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Super Bowl XLVII stories

Tom Rock

LOS ANGELES — Michael Irvin knows a lot about wide receivers. He’s a Hall of Famer who played the position, so there is a pretty good depth of knowledge. 
But when he wants to know more, he turns to Jerry Sullivan. 
Sullivan is the wide receiver guru who made such an early impact on Irvin that he nearly convinced him to play his college football not at warm, glitzy, sexy, successful University of Miami but at cold, bland, boring Indiana. The Bloomington winters likely were too much for Irvin to stomach so they never connected formally, but the two have stayed in touch for the past four decades. 
"He’s been working with wide receivers that long," said Irvin, also an analyst for NFL Network. 
Irvin trusts Sullivan’s opinion on his trade more than just about anyone’s, including his own. 
So when Sullivan started raving about a kid he was working with at LSU, Irvin listened. 
"He said he’s never seen anybody with such raw physical skills and abilities," Irvin said of Sullivan’s assessment of Ja’Marr Chase. 
There was something missing, though. Something that Chase needed to develop. His talents were all-world, but his drive to be great? It was middle of the road. 
That’s where LSU teammate Justin Jefferson came in. 
"[Sullivan] said the best thing for him was he spent a lot of time around Justin Jefferson," Irvin said. "He said Justin Jefferson is the only other athlete he’d seen who wanted to win as much as I did, that he had that level of competitiveness. And when they spent time together, it rubbed off on Ja’Marr and now he’s a whole new beast. He’s always had the physical skill set, the gift, the ability, but now he’s got a taste of the lion’s hunger from Justin Jefferson. He bit into it and now he has it. He has everything." 
It’s that combination of skill and spirit that has allowed Chase to explode on the NFL scene. The Bengals wide receiver’s 1,455 receiving yards set a rookie record, edging Jefferson’s 1,400 yards for the 2020 Vikings. 
Chase has set records. He already has been named offensive rookie of the year. Now he’s trying to cap one of the most phenomenal first years with a Super Bowl victory. 
If he has a big enough game, Chase also has the opportunity to do something that no rookie has ever accomplished: win Super Bowl MVP. 
What he has done already seems plenty, though. Certainly it’s enough to put him atop the pantheon of his position in his franchise’s history. 
Even Chad Johnson, the Bengals’ all-time leading receiver, has ceded that. 
Yes, Ochocinco says Chase is Numero Uno. 
"He’s probably the best Bengals receiver to don the damn stripes," Johnson said in a radio interview this week. "He had a stellar rookie season that’s never been done. He’s playing in a Super Bowl. I had a decade to help my team achieve and get to. I didn’t do that. 
" . . . I might have been the most entertaining receiver — maybe player — to ever play this game. But what Ja’Marr has done in just a year’s time would identify him as the best Bengal to ever play, especially at the receiver position." 
Another former Bengals receiver echoed that sentiment . . . and likely will on Sunday. 
Cris Collinsworth, who will call the game for NBC, noted the contributions of Johnson, Isaac Curtis and others. 
"Ja’Marr Chase, in my estimation, is already the best receiver that I’ve ever seen play with a Cincinnati Bengals uniform on, and I don’t say that lightly," he said. "The number of times I’ve seen Ja’Marr Chase catch the football 5 or 10 yards down the field and score a touchdown without anybody touching him, his catch-and-run skills have just been so much fun to watch this season." 
Even Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. — who once stormed into the NFL from LSU — is impressed. 
"He’s someone I watched closely at LSU and just the things he was able to do, it wasn’t just like because of the offense or the coordinator that these guys were going crazy," Beckham said. "He’s an elite guy. It truly is amazing what he’s done as a rookie . . . I’m just very happy for him." 
There is a good chance that the Bengals’ chance to beat the Rams hinges on Chase. Irvin said we’ll quickly be able to tell whether that will happen based on how Joe Burrow reacts to the expected matchup of Chase and All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey. 
Irvin harkened back to Troy Aikman’s recent criticism of Dak Prescott not getting the ball to CeeDee Lamb in the Cowboys’ playoff loss to the 49ers. 
"Troy said, ‘If I was with Michael right now, he would have 18 catches because once I see one-on-one on that back side, that’s the throw,’ " Irvin said. "Joe Burrow and Chase do that. One-on-one, you put the book down, there is no more reading the defense, I’m going over here with the ball. 
"And I can’t wait to see if he holds on to that when it’s one-on-one with Ramsey. That’s the psychological game. When he sees one-on-one, does he go right to Chase or does he start looking around doing what he didn’t do all year long?" 
It’s important for Burrow to keep feeding Chase, Irvin said, because of the message it sends. 
"This will be a mental wrestling moment right here to watch," he said. "Norv Turner would always say to me, ‘Michael, I cannot let a guy take you out of our offense. I can’t even let our offense perceive that he is taking you out. I have to work you in early because if I don’t work you in early, then in their minds, they’re going to be like, oh, man, they’re taking out our best weapon.’ That takes a little hope away from them, and I always say hope will dictate everything."

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Super Bowl 2022: Bengals rookie WR Ja'Marr Chase is complete package

Bengals rookie WR Chase is complete package

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LOS ANGELES — The Rams are trying to win a title for Aaron Donald. 
Aaron Donald is trying to win one for someone else. 
Three years ago the most dominant interior defensive lineman of his generation — and maybe ever — made a promise to his 5-year-old daughter Jaeda. He told her she would be able to play in the confetti that covered the field after they won the championship. The Patriots kept him from fulfilling that vow, beating the Rams in Super Bowl LIII, and it was hard to tell who was more disappointed. 
Anyone who has ever promised something to a child knows those contracts are never forgotten. 
"She always asks me, ‘Remember, Daddy? You said I could play in the confetti when we win the Super Bowl. You’ve got to win the Super Bowl,’ " Donald said this week of the now 8-year-old holding him to his word. "Those are memories that last forever. Being able to share that with your family, with your kids, that’s special." 
Or at least Donald imagines it is, because he has never done it. 
He’s done just about everything else imaginable. He’s been a Pro Bowler every one of his eight years in the NFL, voted an All-Pro seven times and named Defensive Player of the Year three times. He has 98 career sacks in 127 games. 
He is so revered and respected that during Rams defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson’s media availability this week, a reporter asked about Donald by calling him "the best defensive player in the world." 
Robinson corrected that description. 
"The best player in the world," he said. 
But there is that one hole on his resume. 
"I know what it feels like to be there [in a Super Bowl], but I don’t know what it feels like to win," he said. "I feel like I accomplished a lot in a short amount of time in this league. 
 The only thing I’m lacking now is being a world champion." 
Not for long, if the rest of the Rams have anything to say about it. 
"This building wants to win for Aaron Donald, to create more for his legacy and what he’s done," defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said. "Our people in PR, community relations, the football office, ops, everything that we have, the training room, his players, his brothers — we want to win for Aaron Donald." 
Part of that is because of how much Donald has meant to the game, but it’s also because of what Donald has meant to the Rams. 
On a team that has more imported parts than a Formula One garage — almost all of the key players come from elsewhere, including Matthew Stafford, Odell Beckham Jr., Jalen Ramsey, Von Miller, Leonard Floyd, Eric Weddle, Andrew Whitworth — Donald stands out as a homegrown product. The Rams selected him with the 13th pick in the 2014 draft (one pick after the Giants took Beckham), and in his first three seasons, the team posted a losing record. The last five have finished with winning records — four of them with a playoff berth and two of them with a Super Bowl appearance. 
"That means a lot,’’ Donald said of everyone in the organization pulling for him. "Words can’t express the way that feels, hearing it from my teammates, definitely your brothers. You’re doing everything in your power to help the team win, to help them win, and for them to feel they’re trying to help me accomplish something, that’s huge, man. It’s a blessing my guys got that much love for me to try to do that. We’re trying to win this not just for me, for all of us.’’ 
And now, that last step: Super Bowl LVI against the Bengals. 
"That’s really all we talk about," Miller said of his relationship with Donald. "Everything that I talk to him about is about winning a Super Bowl, how can I help him be a better Aaron Donald, how can he make me a better Von Miller. Our whole friendship is about winning this Super Bowl." 
Morris recalled watching that Super Bowl three years ago. 
"I remember watching Aaron Donald’s face because they kept showing him on television," Morris said. "I looked into his eyes, and I felt that hurt. I felt that pain. And when I got here, that was the first thing that I said to him. I said, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power, everything possible, to help you win a championship.’ " 
Donald had a different reaction at the end of his most recent game. He gave a passionate sideline address to his teammates, flexing the vocal leadership muscles that those close to him — including Miller, who joined the team in midseason — have been getting on him to flex more often, and when the Rams closed out their win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, he started pointing. 
Not at the opponent. Not at his teammates. At his empty ring finger. 
"When that happened, it was just off of emotion, a lot of emotions running through you, excitement,’’ Donald said. "The ultimate goal is to be playing in this game." 
And if things go well, to be playing in confetti with Jaeden after it, having kept a three-year-old promise and providing the crowning achievement in a Hall of Fame career that has one empty box left to check.

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Super Bowl 2022: Aaron Donald eyes elusive Super Bowl ring

Donald eyes elusive Super Bowl ring

Cardinals Rams Football

Bengals rookie kicker Evan McPherson wants to be legendary. He’s off to a great start. 
McPherson is 12-for-12 on field-goal attempts in the playoffs. He needs three more in Sunday’s Super Bowl to break Adam Vinatieri’s 15-year-old record for a single postseason, and McPherson said he’s shooting for it. He has never met or spoken to Vinatieri, but he can’t wait for that opportunity. 
"Adam’s a guy I looked up to and watched a lot of videos on," McPherson said. "I love to watch his run with the Patriots when he’s kicking game-winners in the Super Bowl. I think every kid’s dream is to kick the game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl. He’s definitely meant a lot to me in my career." 
McPherson has kicked two game-winners in the Bengals’ unexpected run to the Super Bowl. He hit from 52 yards out as time expired in the divisional round in Tennessee and kicked a 31-yarder in overtime in the AFC Championship Game to knock out Kansas City. 
Vinatieri has the only walk-off field goal in Super Bowl history. His 48-yarder lifted the Patriots over the Rams 20 years ago in Super Bowl XXXVI. McPherson wouldn’t mind doing that. 
"I think it’s super-cool," he said. "If we get the opportunity to do that, I hope we come through with it." 
McPherson usually comes through for Cincinnati. 
The fifth-round pick from Florida has been successful on 40 of 45 attempts, playoffs included, and set a record with 12 field goals of at least 50 yards. 
In an overtime loss to Green Bay in Week 5, McPherson missed his only two field-goal tries. He celebrated after seeing his overtime kick go straight off his foot, but it ended up being no good. 
Since then, he is 35-for-37. 
"Knowing that’s just one kick, it doesn’t define me," McPherson said. "The next one is the only one that matters. To fight through a little adversity is always good for kickers, just to see you if you could get over that hump. To see that I was able to was a big confidence-booster for me." 
So much so that before McPherson’s kick against the Titans, he said to his teammates, "Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship." McPherson told TMZ that before his game-winner against Kansas City, he said to holder Kevin Huber, "Let’s be legendary." 
McPherson’s confidence right now is higher than many of his kicks. 
"I think you really got to have it as a kicker," he said. "I feel like if you’re confident you’re going to go out here and hit the kick, there’s a better chance of it going in. You really have to go out there and know in your mind there’s really no way you can miss the kick. That’s kind of how I process going through a kick."

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Super Bowl 2022: Bengals' Evan McPherson gets a kick out of streak

Bengals'  McPherson gets a kick out of streak

APTOPIX Bengals Chiefs Football

Bob Glauber

INGLEWOOD, Calif. 
His name is mostly forgotten, even if his legacy is forever a part of NFL history. 
Now the city of Los Angeles hopes you remember his name: Kenny Washington. 
Not far from SoFi Stadium, where the Rams will play the Bengals on Sunday in Super Bowl LVI, Los Angeles City Councilman Curren D. Price introduced a proclamation naming Sunday, Feb. 13 "Kenny Washington Day" to celebrate the life of one of the most important players ever. 
"Kenny Washington has a special place in history, in the story of the NFL, in the story of Los Angeles, in the story of fighting for justice and equality and inclusivity," Price said during a news conference outside the union headquarters of United Here, Local 11, which represents workers in hotels, restaurants and sports arenas, including SoFi Stadium. 
"This commemorative date in Kenny’s name is extremely fitting as the world turns its eyes to L.A. to watch Super Bowl XVI." 
So who is Kenny Washington? 
Well, he is to pro football what Jackie Robinson is to Major League Baseball, even if his legacy is almost entirely overlooked. 
Washington was the first African-American player to integrate the modern NFL when he signed with the Rams on March 21, 1946. That was more than a year before Robinson — who played football with Washington at UCLA and was part of the Bruins’ unbeaten 1939 team — broke the color barrier in baseball by making his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 
While Robinson soon became an iconic name in sports and American culture, Washington’s achievement has become a barely noticed part of football history. Yet his signing signaled the end of an unofficial 12-year ban on Black players in the NFL, one of the worst chapters of pro football history. 
In today’s NFL, approximately 70% of all players are Black. But from 1934-45, there were no African-Americans in the league. 
Washington’s signing — which occurred after pressure from Black sportswriters, including Halley Harding, who pushed the Rams to integrate because they were moving from Cleveland and wanted to play in the publicly owned Los Angeles Coliseum — soon was followed by his former UCLA teammate, Woody Strode. The two were the only Black players in the NFL in 1946. 
That same year, Paul Brown, coach and part-owner of the Cleveland Browns of the All-American Football Conference, signed defensive lineman Bill Willis and fullback Marion Motley as the rival league’s only two Black players. 
Fitting, then, that it is the Rams facing off against the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, with the Rams becoming the first NFL team to permanently integrate and the Bengals now owned by Paul Brown’s son, Mike. 
The NFL, which has invited family members of all four players to the game, will honor Washington, Strode, Willis and Motley during a pregame celebration. 
"Kenny would have been proud to see this day come," Price said. "And years down the road, some may forget the final score of the Super Bowl. However, one must never forget the legacy of Kenny Washington as the first Black player to break the color barrier to make it possible for others like him to play in the NFL. In the spirit of Black History Month, it’s important that we shine a bright light on the unsung heroes who changed the course of history." 
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said it’s important to remember the legacy of Washington and others who paved the way for future generations of players. 
"We teach our players history," said Smith, who is Black. "We teach them that we don’t have anything but for the sacrifices of people who came before us." 
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler, who applauded the new contract agreed to by stadium workers late Thursday night, said the union workers share an important connection to Washington. 
"Trailblazing is hard work," she said. "They have a lot in common with Kenny Washington. It’s hard to be the first of anything, but it allows others to see the possibilities. You don’t trailblaze alone. We all trailblaze alongside each other." 
Several members of Washington’s family were in attendance at Friday’s proclamation ceremony, including one of his grandsons, Kirk Washington. 
"People want to know, who was the first? Who integrated the NFL?" Washington said. "The longer we’ve been here, the more stories we hear. It’s been overwhelming but a true honor. It’s something to behold. On behalf of all of us, we’d like to thank you all for putting his name out there, getting involved in telling his story. We’re very proud of that."

