The NFL has moved the Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona after days of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area. It's technically a road playoff game for the purple. But after moving from L.A. to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, will Viking fans make it a pseudo-home game?
Probably not. Reports out of Los Angeles on Friday suggest 25,000 or so season ticket holders bought tickets to the game in Arizona, meaning Ram fans will be well-represented. But it's still a far cry from a sold out home stadium in Los Angeles.
Purple Insider's Matthew Coller, speaking to WCCO's Chad Hartman Friday, thinks an NFL game in London is the better comparison. Coller thinks this will make it a very easy environment for both teams to operate.
"My expectation was that it was going to be a pretty big and pro-Rams crowd and now, I'm sure some of their season ticket holders are traveling to Glendale, but are they going to get a half-full stadium of Rams fans at best," predicted Coller. "And when you think about the snowbirds from Minnesota that live in Arizona already, probably a lot of fans who may be a little inspired by the price difference? I'm thinking that this stadium, it's gonna be like a London game, where there's going to be cheering for things that happen, but nobody is getting the noise advantage."
One place that thinks it'll help the Vikings is Las Vegas and Coller says they usually get it right.
"I noticed that the folks in Vegas, whose job it is to quantify these things have given a point and a half more to the Vikings," says Coller. "So I think that they view it as a pretty significant advantage for Minnesota and I would agree. When you consider that LA is an event town, if there's something exciting going on, those people are gonna show. So for a playoff game, I had expected a lot of Rams fans to be in seats."
One more factor? Coller says one team planned to travel all week, and one team didn't. That can be mentally challenging.
"The Vikings were planning on getting on a plane, flying to somewhere and playing football," Coller explains. "The Los Angeles Rams were not planning on leaving their city, as many of them will be afraid about what's going on at home, with their homes, and their neighborhoods. Things like that."
PREVIEW
Minnesota (14-3) vs. Los Angeles Rams (10-7) at Glendale, Arizona
Monday, 7 p.m. ESPN/ABC
BetMGM NFL odds: Vikings by 2.5
Against the spread: Vikings 11-5-1; Rams 8-9.
Series record: Rams lead 29-17-2.
Last meeting: Rams beat Vikings 30-20 in Inglewood, Calif. on Oct. 24.
Last week: Vikings lost to Detroit 31-9; Rams lost to Seattle 30-25.
Vikings offense: overall (12), rush (T-19), pass (6), scoring (9). Vikings defense: overall (16), rush (2), pass (28), scoring (5).
Rams offense: overall (15), rush (24), pass (10), scoring (20). Rams defense: overall (26), rush (22), pass (20), scoring (17).
Turnover differential: Vikings plus-12; Rams plus-6.
Vikings player to watch
Sam Darnold makes his NFL postseason debut as a starter after becoming the first QB to win 14 games in his first season with a team, earning his first Pro Bowl selection and surpassing his previous career highs in every key statistical category. The Orange County native and USC product who became the third overall pick in 2018 by the Jets was Brock Purdy’s backup last year on the 49ers’ NFC champion team. Last week against the Lions in a game that determined not only the NFC North title but the No. 1 seed in the conference, Darnold flopped with an 18-for-41 performance in which the Vikings failed to score a touchdown on four red zone possessions, including three trips inside the 10. Earlier this season against the Rams, Darnold’s 128.7 passer rating was his second best of his career after going 18 for 25 for 240 yards and two TDs without a turnover.
Rams player to watch
QB Matthew Stafford turned in one of his best performances of the season in the Week 8 win over the Vikings, throwing for 279 yards and four touchdowns to one interception. However, he wasn’t nearly as sharp down the stretch, going 47 for 78 for 459 yards, one touchdown and one interception in victories over San Francisco, the New York Jets and Arizona. Stafford didn’t throw for more than 189 yards in any of those games while getting bailed out by a tenacious defense which held all three opponents to single digits. After getting a week off in the regular-season finale versus the Seahawks, the Rams will hope Stafford can be back at his best to make another playoff run. He had 1,188 yards and 11 total touchdowns to three interceptions in four postseason games when Los Angeles won the Super Bowl after the 2021 season, saving his best for fourth-quarter drives.
