Los Angeles Rams Clinch Play Center; he will face the Seattle Seahawks in a wild card round

by

7:23 PM ET

  • Lindsey ThiryESPN

    Close

    • Covered Rams for Two Years for The Los Angeles Times
    • He previously covered the Falcons
    • He has covered NBA and college football and basketball

INGLEWOOD, Calif.; – The Los Angeles Rams played a playoff place with an 18-7 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

With the win, the Rams finish 10-6 and earn No. 6 seeds, marking their third playoff run in four seasons under coach Sean McVay. They will play the Seattle Seahawks, the NFC West champion in the wild card round.

The Rams entered Week 15 with a 99.9% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to the ESPN Football Power Index, but lost games back to the New York Jets and Seahawks, who saw their playoff chances going down to 89% going into the regular Sunday -season finale.

With quarterback Jared Goff on his side after undergoing thumb surgery on his throwing hand after Week 16, backup quarterback John Wolford made his first NFL start against the Cardinals and finished 22 of 38 passes for 223 yards with interception.

Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray left the game after the opening series due to an ankle injury and was replaced by Chris Streveler, before Murray returned to the game with 14:21 left.

In the third quarter, Rams cornerback Troy Hill added Streveler and returned 84 yards for a sailboat to give the Rams a 12-7 lead at half-time. The pick-six was the third defensive round Hill has won this season.

The Rams have won eight directly against the Cardinals.

Rams ’return to the postseason marks a disappointing 2019 season when the Rams finished 9-7 and they were the only team with a record to win without winning a playoff box, while also growing as the a second team from 2009 that lost in the Super Bowl and then missed the playoffs next season.

.Source