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Super Bowl 2022: Forgotten pioneer Kenny Washington gets his day in spotlight

Forgotten pioneer Washington gets his day in spotlight

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Mike Hilton lives for challenges. There may be none bigger than what the Bengals’ slot cornerback will face in the Super Bowl. 
Hilton’s job on Sunday will be to try to do what few have done this season: contain Cooper Kupp. 
The Rams’ star slot receiver was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year after amassing one of the greatest seasons ever. Kupp caught 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, the first receiver triple crown (leading the NFL in all three categories) since 2005. He has been just as unstoppable in the postseason with 25 catches for 386 yards and four touchdowns. 
Hilton looks at this as another opportunity to prove people wrong. 
"I know it’s going to be a big matchup between us both," he said. "Personally, I feel like we’re probably the best two slots in the game. What bigger stage to go out there and prove it? Me against him in the Super Bowl, can’t be a bigger moment." 
Hilton signed a four-year deal with Cincinnati after spending the previous four seasons with AFC North rival Pittsburgh. 
The 5-9 Hilton went undrafted out of Mississippi in 2016. He signed with the Jaguars as a rookie free agent and was cut in August. The Patriots signed Hilton to their practice squad and cut him a week later. 
The Steelers signed him to their practice squad that December, but he didn’t play for them until 2018. 
Hilton eventually established himself as one of the top nickel backs in the league, but he never lost the edge from being overlooked for so long. 
"Always having a chip on my shoulder, always being told I’m too small, going undrafted and not being invited to the Combine," he said. "I might be five years into my career, but I still have that chip on my shoulder like I just walked in the building today. 
"That’s something I thrive off of. I thrive off of proving people wrong, going out there and showing I might not look the part. But if you turn on the tape, I’m going to make plays, I’m going to be a leader, I’m going to be a guy that’s keeping guys energy up." 
That will be critical against the Rams’ talented receiving corps, which also features Odell Beckham Jr. and Van Jefferson. 
"Everyone knows me as a run- stopper and a guy that can get to the quarterback and make plays behind the line of scrimmage," Hilton said. "I’m just as confident in my coverage ability. I’m able to take the ball away, take out teams’ slot receivers and just do my part to help us win. I believe my all-around game is second to none." 
Hilton has made big plays for the Bengals during this unexpected Super Bowl run. 
He held Raiders leading receiver Hunter Renfrow to 58 yards and no touchdowns in the wild-card game. He intercepted Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the red zone on a slot blitz in the divisional round. Then he helped hold Tyreek Hill without a catch after halftime in the Bengals’ overtime win in the AFC Championship Game. 
Hilton’s matchup with Kupp presents a difficult challenge. He’s one of the best route runners and knows how to get separation. Hilton said he notices some tendencies in Kupp’s game, but that doesn’t make it any less difficult trying to limit him. 
"He’s just deceptive," Hilton said. "He’s a guy that knows how to switch tempos in the middle of his routes to slow DBs’ feet down or just make them hesitate for half a second. He can read defenses on the fly and [Matthew] Stafford trusts him. That’s his go-to guy." 
Added Hilton, "I’m confident in what I can do."

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Super Bowl 2022: Mike Hilton ready for super challenge against Cooper Kupp

Hilton ready for super challenge against  Kupp

Bengals Titans Football

LOS ANGELES — Odell Beckham Jr. has spent much of this week glancing at his phone. While he prepares for the biggest game of his life, he is waiting for the biggest call of his life. 
That will be the one that tells him his girlfriend, Lauren Wood, is about to deliver the couple’s first child. 
"I’m on standby," he said Friday, still in the holding pattern that he’s been circling in going back as far as the NFC Championship Game. 
One of these days the phone will buzz the good news. And if it happens to be on Sunday, well, Beckham said there will be another conversation to be had. 
"I’d have to make a call back to him and ask him to wait 36 hours," the Rams receiver said. 
Of course, that’s not how it works. Beckham had been hoping that the new arrival would arrive by now. Earlier in the week, he wasn’t even contemplating the enormity of having a child and playing in a Super Bowl on the same day . . . let alone the logistical conflicts that would ensue. 
He has not said — at least not with a serious answer — what his plans are if there is a confluence of events. 
"I don’t need you to put the energy in the air about the Saturday night or the Sunday thing," he said. "I think God has a different plan. I don’t need it during the Super Bowl. I want to see my child being born, so I’m on watch." 
Among the many benefits of playing a Super Bowl at home is Beckham’s ability to dash to a hospital for the birth and then return without having to fly or create convoluted contingencies. 
With his family in Los Angeles, he has the luxury of not having to travel. He theoretically could be at the hospital on Sunday morning and sprint over to SoFi Stadium in time for kickoff. 
In 2015, the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman faced the possibility of deciding between playing in a Super Bowl and being there for the birth of his child. He never had to make that call — the baby was born the Thursday after Seattle lost to the Patriots in Arizona — but he would have had to fly home for the event had he chosen to be there for a Sunday birth. 
Beckham has been to plenty of Super Bowls in his life. Normally he’s part of the background, a position that certainly does not suit his star power. He spoke about the thrill of having his friends in town to be part of the festivities around the big game while he is preparing to play in the big game. 
The former Giant and Brown, who left each of those teams on unpleasant terms — "I didn’t leave, I got booted," he said earlier this week of his departure from New York — managed to give some fuel to critics who have always considered him a me-first player who craves attention. Asked to whom he is dedicating his Super Bowl performance, he said his family, his new team, "the man above" and . . . himself. 
"I think a lot of times in life, we do so much for other people and we don’t take the time to recognize and appreciate yourself," he said. "I appreciate the resiliency I have had to get to this point. Some of this game is for yourself." 
Beckham’s career was nearly derailed by injuries, a shattered ankle with the Giants and a torn ACL with the Browns. Now he is on the verge of a Super Bowl. 
Assuming, of course, that the pending little one doesn’t have other ideas. 
When it comes down to it, though, football almost certainly will top fatherhood for Beckham if he is forced to make that call. 
"I’m obviously very happy to be in the big game," he said. "Coach always says, ‘Where would you rather be?’ " 
Beckham might have to answer that question in a way few others have had to. 
Notes &amp; quotes: Tyler Higbee’s long-shot chances to play in Super Bowl LVI petered out on Friday when the Rams placed him on injured reserve. The starting tight end, who injured his knee early in the NFC Championship Game two weeks ago, was second on the team in receptions (61) for 560 yards and five touchdowns in the regular season. He caught two passes for 18 yards against the 49ers before suffering the injury. His backup, Kendall Blanton, stepped in and caught five passes for 57 yards in the NFC title game and will be pressed into service again on Sunday . . . The Rams also placed backup offensive lineman Joe Noteboom on IR and activated RB Darrell Henderson and DL Sebastian Joseph-Day from IR.

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Super Bowl 2022: Oh, baby! Odell Beckham Jr. may have super decision to make

Oh, baby! Odell Beckham Jr. may have super decision to make

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LOS ANGELES – Michael Thomas missed his first chance at playing in the Super Bowl. He nearly missed his second. 
The former Pro Bowl special teamer and safety for the Giants entered the league unceremoniously as an undrafted free agent with the 49ers and landed a spot on their practice squad in 2012. That was the year they faced the Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, and while Thomas was part of the roster… he really wasn’t part of the team. 
"I was praying for the opportunity to actually help a team win it," Thomas said. 
It seemed those prayers were going to be unanswered. Thomas had a productive career in the NFL with the Dolphins, Giants and his hometown Texans but only made the postseason once during his nine seasons when the 2016 Dolphins won the wild card. When his 2020 season ended with a torn pectoral and he spent the offseason, preseason and start of the 2021 regular season unsigned, he figured that was that. At 31, he even started exploring post-playing opportunities with the NFL Players Association. 
But then in October, the Bengals called. They had just lost Brandon Wilson and Jessie Bates to injuries and needed to replace the two core special-teamers. Thomas was signed to the practice squad in October, promoted to the active roster in November, and on Sunday will be in Super Bowl LVI. 
"It all feels like it’s been worth it for me to wait nine years and finally get back to the game and actually get a chance to play in it and help contribute to the team," he said. 
While Thomas is glad to be a Bengal, and he certainly has ties to his other teams like the Dolphins who first gave him a chance to play in the NFL and his hometown Texans, he made it clear he has a special place in his heart for the Giants. He raved about Thomas McGaughey, the special teams coordinator who was his coach in New York and was recently retained by the team to continue in that role under a new head coach. 
Thomas was a stabilizing force for the Giants during a time when their locker room was teetering. He was their captain and Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year candidate in 2018. 
"Obviously I'm all about the Bengals and happy to help them get to the Super Bowl, and I hope nobody takes this the wrong way," he said at one point this week, "but for one second... Go Big Blue!"

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Super Bowl 2022: Ex-Giant Michael Thomas finally gets his shot at a Super Bowl

Ex-Giant Thomas finally gets his shot at a Super Bowl

LOS ANGELES 
Of all the great things Joe Burrow has done for the Bengals, up to and including getting them to the Super Bowl for the first time since Boomer Esiason did it in 1988, his greatest accomplishment is the one you don’t see. 
After Cincinnati spent decades as an NFL outpost where careers, hopes and dreams went to die, Burrow has turned it into a destination city and the Bengals into a desirable team for which to play. If you don’t think that takes some doing, you haven’t been paying attention. 
But just in case you need further proof of how Burrow has made it cool to be a Bengal, consider the comments this week from one of the coolest players the league has ever known. 
Future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski, 32, who won three Super Bowl championships alongside Tom Brady with the Patriots and another with the Bucs last year, has given indications that his NFL career might be over. But in an interview this week, he hinted that the lure of catching passes from Burrow might convince him to stick around for the 2022 season. 
"I kinda like this young buck quarterback," Gronk told Autograph NFTs. "I watched him in college. I just love the way he presents himself out on the football field. In the pocket, he’s just so calm and he just slings it out on the field. I just love his swag, too." 
With Brady having announced his retirement from the NFL at age 44, Gronkowski may join his longtime quarterback in his football sunset. But the fact that he’s already considered the idea of playing one more year and identifying Burrow as a possible future teammate speaks volumes about just how meaningful Burrow’s electrifying personality has been for Cincinnati. 
That the Bengals have gotten to this place is one of the biggest surprises of the season. Of the century, in fact. Cincinnati had become synonymous with failure for much of the post-Esiason years, where losing was mostly a given and even the team’s best players bided their time and looked to play elsewhere once they hit free agency. 
If you’re looking for a line of demarcation in the team’s history, it’s what happened the night before Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, where the Bengals faced the 49ers for the second time in a championship matchup. 
Fullback Stanley Wilson was about to go to the team’s meeting on the eve of the game, but he told some teammates that he had to go back to his room to get his playbook. He never showed up. Having previously been suspended twice for cocaine use, he was discovered in the bathroom of his hotel room after suffering a relapse. 
Bengals coach Sam Wyche suspended Wilson for the game and the Bengals went on to lose, 20-16, as Joe Montana engineered a last-second comeback capped by a touchdown pass to John Taylor. Wyche and several players traced at least part of the reason for the loss to the tumult over Wilson’s situation. 
It was just never the same after that. 
Through all the subsequent iterations of the team, the Bengals could never create a team close to the one that Esiason led during his MVP season. One draft-day disappointment followed another. 
David Klingler was a first-round quarterback brought in to supplant Esiason in 1992. But elbow problems before his third season led to his eventual departure in 1995. 
Ki-Jana Carter was the No. 1 overall pick in 1995, but the Penn State running back suffered a knee injury in his first preseason game and rushed for only 1,144 yards in his career. 
Quarterback Akili Smith was the team’s first-round pick in 1999, but he went 3-14 in 17 starts over four years. 
Carson Palmer did blossom into a franchise-caliber quarterback after joining the Bengals out of USC in 2003, but he grew so weary of a franchise that refused to pay him top dollar that he announced his retirement in 2011 and forced a trade to the Raiders. 
The hiring of Marvin Lewis in 2003 ushered in stability at the head coach level, as Lewis worked in Cincinnati for the next 16 years. He made it to the playoffs seven times and won four divisional titles, but there were no playoff wins during his tenure. 
Many people believed Burrow would become another bullet point on that list of failure when he came out of LSU in 2020. With Burrow fresh off a national championship, there were even suggestions that he would force the Bengals to trade the pick because he didn’t want to be there. But the guy they call Joe Cool actually wanted to play for the team he admired as a star passer at Athens High School in The Plains, Ohio. 
Finally, good fortune has come to Cincinnati, and with it the chance for the team’s first Super Bowl championship. 
The Bengals finally have become a team players want to become a part of, not a team they want to run away from.

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Super Bowl 2022: Joe Burrow has transformed Bengals into a go-to franchise

Burrow has transformed Bengals into a go-to franchise

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SUPER BOWL LVI: BENGALS VS. RAMS 
Sunday, NBC, 6:30 p.m. 
Rams by 4; O/U: 48.5 
1. WHO DEY . . . WHY NOT DEY?! 
This has been the most wide-open season in recent memory, so the Bengals going from four wins to the Super Bowl shouldn’t be all that shocking . . . even if I wrote before Championship Sunday that I’d be SHOCKED if Cincinnati won at Kansas City. Imagine how I felt when the Bengals pulled off the feat by rallying from a 21-3 deficit. It was remarkable, and it set up a 4 seed vs. 4 seed Super Bowl that is further proof neither conference had a dominant team. Beating Kansas City twice in one month tells you all you need to know about this Bengals team. They belong. They went 4-0 against the Ravens and Steelers, sweeping Pittsburgh for the first time since the 2009 season. The AFC North champs then earned their first playoff win since January of 1991 before picking up the franchise’s first road postseason win when they KO’d 1 seed Tennessee. The star-studded Rams winning a title at home would literally be a Hollywood ending, but Joe Burrow and his supporting cast can handle this stage. 
2. NO. 9 VS. NO. 9: BURROW NO. 1 
In a quarterback battle of former No. 1 overall picks who also wear the same jersey number, Burrow is the one I trust more. Matthew Stafford is new to playoff success: He was 0-3 with Detroit before this run. Stafford’s story is super, but Burrow just exhibits that "Joe Cool" feel, right? He was sacked nine times – nine times! – by the Titans but still found a way to lead a late win. At KC, he was sacked just once as he used his legs to pick up key first downs that were crucial to the comeback. He’s smart and poised. The 2019 Heisman winner threw for five touchdowns and ran in another one in LSU’s 42-25 win over Clemson in the national title game to complete a perfect season. Yes, this is only Burrow’s second year as a pro, but the 25-year-old has shown the moment won’t be too big for him. 
3. THE POINT SPREAD 
Bengals 19, Titans 16. 
Bengals 27, Kansas City 24 (OT). 
Rams 30, Bucs 27. 
Rams 20, 49ers 17. 
Sensing a pattern? Both teams got here by winning their last two games by three points apiece. In a year full of close matchups, expect the Super Bowl to be another competitive game. Both are well-coached, have young playmakers (how have I not mentioned the Bengals’ dynamic rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase yet?) and unheralded players (hello, Bengals D-line) to make this a true toss-up. So with the likely final score being Rams by 3 or Bengals by 3, getting over a field goal is huge. Extra point: If this game is decided by a big kick, I want the ball lined up for Evan McPherson’s right foot. The rookie is 12-for-12 in the playoffs, including two game-winners. Don’t be surprised if he makes it three in a row. 
THE PICK: BENGALS +4 
Full disclosure: I don’t feel super confident about this game. When the matchup was set, my first instinct was, "How are the Bengals going to stop Aaron Donald and that Rams’ D-line?" But the Bengals have had two weeks to devise a game plan to keep Burrow safe. Expect a lot of early run calls, quick throws and maybe a trick play here or there. Burrow is good against the blitz, too. Speaking of pressure, it’s all on the all-in Rams, especially after they acquired Stafford to take that next step after losing in the Super Bowl with Jared Goff. The most intriguing matchup is on the sidelines, with Sean McVay facing off against his old quarterbacks coach, Zac Taylor. The Bengals’ boss knows him well. The Rams were my pick to win the Super Bowl before the season started, but you should base your pick on the present, not the past. Neither team will run away with this and therefore taking the four points feels like great line value. Burrow’s Bengals have shown they shouldn’t be counted out.

