America’s Team can’t stop rushin’ attack
LOS ANGELES — The highflying Rams kept the ball firmly on the ground, and they ran straight past the Cowboys for a breakthrough playoff victory.
C.J. Anderson rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and Todd Gurley ran for 115 more yards and another touchdown in the 30-22 victory in the divisional round Saturday night. It was the Rams’ first postseason win in 14 years.
From the opening drive until the final first down, Gurley and Anderson methodically punished the Cowboys’ normally sturdy run defense and sent the second-seeded Rams to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 17 years.
The Rams racked up a franchise playoff-record 273 yards rushing. That’s also the most allowed in the postseason by the Cowboys, who were playing in their NFLrecord 63rd postseason game.
“Feels great, just running the ball the way we did,” quarterback Jared Goff said after his first career playoff victory. “Two 100-yard rushers, that’s rare, and it starts with those five guys up front.”
The Rams had won only one postseason game since their last trip to the Super Bowl in February 2002, but 32-year-old coach Sean McVay has added his first playoff victory to his spectacular two-season franchise turnaround.
Ezekiel Elliott rushed for a touchdown and Amari Cooper caught an early touchdown pass for the Cowboys, who still haven’t won a playoff game on the road in 26 years. After winning the NFC East and beating the Seahawks last week, the Cowboys lost in the divisional playoff round for the sixth consecutive time and fell short of their first trip to the NFC Championship since January 1996.
The Rams proved their desire to stick to old-time football basics on a fourth-andgoal play from the 1-yard line with 7:16 to play. McVay called a simple run, and Anderson bulled in behind his blockers for the Rams’ final points.
“We always talk about attacking success, never fearing failure,” McVay said. “We wanted to come out here and try to play fearless.”
The Cowboys hadn’t allowed two 100-yard rushers in a playoff game since the NFL-AFL merger.
Dak Prescott passed for 266 yards and rushed for a touchdown with 2:11 to play, but the Cowboys couldn’t climb out after falling into a 23-7 hole midway through the third quarter. Elliott managed just 47 yards on 20 carries.
Goff passed for 186 yards and spent much of the night handing off, but the gangly quarterback improbably scrambled 11 yards for a first down with 1:51 to play, essentially wrapping up his breakthrough win.