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From Gary Klein: It was an embarrassing defeat, a night when Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley dominated the Rams.
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.
The defeat marked a turning point for the Rams.
Coach Sean McVay challenged his players to give their best effort over the final 39 days of the season. The Rams reeled off five consecutive victories before McVay rested starters in a season-ending loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
“When you have humbling experiences, with the right kinds of people, those are where the real growth [opportunities] exist,” McVay said Tuesday during a video conference with reporters, adding, “A lot of the scars that we’ve had as a team have been what led us to the point where we’re at.”
The Rams, coming off a dominating NFC wild-card victory over the Minnesota Vikings, are preparing to face Barkley and the No. 2-seeded Eagles in a divisional-round game on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
The Eagles advanced by defeating the Green Bay Packers, 22-10, on Sunday.
“They’re real,” McVay said of Eagles, adding, “They’re in this position for a reason.”
After resilient Rams make Vikings groan, they aim to show Eagles how they’ve grown
NFL playoffs: Divisional round features intriguing rematches
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NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Divisional round
Saturday
AFC
No. 4 Houston Texans at No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs, 1:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN
NFC
No. 6 Washington Commanders at No. 1 Detroit Lions, 5 p.m., Fox
Sunday
NFC
No. 4 Rams at No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles, noon, NBC/Peacock
AFC
No. 3 Baltimore Ravens at No. 2 Buffalo Bills, 3:30 p.m., CBS/Paramount +
Conference championships: Jan. 26
Super Bowl 59: Feb. 9 at New Orleans (Fox)
REMEMBERING KOBE BRYANT
Jan. 26 will mark five years since Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri, and his daughter Alyssa; Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton; basketball coach Christina Mauser; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan were killed in a helicopter crash.
We’d like to hear from you. Where were you when you heard about the crash, and what effect did Bryant’s death have on your life? Selected memories will be published at a future date. Please send them to me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com.
USC BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: At the end of a long, emotional week, USC’s basketball staff emerged one by one from the Galen Center tunnel just before tip Tuesday, relieved as ever to be back home. Days earlier, as wildfires ravaged their newly adopted city, the team was 2,000 miles away, stuck first in a southern Indiana hotel then in a similar one in Illinois, reduced to following helplessly along on their phones.
The uncertainty made for an unnerving few nights. USC assistant coach Quincy Pondexter couldn’t be sure at first whether his home in Pasadena survived the Eaton fire. Family of assistant coach Will Conroy evacuated, as did the girlfriend of USC’s director of basketball operations Caleb Cline. Everyone was on edge.
Somehow, with that weight still heavy on their shoulders, the Trojans managed to earn their first ranked road win in 15 years. They’d fly home the next day to find their families safe and their homes still fortunately intact. And by Tuesday night, as USC’s offense came alive in a 99-89 victory over Iowa, it was clear they’d found more than just emotional respite upon their collective return to L.A.
That return would feature some of the best basketball the Trojans have played to date under Eric Musselman. At least, on one side of the ball. A surging USC offense shot an impressive 65% from the floor, with three scorers tallying at least 20 points, while its effort on the glass was relentless, as USC outrebounded Iowa, 37-20.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: A little more than a year ago, the Dodgers saw an opportunity on the horizon.
They knew Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani was entering a historic free agency. They knew decorated Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was planning to come from Japan to the majors. And they knew another potential generational Japanese arm, Roki Sasaki, wouldn’t be far behind.
It was a chance, as some with the team have termed it, to “paint Japan blue” and enhance both the Dodgers’ roster and their international brand.
This week the team is hoping it can turn the last part of that dream into reality.
The Dodgers signed Ohtani and Yamamoto last offseason. And now they are believed to be finalists for Sasaki, who reportedly held a second meeting with the club Tuesday and could sign as soon as Wednesday when the new international signing period officially opens.
“He’s someone that is obviously a major priority for us,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said this winter. “We’re going to do whatever we can, and know that there are a lot of other teams that are going to do the exact same thing.”
LAKERS
From Dylan Hernández: When Anthony Davis described watching the flames approaching his family home, he didn’t sound like a star player on the Lakers.
He sounded like a concerned father.
When JJ Redick recalled Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul of the San Antonio Spurs presenting his sons with autographed game-worn jerseys to rebuild memorabilia collections that were lost in the Palisades fire, he didn’t sound like the coach of one of Los Angeles’ signature franchises.
He sounded like a grateful parent.
The Lakers returned to work on Monday, playing their first home game since wildfires engulfed Southern California.