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Super Bowl 2022: 3 reasons to back the Bengals

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LOS ANGELES – Having a freakily photographic memory like Sean McVay is generally a benefit. It allows him to recall situations from games played weeks, months, years ago, ones he was personally involved in and some he wasn’t. Names, faces, emotions, outcomes, he uses that information to formulate game plans and in-game decisions. 
It’s also probably pretty neat for winning bar bets and providing cocktail party entertainment. 
There is a curse to it, though. He doesn’t get to choose what he remembers, so it’s all there. Most of what stems from his five years as head coach of the Rams is good stuff, including 81 regular-season wins and six more in the postseason. But there are also bad memories that linger and rattle around in his soul. 
Chief among them is Super Bowl LIII. 
That was the game in which the Rams lost to the Patriots, 13-3. The game in which the young wunderkind coach was schooled by Bill Belichick and the Rams’ high-octane offense was held to a field goal. It was a game that McVay said, in the immediate aftermath, that he was "outcoached," and later noted how "humbled" he was by it. 
It’s the game he wants to forget but can’t. 
So three years later, all he can do is use it. He’ll try to make the hurt and the pain work for him as he brings the Rams back to the Super Bowl. 
"I think what you do to get over it is you look at yourself in the mirror, you take accountability, and you keep it moving," McVay said this week. "As a competitor you have to be able to handle those tough moments, and I’ll never run away from the fact that I didn’t do a good enough job for our team within what I feel like my role and responsibility is to these guys." 
This time there is no Hall of Fame football robot coaching on the other sideline but instead one of his proteges in Zac Taylor. The quarterback he is opposing, Joe Burrow, is the hottest thing in the NFL right now, but far from as accomplished as Tom Brady was when the Rams faced him three years ago. 
"I think it was a blessing to be in that game," McVay said. "Certainly, you don’t forget about it. You want to be able to do better. But I don’t think you press when you do get another opportunity to be in this moment and this stage again. I think you look at it as a blessing, you take some of those learning lessons, you apply them, and let’s go cut it loose and play to the best of our ability. I’ll coach to the best of my ability as well." 
This year’s Rams are the best team NFL money can buy, a roster built to win now with Super Bowl-or-bust additions that began a year ago with the trade for quarterback Matthew Stafford and continued throughout the season with the acquisitions of Sony Michel, Von Miller, Odell Beckham Jr., and, most recently and perhaps most surprisingly, Eric Weddle. A loss to the Bengals on Sunday would put a serious dent in McVay’s short but already impressive legacy in the NFL. 
The fact that McVay still has a chance to become the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl title on Sunday at age 36 only speaks to how young he was when he tried to do it three years ago. Maybe, too, how much he has learned and grown since then. 
"I think you say, OK, if you had it differently, what are the things that you learn as far as the decision-making, the adjustability, the ability to be totally in the moment during the game and be able to make those adjustments quicker than what we were able to do and how you approach the two weeks of preparation?" he said. "But whether it was a game like that or whether it was a game from a couple weeks ago, you’re always trying to learn, you’re always trying to evolved, and I think you want to be able to learn from previous experiences but not allow it to inhibit your ability to be able to move forward." 
That, after all, is the balance between having complete recall and shackled by it.

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Super Bowl 2022: Rams coach Sean McVay wants to use past title loss to his advantage

McVay wants to use past Super Bowl loss to his advantage

49ers Rams Football

LOS ANGELES — Think of the great pass rushers of today’s NFL, and the names come to mind quickly: T.J. Watt. Aaron Donald. Myles Garrett. Von Miller. 
Mention the name Trey Hendrickson, and it’s more like, "Who’s he?" 
Well, the Bengals’ defensive end happens to be one of the league’s elite when it comes to sacking the quarterback. Even if no one knows it. 
Hendrickson was fifth in the NFL with 14 sacks, and had a streak of 11 straight games with at least half a sack. That’s a remarkable level of consistency at the position, and Hendrickson will be a primary focus of attention for the Rams’ offensive line in protecting quarterback Matthew Stafford in Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium. 
If Hendrickson’s reputation is understated, his speed, power and tenacity are certainly not. He’s a big reason the Bengals’ defense played such a huge part in the team’s AFC North title run and subsequent trip to the team’s first Super Bowl since the 1988 season. 
Their success comes as no surprise to the 27-year-old defensive end, a third-round pick of the Saints out of Florida Atlantic who signed as a free agent with the Bengals during the offseason. 
"We’re a well-oiled machine," he said. "Pretty early on, we knew we could do this. It’s a pretty special culture that’s been created from the top down. I’m blessed to be a part of this team." 
The Bengals aren’t known for free agent splurges, but personnel director Duke Tobin had a conviction on Hendrickson and signed Hendrickson to a four-year, $60 million deal. Hendrickson blossomed with the Saints in 2020 with what was then a career-high 13 ½ sacks. 
Hendrickson had to adjust to the different nuances of the Bengals’ scheme, but he is a student of the game, so the changes came quickly. 
"With the help of the coaches and the players, it’s been a learning experience in learning defenses a little better and what offenses are trying to attack in these defenses," Hendrickson said. "It’s been fun to learn." 
Adapting on the fly is nothing new for Hendrickson, who played tight end in high school in central Florida, but transitioned to the other side of the ball in college. At 6-4, 270 pounds, he is the prototype size for a pass rusher, and his quickness and strength are off-the-charts good. 
He has the mentality to match. 
"I did love playing tight end, but there’s nothing like sacking the quarterback," he said. "Everybody will say touchdowns are the greatest thing." 
Not for Hendrickson. 
"I’ve scored touchdowns, and I’ve sacked quarterbacks," he said. "There’s nothing close to a sack." 
And nothing close to a sack in the Super Bowl.

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Super Bowl 2022: Remember the name Trey Hendrickson, the Bengals' under-the-radar sack specialist

Bengals' Trey Hendrickson an under-the-radar sack specialist

Bengals Chiefs Football

LOS ANGELES — Jalen Ramsey wants what everyone wants: For him to be covering Ja’Marr Chase in the marquee man-to-man matchup of Super Bowl LVI. 
"Of course that's what I'm asking for," the Rams cornerback said of taking on the Bengals’ star rookie wide receiver on Sunday. "That's what I want. Whoever you think their best man is, put me on him. Let me help the team win this game. That's what it's all about." 
Whether he gets the assignment remains a bit of a mystery. Or at least how often he’ll get it does. The Rams are not going to disclose their game plan, and throughout this season they have not used Ramsey to trail the No. 1 opposing wide receiver as often as one might think. 
According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Ramsey's highest shadow rates this season have come since Week 12 and against traditional No. 1 receivers. That includes a season-high 69% against Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans in the NFC divisional round last month and 58% against Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson in Week 16 of the regular season. 
"Jalen is one of one and I would put Jalen on anybody in the history of our game," Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said last week. "That's just how I feel about Jalen." 
Morris would not say whether Ramsey will be locked on Chase, though. 
"We're going to dictate the terms [on Sunday]," he said. "We're going to decide, figure it out, and let the best man win." 
Ramsey said he understands the variables that may take him away from being face-to-face with Chase. 
"There are different areas where we might have to do something different because it might put the team in a better position to win," he said. "Wherever the game may take us it will take us and we are going to do what we've got to do from there." 
But he also promised there will be plenty of times when the Rams’ best cornerback is lined up across from the Bengals’ best receiver in what figures to be one of the best clashes of Super Bowl LVI between two All-Pro players. 
"You're going to get to see that," Ramsey said. "You're going to have the opportunity to see it and I'm going to be ready for it."

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Super Bowl 2022: Will the Ja'Marr Chase be on for Jalen Ramsey? We'll find out Sunday.

Will the Chase be on for Ramsey? We'll find out Sunday.

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Neil Best

Former Newsday paper boy Al Michaels moved from Long Island to Los Angeles as a teenager and long has called Southern California home. 
That fact brings added meaning for him as he prepares to tie Pat Summerall’s record by handling TV play-by-play for his 11th Super Bowl. This year’s game is at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. 
But that is not the only subplot around Michaels’ call. He has been coy about his professional future but widely is expected to hand NBC’s lead NFL play-by-play role to Mike Tirico and/or join Amazon’s new Thursday night team next season. 
Knowing his contract was up after the Super Bowl, Michaels said he decided before the season began not to let his future distract him from enjoying the journey. 
"The minute you start thinking about other things, it takes you away from this," he said. 
Michaels, 77, made it clear he will continue working in some capacity, saying, "I do know one thing: I love what I do, feel great and I’m not ready for a rocking chair or golf. I get to play enough golf."<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50081958" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50081958">stn-nfl-player</a>
 
Michaels will be joined by "Sunday Night Football" analyst Cris Collinsworth and sideline reporters Michele Tafoya (in her final NFL game) and Kathryn Tappen, with officiating analysis by Terry McAulay. 
Michaels broadcast Cincinnati Reds games in the early 1970s and worked the 1972 Athletics-Reds World Series on NBC, a 50-year gap from then to now that he called "crazy." 
Collinsworth, who lives in the Cincinnati area, is one of six players who appeared in both the Bengals’ previous Super Bowls in the 1980s. 
"I’m obviously excited," he said. "I’m human. I can’t help myself. It’s going to be fun. 
"I would have bought a ticket regardless to go watch this game. I just happen to get the best seat in the house to sit next to my partners. What could be better?" 
Tirico, who also is hosting the Winter Olympics, will helm five hours of pregame programming starting at 1 p.m. and will emcee the Lombardi Trophy presentation.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50504587" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50504587">Story Widget Link</a>
 
Maria Taylor will share hosting duties, part of a team of on-air personnel that also includes Drew Brees, Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Chris Simms, Peter King, Michael Smith, Steve Kornacki and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 
NBC said it will deploy a record 27 hosts, analysts and commentators in eight locations for its 20th Super Bowl broadcast and the first on its streaming outlet, Peacock. 
Westwood One will carry the game on radio for the 35th season in a row, with Kevin Harlan on play-by-play, Kurt Warner as his analyst, Gene Steratore as rules analyst and Laura Okmin and Mike Golic as sideline reporters. 
<h3>Golden twist to Super tradition</h3> 
"Super Bowl Sunday" always means many hours of programming tonnage on the covering network. But this is something new: NBC has branded it "Super Gold Sunday." 
Before and after football, NBC will carry events from the <a href="http://newsday.com/olympics">Olympics</a> in Beijing. That includes live gold medal finals in ice dance figure skating and monobob (a single-person bobsled) after the postgame coverage.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50502223" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50502223">Story Widget Link</a>
 
NBC analyst Bree Schaaf told Newsday, "The timing for the women’s monobob is perfect; viewers will transition from the premier sporting event for male strength and speed in the Super Bowl to a women's sport that prioritizes pure strength and speed. 
"Unlike the other sliding sports, monobob uses a standard sled across the field, one that weighs nearly the same as a two-woman sled with a minimum weight of 360 pounds. With the sleds being the same, we will truly see who the strongest, fastest, most skilled driver in women's bobsled is." 
It all <a href="https://www.newsday.com/sports/olympics/2022-olympics-nbc-live-tv-schedule-streaming-peacock-1.50482792">begins at 8 a.m. Eastern from Beijing</a>, then shifts to football at noon with the annual showing of NFL Films’ "Road to the Super Bowl." 
The official pregame show starts at 1 p.m., leading into the kickoff at 6:30 p.m. The Olympics coverage will start around 10:45 p.m., followed by local news at midnight, then a return to the Olympics. 
<h3>Super Bowl prop bets</h3> 
Betting on Super Bowls is as old as the Super Bowl itself. But never has betting on it been as easy (and legal) as it is this year, with <a href="https://www.newsday.com/sports/new-york-mobile-sports-bettings-handle-january-2022-1.50499518">New York’s recent greenlighting of mobile wagering</a>. 
It was the latest and biggest development so far in a process that began in 2018, when the Supreme Court opened the door for states to allow sports gambling. 
So Super Bowl LVI is sure to be the biggest legal sports betting event in American history. 
While U.S.-based books have come up with plenty of creative prop bets for the occasion, some of the funkiest remain the domain of off-shore sites. 
BetOnline’s annual compilation began with a twist: The over/under for Mickey Guyton’s rendition of the national anthem is 95 seconds, the fastest on record. Usually anthem over / unders come in at a bit under two minutes.
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Regarding the color of Ms. Guyton’s outfit, white is the favorite at 5/2. Orange is a 14/1 longshot. 
But orange is a 2/1 favorite as the color of liquid poured on the winning coach’s head. Purple is a 10/1 longshot. 
Will a player do the Bengals’ classic "Ickey Shuffle" during the game? "Yes" is a slight favorite at 5/7 odds. "No" is even money at 1/1. 
<h3>Hip-hop halftime show</h3> 
After featuring The Weeknd last year, the NFL and Pepsi will quintuple-team the halftime show this time, featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Lamar are from the Los Angeles area. 
"The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career," Dr. Dre said in a news release. 
Before the game, Guyton will sing the national anthem, Jhene Aiko "America the Beautiful" and Mary Mary "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
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<h3>The Gaudelli-Esocoff connection</h3> 
NBC producer Fred Gaudelli and director Drew Esocoff will work their seventh Super Bowl together since 2003, when they were with ABC. 
"To have your best friend sitting next to you in one of the great moments in sports and having been able to do it seven times is like seven blessings," Gaudelli said. 
"It’s a lot like how [Bill] Belichick must have felt about [Tom] Brady and Brady must have felt about Belichick, knowing that, hey, everything is going to be covered. No one is going to be rattled. We know how to do this." 
Gaudelli said the 6 p.m. pregame open will feature Halle Berry and include clips of famous football movies as an homage to Hollywood as the big game returns to the Los Angeles area for the first time in 29 years. 
The Super Bowl will be sandwiched by NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympic in Beijing. 
"If you’re an NBC employee, it’s one of the great days in the history of sports," Gaudelli said. 
<h3>Michele Tafoya's final football game</h3> 
While Al Michaels’ NFL announcing future is undetermined, his longtime sideline reporter, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/sports/media/michele-tafoya-nbc-sports-super-bowl-lvi-1.50473760">Michele Tafoya</a>, already has announced plans to move on to other professional pursuits. 
"I’ve worked a lot with this crew, and they are a family of mine," she said. "That's the hard part for me, knowing that the family is going to get a little shakeup here." 
As she spoke about departing and colleagues praised her, Tafoya grew emotional during a conference call with reporters. "I’m so glad this is not a Zoom where people can see me right now," she said. 
Tafoya said, "You get to a certain point and you've chased what you wanted to chase in a particular arena in your life, and there are other things you want to chase. 
"That’s how I feel, and I feel strongly about that. But it’s going to be hard walking out there, leaving these folks." 
<h3>How NBC will handle the Brian Flores lawsuit </h3> 
NBC plans to address and discuss Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL during its pregame show on Sunday, but game producer Fred Gaudelli said it likely would not come up during the game itself unless there is a blowout. 
"[The pregame] is the primary place it’s going to happen," he said, "and probably the only place it’s going to happen on Super Bowl Sunday." 
NBC analyst Tony Dungy, the first Black coach to win a Super Bowl, said of the lack of diversity in the current NFL coaching ranks, "You can put in a lot of policies. You can put in a lot of things to help. But at the end of the day, those 32 owners make the decisions on who they want to hire. 
"There's only 32 jobs. So it's a pretty closed shop, and to get progress, that’s what it's going to take, those men and women stepping up and saying, ‘We're going to look in every direction.’ 
"Fifteen years ago, Lovie Smith and I coached in the Super Bowl against each other. There were some really, really good minority candidates on both of our staffs [with the Colts and Bears], and we thought the NFL was headed in the right direction in minority hiring. Mike Tomlin had just gotten hired by the Steelers. 
"It was an exciting time. We've had some progress, but in the last three to four years that progress has dissipated. So we’ve got to do some things to prick the conscience of the owners." 
<h3>How the Super Bowl simulation played out</h3> 
People are busy. Not everyone has the time or patience to spend 3 ½ hours watching the Super Bowl. 
Good news for those folks from the folks at Glen Head-based Strat-O-Matic: They simulated the game for you and provided advance notice of the final score. 
In Strat-O-Matic’s version, the Rams defeated the Bengals, 27-20, winning on a 5-yard run by Cam Akers with 8:26 left. 
Matthew Stafford was 26-for-31 for 281 yards and two touchdowns – one to former Giant Odell Beckham Jr. Akers’ score capped an 11-play, 94-yard drive for Los Angeles. 
The Bengals’ final possession ended with 22 seconds remaining on a fourth-down sack of Joe Burrow by Aaron Donald at the Cincinnati 15. 
Burrow finished 20-for-45 for 197 yards and a touchdown, and Joe Mixon rushed 16 times for 106 yards.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50502225" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50502225">Story Widget Link</a>
 
<h3>Thanks, Dad</h3> 
NBC analyst Chris Simms played in the NFL and certainly knows the game well, but he believes he would not be where he is today if not for a certain game played in Pasadena, California, 35 years ago. 
That was the next-to-last time before Sunday that the Super Bowl was played in the Los Angeles area, and it was the day his father, Phil, went 22-for-25 for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the Giants’ 39-20 rout of the Broncos. 
Chris recalled that as the moment Phil finally proved to skeptics he was worthy of being the seventh overall pick in the 1979 draft. 
"I just think all of that, it put the Simms family on the map, and of course, it made him more of a household name," Simms said. "It of course was increasing my love of football. At the time, 6 ½ years old, it was just another boost in the direction of, wow, I want to be a part of this, I want to play football. I want to be a part of the NFL. 
"I think that was a moment that was a jump-off spot for me, my family, everything that just got me on this career trajectory . . . Because of my name, the fact that I was a player, my lineage from my dad, all of that, I guess that's where I look at it. I'm fortunate to be here because of NBC, and I think what my dad did is a big part of it." 
Chris said he was the kind of kid who at age 4 knew every name and uniform number in the NFL. 
"I was obsessed," he said. "Even though I was 6 ½, I was very well aware of the magnitude of the moment. I signed my first autograph walking into the game that day. Took me about four minutes to write my name ‘Christopher’ in block letters there on a Super Bowl game day. 
"I was there and totally aware at the moment, too, of just how that was a life-changing thing. I could remember my mom and dad always discussing the Super Bowl even before they were in the game itself and just how important it was to quarterbacks’ careers. 
"So it was a great moment. It was some nail-biting in the first half at 10-9 [for the Broncos], but then the second half they blew it open and Dad got to go to Disney World, which is a cool thing, too."

