STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES – Rams’ first playoff game in 13 years is against defending NFC champions. … Falcons were NFL’s highest-scoring team last year. Rams were tops this year. … Falcons in postseason for second straight year after last season ended with memorable collapse in Super Bowl. … Falcons routed Rams 42-14 at Coliseum in December 2016. Rams coach Jeff Fisher was fired next day, eventually paving way for Sean McVay, who went to high school near Atlanta. … QB Matt Ryan making sixth playoff trip in 10 years. He had 20 TD passes this season after throwing 38 last year as league MVP. … Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur was Ryan’s quarterbacks coach last season. … Falcons’ offense didn’t flow under first-year coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who coached USC at Coliseum until getting fired in 2015. … Falcons put starting LG Andy Levitre on injured reserve this week, changing O-line dynamic with Rams line-wrecker Aaron Donald looming. … Falcons WRs Julio Jones and Mohamed Sanu remain among NFL’s best duos, combining for 2,147 yards and eight TDs. … Rams GM Les Snead was in Falcons’ front office for 13 years, and assistant GM Brian Xanders worked for Falcons for 14 years. … Rams earned first winning season and NFC West title since 2003 and first playoff berth since 2004 season with spectacular one-year transformation under McVay, now youngest coach to make playoffs in NFL history, breaking record set by 33-year-old Ray Flaherty with Washington in 1936. … No rookie head coach won NFL playoff game in any of past four seasons. … Rams hosting wild-card playoff game for second time in franchise history Garrett Celek Jersey , first since December 1984 in Anaheim. Rams haven’t had playoff game at Coliseum since Jan. 7, 1979. … Rams are only 4-10 at Coliseum in two seasons since relocation, going 3-4 this year. … LA went from 32nd in NFL in scoring in 2016 to first in 2017. … RB Todd Gurley led NFL with 2,093 yards from scrimmage and 19 total TDs. … Rams LT Andrew Whitworth was key to turnaround. He is 0-6 in playoffs during career spent previously with Cincinnati. Whitworth is one of six Rams with playoff experience. … Counting on new K Sam Ficken after Pro Bowl selection Greg Zuerlein got hurt last month. … Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was Falcons defensive coordinator and interim head coach in 2003. … Rams’ last playoff game was at Atlanta in January 2005. Michael Vick ran for 119 yards in Falcons’ 47-17 win. … Rams are second team in NFL history to host playoff game in temporary home stadium. Minnesota did it three years ago.
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Imagine Dragons were happy to perform indoors ahead of Super Bowl 52, unlike their recent outdoor gig for New Year’s Eve.
The Grammy-winning rock band headlined the EA Sports Bowl on Thursday in Minneapolis, running through their hits like ”Thunder,” ”Believer” and ”Radioactive.”
Lead singer Dan Reynolds said singing outdoors in the cold is ”really brutal `cause it gets tight on your vocal cords, but indoor it’s not so bad.”
”The New Year’s thing we did in New Orleans, that was insanely cold,” said guitarist Daniel Wayne Sermon, referring to their performance on ”Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest 2018.”
”We were dying. That’s the coldest I’ve ever been. We heard this one was indoors and we were pretty jazzed. I’m not going to lie,” he added.
Imagine Dragons performed for feverish fans at Nomadic Live at the Armory, where rapper Machine Gun Kelly and electronic music producer Mura Masa also performed.
The band members said they’re not routing for a particular team when the New England Patriots take on the Philadelphia Eagles at the U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday. Reynolds also said ”none of us are particularly athletic people” (guitarist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman round out the group).
”I went to college in Boston so I guess I should be a Pats fan. Sorry about that,” said Sermon, who played hockey in high school.
”You got probably the two least competitive guys in the band here,” added Reynolds, who said he played soccer growing up.
Though he couldn’t pick a team, Reynolds said he recently watched a documentary about Tom Brady that helped him appreciate the athlete.
”It was intriguing. You kind of see the dynamic of being a father and also having a family and juggling that with his competitive drive, and the age, and the taxing on the body. I thought that was very incredible. Just seeing that was inspiring,” he said.
The band, which formed in Las Vegas, said returning to Minneapolis is great because the city ”has been a big part of our band’s story.”
”I feel like there’s certain cities in the U.S. that really feel we like a sense of home and this is one of those cities,” Reynolds said.
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17.10.2018 09:43
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