All Ball Sports: Whose House? Champs House; Mustangs advance
by Paul Teetor
Wow!!!
What a bleeping game!
Whose House?
Champs House!!!
That was All Ball’s instant reaction after the thrilling, chilling, down-to-the-last-play Rams 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
There were so many Rams shining brightly it’s hard to keep track of them all.
Indeed, there were so many Most Valuable Player candidates it’s hard to list them all.
But we’ll try anyway.
There was Matthew Stafford, the quarterback who wasn’t so great all-game long until the final six minutes – when he played like an all-time great headed straight for the Hall of Fame, after he takes his family to Disneyland.
The truth, of course, is that at this point he’s no lock for the Hall of Fame. But a few more Rams seasons like this one – and a few more Super Bowl wins – and he will be a Hall of Famer, a guy who overcame being stuck with the Detroit Lions for the first 12 years of his career to finish with a flourish.
There was Aaron Donald, the relentless defensive demon who set up shop in the Bengals backfield all day and then saved his best for last, stopping the Bengals cold on their final two frantic plays of this pulsating game.
We’ve known for at least five years now that he’s an eventual Hall of Famer. Now it’s even more of a sure thing. The only question left for him is whether he will surpass New York Giants great Lawrence Taylor as the greatest defensive wrecking ball of all time.
And of course there was Cooper Kupp, the official Super Bowl MVP who – as dedicated All Ball readers will remember — was nominated in this space three weeks ago as the league’s MVP for the entire season.
In the official voting among 50 mainstream sportswriters last week, Kupp got exactly one vote. The other 49 were split between quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay and Tom Brady of Tampa Bay. Rodgers won, but they both deserved to finish behind Kupp, who had the greatest season by a wide receiver – especially by a slow, white, 6-foot-2 wide receiver – in the long and winding history of the NFL.
When you win the triple crown of receiving stats – the most passes caught, most yards gained and most touchdowns scored — and then add a Super Bowl MVP award to it, well, let’s just say that it was satisfying to see the so-called experts finally recognize just how great this 2017, third-round draft pick out of the football factory known as Eastern Washington really is. Still, except for one unknown writer, they were all late to the Kupp party.
While the post-game media love-fest was celebrating Donald, Stafford and Kupp – and their adorable families with their cute little kids, all of them headed to Disneyland – there was another MVP candidate who was totally overlooked, so badly that All Ball would like to make a special nomination in a special category: Johnny Hekker for (unintentional) MVP.
Wait, what?
How can the Rams punter – and place-kick holder – be an MVP candidate when the only notable thing he did during the entire game was to screw up the point-after attempt following the Rams second touchdown? The 11-yard pass from Stafford to Kupp should have made the score 14-3 but instead it was 13-3 early in the second quarter after Hekker fumbled the snap and failed to tee up the ball properly for place kicker Matt Gay.
But from that moment on, that missing point – one measly point – influenced almost every significant decision the Rams and Coach Sean McVay made for the rest of the game. The Bengals were influenced by it too, but they live in Cincinnati so we’re not going to waste much time dealing with their mental approach to the game.
The key point here is that when the Rams got the ball with six minutes left in the game and trailing 20-16, that lost point, that missing extra point – and the four-point deficit that resulted instead of the three-point deficit it should have been – dictated that the Rams had to try for a 7-point touchdown that would win the game rather than a 3-point field goal that would tie the game and send it to overtime.
Let’s take a closer look at the 15-play, 79-yard drive that carried the Rams to the winning score. It’s one of the two or three greatest game-winning drives in Super Bowl history, so it’s worth putting it under the microscope.
Even before the drive, there was a good omen: Bengals wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who hadn’t dropped a single catchable pass all season, dropped a sure third-down completion from quarterback Joe Burrow to force the Bengals to punt the ball away.
The Rams started out on their own 21-yard line and gained nine yards in three plays. On fourth and one, with three timeouts left, McVay could have punted the ball away and counted on his Aaron Donald-led defense to continue suffocating the Bengals. They could have gotten the ball back with plenty of time to advance and kick a field goal to tie the game.
