This needs to be said first today……in 2017, when the Rams hired Sean McVay as coach at age 30, the Rams had missed the playoffs 13 years in a row. Now they’ve made it to the playoffs six times in eight years, won two NFC titles and a Super Bowl.
McVay is well on his way to getting a gold jacket in Canton.
— Rams 27, Vikings 9
Rams sacked Sam Darnold nine times, scored a defensive TD.
LA’s first two drives: 15 plays, 132 yards, 10 points.
In regular season, Rams were outscored 92-30 in first quarter.
Rams advance to to play the Eagles in Philadelphia Sunday.
— Rutgers 75, UCLA 68
UCLA has lost four in a row, after an 11-2 start.
Rutgers was 21-32 on foul line, Bruins 12-15.
Scarlet Knights shot 56.2% inside the arc.
Just second win in last six games for Rutgers.
— Maryland 77, Minnesota 71
Gophers led by 7 early in the second half.
Maryland shot 55.6% inside the arc.
Home team is 6-0 in Maryland’s conference games.
Minnesota drops to 0-6 in the Big 18.
— Wofford 81, Furman 62
7-point underdog Terriers led by 40-20 at halftime.
Wofford was 13-32 on the arc, Paladins were 8-34.
Wofford had 20 offensive rebounds, out-rebounded Furman 52-35
— Elon 81, Campbell 68
Elon improves to 12-5, 3-1 in the CAA.
Elon shot 63.3% inside the arc.
Elon has #23 eFG% defense in country.
— Notre Dame 78, Boston College 60
Notre Dame led by 2 with 10:00 left in the game.
Notre Dame was 23-27 on foul line, Eagles were 6-6.
Boston College slips to 1-5 in ACC games.
— Famous birthdays, January 14:
Faye Dunaway, 84
Swen Nater, 75
Ron Behagan, 74
LL Cool J, 57 (real name James Todd Smith)
Jason Bateman, 56
Byron Leftwich, 45
Aaron Brooks, 40
D’Andre Swift, 26
— NFL Hall of Famer Ed Reed is going to be offensive coordinator next fall at Chamblee HS in Georgia. Lot of former players have turned to high school/small college coaching.
— The last running back to win a rushing title and a Super Bowl in the same season?
Denver’s Terrell Davis, in 1998.
— Mike McCarthy is apparently out after coaching the Dallas Cowboys for five years, going 49-35 in regular season, 1-3 in playoff games. Where Dallas goes from here for a coach will be very interesting to watch.
— Michael Cooper spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers as a defense-minded guard who helped the Showtime Lakers win five NBA titles. Cooper played in 76+ games in 10 of his 12 NBA seasons.
Monday night, the Lakers retired Cooper’s #21, putting it in the rafters between #32 of Magic Johnson and James Worthy’s #42.
— Seattle Mariners signed IF Donovan Solano for one year, $3.5M; Solano can earn an additional $1M in performance bonuses for plate appearances: $200,000 each for 300, 350, 400, 450 and 500.
Solano has played for six teams in his 11-year career; last year, he hit .286 in 96 games for Seattle, with an OPS of .760. He plays all over the infield, which makes him more marketable in today’s baseball.
— Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki, who is expected to be a big star, has narrowed his field of potential suitors down to three teams: Dodgers, Padres, Blue Jays.
The window for signing international players opens Wednesday and stays open for 8 days.
— On my flight home from Las Vegas 10 days ago, was thinking again how amazing it is to me how something as big as an airplane lands so easily on the airport runway. I get queasy more than landings than take-offs, but there isn’t any reason to, other than me thinking too much.