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Super Bowl Football

The 2022 Super Bowl viewers guide: NBC TV info, streaming, radio, prop bets and more

Neil Best's annual Super Bowl viewers guide

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LOS ANGELES — A piece of Detroit will always remain in Matthew Stafford’s heart. 
The Rams’ quarterback is delighted to be playing in his first Super Bowl, especially after not winning a single playoff game in his 12 seasons with the Lions. But make no mistake: The lessons he learned, the relationships he forged, and the experiences he had in Detroit are a big part of his journey to get this far. 
"I do appreciate so much just everybody’s support, and I know that when I’m out there playing, whether it’s this week in the Super Bowl or any other game, I’m a representation of those experiences that I’ve had with those people [in Detroit]," Stafford said as he prepared for Super Bowl LVI on Sunday against the Bengals at SoFi Stadium. "I feel like every time I step out there on the field, I’m playing for not really myself, but for everybody that’s helped get me there." 
Stafford was the Lions’ No. 1 overall pick out of Georgia in 2009, but the team around him rarely matched his talents. He went 74-90-1 as the Lions’ starter and played for only four winning teams. The Lions made the playoffs three times, but never won a postseason game. 
Yet there was value in the experience. Value that Stafford takes with him to this day, and that helped him through some of the more trying times during his first season in Los Angeles. 
"There was plenty of time in Detroit where we were having a tough stretch of games or I was having a tough quarter or tough half or tough whatever it was, and being able to just trust yourself, trust your preparation and go to work and trust your teammates and all that kind of stuff, it really . . . I still feel and think that way today," Stafford said. 
And when the Rams lost three straight games during the regular season, Stafford used the resilience he developed in Detroit to find a path forward. 
"We had a tough stretch in our season this year in the month of November, and I didn’t play particularly good football," Stafford said. "But we continued to work. We continued to trust each other, continued to understand that the process of us going to work every single day is what’s going to get us out of that. You don’t really learn those things unless you go through some tough times, some tough adversity. And there were some times in Detroit that taught me that and I’ve carried it with me." 
And now, here he is, with a chance to win a Super Bowl. Not just for him, but for those who have been with him along the way.

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Super Bowl 2022: Matthew Stafford reaping benefits from experiencing tough times in Detroit

Stafford reaping benefits from experiencing tough times in Detroit

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith expressed support and empathy — and anger — when he first heard about Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL alleging racial discrimination in the league’s head coach hiring process. 
"I think my first reaction to seeing the suit was probably not much different from my first reaction to seeing the [Jon] Gruden emails," he said of email communication between the former Raiders coach and former Washington team president Bruce Allen, one of which featured racially charged language about Smith. 
"Every time something like this happens, my first thought is always how terrible this is for Coach Flores, everything that happened that leads you to a point where you’ve made a decision that you’re gonna put yourself so much out there where you have proof that people have treated you less than a citizen." 
Flores sued the NFL and the Dolphins, Giants and Broncos, alleging that the league and teams discriminated against him, as well as other Black coaches, during the hiring process. 
"We’re all humans, and yeah, we understand to a certain extent what we’re getting into," Smith said during his annual Super Bowl press briefing. "My continuing thought is just for him and his family." 
Smith flashed back to an instance when he challenged the league’s efforts at diversifying the head coaching position and its use of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching positions, as well as coordinator and executive front office positions. 
"A few years ago, when I called it the ‘Rooney suggestion,’ I was waiting for my car to blow up, right?" he said. "But now we know it’s just a suggestion. And so, going forward, the union and thankfully our players are always going to decide to fight for these issues, just like players have fought against racism and players have fought for social justice." 
Smith expressed frustration at the slow pace of hiring of diverse candidates, and also challenged the league to be more willing to accept suggestions aimed at improving the situation. 
"We have asked the NFL if we could have coaches of color who are active coaches in the NFL to be head coaches for our Collegiate Bowl all-star game]," Smith said. "Why? Because I know that some of those coaches who might be coordinators or other assistants who would love to have a head coaching position on their resume. The league won’t let us use or hire active coaches for our game. Well, that makes no sense to me."

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DeMaurice Smith conveys frustration at slow pace of hiring of diverse candidates

Smith conveys frustration at slow pace of hiring of diverse candidates

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LOS ANGELES — Ever since the moment he stood amid the confetti and was named MVP of Super Bowl 50 some six years ago, having led the Broncos’ defense to a victory over the Panthers, Von Miller has been trying to top that achievement. 
Now he has a real chance to do it. 
"I remember telling you guys I don’t want Super Bowl 50 to be the highlight of my career," he said to reporters Wednesday as he and the Rams, the team he was traded to in November, prepare to face the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. "To be honest it just might be, it just might be, you know what I mean? It just might be that we won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning, DeMarcus [Ware]. 
"But I’m hoping this Super Bowl will be just as high." 
If he can duplicate or surpass what he did last time on this stage, when his 2 ½ sacks of Cam Newton were so dominant that they overshadowed even what was widely recognized as the final game of Peyton Manning’s career, Miller could make history. He could become the first two-time Super Bowl MVP to win the award in two different uniforms and the first defensive player to ever win it twice. Given the Bengals’ struggles to protect Joe Burrow all season long (he was sacked a league-high 51 times in the regular season and another 12 times in three postseason games so far), he has a better chance than most to make that kind of impact on Sunday’s festivities. 
That MVP accolade Miller has been trying to beat is one of the reasons why the Rams traded for him. They are a team that has many players who participated in their own Super Bowl three years ago and lost to the Patriots. They changed some of their parts — quarterback being the most noticeable with a big trade last offseason for Matthew Stafford — but still wanted to add someone who had been to the pinnacle they had not yet reached. 
"Absolutely that matters the way he played in those moments when they won the Super Bowl in Denver," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "Guys believe in that. His track record speaks for itself. His work, his résumé, the way he carries himself, it demands respect." 
It’s also brought some energy to a grind that has been going hard since late July when the Rams reported to training camp. Adding Miller in the middle of the season gave the team a lift. 
"I just try to sense when guys are not feeling it and try to uplift the guys," he said. "I’m a fun guy. Like Kawhi Leonard, I’m a fun guy, I like to have fun . . . I like to have positive energy. I like to have a good time and I like to be around people in the locker room. I’m an entertainer. I love telling jokes and keep the spirit high and I definitely think that I brought some positive energy to this team." 
He brought the sacks with him, too. Seven in his 11 games with the Rams. 
"I still feel like I’m the guy that has to go out there and win the game for my teammates," Miller said. "I still feel like I’m the quarterback. I still feel like I hold all the weight to go out there and win the game. That’s how I want it. That’s just the way I look at it . . . Have success rushing the passer, that’s why I’m here." 
That, and maybe to outdo what for many players would be the apex of their careers. 
"I’m hoping my performance [Sunday] will be the same [as in Super Bowl 50]," he said. "I’m hoping these two Super Bowls will be the highlight of my career, that I can point to these two Super Bowls and talk about them with my son when he’s older . . . I don’t want Super Bowl 50 to be the highlight of my career, I’m hoping that 56 is the highlight of my career. 
"It’s the biggest game of my life and I want to go out there and play that way."

SPRAMS2201210

Super Bowl 2022: Rams' Von Miller looking ahead to more Super Bowl glory

Rams' Von Miller looking ahead to more Super Bowl glory

LOS ANGELES – So much for getting to stay home for the Super Bowl. 
The Rams are going to take their practice on the road Thursday and work out in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena due to the high winds that have descended on their headquarters at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks (northwest of Los Angeles and more than an hour’s drive from Pasadena). The fabled site will provide some protection against the gusts that are forecast to reach 60 mph in some areas. 
"If that’s the biggest inconvenience of playing the Super Bowl at home, that we have to get on a bus — and we do that pretty regularly anyway going down to SoFi -- our guys will handle that great," Rams coach Sean McVay said on Wednesday. 
The team does not have an indoor facility at Cal Lutheran. Being in Southern California it’s rarely needed, and when it is the Rams normally just make the trip to their home stadium. This week, though, SoFi Stadium is being gussied up for Sunday’s big event so the Rams had to find another venue. 
The Rose Bowl last hosted the Rams in 1980 when they lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. At that time, the Rams played their home games at the Los Angeles Coliseum. 
As for the Bengals, they arrived on Tuesday from Cincinnati where they too lack an indoor practice facility. They are spending the week based at UCLA and using that school’s $65 million Wasserman Football Complex that opened in 2017. 
Notes &amp; quotes: Maybe it was having to shout over those winds on Wednesday that made McVay sound as if he’d swallowed a cactus. "I feel great, I just sound like (expletive)," he said through the rasp in his voice. "(Tuesday) I was in my office for a minute and I went to go talk to some of the coaches, I sounded like this, and I was like ‘What the hell happened?’ I got the honey, I got all the remedies going, and I’ll get my voice back" … The Rams had a walk-through practice on Wednesday. TE Tyler Higbee (knee) and OL Joe Noteboom (pectoral) were the only players listed as non-participants.

spRSIDE220210

Super Bowl 2022: Winds of change force Rams to move practice site

Winds of change force Rams to move practice site

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell admitted Wednesday the league has failed to make meaningful progress in its efforts to diversify head coaching positions and vowed to seek alternative methods in addition to or in place of the Rooney Rule to achieve more equity. 
Goodell said the league had "really focused to try to get the kind of results that we would expect, and we fell short … by a long shot" during remarks at his annual State of the NFL news conference preceding Super Bowl LVI. 
Last week, former Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who was fired after two winning seasons, filed suit against the NFL, alleging discriminatory practices in its hiring process after he was passed over for the Giants’ head coaching job as well as all other vacant positions. There were nine openings in the current hiring cycle, and two positions were filled by diverse candidates – Lovie Smith in Houston and Mike McDaniel, who is multiracial, in Miami. Mike Tomlin of the Steelers is the only other Black coach. 
Goodell said the league will consider changes to the Rooney Rule or will consider abolishing it entirely if a better plan is seen as more beneficial. The rule requires teams to interview minority candidates for all head coach, coordinator and lead executive positions. 
"I don't think you take anything off the table until you have people look at that, help us independently say, ‘Is there something flawed with our process?’" he said. "And if there is, what can we do to resolve and fix that? 
"So what we’re going to do is step back and look at everything we’re doing today," he said. "What can we do to resolve that and fix that? Everything from looking at the Rooney Rule and seeing what changes should be made to that – if any changes – or should it be removed, which some people have suggested. All of those things are part of that." 
Goodell, in a letter to NFL owners and chief executives issued on Saturday, said he acknowledged that many of Flores’ concerns about hiring practices were valid, especially when placed against the backdrop of the league’s failure to add diversity at the head coaching position in recent years. And he said Wednesday that the league will not accept racism in its hiring practices. 
"We won’t tolerate racism, we won’t tolerate discrimination," he said. "If there are policies that we need to modify, we’re going to do that. If we see evidence of discrimination, we will deal with that in a very serious way." 
Goodell also said the league would investigate Flores’ claim that he was offered $100,000 by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross for every game he lost during the 2019 season as a way to secure a better draft pick the following season. 
"I found all of the allegations, whether they’re based on racism or discrimination, or the integrity of our game, all of those to me were very disturbing," Goodell said. "They are very serious matters to us on all levels, and we need to make sure we get to the bottom of all of them. Integrity of the game is obviously an important element. We are going to look into that. We are going to make sure if there were violations, they won’t be tolerated." 
Goodell wouldn’t speculate on what penalties might be levied if Flores’ allegations are true about the financial enticements to lose. 
"When we know what those facts are and the impact they have on our game," he said, "we’ll deal with it very seriously." He added that he believes that "clubs do have the authority" to remove an owner if it is determined that his or her behavior warrants such a penalty. Former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was forced to sell his team in 2018 in the wake of workplace misconduct charges directly involving the owner himself. 
Asked why the league has also been slow to hire people of color in key decision-making roles at the NFL executive level, including its media conglomerate, Goodell said he is adamant about improving that record. 
‘We believe in diversity, we believe in it as a value, we believe it’s made us stronger, how people have come into the league who are diverse have been very successful and made us better and we just have to do a better job," he said. "I think what we have to do is just continue and find and look and step back and say, ‘We’re not doing a good enough job here.’ We need to find better solutions and better outcomes." 
Goodell said he takes personal responsibility for hiring issues on his watch, as well as a shared responsibility to do better. 
"The single responsibility comes on all of us in the NFL and we have to be the ones that make that change and we are the ones that have to make sure we bring diversity deeper into our NFL and make the NFL an inclusive and diverse organization that allows everyone the opportunity to be successful," he said. 
Goodell said the league would investigate accusations of workplace harassment by Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder. The allegations were discussed at a Congressional hearing involving the NFL’s handling of its investigation into workplace misconduct with Snyder’s team. 
The Commanders announced Wednesday morning that the team had hired an outside investigator to look into former team employee Tiffani Johnston’s claim that Snyder acted inappropriately with her at a team dinner more than a decade ago. Johnston recounted her experiences at the hearing. Within hours, the NFL announced that it would handle the investigation and not the team. 
"I do not see any way that a team can do its own investigation of itself," Goodell said. "That's something we would do. We would do it with an outside expert that would be able to help us come to the conclusion of what the facts were."

