PHILADELPHIA — It was a chilly strategy to finish a season.
The Rams got here to Lincoln Monetary Area with a chance to win an NFC divisional-round recreation and host the NFC championship.
The Philadelphia Eagles have been having none of it.
On a snowy and windy day, Eagles working again Saquon Barkley as soon as once more dominated the Rams, who couldn’t overcome two late fumbles in a 28-22 defeat.
The Eagles will play the Washington Commanders within the NFC championship recreation subsequent Sunday at Lincoln Monetary Area.
“I’m happy to be a part of this team and proud of this group, coach Sean McVay said. “And I’m really bummed out that this journey is over.”
As they did in 2021, after they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the lower-seeded San Francisco 49ers defeated the top-seeded Inexperienced Bay Packers within the divisional-round video games, the Rams would have hosted the Commanders with an opportunity to advance to Tremendous Bowl LIX in New Orleans.
“You don’t minimize how difficult it is to put yourself in positions where you’re on the precipice of hosting an NFC championship,” McVay mentioned. “I think we all wanted that a lot, and it didn’t go down for us today.”
Barkley performed an enormous position, scoring on runs of 62 yards within the first quarter and 78 within the fourth quarter. He completed with 205 yards speeding in 26 carries.
The Rams had seen that act earlier than.
On Nov. 24, Barkley rushed for 255 yards and scored on runs of 70 and 72 yards in a 37-20 victory over the Rams at SoFi Stadium.
“Whenever he gets up to the second and third level [of the defense], that’s really when he becomes really dangerous,” sort out Kobie Turner mentioned.
The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts breaks a sort out by the Rams’ Neville Gallimore on his strategy to a 44-yard landing run.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
This time Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts additionally scored on a future, and the Rams misplaced two fumbles within the second half. Hurts accomplished 15 of 20 passes for 120 yards and in addition rushed for 70 yards.
“I was really proud of this group, really all season and the way that we battled,” mentioned quarterback Matthew Stafford, who performed by a rib damage and handed for 324 yards and two touchdowns, however misplaced a fumble. “It wasn’t perfect by any means, but this group really stuck together. … It’s disappointing to end it this way but proud of the way we battled.”
Three years in the past, Stafford wanted solely 42 seconds to engineer a game-winning drive to defeat Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in a divisional-round recreation at Tampa.
He engineered one late scoring drive Sunday, however his fourth-down cross on the 26-yard line within the last minute fell incomplete.
“I didn’t see it going any other way than us winning that game 29-28,” McVay mentioned. “Just had a couple things that we couldn’t overcome.”
Stafford agreed.
“Felt like as an offense we had them on the ropes, and I bet they probably felt it too,” he mentioned. “We were moving the rock really well the last two drives and just a couple unforced errors here and there.”
Stafford accomplished 26 of 44 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
The Rams contained Barkley at occasions they usually adopted up their nine-sack efficiency in opposition to the Minnesota Vikings with seven in opposition to the Eagles.
Rookie edge rusher Jared Verse, who riled the Eagles’ rabid fan base final week by saying he hated Eagles followers and located them annoying, had two sacks.
Verse mentioned he thrived on the hostile atmosphere — “It doesn’t faze me, it hypes me up more,” he mentioned — however lamented the defeat.
The Eagles’ Jalen Carter makes a key sack of quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) on the next-to-last Rams play of the sport.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
“I could have been better,” Verse mentioned. “There’s more I could have done.”
The Rams trailed, 28-15, late within the recreation after Barkley broke free for his 78-yard landing.
Stafford engineered a drive that he capped with a landing cross to tight finish Colby Parkinson with 2:48 left.
The Rams acquired the ball again with 2:23 left and have been driving once more, however got here up brief.
The defeat ended a season through which the Rams have been compelled to climate quite a few accidents throughout coaching camp and the primary few video games en path to a 1-4 begin that put them getting ready to playoff oblivion.
However by Week 9 they have been 4–4. The November loss to the Eagles dropped the Rams to 5-6.
A number of days later, McVay addressed his gamers and wrote on a whiteboard the quantity 39, the variety of days left within the common season. He challenged them to decide to getting essentially the most out of every one.
The Rams gained 5 video games in a row earlier than and clinched the NFC West by energy of victory earlier than McVay rested starters within the season finale in opposition to the Seattle Seahawks.
Due to security considerations attributable to the wildfires in Southern California, the NFL moved the Rams wild-card recreation in opposition to the Vikings to State Farm Stadium in Arizona. With McVay and his gamers saying they have been “Built for This,” the Rams gained and set the stage for the divisional-round rematch in opposition to the Eagles.
“Love this team,” McVay mentioned. “It’s just hard because you didn’t want it to end.”
