• Schrager on the burgeoning rivalry between the Rams and Niners, and between young coaches Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan:[
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“I spent a lot of time with both organizations down here; they are competitive as hell with each other, the head coaches are as close of friends and as competitive rivals as you'll find in the NFL. McVay was the tight ends coach under Kyle Shanahan and now is the coach of the year, belle of the ball. Meanwhile Kyle just got his dream quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo and there's a healthy friendship there. They're still friends for sure—I've been with them where they interact and stuff—but boy, they want to beat each other. And the NFL, it's been a couple years since those two franchises have been at the peak of their game. I cannot wait over the next five years to see how it all plays out because the GMs are young, the coaches are young, the quarterbacks are young, and the fan bases are both so hungry for it. I think Rams-Niners could end up being Steelers-Ravens over the next 10 years.
“There was a Week 17 game between the Niners and the Rams and neither one of these guys would say it on the record and neither one of them has said it to me personally. I just know. The Niners gave it to the Rams. [San Francisco 34, Los Angeles 13.] The Rams were putting their second string guys in, they were already looking forward to Atlanta—the Niners rolled up that score and they ended their season five straight wins and they went into the Coliseum and blew out the Rams, and it might have been their backups, but McVay won't forget that. And I love that stuff.”