SPGOOD220210

Roger Goodell says NFL has failed in effort to diversify head coaches

Goodell says NFL has failed in effort to diversify head coaches

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Eli Apple and Odell Beckham, Jr. had rocky times in New York and unceremonious exits from the Giants. On Sunday, the two will be lining up against each other in Super Bowl LVI. 
Apple, the Bengals cornerback, is looking forward to seeing Beckham and trying to shut down the Rams’ gifted receiver. Apple said he and Beckham "have a pretty good relationship." Apple credits Beckham for helping prepare him in practice early in his career for what he would face each week playing corner in the NFL. 
"He really taught me what I can expect my first day going against him as a rookie," Apple said. "He helped mold me and helped my confidence. Even off the field, he’s a great guy, always somebody I could talk to." 
Apple said Beckham was the first person to text him when he got drafted. 
"He gave out that hand for me where he’s like reach out," Apple said. "He’s been like that even after I left the Giants. Somebody I love, somebody I definitely truly appreciate everything he’s done. Now we got to compete. I can’t wait. I can’t wait for that." 
The Giants selected Apple with the 10th pick in 2016, two years after taking Beckham. Apple was gone 2 ½ years later after a tumultuous time with the Giants. 
He was fined for tweeting during a game, suspended for "a pattern of behavior that is conduct detrimental to the team" and was called "a cancer" by former Giant Landon Collins. The Giants traded Apple to the Saints in October of 2018. 
Apple was asked about his time as a Giant on Wednesday. He kept it very vague and tried to be positive." 
"It was a learning experience," he said. "We had great times. Some things happened after that. Just a lot to learn from. It was fun, though. I met a lot of great people, a lot of great teammates. I enjoyed it." 
Apple took this tack throughout his Super Bowl Zoom call when other things were brought up, including his tweets and his short time with the Panthers last year. They waived him in the middle of the season. 
After the Bengals advanced to the AFC Championship Game, Apple trolled the Giants and Saints fan bases on Twitter. He tweeted that he doesn’t know "which fan base I hate more." He then said Saints but called it "a toss up." 
The Bengals seem to have accepted Apple and all that comes with him. His Cincinnati position coaches speak highly of him and how quickly he’s fit in. Apple praises them for letting him have input. 
"The coaches have been able to adapt to me a little bit," Apple said. "Most coaches are so strict and too much on to themselves where they’re just, ‘You got to do everything my way.’ They’re open to suggestions. To me, they’re the best with that that I’ve been around." 
Apple’s teammates talk about his "edge," "swagger" and "mean streak," and that it’s important to have those things to play cornerback. 
"He’s a really special talent," said defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who also played with Apple in New Orleans. "He can go toe-to-toe with anyone in this league." 
When Apple is lined up against Beckham, Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, who was the Giants’ secondary coach in 2018, hopes that familiarity leads to success. 
"I hope it helps," Anarumo said. "They did go against each other a lot in OTAs, training camp, one-on-ones, things like that. Odell is a great player. Eli is playing with a ton of confidence right now. … I'm just proud of the way he has come in this year and helped us get to where we are at today. We wouldn't be here without him. I'm very proud of him." 
Apple had a huge play in the AFC Championship in Kansas City that definitely changed the game. He tackled Tyreek Hill short of the goal line just before time ran out in the second quarter. It kept the score 21-10. Cincinnati won the game 27-24. 
Apple hopes to have a similar impact in the Super Bowl for the Bengals coaches because they have trusted him. 
"I want to put all my focus on this game and reward them with all the faith that they’ve put in me all year to let me do what I can to get to this point," Apple said. "It’s been a whole collaborative team effort. We just want to end it the best way we know how to – that’s with a win."

SPBENG2201210

Super Bowl 2022: Former Giants teammates Eli Apple and Odell Beckham Jr. will be friendly rivals

Apple and Beckham will be friendly rivals in Super Bowl

B.J. Hill was filled with emotions when got word that the Giants were trading him in late August, but when the defensive tackle learned that he was going to the Bengals he started to feel better. 
Cincinnati wasn’t expected to be in the Super Bowl at the time. Few probably picked the Bengals to even make the playoffs. For Hill, though, he found comfort in knowing he was reuniting with his college roommate Germaine Pratt and would be playing for defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, a former Giants secondary coach. 
"When I found out I was going to be traded, I was down because I didn’t want to leave," Hill said. "I knew this place going on four years. When I heard Cincinnati it was perfect. I knew coach Lou, my guy Germaine Pratt. I fit in perfectly. They made it easy with the transition, getting to learn the playbook. It was a great, great trade." 
The Bengals sure think so. 
Hill, a third-round pick of the Giants in 2018, had 5 ½ sacks this season and has recorded 1 ½ in the playoffs. In the AFC Championship, Hill tipped a Patrick Mahomes’ pass and then intercepted it, setting up the game-tying touchdown late in the third quarter. 
Hill said he replayed that pick "quite a bit" last week in his head, but the defensive tackle has turned his all of his attention this week to preparing to face the Rams. 
"I don’t care who makes the play this week," Hill said. "I just want a play to be made." 
Hill played well as a rookie with the Giants, registering 5.5 sacks. His snap counts and production went down from there as the Giants built up that line. He had one sack in each of the next two seasons. 
The Giants shipped Hill to Cincinnati just before they had to make roster cuts for offensive lineman Billy Price. Hill said he still speaks to or texts with a lot of his old Giants teammates, including Dexter Lawrence ("every other day"), Leonard Williams, Austin Jackson, Saquon Barkley, Darius Slayton and James Bradberry. 
"They hit me up and tell me congratulations all the time," Hill said. "They just tell me good job, keep going and bring it home. They supported me and I’m thankful for that." 
Parade talk 
Bengals coach Zac Taylor doesn’t want his players venturing out much during their time in Los Angeles and risk getting COVID and being unable to play Sunday. 
Taylor said, "My message to the team has been the most important thing is winning this game on Sunday and that the parade, I promise you, will be a lot more fun than any event or any dinner you can go to this week." 
Optimistic on Uzomah 
Taylor is "optimistic about the progress" tight end C.J. Uzomah has made and he should practice some on Thursday. Uzomah was carted off in the first quarter of the AFC Championship after spraining his MCL.

spBSIDE220210

Super Bowl 2022: Trade from Giants to Bengals worked out well for B.J. Hill

Trade from Giants to Bengals worked out well for Hill

Joe Burrow may lead the NFL in nicknames. He hopes everyone will be able to call him Super Bowl champ on Sunday night. 
Burrow has quickly established himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in the league. He’s sparked the Bengals’ turnaround from two wins in 2020 — the season before they drafted Burrow No. 1 overall — to playing in Super Bowl LVI against the Rams on Sunday. 
Along the way, everything Burrow has done has received a lot of attention and fanfare: his clothes and style, the bling he wears, the Cartier sunglasses, smoking cigars after victories and his "Get the Gat" dance with cigar in mouth in the locker room after the Bengals clinched the AFC North. 
All of this has led to Burrow garnering numerous monikers, including Joe Cool, Joe Brrr, Joe Sheisty, Joey Franchise, Smokin’ Joe, Jackpot Joey, The Tiger King, and of course, Joey B. Which is his favorite? 
"I don't know. I have a lot of them," Burrow said. "Just call me Joe. Whatever anybody wants to call me is OK with me." 
That response would seem to indicate that Joe Cool is the most fitting. Burrow is unbelievably calm and poised for someone in only his second NFL season. 
Burrow withstood nine sacks against the Titans in the divisional round and led the Bengals to the win. He brought them back from 21-3 down in Kansas City to win the AFC Championship. 
Maybe Joey Comeback should be added to the list. 
Burrow has led the Bengals’ remarkable rebirth from one of the NFL’s worst franchises to one win away from their first Super Bowl championship. 
When Burrow was coming out of LSU after leading the Tigers to the national championship, there were people who said he should tell the Bengals not to take him with the No. 1 pick because he wouldn’t play for the perennial losers. Burrow said that was never a consideration. 
"I never thought about telling the Bengals not to draft me," Burrow said. "I was just happy to be in the position that I was in. Being the potential No. 1 pick, that was exciting for me. I would never throw that opportunity away." 
Burrow tore his ACL in Week 11 of the 2020 season, but he came back with a vengeance in Year 2. He threw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns and led the NFL with a completion percentage of 70.4. 
"He’s like a magician out there when he’s commanding us and telling us what’s going on and what he’s feeling when we’re going against defenses," receiver Tyler Boyd said. "He makes our job easier." 
Burrow led the Bengals to their first playoff victory in 31 years and their first Super Bowl in 33. Next, he will try to do what Ken Anderson and Boomer Esiason couldn’t in the Bengals’ previous two trips to the big game — win the Super Bowl. 
"We’ve never even spoken about the playoff drought once this whole season," Burrow said. "We have a really young team that doesn’t really understand the historical significance of what we’re doing. We’re just out there playing football and getting better doing it." 
Coach Zac Taylor credits Cincinnati’s de facto GM Duke Tobin, the director of player personnel, for assembling this roster. Taylor concedes, though, that Burrow’s ability and presence have ignited the Bengals. 
"We've got really good talent on this team, really good football character, and when you believe that your quarterback can take you the distance, it allows everybody just to play that one percent better," Taylor said. 
"They know that trigger man is capable of doing some really special things. He’s helped us to take us to these heights. We have a lot of confidence in him. He’s got a lot of confidence in himself. It’s fun to be a part of." 
Taylor was asked to describe Burrow’s swag. He said he’s not hip enough to do that, but Burrow has become a cult figure in Cincinnati and in the Taylor household. 
"My sons buy the sunglasses, the 10-dollar version at least," Taylor said. "He’s made a statement on our youth around this city and probably around the country. There’s going to be a lot of kids emulating him. 
"I would imagine nine to 10 months from now there’s going to be a lot of babies named Joe as well."

spBENG220209

Super Bowl 2022: Bengals QB Joe Burrow playing with a swagger and making nicknames for himself

Burrow playing with a swagger and making nicknames for himself

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LOS ANGELES — Andrew Whitworth is the oldest player in the NFL. 
It’s a designation that may last only one game. 
The 40-year-old offensive tackle for the Rams took that title when 44-year-old Tom Brady announced his retirement last week. Whitworth hasn’t made a decision on his future yet, but with his team in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday facing his former team, the Bengals, where he spent the first 11 seasons of his 16-year career, he’s been talking openly and candidly about how special an ending this could be. 
"It’s like my heart is with both organizations. I’ve put my heart and soul into both places," Whitworth said this week. "To be in this moment and enjoying it and taking it all in, it’s almost like a storybook to have this opportunity for what could possibly, at my age, be my last game. It couldn’t be more special to me and my whole family." 
He’s been around so long and made such an impact on a generation of players that this season he faced Lions rookie linebacker Derrick Barnes, who grew up just outside Cincinnati and was mentored by Whitworth as a 10-year-old at a local Boys &amp; Girls Club there. 
"It's neat for me to go out on the football field and most weeks I’m facing some 22-, 26-, 28-year-old defensive end who thinks that nothing can faze him," Whitworth said. "When they get hit, they feel fine . . . And I'm going out there, just trying to put my body together enough to make it through the game and still get my job done. That's so much fun." 
There are some things he is looking forward to in retirement. He said he wants to be able to clap back at Rams coach Sean McVay, who, at 36, is four years younger than him but also his boss. 
"If I do end up retiring after this game, that may be one of the first things I'll enjoy the most is I get to fire back a little bit at the boss man," Whitworth said. 
He also is getting a little tired of the old jokes, though he sees them as a badge of honor. 
One thing he does seem to enjoy about his longevity in the league is being able to pass knowledge and inspiration onto a next generation of players. One of them is Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. 
In December 2020 when Whitworth was recovering from a torn MCL and Burrow a torn ACL, the two LSU products spent some time together at Whitworth’s home. Burrow had his surgery performed by Rams team physician Neal El Attrache and was in Los Angeles for a good portion of his rehab. 
"I had him over on a Sunday, the old man on crutches and the young man on crutches," Whitworth said. "Had a good meal and spent the whole day together watching football games. It was really fun." 
It sparked a genuine friendship. They wound up watching games together regularly and even celebrated their birthdays at Whitworth’s home; one of them his 39th and the other his 24th. 
"That was kind of a cool thing that he did for me, reaching out to me and making the rehab process a little easier," Burrow said. "Being in California, away from a lot of people who were close to me, he kind of took me in and we had some good times hanging out, watching football, and talking about the Bengals and LSU and all that. So he’s become a good friend." 
When the Rams won the NFC title last week, Burrow was one of the first people Whitworth texted. 
"I said: ‘Who would have thought hanging out in that room, you and I last December, that here we are both playing in the Super Bowl a year later,’ " Whitworth said. "It was neat for us to have a moment like that and cultivate a relationship I think will continue for a long while." 
And it’s just another reason why Super Bowl LIV will feel like a victory for Whitworth no matter who actually wins the game. Possibly his last game. 
"Man, if it is it," Whitworth said, "it would be one heck of a way to end it."

SPRAMS220209

Super Bowl 2022: Rams vs. Bengals bookends storybook career for 40-year-old Andrew Whitworth

Rams vs. Bengals bookends storybook career for veteran Whitworth 

LOS ANGELES — Cooper Kupp has emerged as one of the NFL’s most dominant receivers, one of only five unanimous All-Pro selections on The Associated Press ballot after achieving the rare "Triple Crown" crown in leading the NFL in catches (145), yards (1,947) and touchdowns (16). But if you’re looking for a measure of just how overlooked Kupp remains despite his accomplishments, consider this: He’s not even the most widely known receiver on his own team. 
That distinction belongs to Odell Beckham Jr., the gifted yet controversial former Giants receiver whose dazzling one-handed catch in prime time as a rookie in 2014 catapulted him to stardom but also signaled the beginning of a tumultuous career that played out on back pages and sports talk shows. Beckham joined the Rams in November after Robert Woods went down with a season-ending knee injury and has been a significant contributor in the Super Bowl run. 
But it’s Kupp who is the real engine of the receiving game, and his understated demeanor belies the dazzling contributions to the Rams’ offense. 
"We’d have no chance of being here today [in the Super Bowl] without Cooper Kupp," Rams coach Sean McVay said. 
No doubt. 
After a spectacular regular season, during which he gained traction as a potential MVP candidate, Kupp has been splendid in the playoffs. He helped the Rams to a 20-17 comeback win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game with 11 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
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And a week earlier, he had nine catches for 183 yards and a touchdown in a stirring 30-27 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers, including a clutch reception on the game-winning drive after Tom Brady brought Tampa back to a 27-27 tie. 
That play exemplified what Kupp is all about. He was assigned to run a deep post route and wasn’t Matthew Stafford’s primary target. Kupp called it a "love of the game" pattern because it doesn’t lead to personal acclaim but does set the stage for a teammate’s success. Only this time, Kupp and Stafford realized that the Bucs had blitzed on the play, leaving him wide open down the middle. Stafford fired off a deep pass, Kupp lunged for the ball and got inside the Buccaneers' 10 to set up the deciding field goal. 
"You’re rarely getting the ball thrown to you," Kupp said. "You’re really just trying to pull people out for the other routes that are happening around you, so we just call it a ‘love of the game’ route."
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In the NFC title game, Kupp helped bring the Rams back from a 17-7 deficit, and his clutch catch on a third-down play in the fourth quarter led to his tying touchdown catch. 
For all that brilliance, though, Kupp still doesn’t get the kind of attention of many of the more widely known members in the wide receiver community. Like Beckham. But his fellow receivers know Kupp is in elite company. And has been for a long time. They see his speed, his cutting ability, his toughness. And they also see how he recovered from a torn ACL he suffered in November 2018 to once again dominate the league. 
There was the time in 2020 when Packers All-Pro receiver Davante Adams, often considered the league’s greatest receiver, watched Kupp produce 11 catches for 145 yards in a game against the Bucs. "Cooper Kupp is the most underrated receiver in the league," Adams tweeted.<a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50503045" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50503045">spGLAUB220209_blurb</a>
 
Even after his "Triple Crown" accomplishment during the regular season, Kupp still manages to slide under the radar. But McVay has known about Kupp’s value for years. And as a former high school receiver, McVay can attest to just how astonishing Kupp truly is. 
"I’m jealous I couldn’t do what he did," McVay said. "He’s incredible, he really is. Players like that are why you coach — to be able to work with such special people that are really just amazing human beings and also happen to be really special, unique football players as well." 
And maybe McVay has an inkling why Kupp might not be as celebrated as some other high-profile receivers. 
"He’s so modest," McVay said. "He goes right back to work and is so steady and consistent with his approach." 
Kupp’s journey to the top of the NFL receiving charts began quietly. Even though he was an All-American at Eastern Washington, he lasted until the third round of the 2017 draft. He became a big factor in the passing game the following year, but the knee injury kept him out of the team’s Super Bowl run, which ended with a loss to the Patriots. 
He’s back this time, and could be the difference maker that gives the Rams the winning edge. Bengals coach Zac Taylor, who was a Rams’ assistant and coached Kupp before going to Cincinnati in 2019, knows firsthand just how dangerous he can be. 
"Coop’s a big-picture thinker," Taylor said. "He really understands the structure of the defenses, the nuances of the route running. He cares about the run game as well. There’s oftentimes he would screenshot pictures of defenses with run thoughts. You would wake up the next morning to a midnight text from Cooper Kupp with thoughts on things that could help the offense." 
Special guy. And maybe by the time Sunday’s game ends, more of America will know just how special.

