Whether its crossing the NFL’s color barrier or moving to the west coast, Jalen Ramsey doesn’t know Rams history
Jalen Ramsey told the media this week that he’s never played for a “storied franchise” before, including the Los Angeles Rams. I don’t know what Ramsey thinks the threshold for “storied” is supposed to be, but someone over there in Pittsburgh should give him a history lesson. Like the fact that the Rams re-integrated Black players into the league in 1946 or that they became the first professional sports team to move to the west coast that same year.
“I’m excited for everything that has to do with this organization. This is a storied franchise. Obviously, I won a Super Bowl, loved my time with the L.A. Rams, but I can’t say I’ve played for a storied franchise like this yet. So this is very exciting for me. I’m just embracing all of it, really,” Ramsey said.
What exactly is Ramsey’s criteria for a “storied franchise” that would mean that the Steelers are one of them but the Rams are not? Because he thinks it seems that way?
- The Rams were founded in 1936, only three years after the Steelers
- After winning the NFL Championship in 1945 with Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Waterfield, the Rams moved to Los Angeles the following year
- No other professional sports team had set their home base on the west coast prior to the Rams
- That same year, the Rams signed Kenny Washington and Woody Strode to the roster as part of their agreement for playing in the L.A. Coliseum, ending a 12-year ban of Black players in the league; because of the Rams moving to L.A. and making this agreement, that ban ended in 1946
- SI’S Albert Breer called the 1946 Rams team the eighth-most impactful team in NFL history
- The Rams went to three straight NFL Championship games between 1949-1951, winning the last of those with Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin
- The NFL named Van Brocklin the 25th-best QB of all-time in 2019
- Van Brocklin’s 554 passing yards against the Yanks in 1951 is still the single-game record!
- While Van Brocklin revolutionized the passing game, receiver Tom Fears (who also played cornerback) revolutionized catching the ball. He set an NFL record at the time with 77 catches in 1949, then he broke it the next year with 81 catches. This is in 12 games, mind you.
- Teammate Elroy Hirsch, would then have 1,495 yards and 17 touchdowns in 1951, an incredible average of 124.6 per game. Both are obviously in the Hall of Fame.
- That Rams team would reach the NFL Championship game once more time, in 1955, but this time under new head coach Sid Gillman. Gillman is called “The Father of the Modern Passing Game”, considered one of the most important coaches in football history and that’s because he got his start in the NFL with the Rams
- In 1962, the Rams drafted Roman Gabriel, the first Filipino-American quarterback in league history and the 1969 MVP.
- Gabriel’s first coach, George Allen, was the 1967 Coach of the Year and the Hall of Famer is considered one of the most important executives in league history.
- In the 1970s, the Rams went from a team with a very important history to a team you didn’t want to mess with on the field by assembling arguably the greatest defensive line that the NFL has ever seen: Jack Youngblood, Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones, Fred Dryer, Larry Brooks…
- Led by head coach Chuck Knox, then Ray Malavasi, the Rams made the playoffs every year from 1973 to 1980, and played in five NFC Championship games
- Yes, the Steelers won four Super Bowls in this era and the Rams only appeared in one (a loss to Pittsburgh), but their impact on the league at that time is undeniable. If not for the Vikings and Cowboys having their own moment, the Rams could have been “the team of the 70s”.
- Quick: Somebody teach Jalen Ramsey about Erick Dickerson!
- The Rams made the playoffs six more times in the 80s, including two NFC Championship games
- Led by 2022 Hall of Fame inductee Dick Vermeil and quarterbacked by 2017 Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Warner, the 1999 St. Louis Rams are arguably the best team of all-time but also the best STORY of all-time. “The Greatest Show on Turf” is a name that stands above every other team nickname in the NFL history…
- 2021 Hall of Fame inductee Isaac Bruce and 2016 inductee Orlando Pace and 2011 inductee Marshall Faulk, plus the most well-known Hall of Fame snub, Torry Holt.
- By winning the 2021 Super Bowl, the Rams became the first and only team in the NFL to win a championship in three different cities
- SoFi Stadium is cited by many as a top-3 NFL stadium, if not the most impressive venue of any kind in the entire world today
- Sean McVay has set all kinds of records and most likely solidified his place in the Hall of Fame before he has even turned 40…the “story” of head coaches in the modern NFL is that coaches who have worked for McVay make up a significant portion of the league, while offensive coordinators for a number of other teams are well on their way
- Aaron Donald is the best all-around football player of the 21st century, aside from maybe Tom Brady, but he’s only even a consideration because of the consistent winning and the Super Bowls which is a team effort; Donald was the best defensive player even when the Rams were terrible
- The Steelers have had two quarterbacks worth a damn in their entire history. The Rams have three Hall of Famers, plus Stafford and Gabriel, just for starters.
- If you ranked career rushing leaders from the Rams and Steelers together, the Rams would have six of the top-8
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had a great run, there’s no denying that. They’ve won six Super Bowls, although four of those happened in the 1970s. Going back to 1980, the Rams and Steelers have both won two Super Bowls. That’s the same number of Super Bowls over the past 45 years. They also have the same number of appearances: 4 in the last 45 years.
The Steelers have had great players. The Rams have also had great players.
But this isn’t an argument of which team is better, it’s the question that if you had to choose a few franchises to be “storied”, there’s room for more than one. And the Rams, for all that they’ve done in the last 90 years, are so obviously one of those teams that only someone with a very basic knowledge of football history would not know that.
If that person has a microphone pointed at them today, please teach him.