StL Post-Dispatch: Five years ago tonight, the lights went off on St. Louis Rams football

Five years ago tonight, the lights went off on St. Louis Rams football
by Jim Thomas
December 17, 2020

One of Chris Long’s favorite pictures was taken on Dec. 17, 2015. The Rams were playing host to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on “Thursday Night Football” at the Edward Jones Dome.

It was one of those “color rush” games, with the Rams decked out in bright all-yellow uniforms and the Bucs wearing bright all-red ones. Thus, some dubbed it the “Ketchup and Mustard Bowl.”

But that wasn’t the real significance of the game, not even close. Long and his fellow Rams defensive linemen posing in the photo knew it.

“It’s pretty rare before the game that you take the group pic, but I think we just had a feeling this was it,” Long recalled. “It’s a special picture to me.”

In what was the last home game for the St. Louis Rams, the home team won 31-23. It was five years ago Thursday.

Quarterback Case Keenum completed 14 of 17 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns. Tavon Austin scored his ninth and 10th TDs of the season — one on the ground and one in the air.

Running back Todd Gurley topped 1,000 yards rushing for the season, joining Hall of Famers Jerome Bettis and Eric Dickerson as the only players in franchise history to do so as rookies.

“I remember that night pretty well, actually,” said Long, now retired from football and living in Charlottesville, Va. “It was a surreal experience because you kind of knew this would be it if you were reading the tea leaves. Although we didn’t know with certainty as players.

“It was emotional. And I was looking at it through a weird lens because I knew no matter what, this was probably my last game in St. Louis as a Ram.”

After eight seasons and 114 games for St. Louis, Long unceremoniously was cut two months later. He went on, however, to win a Super Bowl championship ring with first New England and then Philadelphia.

But back to that night in St. Louis. . . .

“It’s a weird goodbye when you knew that the team is saying goodbye, too, and there’s fans in the stands that showed up one last time,” Long said. “We weren’t a good team that year and we certainly as a franchise didn’t deserve the support of people in St. Louis. But they showed up that night and made it fun.”

There were 51,295 tickets distributed, with maybe 40,000 in the stands that night. They were loud, cheering on the home team and yelling “Kroenke (Stinks)!” and “Keep the Rams!” at various times.

Less than a month later, NFL team owners approved the move of Kroenke’s team to Los Angeles after 21 seasons in St. Louis.

For some strange reason, the Rams decided to honor several greats from the “Greatest Show on Turf” time that night. Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner were part of the NFL Network television broadcast. Orlando Pace, Torry Holt and Aeneas Williams were among others in the house. They were introduced at halftime and on the sidelines during timeouts.

“You come back to St. Louis, and those guys are like gods, right?” Long asked. “It was just a reminder that in 15 years everything changed. Just to see those players, who were still young guys — several had just retired a few years back — that were a part of this football phenomenon that captured the attention of the country. And St. Louis was the epicenter.

“And then just in a short 10, 15-year span the franchise was gonna up and move. And that was surreal.”

The Rams improved to 6-8 via the victory, but would finish at 7-9 and out of the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season and with with a non-winning record for the 12th consecutive year. Long walked down the concourse, and out of the Dome for the last time, engaging in his normal postgame mingle with fans as he walked across the street to the Drury Inn, where the players parked their cars.

He knew some of the fans by name, and talked about seeing them next time. But he knew it was the last time for him as a player and for the Rams in St. Louis.

The Rams finished out the campaign with road games against Seattle and San Francisco, practicing in the wine country of Napa, Calif., between those contests.

And then they left town for good, but several players didn’t. Like Pace and Williams and others, center Andy McCollum settled down in the Gateway City after his career ended in 2008. He lives in Eureka and is an assistant coach for the high school team.

He misses having the NFL in his adopted hometown.

“It (stinks),” McCollum said. “The writing was on the wall for a long time but when it became official, in my house everybody was pretty upset about them leaving.

“I don’t know if there’s any door back to have the NFL come back, but I’d love to see even the XFL back. That’d be great.”

He was a season-ticket holder for the BattleHawks and took his kids to the games before the coronavirus pandemic shut down that season, and at least temporarily, ended that league.

So that buzz around town during football season, even the griping when the team struggled, has been gone for five years now. (Other than the brief ray of sunshine from the BattleHawks.)

“I can imagine it’s tough to miss out on kind of that shared civic experience,” Long said. “Although it’s a baseball town, and hockey is amazing there, there’s no replacement for football.”

Long, who has a popular podcast called the Green Light, sees a former St. Louis Rams on TV all the time watching NFL games. And stays in touch with many of them.

There are just seven St. Louis Rams still playing for the team in Los Angeles, including defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers.

A total of 19 other former St. Louis Rams are sprinkled elsewhere throughout the league. That group includes wide receiver Danny Amendola, at age 35 still catching passes as a Detroit Lion.

Now considered an outside linebacker, former StL Rams defensive end Robert Quinn is winding down his career as a member of the Chicago Bears. There are three remaining StL Rams quarterbacks: Nick Foles in Chicago, Ryan Fitzpatrick in Miami and Keenum backing up Baker Mayfield in Cleveland.

Cornerback Janoris Jenkins, aka, the “Jackrabbit,” is playing as well as ever in New Orleans. Safety Rodney McLeod is the Philadelphia Eagles’ nominee for the prestigious Walter Payton Award.

And what’s this on the Las Vegas Raiders injured reserve list? Offensive lineman Richie Incognito, a controversial third-round pick by the Rams in 2005— now 37 years old — is out because of an Achilles injury.

“There’s a few left,” Long said.

But their numbers are dwindling as the years roll by.


[www.stltoday.com]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2020 02:10PM by MamaRAMa.