DUCKS
Logan Thompson stopped all 19 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season, and the Washington Capitals beat the Ducks 3-0 on Tuesday night.
John Gibson made 22 saves for the Ducks, who lost for a fifth time in seven games. Anaheim could not carry over the momentum from its 3-2 overtime victory at Carolina on Sunday and remains near the bottom of the Western Conference.
The Ducks make their fifth stop on a six-game trip Thursday night at Tampa Bay.
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: The most valuable piece of real estate for a soccer team isn’t on the pitch, it’s on the front of the players’ jerseys, a foot-wide swath of fabric some companies will pay tens of millions of dollars to rent for a season.
But Bohemian FC, a small but mighty fan-owned club in Dublin, has made its money targeting an area that lies beneath the front of the jersey. Convinced a fan’s beating heart and soul can be worth more than any corporate advertising budget, Bohemian — or Bohs for short — promotes causes, not companies, on its away jerseys. The strategy has turned a club once headed for relegation and financial ruin into the most profitable one in the Irish first division.
“I can’t conceive of any way where Bohs could be in a position that a fan of Bayern Munich in Munich or a fan of Manchester United in Manchester would want to buy a Bohs shirt for football reasons,” Daniel Lambert, the team’s youthful chief operating officer, said last week in a video conference call from Dublin. “But if you bring it to an emotional space, there are people who care. They care about Palestine. They care about the migrant crisis, the climate, could be anything.
“If we can connect with people in different countries and cities around the world on that basis, our potential market is huge.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1965 — In one of the most notable trades in NBA history, the San Francisco Warriors deal Wilt Chamberlain to the Philadelphia 76ers for Connie Dierking, Lee Shaffer, Paul Neumann and cash.
1967 — The NFL’s Green Bay Packers open the Super Bowl series by defeating the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFL, 35-10.
1978 — The Dallas Cowboys take advantage of eight Denver turnovers en route to a 27-10 victory over the Broncos in the Super Bowl. Butch Johnson’s diving catch in the end zone completes a 45-yard touchdown pass from Roger Staubach and puts the Cowboys ahead 20-3 in the third quarter.
1994 — Ricky Watters of San Francisco scores an NFL postseason-record five touchdowns as the 49ers beat the New York Giants 44-3.
1994 — Lawrence Taylor announces his retirement from the NFL.
1995 — San Diego linebacker Dennis Gibson twice knocks down passes in the end zone — the last one on fourth down — to preserve the Chargers’ biggest NFL victory, a 17-13 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship.
1997 — Patrick Lalime becomes the first goalie since NHL expansion in 1967 to open his career with a 15-game unbeaten streak as Pittsburgh beats Hartford 3-0.
2000 — The Jacksonville Jaguars steamroll their way into the history books and the AFC championship game. In the second-most overpowering playoff performance ever, the Jaguars rout the Miami Dolphins 62-7. The 55-point margin is the second-largest in playoff history.
2001 — Peace College beats Bennett College 98-3 in women’s college basketball as Bennett sets an NCAA Division III women’s record for fewest points scored.
2004 — Michelle Wie shoots a respectable round of two-over 72, leaving her nine strokes behind the leader after one round at the PGA Sony Open in Honolulu. Wie, 14, is believed to be the youngest player ever on the PGA Tour.
2005 — Michelle Kwan wins her ninth title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, tying Maribel Vinson for the all-time record.
2011 — Sixth-seeded Green Bay routs the Falcons 48-21 in Atlanta as Aaron Rodgers throws for three touchdowns and runs for one. The 48 points are the most for the Packers in a postseason game.
2012 — New York’s Eli Manning throws three touchdown passes and the Giants shock the Green Bay Packers 37-20 in an NFC divisional playoff game. The Packers, 15-1 in the regular season, become the seventh consecutive Super Bowl champ not to advance to the Super Bowl the next year.
2017 — Justin Thomas wins the Sony Open with the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history. Thomas caps off his wonderful week at Waialae that began with a 59 with his second straight victory. He two-putts a birdie from 60 feet on the par-five 18th and closes with a five-under 65 to set the record at 253. Tommy Armour III shot 254 at the 2003 Texas Open.
2017 — Aaron Rodgers throws a 36-yard pass to a toe-dragging Jared Cook on the sideline, and Mason Crosby kicks a 51-yard field goal on the next play as time expires, sending Green Bay to the NFC championship game with its eighth straight win while thwarting a Dallas rally in a 34-31 victory in the divisional round of the playoffs.
2023 — Lakers LeBron James surpasses 38,000 NBA career points, joining only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in 113-112 loss to Philadelphia 76ers.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.