PHILADELPHIA — Jared Verse was the speak of the city earlier than Sunday’s NFC divisional-round recreation between the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.
After the Rams rookie edge rusher instructed The Instances final week that he hated Eagles followers and located them annoying, he turned the goal of heated fan dialogue on native sports activities radio. A billboard even featured his quote.
Verse, nevertheless, embraced the position of the villain and had two of the Rams’ seven sacks in a 28-22 defeat at Lincoln Monetary Subject.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to shy away or get nervous’ or anything like that,” Verse mentioned. “Nah, that turns me up. That hypes me up.”
About 90 minutes earlier than kickoff on a chilly day that will later characteristic snow, Verse slowly toured the whole perimeter of the sector in a sleeveless black shirt, grey sweat pants and a blue beanie.
As he left the sector with teammate Byron Younger, he put his hand to his ear, inviting followers to extend the amount of their feedback. When the Rams emerged from their locker room in uniform for pregame warmups, Verse was the final participant out of the tunnel.
After the Eagles’ first possession, which ended with an extended landing run by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the stadium video board featured a shot of Verse, who was loudly booed.
When Verse sacked Hurts within the second quarter, he lifted his arms, skipped off the sector and jawed with followers behind the Rams bench.
Verse, a front-runner for NFL defensive rookie of the 12 months, mentioned he thought he performed properly however might have finished extra for a Rams protection that allowed Saquon Barkley to hurry for 205 yards and two lengthy touchdowns.
“I could have been better,” Verse mentioned. “There’s more I could have done.”
As with coach Sean McVay and teammates, Verse lamented the best way the season ended.
“It sucks how much adversity we had to overcome,” he mentioned, “and in these final moments we weren’t able to overcome any more.”
Verse, the No. 19 decide within the draft, mentioned he realized lots throughout his rookie season.
“There’s like some dawgs out there,” he mentioned, “You’re going to play every team that somebody is going to really test you.”
Verse mentioned he would use what occurred Sunday as motivation going into the offseason.
“Never want to feel like this again,” he mentioned. “I don’t want my teammates to feel like this again.
“I don’t want to look in their eyes and see anything but pure bliss and pure happiness. And I’m going to do everything in my power to makes sure that doesn’t happen again.”
