Patrick Mahomes & Friends versus Jared Goff & Friends on Monday night is an NFL version Ali versus Frazier — a must-see TV ratings bonanza, a midseason Super Bowl featuring two young video-game quarterbacks going toe-to-toe and arm-to-arm in the middle of the Los Angeles Coliseum ring in an Air-Coryell-on-steroids era.
Game of the Year.
Say a prayer for Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, and Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, and someone please tell Woody Hayes that he might be the only one Up There who has any interest in “three yards and a cloud of dust.”
Offense sells tickets, and offense wins championships now in this no-holds-barred NFL, which sometimes resembles an NBA All-Star Game.
Getcha popcorn ready.
Getcha fantasy lineups ready.
Only the Saints (36.7) score more than the Chiefs (35.3) and Rams (33.5). The Chiefs are averaging 36.8 points per game on the road, and the Rams are averaging 34.4 per game at home. The Over/Under total: an unprecedented 63¹/₂ points.
Redskins 72, Giants 41 in 1966 is the highest-scoring game in NFL history.
The marquee is littered with star power fitting for a Hollywood screening … Star Wars:
Mahomes, Best Young Quarterback (31 touchdowns, seven interceptions, 3,150 passing yards). He might like ketchup on his steak but this young Brett Favre is the last rocket-armed gunslinger you’d want playing catchup against your defense.
“A lot of off script plays, extending plays, when the play breaks down you’re seeing a young quarterback look like he’s moving at a different speed than his opponents are,” ESPN “Monday Night Football” analyst Jason Witten said.
Sean McVay, Best Young Genius Coach. New Giants right guard Jamon Brown played for the Rams last season.
“He’s the ideal coach. He listens to his players, he’s a great communicator,” Brown told Serby Says. “Just from the things that he was able to do as far as giving the illusion of complexity. I think he’ll go down as one of the greats.
McVay is as upbeat and energetic as you will find on an NFL sideline.
“With this defense, we have a ton of detail,” Rams guard Rodger Saffold told Serby Says by phone. “We don’t have a lot of mental errors, and that leads us to be an efficient team, and even when things don’t go our way, we still have efficient play.”
McVay takes care of his players’ bodies.
“He’s just great at listening to our trainers and listening to our strength coaches on how to have the freshest bodies when it comes to game time,” Saffold said.
Todd Gurley, Best Running Back (2,293 rushing yards, 26 TDs, 104 receptions and 10 TDs receiving over past 25 games).
“You just want to create lanes for the guy,” Saffold said. “He’s able to squeeze inside holes and be able to run through arm tackles, and the fact that he’s picking up all these yards gives us a lot of gratification to go out and continue moving people. I think for him, just knowing that we got his back and that we’re not gonna make any mental errors, I think it leaves him to be more accountable himself.”
Saffold cites Gurley’s vision. Brown was asked to compare Gurley with Saquon Barkley.
“Saquon has a little bit more scat in him, meaning he has the ability to kind of stop-and-go a little faster than Gurley does,” Brown said. “He has a little more wiggle. But they’re both the same in being dynamic players in my opinion, guys that once you put the ball in their hands, they do great things with the ball.”
Kareem Hunt, dual threat reigning rushing champion (2,081 rushing yards, 15 TDs, 76 catches, nine TDs over past 26 games) and the first back to notch 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons since Abner Haynes in 1960-61.
“He’s punishing people right now, and it’s something to watch,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last month.
Jared Goff, in the Best Young Quarterback conversation (50 TDs, 13 INTs over past 25 games, 3,134 passing yards in 2018, 9.44 per attempt).
“As I watched him mature and really become the leader of the offense, you could really feel his presence, and I think he’ll be doing good things for a long time,” Brown said.
Goff was held hostage in his rookie season by former coach Jeff Fisher’s archaic offense, and his QB rating has risen from 63.6 as a rookie to 113 now.
“I think the biggest growth he’s had is just being that leader, being that commander of the huddle,” Saffold said. “He continues to build confidence, and he’s showing how he’s gonna be a really, really good football player.”
Tyreek Hill, most exciting player in the NFL (22 career TD catches in 41 games, 16.2 yards per catch in 2018).
“They think he’s just fast, but he’s really a technically-sound receiver,” cornerback Marcus Peters said during the Chiefs’ 2017 training camp. Peters fell in disfavor with Reid, and is now one of Phillips’ toys in the LA secondary.
Travis Kelce, arguably the best tight end in NFL (14 TDs, 95 first downs over past 25 games).
Aaron Donald, Best Defensive Player in NFL (12.5 sacks), drafted one spot behind Odell Beckham Jr.
“Right now he is playing defensive line and doing it as well as anybody in the National Football League and will go down as one of the greats to play that inside position,” Reid said.
Saffold practices against Donald.
“He’s strong, he’s quick, and he has a great feel for people who are leaning and off-balance, and he’s got great quickness off the ball,” Saffold said, “so you put all three of those together, it’s a very, very dominating combination.”
Reid, 203 career wins, second-best among active coaches to Bill Belichick (280).
“He’s still at the top as far as getting his best players the football in different ways and giving the defense problems,” Phillips said.
The popular, folksy Phillips, who tweeted nearly two years ago: “Rams have the only staff with DC on Medicare and HC in Daycare.”
“He’s done a fantastic job of just constantly staying on these guys and workin’ ’em, and with so many big names on there, he’s treating everybody the same, and those guys are going out and trying to go to war for him,” Saffold said. “At the end of the day, we can always trust in Wade.”
The Rams trained in Colorado Springs and have dedicated the game to the city of Los Angeles, which has endured a tragic shooting Nov. 7 in Thousand Oaks that cost 12 lives and the raging wildfires that have resulted in a death toll that has risen to 66, and displacement of so many families.
The team took out a full-page ad in Friday’s LA Times that read: “So to those who have suffered and lost. To those who opened their doors, who provided shelter, food, and hope. To the neighbors who embraced strangers, and stretched out hand. To every first responder who risked their lives, and gave their all for something greater. Monday is for you. You are Los Angeles. We are Los Angeles.”
Saffold, Rams nominee for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year last season, is the longest-tenured Ram.
“Two great teams playing against each other … a city that’s united because of so much tragedy … being able to be out there and to represent my team on a huge stage, is a dream.”
Game of the Year in more ways than one.
“A lot of these people lost more than a football game,” Saffold said, “and it really put things in perspective for us.” Three hours to take America’s breath away … hopefully three hours to help take a city’s pain away, no matter who scores more points.
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