Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

SPORTS

D TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

D

Fans booed as the Rams left the

field at halftime. They booed after

their first possession of the second

half.

What remained of a crowd of

72,409 just didn’t seem to have the

energy to do it again when the

game, mercifully, ended.

The public address announcer

might have tried to fire up the

Rams faithful with a “Whose

house? Rams house” cheer, but on

Monday night, Baltimore Ravens

quarterback Lamar Jackson

owned the Coliseum and embar-

rassed the Rams.

The second-year pro was every

bit as good as a front-runner for the

NFL most-valuable-player award

should be in sending the Rams to a

45-6 defeat on “Monday Night

Football.”

“Definitely as good as adver-

tised,” Rams edge rusher Dante

Fowler said. “Long night.”

Jackson passed for five touch-

downs and once again put the

Rams teetering on the brink of fall-

ing out of playoff contention less

than a full season after playing in

the Super Bowl.

“You can’t run away from the

LAMAR JACKSONran wild against Jalen Ramsey (20), Cory Littleton and the Rams, rushing for 95 yards, while picking them
apart through the air, throwing five touchdown passes. At 6-5, the defending NFC champions are on the brink of missing the playoffs.

Photographs byWally SkalijLos Angeles Times

TOAST OF THE TOWN

Rams in free fall

from grace, run

over by Ravens

By Gary Klein

[SeeRams,D6]

SANTA CLARA — The
San Francisco 49ers are
stacking victories like logs,
and felling quarterbacks like
trees.
The latest, Green Bay’s
Aaron Rodgers, trudged out
of the visitors’ locker room
Sunday night with his suit-
case in tow and a vaguely
shell-shocked look on his
face.
Said Rodgers after the
Packers’ 37-8 defeat: “There
wasn’t a whole lot positive
tonight.”
Depends on your per-
spective. The 49ers are rid-
ing high at 10-1, with the
league’s top-ranked defense
and a plus-169 points differ-
ential, the club’s best since

1948.

Rodgers was sacked five

times, hurried six and ab-

sorbed two big hits just as he

got the ball out. What was

billed as a showdown be-

tween two of the league’s

best teams wound up a

laugher.

And, on a national stage,

it was a seismic shudder for

the rest of the NFL. A year

after finishing 4-12, the 49ers

stand a good chance of add-

ing a sixth Lombardi Trophy

to their collection, and their

relentless pass rush is the

main reason why.

All that damage against

the Packers, including a

strip sack of Rodgers on the

fifth snap of the game, and

the 49ers didn’t even have

Pro Bowl pass rusher Dee

Ford in the lineup.

The rebuilding of this

franchise started with a re-

molding of the defensive

front, which features five

first-round picks: Nick Bosa

(second pick in 2019), DeFor-

49ers’ rise spells big trouble for Rams

DeFOREST BUCKNERmakes one of the five sacks of the Green Bay Pack-

ers’ Aaron Rodgers in the San Francisco 49ers’ 37-8 victory Sunday.

Ben MargotAssociated Press

San Francisco’s

dismantling of Green

Bay shows why L.A.

should be worried.

By Sam Farmer

[See49ers,D7]

LAHAINA, Hawaii —

The large contingent of

UCLA fans that included

Chancellor Gene Block was

roaring inside this tiny gym

midway through the second

half, chanting the school’s

four letters while the Bruins

surged into a one-point lead.

In the end there was only

silence from those same fans

as they glumly filed out of

the Lahaina Civic Center.

That momentary lead

felt like eons ago after Brig-

ham Young stormed back

for a relatively breezy 78-63

victory Monday night in

which some worrisome

trends continued to crystal-

lize for UCLA in the season’s

early going.

The Bruins have trouble

staying in front of their man.

They are giving up lots of

It’s a rude

awakening

for young

Bruins

They make a game of

it for a while but can’t

overcome play of

more savvy opponent.

BRIGHAM YOUNG 78

UCLA 63

By Ben Bolch

[SeeUCLA,D5]

SAN ANTONIO — Let’s

help Frank Vogel out.

After the Lakers’ 114-104

win in San Antonio — the

17th game he’s been LeBron

James’ head coach — Vogel

kept using the same word

over and over again.

Unbelievable.

“I’m gonna need a the-

saurus or something,” Vogel

said.

How are these? Astonish-

ing. Impossible. Inconceiv-

able. Incredible. Outlandish.

Too much. Unimaginable.

Because after games like

this, they all apply.

James finished with 33

points and 14 assists, con-

tinuing his assault on the

league as he pushed the Lak-

ers to 15-2, their best record

to start a season since their

title-winning 2008-09 sea-

son.

In the first half, it was

brute force, James bullying

his way into the paint toward

the rim where the Spurs

didn’t have a prayer of stop-

ping him. He scored six in

the first and 13 in the second,

brushing his shoulders off

after one basket as if to say

the Spurs trying to stop him

were a mere annoyance.

“That’s my game. I’m a

physical player. I like to play

physical,” James said. “But I

also have a finesse side as

James’

newest

classic

beyond

words

His 33-point, 14-assist

onslaught propels the

Lakers to 15-2 and

leaves Vogel in awe.

LAKERS 114

SAN ANTONIO 104

By Dan Woike

[SeeLakers,D5]

Kings fall hard

to the Sharks

Marleau gets the

overtime goal and

Martinez gets hurt by

a skate in collision. D3

NFL WEEK 12 ::BALTIMORE 45, RAMS 6

The NFL’s most exciting player
sure makes games boring.
Bright lights. National TV.
Coliseum rocking. Rams amped.
And splat. Ravens 45, Rams 6.
In order, Baltimore’s pos-
sessions ended: touchdown,
touchdown, touchdown, touch-
down, touchdown, touchdown,
field goal, punt, end of game.
Said Rams safety Eric Weddle:
“We got our faces peeled off.”
The culprit was Baltimore
quarterback Lamar Jackson, who
directed four touchdown drives
before the football ever touched
the ground.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Wed-
dle said. “I never thought in a
million years we’d get completely
destroyed. It’s tough to put into
words. Defense played awful.
Couldn’t get off the field. Couldn’t
help our offense ...”
Jackson completed nine of nine
passes in the first half with three
scoring throws, flicking the ball so
effortlessly he basically had a dart
in one hand and a pint in the other.
To think people used to wonder
whether this guy was accurate

Jackson puts on

an MVP-worthy,

dazzling display

RAMS QUARTERBACKJared Goff is sacked by Ravens corner-

back Jimmy Smith during the first quarter Monday night.

SAM FARMER
ON THE NFL

[SeeFarmer,D6]