But needing a touchdown, McVay couldn’t take that chance. He had to go for it on fourth and one. All game long, he had been stubbornly calling running plays for second-year back Cam (Green) Akers, who consistently got stuffed for no gain. But this time, when he absolutely had to get a first down just to stay alive, he called for a jet sweep by Kupp, who rarely ran the ball all year.
The play started out looking like a pass play with Kupp swinging left to right behind Stafford and headed out for a sideline route. But instead of dropping back to pass Stafford suddenly handed the ball off to Kupp as he ran sideways behind him. Caught by surprise, the Bengals reacted a second late as Kupp turned the corner and sprinted seven yards for the must-have first down. That decision and that first down were directly dictated by Hekker’s screw-up two hours earlier.
Earlier in the game Odell Beckham Jr. had gone down with a torn ligament, joining Rams injured tight end Tyler Higbee on the sideline. With the running game going nowhere, that meant Stafford was down to one weapon in his holster: Kupp.
And everyone in SoFi Stadium knew it, especially the Bengals.
Didn’t matter to McVay or Stafford. On the next six plays they targeted Kupp six times, resulting in two penalties and four completions, including the game winning touchdown. The penalties, despite all the whining from the Bengals sideline and their fans online, were all legit.
The reality was that by that point in the game, the Bengals defensive backs simply couldn’t stop Kupp from getting open at this most crucial time of the game. So they resorted to grabbing and holding him when they were about to get beat, as defensive backs have done ever since the first receiver outran the first defender more than a century ago. The reasoning: better to get called for a penalty than to give up a sure touchdown.
And there was a certain karmic justice to all the penalty flags flying against the Bengals on that last, epic drive. On the first play of the second half, Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins had beat the Rams best cornerback, Jalen Ramsey, on a sideline route he turned into a 75-yard touchdown, as Ramsey went sprawling to the turf.
A replay showed that Higgins had clearly grabbed Ramsey’s facemask and spun him around before catching the ball. A facemask grab ALWAYS automatically results in a penalty. Not only is it illegal, but it’s dangerous and could cause serious injury to the neck and/or spinal cord. So referees are scrupulous about calling it. Except, apparently, in the Super Bowl when it results in a game turning TD that gave the Bengals a 17-13 lead.
After all the late-game penalties gave the Rams a new set of downs, Stafford’s one yard TD pass to Kupp gave the Rams a 23-20 lead with 1:25 to go and set the stage for Donald to lead one more defensive stand – which he was more than eager to do.
Again, Johnny Hekker’s screw up had a big residual impact: the Bengals only needed to advance 30-40 yards to kick a game-tying field goal, since they just happened to have the best kicker in the league in Evan McPherson. He was 14-14 in the playoffs and could be seen on the sideline warming up his kicking leg by practicing kicks.
Burrow completed a couple of passes to advance near mid-field and give Bengals fans hope that they could at least tie the game and force overtime. But on third and one Bengals coach Zac Taylor made a strange call. Instead of giving the ball to their bruising running back Joe Mixon, who had been pounding the Rams all day, he gave it to halfback Samaje Perine, who is not as fast, as tough or as elusive as Mixon. As Perine approached the line of scrimmage, Donald shed his blocker, stuck out his arm and pulled Perine down for no gain.
Now the Bengals had a fourth and one situation similar to the one the Rams had faced just a few minutes earlier when Kupp saved the day with a surprise run. Now it was the Bengals who had to get a first down to keep their hopes alive.
Knowing that this was the biggest play of the day, Donald simply stormed right through two blockers and lunged at Burrow as he started to pass. Donald grabbed his torso and dragged him to the ground, but Burrow flung a wild pass in the direction of Perine. It landed harmlessly on the ground when Perine failed to make a desperation try for the ball.
With that, Donald skipped off the field and pointed to his ring finger. Everyone in the house knew what he was saying: I finally got my Super Bowl ring.
As did Stafford, Kupp, McVay, owner Stan Kroenke and the rest of the people who work in SoFi Stadium.
Whose House?
Champs House!!
Mira Costa Ballers Advance
The Mira Costa boys basketball team is moving on in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs. Next stop: the friendly confines of Fisher Gymnasium.
