Heat on as Rams prepare for Los Angeles bow
The Los Angeles Rams face a daunting opening night against the Seattle Seahawks here Sunday as the glitz and glamour of the National Football League returns to Tinseltown after a two-decade absence.
Twenty-two years after the franchise upped sticks and relocated to St. Louis, the Rams will play their first home game of the 2016-2017 regular season at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
A record crowd of nearly 90,000 crammed the historic venue when the Rams played the Dallas Cowboys in a pre-season game last month, and another bumper attendance is forecast for Sunday.
It will be the latest milestone in a homecoming that was only confirmed in January, when NFL owners voted 30-2 to approve the Rams' return to the second largest media market in the United States.
The Rams will eventually move into a gleaming 70,000-seat arena being built in Inglewood which is on course to be the most expensive sports stadium ever built, with some estimates putting the price tag at nearly $3 billion.
But the mood of euphoria has already been given a sharp reality check after a humiliating 28-0 season-opening loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Santa Clara on Monday night.
That shutout, against a side not especially noted for possessing a fearsome defense, served as a sobering reminder that the team that labored to an 8-8 record last season remains a work in progress.
- '22 years for this?' -
"We waited 22 years for this?" was the withering verdict of Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke. "As premieres go, it was a face plant into the red carpet."
The pithy post-mortems also underscored the wider imperative facing Rams' head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead. The entertainment capital of the world will only put up with a team that fails to capture the imagination for so long.
"LA is a city where they want winners. You have to win in that city," said Eric Dickerson, the legendary Rams running back from 1983-1987.
"It's all about winning in Los Angeles, because we don't have those kind of fans that are just the loyal diehard fans like a (Green Bay) Packers fan or a (Pittsburgh) Steelers fan.
"I wish we did but it's not there yet; the Rams have been gone for just too long," added Dickerson, who still holds the NFL record for most yards rushed in a season, 2,105, set in 1984.
On the evidence of the San Francisco defeat, the Rams and their fans may face a lengthy courtship. Running back Todd Gurley, expected to be a key component of the Rams offense this season, rushed 17 times for only 47 yards.
Gurley is unlikely to be given any easier a ride against Seattle on Sunday, which boasts one of the best defenses in the league.
- 'Doom and gloom' -
At quarterback, meanwhile, Case Keenum will start once again, although Fisher hinted he may be tempted to bump up the franchises number one draft pick, Jared Goff, to back-up ahead of Sean Mannion.
The failure of rookie Goff -- who was chosen with a view to becoming the face of the franchise over the next decade -- to nail down a starting berth has already spooked Rams fans.
Carson Wentz, chosen second overall after Goff, made a sparkling league debut last weekend for the Philadelphia Eagles, throwing for two touchdowns and nearly 300 yards.
Fisher, however, has put a brave face on a disappointing week, fending off suggestions of a downbeat mood after the 49ers debacle.
"It's talked about in every NFL city,? Fisher said. "Teams are winning, 'Hey, they?re going to the playoffs.' Teams lose, 'They?re not going to the playoffs.' It's doom and gloom. You don't get caught up in that.
"You just focus on what you're doing ?- turn to each other and have fun and prepare."