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Rams winning the Super Bowl would be a 'game changer' for NFL, Los Angeles
"LA will play for the Lombardi!"
Since that phrase flowed out of J.B. Long's mouth with the superfluous flow of Willy Wonka's chocolate river, the city of Los Angeles has been preparing for the Rams to bring back a title to the City of Champions.
In just its third year back in LA, the franchise is looking to revitalize a city accustomed to nonstop parades and hanging banners. Now that Super Bowl LIII is just days away, it is becoming apparent a Rams win will not only make an impact on the city for the short-term, Colin Cowherd argues, but it will create a shift in the sports paradigm and could alter the NFL history books for good.
"If the Rams win this game, it is a complete game changer for a lot of people," Cowherd said on The Herd Wednesday. "If the NFL had to pick a side who wins this game, they'd want Los Angeles... This would be good for the League."
Cowherd made the case New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have already cemented themselves in the NFL annals, having won five rings together and making nine appearances. Joy Taylor joked the best a win could do would only be to make Brady the "GOAT of all GOATs." But while their careers will undoubtedly lead them to Canton regardless of the outcome February 3, it is their counterparts on the "home team" sideline yet to sculpt their own paths.
"[With a win], Sean McVay goes into an elite group. He's the next Bill Walsh, he's the next Bill Belichick on offense," Cowherd said of the Rams 33-year-old leader. "Jared Goff is the closest thing potentially in the next 15 years to Tom Brady."
https://www.foxsports.com/west/story/los-angeles-rams-jared-goff-is-better-than-new-england-patriots-tom-brady-at-this-point-in-career-says-colin-cowherd-012919
Brady was 24-years-old when he won his first Super Bowl in 2001 against the St. Louis Rams; Jared Goff is currently 24. Belichick was 49 when he first lifted the Lombardi as a head coach, while Walsh was an even half century.
A Rams win would catapult both Goff and McVay onto a track to pursue the success of one of the greatest tandem's in professional sports history at a similar trajectory, if not an even better one because of McVay's youth compared to Belichick's at similar parts of their careers.
https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1090369538473017345
However, Cowherd points out, this game could have more of an impact than just what the NFL will feel; it will provide a shake-up only LA is prepared for based on plate tectonics to the city's sports hierarchy.
"This has always been the Lakers town... this would be a movement," Cowherd projects. "This would be pulling people away. Super Bowls have a way of changing cities."
Cowherd pointed out the League's desire to become more of an entertainment product, moving away from just the grunt and passion of historical football dominance, and wanting to make the product more enjoyable for the masses. A win for LA would be a win for the NFL, he claims.
So, while this game means "absolutely nothing" for the Patriots, the Rams have the opportunity to not only be game-changers, but landscape changers in a city built upon shifting.