The Mustangs walloped Aliso Niguel 78-57 Friday night on the road and earned a home game Tuesday night against Los Altos of Hacienda Heights. The game will start at 7 p.m., not the usual 7:30.
Mustangs Coach Neal Perlmutter has said all season long that his team’s goals were to win the Bay League – which they did in the pandemic-shortened regular season before falling to third place in the first-ever league tournament – and to win CIF.
But he’s not looking beyond Tuesday night right now.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Perlmutter said Sunday. “This win was a good first step.”
Indeed, the Mustangs played one of their best games of the season, at least offensively. Sharp-shooting junior guard Dylan Black drilled five 3-pointers on his way to 23 points, and junior point guard Will Householter piled up 24 points as he led Costa back from a 9-point deficit in the second quarter.
“Both of them are playing their best basketball of the season at the right time,” Perlmutter said.
Six-foot-six senior power forward Cole Slusser chipped in 14 points and unleashed a rim-rattling dunk in the fourth quarter after the lead had been cut to 4 points.
Despite the offensive fireworks, as usual it was the Mustang’s stifling, suffocating defense – something Perlmutter demands of anyone he puts on the floor – that won this game for Costa.
“I think we wore them down with our D,” Perlmutter said. “They got fatigued, and we were able to capitalize on our steals and get out in transition for some layups.”
While happy with the first-round win, Perlmutter admitted that Los Altos poses a much bigger challenge – literally and figuratively.
Team-wise, they finished 10-0 in their league and have won more than 50 consecutive league games. And individually, they will present the Mustangs with a 7-foot challenge in the form of Jazz Gardner, son of former UCLA center Jelani Gardner.
“We’re going to have our hands full trying to contain him,” he said. “He’s a Division 1 college player. We’re going to have to be really physical with him in the post and on the catch.”
Los Altos also has an outstanding point guard who works well with Gardner.
“They’re a two-headed monster with some nice role players around them,” Perlmutter said.
Sounds like just the kind of challenge the Mustangs relish.
“We’re a defensive-minded team first and foremost,” Perlmutter said. “That’s what has gotten us this far.”
Saturday night the Mira Costa girls basketball team duplicated the boys feat of going on the road and winning a first-round playoff game – but they did it in a tougher division.
They beat Bonita of La Verne 42-32 in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoff game. The victory earned them another road game Wednesday night at Fairmont Prep in Orange County.
The win over Bonita was especially thrilling because Coach John Lapham and his players had not earned an automatic playoff bid and didn’t learn until Tuesday that they would indeed get to play in a playoff game.
“The girls were ecstatic just to hear that our season was going to continue,” Lapham said. “Then we had to prepare for a team we knew nothing about.”
The same was true of Bonita, of course, and the result was a low-scoring, slowed down game that Costa led by 13-12 at halftime.
“We shot really poorly, they played great defense, and we just couldn’t get the ball in the bucket,” Lapham said. “We slowed the game down with our press, so there was very little running or fast breaks. Plus, we didn’t hit a single three-point shot.”
But the Mustangs made some halftime adjustments and came out firing, especially their senior stars: board monsters Winslow Smith, who had 15 points, and Hannah Gedion, who had 13. Another senior, guard Cara Susilo, only scored six points but piled up 8 assists while controlling the flow of the game.
“In the second half we moved the ball a lot better, hit a couple of threes, and used our high-low post game very effectively,” Lapham said. “Cara played one of the better floor games I’ve ever seen.”
The Mustang’s one-point halftime lead grew to 16 late in the second half, silencing the large Bonita crowd that came out to cheer their home team.
“Because of the Covid pandemic we hadn’t played in front of a large, hostile crowd for almost two years,” he said. “I was proud of the girls for the way they handled it.”
If his team beats Fairmont Prep and advances to the third round, Lapham said he hopes that game will be a home game.
“Right now, we’re just delighted that the season is continuing,” he said. “A home game Saturday night would be really exciting for the kids.”
Meanwhile the Redondo boys basketball team, which finished sixth and last in the Bay League during the regular season and then fourth in the league tournament, lost its CIF first round playoff game to Cajon 70-66. The Redondo girls lost their first round CIF game to Lynwood 45-41.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com . Follow: @paulteetor. ER