Anderson, Gurley power Rams to win over Cowboys

LOS ANGELES – C.J. Anderson rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns, and Todd Gurley rushed for 115 more yards and another TD in the Los Angeles Rams’ first playoff victory in 14 years, 30-22 over the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round on Saturday night.

Gurley and Anderson punished the Cowboys’ normally sturdy run defense and sent the second-seeded Rams (14-3) to the NFC championship game for the first time in 17 years. Los Angeles racked up a franchise playoff-record 273 yards on the ground – also the most ever allowed in the postseason by the Cowboys, who were playing in their NFL-record 63rd postseason game.

The long-struggling 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 TD and Amari Cooper caught an early TD pass for the Cowboys (11-7), who still haven’t won a playoff game on the road in 26 years. After winning the NFC East and beating Seattle last week, Dallas lost in the divisional playoff round for the sixth consecutive time and fell short of its first trip to the NFC championship game since January 1993.

Next weekend, the Rams will face the winner of the other divisional playoff game in New Orleans between the topseeded Saints and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The Rams are one win away from another Super Bowl trip after McVay’s high-flying, inventive offense largely kept it on the ground, methodically punishing the Cowboys’ normally sturdy run defense with their unlikely running back tandem. “It’s scary,” Anderson said. “We’ve got two different styles, and we can keep teams off balance.”

The Cowboys, hadn’t allowed two 100-yard rushers in a playoff game since the NFL-AFL merger.