actually been an ongoing issue for both Los Angeles teams.
Before the NFC conference championship in January, the Rams had to publicly ask fans not to sell their tickets, for fear of 49ers supporters making the trip from San Francisco and taking away home-field advantage. Nevertheless, McVay later said the Rams were “caught off guard” by the opposing fanbase’s attendance.
In addition to having an often-disproportionately large number of followers everywhere, the Cowboys have an extra-loyal presence in the L.A. area thanks to their longstanding summer residency in Oxnard dating back as far as 2001 and in Thousand Oaks from 1963 to 1989. Many Southern California fans also adopted the Cowboys during the years when Los Angeles didn’t have a professional team.
The result? A road trip that always feels a lot like coming home for those wearing the star.
“Cowboys Nation most definitely showed,” receiver CeeDee Lamb told reporters this week as he remembered a visit in Week 2 of 2021. “They show up in L.A. Last year when we played the Chargers, it was kind of the same scenario: definitely felt like a home game in L.A.”
The Cowboys beat the Chargers that day by a 20-17 score. They topped the Chargers there again back in August during a preseason match, 32-18. The only time they’ve played the Rams in SoFi was the first game ever played in the stadium, an eerie season opener that Dallas lost by just three points to the home team in an empty building due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There will most definitely be fans this time around.
Only there may be more rooting for the visiting Cowboys than their hosts.
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