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Watch every catch by Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp from the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers.


Watch Cooper Kupp's highlights from the NFC Championship Game

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp gets wide open to set the Rams up for a game-winning field goal in the NFC divisional round against Tampa Bay.


Can't-Miss Play: Cooper Kupp gets wide open to set Rams up for game-winning FG

Cooper Kupp gets wide open to set Rams up for game-winning FG

Super Bowl 2022: Cooper Kupp gets overlooked, even after winning Triple Crown for receivers

Cooper Kupp gets overlooked, even after winning Triple Crown for receivers

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LOS ANGELES — LSU will be well-represented in Super Bowl LVI, with Odell Beckham Jr. of the Rams facing off against Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase of the Bengals. As far as Beckham is concerned, it’s time for payback of sorts. 
"Definitely a big LSU weekend," the Rams receiver said Monday during his Super Bowl media availability. "I feel like they got their rings, their trophies. This is one the Rams need." 
The ring Beckham referred to was LSU’s national championship bling from the Tigers’ 42-25 win over Clemson on Jan. 13, 2020, in New Orleans, a game in which Burrow capped his Heisman Trophy season and Chase had 221 receiving yards and two touchdowns. 
"They’re born winners," Beckham said of Burrow and Chase. "I always knew we would see ’em again. Never could it be better than this." 
Beckham was involved in controversy after that game, when he was seen on the field handing out cash to some LSU players. He received a two-year ban from the school. 
"I got in a little trouble at the national championship," he said. "I was banned from LSU, so they got their rings and all that. Now it’s our turn to get ours. That’s the mindset I have to have all week. This is not going to be an easy task." 
Beckham found a new home with the Rams after being released by the Browns in November. Several teams were interested in the 29-year-old receiver before he settled on Los Angeles. Among the teams to recruit him the most: the Packers, the Patriots and Kansas City. 
"Just something about this place that called," he said. "It just felt right in my heart. Just knowing that I’m going to come here and we’re going to the Super Bowl when you get there, it’s still a little surreal and mind-blowing. Yep, we really are here. Now the ultimate focus is one game." 
Beckham has played in the NFL’s two largest markets — Los Angeles and New York. He was drafted by the Giants and enjoyed a meteoric rise but also experienced plenty of controversy with his on- and off-field antics. Which place is more intense? 
"New York is a different fan base than L.A. is," he said, "so it could be more in New York." 
But Beckham also acknowledges he’s calmer now than he was during his Giants career. 
"You were carrying other people’s problems, and it was weighing me down," he said. "It could have been the reason I got injured time after time. There was a time when I tried to prove people wrong instead of proving myself right. Just less [negative] energy I’m carrying."

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From LSU to Super Bowl 2022: Odell Beckham Jr. salutes Joe Burrow and JaMarr Chase

From LSU to Super Bowl: OBJ salutes Burrow and Chase

Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah was carted off the field in the first quarter of the AFC Championship Game with a knee injury. He hasn’t been cleared to play in the Super Bowl, but he sounds like someone who won’t let anything stop him. 
"To me, I’m like, I’m not missing the biggest game of my life. Like I’m not missing it," Uzomah said on Monday. "That’s my approach going into every day of rehab." 
Uzomah suffered a sprained MCL after playing only nine snaps in Kansas City. He had tears in his eyes as he was carted off because he couldn’t finish the game. 
The Bengals’ longest-tenured player on offense, Uzomah has been rehabbing around the clock to try to be ready for Sunday’s game against the Rams. He’s one of the few Bengals remaining from the franchise’s last playoff team. Uzomah was a rookie in 2015 when Cincinnati went 12-4 and won the division title. 
"It’s the Super Bowl," he said. "I’m doing everything I can." 
Uzomah has been working with Bengals director of rehab and performance Nick Cosgray and said he feels "really, really good." 
When he was asked if he expects to play, he said, "In my mind, yes. But for the sake of everyone else, I’m just going to say day-to-day." 
If he does play, how effective he will be remains to be seen, but he has been a valuable and vital part of the Bengals’ dynamic offense this season. 
Defenses have game-planned to try to limit receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and running back Joe Mixon. Uzomah was a nice security blanket for quarterback Joe Burrow. 
Uzomah set career highs with 49 receptions for 493 yards and five touchdowns. In Cincinnati’s first two playoff games, he caught 13 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown. 
After getting injured against Kansas City, Uzomah returned to the sideline on crutches to be there for his teammates in any way possible. He was elated that the Bengals won and was able to celebrate with the rest of the players. 
Uzomah said later that night, he reflected on what he and the organization had gone through to reach this point. 
"I went to bed with a smile on my face," he said. "We’re playing in the freaking Super Bowl. That is sick. That is so sick. I definitely had a little kid in me at the end of the night." 
That’s why it’s going to be difficult to keep Uzomah from playing Sunday. He said he will continue to rehab tirelessly to make sure he’s ready. 
"If I wake up and it’s a little sore, it doesn’t matter," he said. "Right when I get in the building, right when I put my feet on the ground, it’s go time. Let’s get this rehab going, let’s do everything I can to make sure I’m ready and available to play. That’s kind of where my mind is."

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Super Bowl 2022: Despite injury, Bengals' C.J. Uzomah vows to play

Super Bowl 2022: Despite injury, Bengals' Uzomah vows to play

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LOS ANGELES 
The NFL’s most successful coaching trees are built over years — decades, even — and the results often are mixed. 
San Francisco 49ers legend Bill Walsh has arguably the most fruitful sideline progeny, with Super Bowl-winning coaches on just about every branch — George Seifert, Mike Holmgren and Mike Shanahan among them. 
Bill Parcells, the first Giants coach to win a Super Bowl, counts Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin and Sean Payton among his greatest former assistants. 
And Belichick himself is now a coaching forefather of many head coaches, although their success when they left New England has been muted. 
Enter Sean McVay, who turned 36 two weeks ago but whose coaching tree has grown at warp speed. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen: a coach this young with this many former assistants getting a shot to run their own teams. Included in that group: Bengals coach Zac Taylor, a former Rams quarterbacks coach who will face his former boss Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI. 
McVay became the NFL’s youngest head coach ever when general manager Les Snead took a gamble on the former Shanahan assistant in Washington. Not only have the Rams grown into a two-time Super Bowl participant on McVay’s watch, but the grandson of one-time Giants head coach John McVay is producing head coaches for other teams at a dizzying pace. 
There’s Taylor, who in three years has gotten the Bengals to the Super Bowl, thanks in part to his development of quarterback Joe Burrow, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. And Matt LaFleur, who has led the Packers to the playoffs in all three seasons since taking over for Mike McCarthy. 
Brandon Staley, McVay’s defensive coordinator in 2020, was hired by the Chargers in 2021. Current Rams offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell is expected to become the Vikings’ coach after the Super Bowl. And defensive coordinator Raheem Morris, a former head coach in Tampa, interviewed for some head-coaching vacancies, although he doesn’t appear likely to get any of the remaining available jobs. <a data-onecms-id="contentid/storywidget.1.50502084" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="#/content/contentid/storywidget.1.50502084">Story Widget Link</a>
 
It’s almost gotten to the point that if you work under McVay, your chances for a head-coaching opportunity increase exponentially. Or, as Taylor likes to say, all you need to do is have a cup of coffee with the Rams’ coach and you’re on your way. 
"There’s a ton of truth to that," said Taylor, who literally met McVay over a cup of coffee before he was hired for the Rams’ staff. "Because if you spend time around the guy, he gives you a ton of confidence in yourself. 
"He’s really shown a lot of young guys that you can do it in your own way. It doesn’t have to be the way it’s always been done for the last 20 years around the league. He was very open about how he did things, why he made certain decisions." 
McVay will look to destroy Taylor when it comes to matching wits in Sunday’s game. McVay is coaching in the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, with his other appearance resulting in a loss to the Patriots in Tom Brady’s final Super Bowl run in New England. 
McVay and Taylor, 38, will make history in this one: It will be the first time that two men under 40 years of age will be head coaches in the Super Bowl. 
"I’m glad we’re going against each other, but we’re going to do everything in our power to finish this off," McVay said. "And I know [Taylor] feels the same way." 
Taylor said his time working under McVay was "the best two years of my life. It was fun. You loved coming into the building." 
McVay now sees a lot of himself in Taylor. 
"I think that team plays with a swagger and a confidence similar to the way Zac carries himself," McVay said. 
If there’s a reason so many coaches who work under McVay earn bigger opportunities, it has a lot to do with the environment he creates. 
"I think it is important to be intentional about identifying the greatest coaches that you can, to be able to have a positive environment where we’re pushing each other in the right way," he said. "You want to be around ambitious people." 
There are few with more ambition than McVay, a former high school quarterback in Georgia who got his first coaching gig in 2008 with Jon Gruden’s Buccaneers. After a year as wide receivers coach with the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League, McVay worked on Mike Shanahan’s staff in Washington alongside Shanahan’s son Kyle, who went on to become the 49ers’ head coach in 2017. That’s the same year McVay was hired by the Rams, who got themselves not only a great coach but a great coaches’ coach. 
Even if he doesn’t like to take the credit. 
"I think it’s a little ridiculous when you talk about the [coaching] tree, because these guys are co-workers where we positively pour into one another," McVay said. "I just happen to be in the role that I’m in. Whether it’s Kevin [O’Connell], Brandon Staley, Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur, I learned more from them than those guys have from me."

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Rams' Sean McVay is 36, has coached in the NFL for five seasons and already has numerous branches on his coaching tree

He's 36, with 5 years as head coach and 4 branches on his coaching tree

SPORTS-FBN-HERNANDEZ-COLUMN-lA

The fact that Super Bowl LVI is being played near Hollywood is fitting for Joe Mixon. The Bengals running back feels as if he’s living in a movie. 
After Cincinnati drafted Mixon in the second round in 2017, all he experienced in his first four NFL seasons was losing. The Bengals averaged 11 losses a year from 2017-20, and Mixon lost out on playing the final 10 games last season because of a foot injury. 
The script flipped pretty quickly for Mixon and the Bengals this season, though. 
He enjoyed the best year of his career and helped Cincinnati reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years. On Sunday, Mixon will live out his childhood dream when he takes the field against the Rams at SoFi Stadium. 
"It was a great feeling to really see that Super Bowl patch on our jersey," Mixon said on Monday. "It’s heartwarming to be able to reap the benefits of staying down for the come up. That’s exactly how it was. As for me, being a player here for five years, it’s a great thing, a great feeling. 
"Honestly, I truly feel like I’m really living in a movie right now. I’m definitely living a dream." 
It’s been a long road for Mixon and anyone associated with the Bengals before this season. Cincinnati won only two games in 2019 in Zac Taylor’s first season as coach. As dark as that year was, though, there was a light at the end of it, and his name was Joe Burrow. 
The Bengals drafted Burrow with the first overall pick in 2020 and truly have a franchise quarterback who could keep Cincinnati at or near the top of the AFC landscape for many years. 
Mixon said from the first time Burrow led the huddle, everyone "knew he would be something special and knew he would be a leader." Burrow has shown it this season and during these playoffs, but the Bengals also have a franchise running back they can rely on who is just reaching his prime. 
Mixon, 25, became more of a three-down back this season. He played the most snaps of his career and established career highs for rushing yards (1,205), receiving yards (314) and touchdowns (16). Mixon tied Rams receiver Cooper Kupp for fourth in the NFL in total touchdowns. 
In the playoffs, Mixon scored the Bengals’ only touchdown in their divisional-round victory in Tennessee and finished with 115 scrimmage yards in the AFC Championship Game victory in Kansas City. Mixon had a couple of big runs in the overtime drive that set up Evan McPherson’s game-winning 31-yard field goal. 
"For me to be a part of something special like this, it means everything," Mixon said. "I’m bought in to do whatever I can to put us in the best position to win. We just got to keep on fighting the fight. It’s almost over with. We’re right there. I’ve been dreaming of this moment since I was a little kid." 
Mixon said he started playing football when he was 10 years old. He’s from the Bay Area and always looked up to Oakland native Marshawn Lynch, who won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks. 
Mixon said he’s seen a lot of "big-time players" thrive in the Super Bowl. He wants to join the list and put the proper ending on his real-life movie. 
"As a kid, I always dreamed of being here," he said. "I feel like it’s already written how everything is going to play out. I’m just here to sit back and go through the process and be able to be a part of something so special like this and just keep on adding to the script."

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Super Bowl 2022: Bengals RB Joe Mixon feels like he's 'living in a movie'

Bengals RB Mixon feels like he's 'living in a movie'

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In her upcoming first Super Bowl commercial, says Lindsay Lohan, she consciously pokes fun at her past legal and lifestyle travails. 
"You have to poke fun at things, bring light to the situation, especially when … I'm in such a good place to talk about it," the Long Island-raised star told "Good Morning America" Friday, promoting both the Planet Fitness spot and an upcoming holiday romantic comedy for Netflix. "So this is," she added with a chuckle, "the last time we will go backwards and bring up the past." 
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnoVFlMMdK8">The 30-second commercial</a>, online at the gym franchiser's YouTube channel, opens with Lohan exercising at what's meant to be a Planet Fitness. A narrator says, "People are wondering …," followed by everyone else in the gym asking in unison, " … what's gotten into Lindsay?" 
"She's never been sharper," the narrator says as we see her on "Jeopardy!," trouncing former NBA star Dennis Rodman. "She's sleeping better than ever. … She's even more productive," the narrator continues, "trading DUI for DIY" by bedazzling an ankle monitor worn by grizzled actor Danny Trejo. "Maybe it's not what's gotten into Lindsay …," the narrator suggests, as we cut to actor and sci-fi icon William Shatner, revealing himself as the speaker, " … it's what Lindsay's gotten into." Lohan, trailing a purple glow, walks by him and says hello, and the commercial ends with a tagline. 
"I had a lot of fun," Lohan, 35, who was raised in Cold Spring Harbor and Merrick, said separately Friday on "Extra." "It was really exciting." She added lightheartedly, "It's more fun when you're doing Super Bowl because it's so secretive, so you feel like you're doing something wrong but so good." 
The "Mean Girls" star — whose as-yet-untitled holiday romcom is her first feature since 2019's low-budget werewolf thriller "Among the Shadows," which shot in Europe in 2015 and 2016 — told "Extra" the commercial "was the first time that I've shot anything in L.A. in a very long [time] — in years. But that was exciting, too, just to be back and have that energy of being at a studio and doing a commercial and setting up and just getting to set." 
Lohan called Trejo "a blast to work with. We worked on [his 2010 homage to 1970s exploitation movies] 'Machete' together so it was really good to see him again. And Dennis was hysterical." Lohan's younger brother, model Dakota Lohan, attended the shoot, she said, "and he was excited because Dennis Rodman was there. And William Shatner was a hoot." 
Lindsay Lohan, who recently became engaged to banking executive Bader Shammas, reflected on "Good Morning America" that her recent years living in Dubai have been a calming influence that helped her transcend the tumult of her 20s and made her feel ready to return to studio production. "Not filming for so long and not making movies for a long time, especially during the pandemic — that really made me appreciate it more and miss it so much more that I knew I was ready to come back," she said. 
Super Bowl LVI, pitting the Rams against the Bengals, takes place Sunday at Los Angeles' SoFi Stadium. 
CORRECTION: Dennis Rodman's name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.