Key matchup
Vikings RB Aaron Jones vs. Rams defensive line. Jones never got on track when Minnesota visited SoFi Stadium in October, rushing for 58 yards on 19 carries. His longest gain was 9 yards. That ineffectiveness was one of the reasons the Vikings had to settle for two second-half field goals on drives inside the Rams 20. Los Angeles allowed 64 yards total on the ground, its second-best performance of the season. While OLB Byron Young, DT Kobie Turner and rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske receive praise for their pass rush skills, they also contributed 43 combined tackles for loss. If they can keep Jones under wraps again, it would give the defense a significant edge.
Key injuries
The Vikings are remarkably healthy at this stage, the season-ending knee injury for LT Christian Darrisaw notwithstanding. One key player who missed the game at Detroit last week was backup OLB Patrick Jones (knee). His status remains in question this week.
The Rams are in great shape, with RT Rob Havenstein (shoulder) set to return from a two-game absence. Backup RB Blake Corum is out for the playoffs after breaking his forearm against Seattle.
Series notes
The previous time these teams met in the postseason, the Rams beat the Vikings 49-37 on Jan. 16, 2000, in Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner’s playoff debut on their way to winning the Super Bowl. That was the highest-scoring divisional round game in NFL history. … Los Angeles won the past three regular-season meetings. … Minnesota has a 5-2 series edge in the playoffs.
Stats and stuff
The Vikings most recently won a postseason game five years ago, a wild-card round win at New Orleans. … The Vikings have 31 postseason losses, tied with the Cowboys for the most in NFL history. They are 21-31 for an all-time winning percentage in the playoffs (.404) that is the fourth worst in league history, ahead of the Lions (9-14), Chargers (12-19) and Bengals (10-16). … The Vikings are sixth all time in postseason appearances (31), with fewer seasons in the league (64) than every club ahead of them on the list: Cowboys (36 in 65), Packers (36 in 104), Steelers (34 in 90), Giants (33 in 100) and Rams (32 in 88). … Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who was the offensive coordinator of the Rams on their 2021 Super Bowl championship team, is 0-1 in the postseason as a head coach. … Vikings WR Justin Jefferson had 28 receptions of 20-plus yards to lead the league this season, seven more than the next-closest player. Since entering the league in 2020, he has 132 catches of 20-plus yards, 25 more than any other player. CeeDee Lamb is next. … Jones has 100-plus total yards from scrimmage in four of his past five postseason games, all with the Packers. Last year, he rushed for 226 yards and three TDs over two playoff games. … The Vikings led the league with 24 interceptions and tied for first with 33 takeaways. … Vikings LB Blake Cashman, who missed the regular-season matchup with the Rams because of a toe injury, was the only LB in the NFL this season with at least 100 tackles, eight tackles for loss and eight passes defensed. … Vikings OLBs Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel each made their first Pro Bowl team after a career-high 18 tackles for loss, which tied them for fourth in the league. … Sean McVay is in the playoffs for the sixth time as Rams head coach. He has a 7-4 record in the postseason. … Stafford has taken Los Angeles to the postseason in three of his four seasons. He had a passer rating of 154.5 in a 2021 NFC wild-card win over Arizona, the highest playoff efficiency mark in team history. … WR Puka Nacua set an NFL rookie record with 181 yards receiving in a wild-card loss to Detroit last year. He needs 126 yards for the highest total through a player’s first two playoff games in league history. … The Rams and Denver Broncos were the only teams to get at least 10 sacks from rookies. Fiske (8 1/2) and Verse (4 1/2) did the majority of the damage. … Los Angeles made the playoffs with 16 rookies on its active roster, the most in the NFL this season. … After a midseason slump, PK Joshua Karty ended the regular season by making 13 consecutive field goals over the final five games. He made kicks of 58 and 57 yards among his four field goals versus Seattle. … WR Cooper Kupp followed up his sensational Triple Crown regular season in 2021 by making 33 catches for 478 yards and six touchdowns during the Super Bowl drive. However, Kupp didn’t look right to end this season with four receptions for 53 yards in his final three games before getting to sit out last week to rest.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.