Sports Illustrated Special - Super Bowl LVI Commemorative (2022)

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speedy integration into L.A.’s high-powered offense,

helping to overcome the devastating knee injury suf-

fered by team leader Robert Woods on Nov. 12. In only

Beckham’s ninth game since signing a one-year deal

with the Rams after being released by the Browns, he

opened the scoring for L.A. by catching a four-yard

touchdown pass for his sixth score in a horned hel-

met—and later even threw for a 40-yard completion.

“He did great,” Stafford said, setting up the punch line,

“both catching and throwing.”

Hope that Von Miller could do Von Miller things,

still, now, after arriving via midseason trade with the

Broncos, his impact growing with every game. Yes, the

Rams boast two of the best defensive players in the

league in Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey. But add in

Miller (six tackles, three for losses, one sack against

Arizona) and linebacker Leonard Floyd, and it’s a lot

easier to believe L.A. can overcome the season-ending

ankle injury suffered by safety Jordan Fuller against

San Francisco in Week 18, or safety Taylor Rapp’s miss-

ing the playoff opener while in concussion protocol.

In the wild-card game the defense kept Arizona on

finale, the injuries that decimated the depth at safety

or quarterback Matthew Stafford’s uneven, turnover-

marred second half of the season. No, in what they

called the Nemo Suite, nicknamed after its owner, a

private equity titan named Ofer, there was one thing

they were finding: hope.

Hope that Stafford would play like the best version

of himself, after a season in which he ranked second

in the NFL in passing touchdowns (41) and tied for the

most interceptions (17), too. The pair of picks he threw

in Week 18’s loss to the 49ers was part of how the Rams,

which had started the season 7–1, had dropped to the

fourth seed in the NFC.

Against the Cardinals, though, all the concerns disap-

peared quickly in a dominant, 34–11 win against their

NFC West division foe. L.A. was up 21–0 at halftime

and never let Arizona get close. Stafford was steady

throughout and occasionally spectacular, with almost

as many touchdown passes (two) as incompletions

(four). In the course of that win, so many doubts were

replaced by hopes.

Hope that Odell Beckham Jr. would continue his

2022 SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS

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HJ

IRO

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