Entertainment

Celebrities

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LI's Lindsay Lohan stars in Super Bowl commercial

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By now, everyone knows the Bengals will be playing in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday. The Jets and the Giants are keenly aware of how they got to that pinnacle — not just this season but coming off last year, when they were a four-win team. 
That’s right. Four wins. The same paltry number the Giants and Jets each tallied in 2021. 
"There is hope," Giants general manager Joe Schoen said last week from the Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama, referring to Cincinnati’s rapid rise from NFL afterthought to championship contender. 
The two New York teams, which have been mired in failure and dysfunction for most of the past decade or longer, have gleaned more than just optimism from the Bengals, though. Cincinnati’s situation is a confirmation that the trajectories they are trying to follow can work. 
The Bengals — who were 2-14 in 2019, just as the Jets were in 2020 — have reached the Super Bowl in the third year under their current administration. So did the 49ers when Robert Saleh was with them as a defensive coordinator. 
"Not to put a number on anything or compare them, but there is a blueprint," Saleh, who also was at the Senior Bowl, said of the Jets’ plans as they enter Year 2 of his tenure. "I know New York doesn’t like to hear about time and all that stuff, but it is what it is. When you develop within, when you draft well, when you select the right players into building a culture that you believe in and you stay with the continuity and don’t fall into peer pressure or whatever Cincinnati has had to endure for the last couple of years, you end up reaping the benefits of your patience." 
That’s not something that is plentiful in this market. The Giants haven’t had a head coach last into his third year on the job since Tom Coughlin. The Jets also have churned through coaches, perhaps not at the pace the Giants have, but with four different ones since their last playoff appearance in the 2010 season. 
Having the rags-to-riches Bengals in this year’s Super Bowl will only add to the lack of patience that both fan bases have been harboring of late. 
<h3>Familiarity with process </h3> 
So how did the Bengals do it? 
"They’ve had a lot of draft picks and a lot of high draft picks," Schoen said. "They had a No. 1 overall pick with Joe Burrow. That was part of the build. And then Ja’Marr Chase. They’ve done a good job over the three years they’ve been there building through the draft. They have a lot of young core players. 
"They had their foundation and then they made a big splash in free agency this year on defense. They did a very good job of going out and identifying players who are key contributors to their Super Bowl run." 
The good news for the Giants and Jets is that they have people in place who have experience with such rapid turnarounds, at least to varying degrees. 
Saleh’s came with the 49ers but also with the Seahawks, with whom he was part of the push toward winning Super Bowl XLVIII. "Knock on wood, I’ve been blessed to be part of a few of these," he said. 
New Giants coach Brian Daboll was, too. He arrived in New England as part of Bill Belichick’s inaugural staff in 2000 at a time when Tom Brady was a draft prospect and there had never been a Super Bowl champion in New England. He wound up winning five rings during two stints there. He also was part of the coaching staff that arrived in Buffalo four years ago to take over a franchise that hadn’t been to the postseason in 17 years. They’ve made the playoffs three of the last four, including back-to-back division titles. 
Schoen was part of that Buffalo renaissance, too, along with others. He was a scout in Carolina when John Fox came aboard, and two years later, they were in a Super Bowl (against Daboll’s Patriots, by the way). He was in Miami’s front office when Tony Sparano took over a 1-15 team and the next year went 11-5 and made the playoffs. Adam Gase, Schoen noted, also made the playoffs in his first year in Miami when Schoen was there, as did Sean McDermott in Buffalo. 
"I’m not saying we’re going to," he said trying to temper expectations for the Giants slightly, "but wherever I’ve been, there is a history of the first year, the coach going to the playoffs." 
We’ll know if the Giants will be added to that list a year from now. 
<h3>Bengals skipped a step</h3> 
None of which is to say that the Giants or Jets are Super Bowl-ready. There are other steps in the process that most teams outline for themselves, steps that the Bengals have blown right past this postseason. Teams generally have to get a taste for the playoffs before succeeding in them. 
"The first year with Josh [Allen as a playoff quarterback in 2019], we lost," Schoen said. "The next year, we went to the AFC Championship Game. This year, we won a game and should have won that second game. You start to learn how to win. It was a young team, so we had to go through the trials and tribulations. Now Josh knew what it was like to play in a playoff game along with that young core." 
The Bengals haven’t had to do that, fighting through the postseason on their first run with this group of players and leaders. They are ahead of schedule. 
"I think this is an unbelievable experience for the Bengals that their young core group of players are going this far," Schoen said. "Just winning a playoff game I think was a tremendous success, but to do what they are doing and play at the level they are doing, it obviously gives everybody hope." 
All of which is why the Giants and Jets are watching closely to see how the Bengals do next week and beyond. They could be following in their paw prints. 
"If we can draft like they did and hit on free agency like that," Schoen added, "that gives everybody hope."

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Super Bowl 2022: Jets, Giants see swift turnaround is possible when looking at Bengals

Jets, Giants see turnaround is possible when looking at Bengals

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When it comes to the Super Bowl, there is no such thing as an Average Joe. 
The first Joe of lore was, of course, Namath. He brought swag and cool and technicolor to a game that up until his arrival a little more than five decades ago was mired in a black-and-white world. 
Then, in the 1980s, came a Joe named Montana. He rewrote the records, collected the rings and, for a while, established himself as such a regular at the Super Bowl that his exploits there started to blend together. His accomplishments have since been dwarfed by the guy who just retired, but for a while he sat firmly atop the list of all-time great quarterbacks. 
And now comes this generation’s Epic Joe. The kid who combines the sizzle and the substance of the two namesakes who preceded him on this stage. 
The quarterback whose sunglasses and bling are as meme-worthy as his pinpoint throws and on-field acumen. The Ohio native who has his hometown team on the precipice of a title. The Joe who by next week not only could become the first quarterback to win a Heisman Trophy, national championship and Super Bowl but do it all in the span of about 26 months . . . with a torn ACL in the middle of it. 
Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen and Charles Woodson are the only three players to hit that trifecta. Only two quarterbacks — Namath and Montana — won a college national title and a Super Bowl, but they lacked the Heisman to complete the sweep. 
"Joe Burrow" and "average" shouldn’t even appear in the same dictionary. 
As his introduction to an even wider audience looms with Super Bowl LVI next Sunday — when he will lead the Bengals against the Rams after vanquishing Las Vegas, Tennessee and Kansas City in the playoffs by a combined 13 points and putting himself in position to take his place among the other Joes who have made a lasting imprint on the NFL’s biggest stage — Burrow recalled that he never actually wanted any of it. At least not from the most important and glamorous position in the game. 
"I got to my first pee-wee practice and the coach at the time, coach Sam Smathers — I still see him all the time when I go back home — he basically asked me if I wanted to be quarterback, and I said, ‘No, not really,’ " Burrow said. "But then he said, ‘Well, you’re gonna be quarterback. Too bad.’ " 
Coach Smathers knew what the rest of us are only now learning: that Burrow was born for this. 
"I wanted to be a running back or a receiver," Burrow said. "I don’t know why. I guess I thought in pee-wee football we weren’t going to throw the ball very much, so I wanted to have the ball in my hand. Obviously, I’m glad it worked out the way that it did. This is my career. 
"I don’t know if I’d be an NFL wide receiver. That’s probably a pipe dream. 
But I can play quarterback pretty well." 
And play the role of a quarterback well, too. Receivers and running backs and the players who block for them and try to stop them, they’re all significant elements in a championship-caliber team, but it’s the quarterbacks who make the league go. They are the front men, the personalities. They do the commercials, get the broadcasting gigs, become the face of a franchise and, if they are lucky, the game. If they are really lucky, they become household names that transcend football. 
Even when that name is as common-sounding as Joe. 
That’s what could be on the other side of Super Bowl LVI for Burrow. If he is lighting one of his signature post-victory cigars in the locker room at SoFi Stadium next Sunday, he’ll be thrust into a level of celebrity that no one — not him, not his football-coach father who introduced him to the game, not Coach Smathers back in southwest Ohio — could have imagined. 
He’s not a pretty boy, though. Throughout his career — whether it was how he bounced around the college football landscape before finally finding a throne at LSU or the way he was pummeled by the Titans while absorbing nine sacks in a divisional-round game last month — Burrow has proved that he can take a beating and keep coming back. 
It’s even earned him the respect of Tom Brady, who had Burrow on his podcast after the AFC Championship Game and said: "The way that we can show our toughness is to stand in the pocket and make throws. Sometimes you get the [expletive] knocked out of you and you gotta get up and just go on to the next play." 
Burrow said of his actual affinity for contact, a rarity among quarterbacks: "I wouldn’t feel like a football player if I didn’t." 
This will be the 10th Super Bowl in which a guy named Joe started at quarterback. Between Namath, Montana, Washington’s Theismann, Minnesota’s Kapp and Baltimore's Flacco, they have won seven and lost two. 
There is only one other quarterback first name that has been as victorious in Super Bowls: Tom. All seven of those wins came from the same person. 
Burrow has a chance to put the Joes back on top. 
More important, for the first time in their history, he has a chance to put the Bengals on top. 
And in a league that elevates its quarterbacks higher and loftier than any other position — and just so happened to lose its greatest player of all time to retirement this past week, creating an opening in the hierarchy that a bevy of brash young players such as Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Justin Herbert are scurrying to fill —   put himself on top as well.

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Super Bowl 2022: Bengals' Burrow is not your average Joe

Bengals' Burrow: Not your average Joe

Every wide receiver knows the best route is not always a straight one. 
Sure, it’d be great if you could just sprint from point A to B unobstructed, but the way to get to where you want to be often requires turns, cuts, jukes and, yes, overcoming obstacles. 
As Odell Beckham Jr. readies himself for a Super Bowl appearance with the Rams next Sunday, he said he is thinking about the route he has run to this place in his career and his life. 
A story that began with glorious one-handed catches, a record-setting rookie year and the promise of becoming the most dominant and electrifying Giants player since Lawrence Taylor quickly devolved into chaos and disappointment. 
There was the lackluster performance in his playoff debut bookended by an ill-timed cruise to Miami with teammates and a hole punched in the wall outside the locker room at Lambeau Field. Then the dream of his prominence with the Giants shattered much like his ankle in 2017, when he suffered the first serious injury of his career. 
"It’s been tough, rough," he said of the time since that moment when everything started to fall apart for him physically and — though he did not know it at the time — professionally. 
He rehabbed from that injury, signed an extension with the Giants, was traded to the Browns, tore his ACL, rehabbed that injury and was released in the middle of this season. 
"Busting my [butt], coming back time and time again, things just never went the way that I would have liked," he said. 
But at his lowest point, he had something of a vision. 
"When I was sitting at home and there was nothing but silence and just me and God sitting there, this is what came over me: It was the Los Angeles Rams and the opportunity to do exactly what we are doing right now," he said. 
Finally, he was open on his route. 
"It’s pretty crazy to me, just the power of manifestation, belief, faith, all those things, to be exactly where I am at right now with an opportunity to win a Super Bowl," he said. "Playing in the Super Bowl is everything you could have ever dreamed of." 
Many Giants fans will remember Beckham as an impetuous, overreacting lightning rod who created more headaches for the team than he solved. He was always beloved by his teammates, but his immaturity rankled coaches and management to the point that he had to be traded. 
These days, under the perpetually blue Los Angeles skies, that manchild is unrecognizable. Now 29, Beckham has been humbled to his knees and lifted back up anew. He has evolved into an adult and is expecting his firstborn child any day. 
"He is a perfect example of perception vs. reality," Rams safety Eric Weddle said. "One of the best dudes I’ve ever been around. He’s just a dude that gives it all. Every day in practice, in the workout, in the meetings, he’s just a joy to be around." 
That’s not to say he has left his showmanship and confidence behind completely; it’s that he has learned to channel it in a positive direction. With the Rams, he has been allowed to do exactly that. 
"He’s such a special player, so smart, so talented, so gifted," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "He’s brought such a charisma and presence and really a swag to our team. I love Odell." 
Beckham was signed by the Rams in mid-November to give them an extra jolt toward a Super Bowl. The team already had Cooper Kupp as its primary passing target, and when DeSean Jackson demanded to be traded or released (he was released) and Robert Woods tore his ACL in a practice, they needed someone who could parachute in and become a weapon. 
In the eight regular-season games Beckham played for the Rams, he caught 27 passes for 305 yards and five touchdowns. In his three playoff games for them, he has caught 19 passes for 236 yards and a touchdown. 
 
He’s learned, it seems, to avoid the missteps of his early career. This time there have been no boat trips, no shenanigans, no nothing other than football. He has people around him who are handling the hype of the Super Bowl, organizing ticket distribution and travel plans for family and friends. 
"I’m locking in," he said. "I don’t have the time to do this or that. I just have one goal to focus on." 
Even when former teammates reach out to him to wish him well, he said he barely notices it. 
"You definitely feel the love,'' he said, "but it’s hard for me to even hear anything right now because I feel like I’m just right here and locked in." 
 
What will he do in the Super Bowl, the stage on which he has been waiting his whole life to perform? 
Whatever it is, it will be big. That’s the one thing that hasn’t changed about Beckham, the radiance of his stardom. He burst into the NFL, was involved in humongous off-the-field storms, made costly misplays in his playoff debut for the Giants, suffered catastrophic injuries and found himself headlining some of the wildest transactions teams have made in the past decade. 
There is nothing small or demure about anything Beckham does. This biggest game of his life doesn’t figure to be the first time he downsizes. 
Beckham has run the route. He’s got a step on the pitfalls that have been defending him. The ball is in the air, about to meet him in the end zone. 
"It was that faith, staying down, staying prayed up, never doubting or not believing in yourself that makes this very special for me to have an opportunity to win a Super Bowl," he said. "You sacrifice it all just for these moments. I know the opportunity that is at hand. I don’t take it lightly, and I’m just going to find a way to give my very best for one more game."

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Odell Beckham Jr. reflects on route taken to get to Super Bowl

Beckham reflects on route taken to get to Super Bowl

<h3>CAN JOE COOL 2.0 GET IT DONE? </h3> 
Joe Burrow has been likened to Joe Montana for his fearlessness, and he has the Bengals one win away from their first Super Bowl title. The last time Cincinnati was in the big game, it was the 49ers’ Montana who staged an epic comeback to win Super Bowl XXIII in Miami. 
<h3>WILL MATTHEW STAFFORD’S DECISION PAY OFF? </h3> 
The losing in Detroit had gotten to the quarterback, so he finally asked out after the 2020 season. The timing couldn’t have been better. The Lions agreed to his wishes and sent him to a team with whom he now can win the biggest prize of all. 
<h3>ODELL’S DREAM </h3> 
From pariah to the promised land: Odell Beckham Jr. was considered part of the problem in Cleveland, where quarterback Baker Mayfield’s offense sputtered. Well, well, well. Mayfield continued to struggle after the Browns released the former Giants receiver, and Beckham is on the threshold of living his dream of winning a title. 
<h3>THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF OUR GENERATION </h3> 
The Rams’ Aaron Donald has done it all during his brilliant career as an All-Pro defensive tackle and three-time Defensive Player of the Year. All except win a Super Bowl. Now is his best chance. 
<h3>TEACHER VS. PUPIL </h3> 
Sean McVay has gotten to the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, and he’ll now face one of his proteges — former Rams offensive assistant Zac Taylor, who has transformed the Bengals into AFC champions just three years into the job.

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Super Bowl 2022: Five storylines heading into Bengals vs. Rams

Five Super storylines for Bengals vs. Rams

Rams-Donald at 30 Football

One by one, the star players joined together in hopes of winning a Super Bowl title, defying the suggested it is impossible to buy your way to a Vince Lombardi conventional wisdom that Trophy. 
The best cornerback in the game. A Pro Bowl running back. A brilliant defensive tackle. A terrific pass-rushing defensive end. And a quarterback who chased his dream of walking off the field on the last Sunday of the NFL postseason bathed in confetti for a postgame celebration. 
They called it the "Dream Team," a collection of talent from just about every corner of the NFL, gathered in one spot to make a title run. 
In the end, the dream fizzled beneath the weight of expectation. 
The 2011 Eagles, predicted by many to make a Super Bowl run, finished 8-8, missed the playoffs and watched in disgust as the Giants won their second championship of the Tom Coughlin-Eli Manning era by beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. 
Andy Reid’s team — featuring quarterback Michael Vick, who had supplanted Donovan McNabb as the starter, cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, defensive end Jason Babin and other mercenaries who came for money and glory — became the latest example of failure. And the latest evidence that only through patient drafting, prudent free-agent decisions and other more conventional roster-building tools could you expect to become a champion. 
A decade later, and a year after Tom Brady took his talents to Tampa to win a Super Bowl, the Rams are challenging that very notion that you can’t buy success in the NFL. 
Call Los Angeles the Dream Team 2.0. 
With coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead forming a go-for-broke partnership, the Rams are one victory from proving that yes, you really can buy a championship. 
Take a look at the way they’ve built this roster and you’ll see that spending big on players and surrendering future draft picks for current stars has paid off in a big way. 
Want proof? The Rams are in the Super Bowl for the second time in the last four years, and this might be their best chance to deliver a Lombardi Trophy for the first time as a Los Angeles team (they won the Super Bowl in January 2000 when they were based in St. Louis). 
You can see McVay’s aggressiveness any time you watch a Rams game. He’s a non-stop bundle of energy, pacing the sideline with his play sheet and delivering instructions as the team’s offensive play-caller. And behind the scenes, it’s the hyper-aggressive maneuvering of Snead that has given McVay the tools to succeed. 
Just consider the dizzying sequence of transactions that are at the heart of this year’s NFC championship team: 
- Despite getting to the Super Bowl in February 2019 with No. 1 overall draft pick Jared Goff, McVay and Snead felt they had to upgrade the position. The Rams sent Goff and two first-round picks to the Lions for strong-armed quarterback Matthew Stafford. The top pick out of Georgia in 2009 had never won a playoff game in Detroit, but he already has three postseason wins to get the Rams in position for a title. 
- After running back Cam Akers went down in training camp with a torn Achilles, Snead acquired former first-round running back Sony Michel from the Patriots. Not only did Michel fill in well, but Akers made a rapid recovery from an injury that often requires a year of rehab. He’s back in the starting lineup. 
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- When the Broncos made veteran pass rusher Von Miller available in a trade, Snead pounced and acquired the former All-Pro. Miller had seven sacks in his last seven games in the regular season and has been a terrific complement to perennial All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald, one of the team’s few homegrown stars. 
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- Just days after Miller got to the Rams, Odell Beckham Jr. was released by the Browns. The timing couldn’t have been better, as the Rams’ No. 2 receiver Robert Woods went down with a season-ending knee injury. Beckham has been mostly terrific with the Rams, flashing the form that made him one of the NFL’s top receivers with the Giants. He has 23 catches for 264 yards and a touchdown in the playoffs. All-Pro Cooper Kupp, another homegrown star, again has a fine receiver on the other side after Woods’ injury. 
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- After injuries hit the safety position last month, Snead reached out to former Chargers and Ravens safety Eric Weddle, who hadn’t played since the 2019 season. Weddle has fit right in as an important contributor in the playoffs. 
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- Snead has added other important pieces along the way via trade or free agency, including former Jaguars first-round cornerback Jalen Ramsey, now the team’s top pass defender; former Bengals left tackle Andrew Whitworth, 40, who will face his old team next Sunday; pass rusher Leonard Floyd and defensive end A’Shawn Robinson. 
Snead has gambled away plenty of draft capital in the process. The Rams don’t have a first-round pick until 2024, and the Rams have gone five straight years without a first-round pick. 
But if they come away with a title, it will have been worth every lost pick and every last million spent on the best collection of players this team has seen in years. 
And if they can follow up the championship won by a Bucs team that included Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Brown and a few other added pieces, they will continue to rewrite football’s conventional wisdom that it’s impossible to buy a championship.

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NFC Championship - San Francisco 49ers v Los Angeles Rams

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Super Bowl 2022: All-in Rams a win away from showing you can buy a championship

All-in Rams a win away from showing you can buy a championship

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It has been a long, twisted and controversial journey for Odell Beckham Jr., but he finally is where he always wanted to be: with a chance to win an NFL championship. 
He would rather have accomplished that goal with the team that drafted him, but after that magnificent one-handed catch in 2014 rocketed him to stardom, it eventually devolved into an untenable situation for the Giants and resulted in his banishment to Cleveland in a 2019 trade. 
It soured with the Browns, too, to the point that they released him in November after a messy feud with quarterback Baker Mayfield. 
But it all worked out just fine for the 29-year-old receiver, who landed in a place that finally fit. 
"They’ve made it seamless, with the meetings, the extra work. The very first game we played at San Francisco, the first play of the game was thrown my way," Beckham said of his debut in November with the Rams, with whom he signed as a free agent after his release from the Browns. "They’ve instilled confidence in me." 
Beckham has returned the favor. Known for his brilliant play on the field and his controversy on and off it with the Giants, Beckham has been a major contributor with the Rams. All of it has been positive. 
He caught nine passes for 113 yards in the Rams’ 20-17 win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. Now it's on to The Big Show, as the Rams face the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi. 
"I felt like this was the right place," Beckham said. "It’s truly an amazing moment." 
After his release, Beckham got almost daily calls from Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey and then from Von Miller, who was traded from the Broncos to the Rams, to join the team. 
"We talked about this," he said, "but I didn’t think it would be possible." 
Beckham turned out to be just what the Rams needed after they lost Robert Woods to an ACL tear suffered in practice in November. Woods was an important No. 2 receiver behind Cooper Kupp, so Beckham’s signing was considered crucial for the Rams’ offense. 
Beckham and quarterback Matthew Stafford, acquired in a blockbuster preseason trade with the Lions, quickly developed a chemistry. 
"It’s everything you would hope and wish for," Beckham said of Stafford. "He motivated us and pushed us, one play at a time. All season since I’ve been here, he had that look on him. I know it was tough in Detroit for a lot of those years, so we’ve got to take full advantage of it."

Football

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Things have worked out pretty well for Odell Beckham Jr.

Things have worked out pretty well for Beckham

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Matthew Stafford needed a new start, the Rams needed a new quarterback and here they are: one step away from a Super Bowl title in the glitziest, most glamorous market in the land. 
Stafford, who played 12 seasons for Detroit without winning a single playoff game, led the Rams to a stunning 20-17 comeback win over the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. 
The Rams earned the right to face the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in the same building — the Rams’ home building. 
"I don’t know that I ever thought about what I would be feeling at this moment," Stafford said in the Rams’ interview room as celebratory music blared from the locker room on the other side of the wall. "Just that I wished I could be in those games. We’ve had high expectations all year, done nothing but do everything in our power to achieve those." 
Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal with 1:46 left sent the Rams to the Super Bowl for the second time in the last four seasons. They are one win away from achieving the dream Stafford and every player harbors: hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champs. 
"I’m just so proud of this group," said Stafford, who was 31-for-45 for 337 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. "Happy to be a part of it. This game wasn’t perfect, but we found a way to win the game. That’s what it’s all about." 
It took a brilliant comeback from a 17-7 deficit in the second half as the Rams beat the 49ers for the first time this season after losing the first two meetings and snapped an 0-6 streak against their NFC West rivals. 
It almost felt like a road game for the Rams with a heavy contingent of 49ers fans in attendance. And for a while, it looked as if it would be the third installment of the 49ers-Bengals Super Bowl matchup. But Stafford rallied the Rams down the stretch, and a critical interception thrown by Jimmy Garoppolo sealed the win. 
Deep in his own territory down 20-17, Garoppolo was under heavy pressure and attempted a backhanded pass to running back JaMycal Hasty. But the ball caromed off Hasty’s hands and was intercepted by linebacker Travin Howard at the 49ers’ 19-yard line and returned to the 13. The Rams ran out the clock and ran into each other’s arms to celebrate the win. 
"Long time coming," said Stafford, the Lions’ No. 1 overall pick in 2009. "Spent a lot of years in this league and loved every minute of it. I feel blessed to play as long as I have, but I’m sure happy about this opportunity, not only for me but for the guys in this locker room." 
It was another transcendent day for Cooper Kupp, who led the Rams with 11 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., traded to Cleveland in March 2019 and released in the middle of the 2021 season, caught nine passes for 113 yards. 
"Cooper Kupp, big catch after big catch," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "We’d have no chance to be here without Cooper Kupp." 
The fact that the Rams beat their nemesis made it all the sweeter, although McVay didn’t dwell on the fact that he’d lost six straight to his NFC West rivals and Kyle Shanahan. The two were together as assistants in Washington before being named head coaches of the Rams and 49ers. 
"We knew what a great team this was," McVay said. "We’re familiar with this opponent, but the previous six games had nothing to do with what would occur after this kickoff. Having a short memory from the good and the bad [was important.'' 
The 49ers didn’t get into the playoffs until a Week 18 win over the Rams at SoFi Stadium, which came after they drubbed the Rams, 31-10, in November. 
Kupp’s 16-yard reception opened the scoring, but Deebo Samuel caught a 44-yard TD pass from Garoppolo and Robbie Gould’s 38-yard field goal gave the 49ers a 10-7 halftime lead. 
The 49ers took a 17-7 lead on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Garoppolo to George Kittle with 1:59 left in the third quarter. A defensive stop on fourth-and-1 set the stage for the scoring drive, as the 49ers kept Stafford from converting on a keeper on fourth-and-1 at the 49ers’ 42. 
But the Rams answered with a terrific drive on their next possession, going 75 yards in seven plays to make it 17-14 with 13:30 left in the fourth quarter. Stafford again went to his go-to receiver, finding Kupp open in the left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown after he beat single coverage by cornerback K’Waun Williams. 
The Rams tied it with 6:49 left on Gay’s 40-yard field goal, and his next field goal put them ahead for good. It was set up by Kupp, who took a pass over the middle on third-and-2 at the 49ers’ 37 and turned it into a 25-yard gain to the 12.

spNFCGAME220131

Matthew Stafford, Rams advance to Super Bowl in own building with NFC title win over 49ers

Stafford, Rams advance to Super Bowl in own building

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals did the unthinkable and stunned the NFL world. 
Cincinnati advanced to the Super Bowl with a miraculous 27-24 overtime victory over Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. 
The Bengals came back from a 21-3 first-half deficit to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1988 season, when Boomer Esiason was their quarterback. 
Rookie kicker Evan McPherson drilled a 31-yard field goal with 9:22 remaining in overtime to capture the AFC championship in front of a mostly silent Arrowhead sellout crowd, except for the Cincinnati fans chanting, "Who Dey?" 
The Bengals will play the Rams in Super LVI in Los Angeles on Feb. 13. 
This is a team that won only two games in 2019 and four games in 2020. But the Bengals drafted Burrow first overall in 2020, and in his second NFL season, he led them to the Super Bowl. 
"Special team," coach Zak Taylor said. "A special team that’s capable of doing special things. We believed from the get-go. We’re not surprised. This is where we were meant to be." 
Burrow was 23-for-38 for 250 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He is the first quarterback not named Tom Brady to beat Mahomes in the playoffs. 
"I think if you would have told me before the season that we’d be going to the Super Bowl, I would have called you crazy," Burrow said. "But then we played a whole season. I know the type of guys that we have and the team we have." 
McPherson, whose 52-yard field goal as time expired gave the Bengals a 19-16 victory over the Titans in the divisional round, made all four of his field-goal attempts Sunday. Tee Higgins caught six passes for 103 yards, Ja’Marr Chase had six catches for 54 yards and a TD, and Joe Mixon ran for 88 yards. 
Kansas City became the first team to host four straight conference championship games and was shooting for its third straight Super Bowl trip. But Mahomes stumbled after throwing touchdown passes on Kansas City’s first three drives. KC did not score again until Harrison Butker kicked a tying 44-yard field goal as time ran out in regulation. 
Mahomes completed 26 of 39 passes for 275 yards, three touchdowns and two costly interceptions — one in overtime that set up the Bengals’ championship-clinching drive. 
He also wasted valuable time at the end of the first half when Kansas City had first-and-goal from the 1 in the final seconds. KC was out of timeouts and ended up getting no points. 
"I got to be better," Mahomes said. "We were up 21-3 at one point in the game. You can’t lose it. I put that on myself." 
In last week’s thrilling divisional-round victory, Buffalo lost the overtime coin flip, Kansas City got the ball and scored a touchdown on its opening drive to win the game. When Cincinnati lost the coin flip on Sunday, the crowd cheered wildly, believing history would repeat itself. 
Those cheers quickly faded. Mahomes was picked off on third down by Vonn Bell when a pass intended for Tyreek Hill was tipped by Jessie Bates. 
The Bengals took over at their own 45 and Burrow completed two passes for 17 yards. Mixon carried the ball five times for 28 yards, including a 13-yard gain to the 12-yard line. 
"It was just fitting," Taylor said. "The passing game got us where we needed to be, in position to kick the field goal. We felt like we were in range and then those guys took over in the run game and made it even easier." 
With Kansas City leading 21-13 late in the third, Mahomes was picked off by former Giants defensive tackle B.J. Hill at the KC 30 and he returned it to the 27. 
Five plays later, Burrow hit Chase for a 2-yard touchdown that made it 21-19 with 14 seconds left in the quarter. Burrow passed to Trent Taylor for the tying two-point conversion. 
The Bengals took their first lead of the game when McPherson kicked a 52-yard field goal with 6:04 remaining for a 24-21 lead. 
There was uneasiness inside the stadium, but Mahomes had been in this position before — as recently as last week. 
He led Kansas City into the red zone in seven plays and had a first-and-goal from the 5 with 90 seconds remaining, but he was sacked on second and third down and fumbled on the latter sack. KC guard Joe Thuney recovered it at the 26. 
Cincinnati was out of timeouts, so Kansas City let the clock run down. Butker’s 44-yard field goal as time expired sent the game to overtime — the fifth straight playoff game featuring a tying or winning kick as time expired in regulation. 
Butker had done that against the Bills, too, kicking a 49-yard field goal as time expired to set up Mahomes’ touchdown pass to Travis Kelce in overtime, but this time Mahomes’ magic ran out. 
"It’s definitely disappointing," he said. "With this group of guys that we have, we expect to be in that game and to win that game. Anything less than that is not success."

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Bengals rally from 18 down to shock KC in OT, reach Super Bowl

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes looked like a magician on Kansas City’s first three drives. Then he disappeared. 
Mahomes made some puzzling decisions in Kansas City’s 27-24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, none bigger than at the end of the first half. 
Leading 21-10, Kansas City had a first-and-goal with nine seconds left after former Giant Eli Apple was called for pass interference on Tyreek Hill in the end zone. KC had no timeouts, and ended up getting no points. 
On first down, Mahomes’ pass was incomplete. He moved around a little and wasted valuable seconds instead of throwing it away quickly. 
On second down, with five seconds left, he said he wanted something quick over the middle. 
Instead, he passed it to Hill near the sideline with two Bengals near him. Hill was tackled at the 1 by Apple, and time ran out. 
"We had just run a play, took four seconds the play before, where I burned it," Mahomes said. "I knew the time was low. I knew we needed to get points. I was supposed to throw the ball away. I got a little greedy there. I tried to give it to Tyreek, get a touchdown with two people out there. 
"In the long run of things, it looks bad. If we had another chance, I would have gone for another play again." 
Coach Andy Reid blamed himself, saying he should have called a better play that would have sprung someone open in the end zone. A chip-shot field goal probably was the smart call after the first-down play, but everyone in Kansas City is used to Mahomes making plays. 
After throwing touchdown passes on Kansas City’s first three series, he was 13-for-14 before that final series and 18-for-21 at the half with no interceptions. 
After halftime, Mahomes completed only 8 of 18 passes for 55 yards, took some bad sacks and was picked off twice. The second one in overtime led to the Bengals’ winning field goal. 
"There were a few misreads here and there," Mahomes said. "There were guys that were open that I didn’t hit at the right time. I passed up on short ones and went to get something deeper down the field. 
"When you’re playing a good team and you don’t hit what’s there and try to get a little more than what’s necessary, it kind of bites you in the butt. We were playing so well in the first half. In the second half, we were off a tick. That’s all it takes to lose a football game."

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Magic runs out on KC's Patrick Mahomes in second half

Magic runs out on KC's Mahomes in second half

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