User:BBPowe/2018 NFC Championship Game

The 2018 NFC Championship Game was a National Football League (NFL) game played on January 20, 2019, to determine the National Football Conference (NFC) champion for the 2018 NFL season. The visiting Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints 26–23 in overtime to win their first conference championship since 2001 and advance to the franchise's fourth Super Bowl appearance.

New Orleans Saints
Coming into this game, the New Orleans Saints had not experienced much postseason success apart from their lone Super Bowl appearance and win. It took until 2000 for the franchise to win a single playoff game, despite years of a strong team under head coach Jim E. Mora. This was partially due to the Saints rarely winning their division because of particularly strong NFC West often led by the 49ers. The Saints were not new to terrible luck, as is demonstrated in many of their failed playoff runs. In week 16 of the 2003 season, with the Saints at 7–7 needing to win both of their last two games in order to have a chance at a wildcard berth, successfully pulled off the first ever multi-lateral touchdown in NFL history, but kicker John Carney missed the extra point kick that would have tied the game, so the Saints lost 20–19 and were eliminated from the postseason. 8 years later, in 2011, the 13–3 Saints lost at the end of the divisional playoff game at 13–3 San Francisco when Alex Smith connected with Vernon Davis for a 14-yard touchdown that won the game, 36–32. Also notable from the 2011 season was that the Saints, despite being 13–3, did not get a first round bye nor home field advantage, becoming only the second team in history with this record, after the 1999 Tennessee Titans season to have this luck. What's worse this that two of the Saints' losses that year were to the 2–14 Rams and the 4–12 Buccaneers-- if they had won one of those games, they would have had a first-round bye. The most recent, and perhaps the worst, example of the Saints' horrible luck was in the 2017–18 playoffs' divisional round when they, after coming back from a 17–0 deficit, lost the game on the final play.

NFC: Los Angeles Rams 26, New Orleans Saints 23 (OT)
Though the Rams outgained New Orleans in total yards 378 to 290, they never held the lead at any point in regulation. But after Greg Zuerlein hit a 48-yard field goal with 15 seconds left in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime, John Johnson's clutch interception set Zuerlein up for a 57-yard field goal (the second longest in postseason history) to win the game.

New Orleans took the opening kickoff and drove 56 yards in 11 plays, the longest a 21-yard completion from Drew Brees to running back Alvin Kamara. Wil Lutz finished the drive with a 37-yard field goal to give the Saints a 3–0 lead. Then Saints linebacker Demario Davis intercepted a pass that bounced out of the hands of running back Todd Gurley, giving his team a first down on the Rams' 13-yard line. Three plays later, Lutz kicked a 29-yard field goal to put New Orleans up 6–0. LA was quickly forced to punt, and the Saints soon drove for more points. Brees started his next drive with a 24-yard completion to tight end Josh Hill, and later converted a 3rd-and-3 with a 19-yard pass to Michael Thomas. Brees eventually finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown toss to tight end Garrett Griffin, who had been promoted from the practice squad just two weeks earlier after missing the entire regular season. This gave New Orleans a 13–0 lead with 1:35 left in the first quarter.

LA took the ball back and soon faced 4th-and-5, but managed to keep the drive going with a fake punt in which punter Johnny Hekker threw the ball to Sam Shields for 12 yards, giving the Rams a first down for the first time in the game with 14 minutes left in the second quarter. The possession ended up going on for 14 plays and 62 yards before Zuerlein finished it with a 36-yard field goal to make the score 13–3. After the next three possessions of the game ended in punts, LA got the ball with 1:52 left in the half. Quarterback Jared Goff started the drive with a pair of completions to Josh Reynolds for 22 total yards. Following two incompletions, he converted a 3rd-and-10 with a 17-yard pass to Brandin Cooks. On the next play, Goff completed a 36-yard pass to Cooks on the Saints' 6-yard line. Gurley then ran the ball in for a touchdown, cutting the Rams' deficit to 13–10 at halftime.

After forcing the Rams to punt on the opening possession of the second half, New Orleans drove 71 yards in 12 plays, mainly on the strength of running backs Mark Ingram II and Kamara. Ingram rushed three times for 25 yards on the drive, while Kamara had a 6-yard carry while also catching four passes for 34 yards. Brees ended the drive with a 2-yard touchdown pass to Taysom Hill, increasing the Saints' lead to 20–10. LA responded by moving the ball 70 yards in 10 plays, including a 25-yard reception by Cooks and a 16-yard run by Reynolds on an end around play. With 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Goff converted a 3rd-and-goal with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee, cutting the Rams' deficit to 20–17.

The next three drives of the game resulted in punts, the last one a 44-yard kick by Thomas Morstead that pinned the Rams back on their 9-yard line. Goff then completed passes to Gerald Everett and Reynolds for gains of 39 and 33 yards as the team drove 90 yards in nine plays. New Orleans managed to halt the drive on their 6-yard line when C. J. Anderson was stopped for a 1-yard gain on 3rd-and-2, but Zuerlein kicked a field goal to tie the score 20–20 with just over five minutes left in regulation. Kamara returned the following kickoff 30 yards to the Rams' 35-yard line. Four plays later, Brees completed a 43-yard pass to Ted Ginn Jr. on the LA 13-yard line. Two plays later, with the Saints facing 3rd-and-10, Brees threw a pass to receiver Tommylee Lewis, who was covered by Nickell Robey-Coleman. A hit by Robey-Coleman knocked Lewis to the ground and the pass fell incomplete. Replays showed Coleman made contact with Lewis well before the ball arrived as well as making clear contact with Lewis's head, either of which should have resulted in a penalty, but no flag was thrown and the Saints had to settle for Lutz's third field goal, from 31 yards, that gave the Saints a 23–20 lead with 1:26 remaining. On the Rams' ensuing drive, Goff completed a 19-yard pass to Reynolds and then threw a 16-yard pass to Robert Woods to convert a 3rd-and-3 and give LA the ball on the Saints' 33-yard line. Three plays later, Zuerlein's 48-yard field goal tied the score with 8 seconds left on the clock and sent the game into overtime. New Orleans got the ball at the start of overtime and drove to their 40-yard line. On the next play, Ingram was tackled by Aaron Donald for a 6-yard loss. Then as Brees attempted to make a desperate throw, he was hit by Rams lineman Dante Fowler, resulting in a high floating pass that was intercepted by John Johnson at the Rams' 46-yard line. Goff started LA's ensuing drive with a 12-yard pass to Higbee. Then after Anderson was dropped for a 3-yard loss, Goff's 6-yard pass to Higbee moved the ball to the Saints' 39-yard line. Goff's next pass was incomplete, and Zuerlein was brought out to kick a 57-yard field goal, which he did to give the Rams a 26–23 win.

After the game, Saints coach Sean Payton protested bitterly about the non-call after Coleman's hit on Lewis on the final play of the Saints fourth quarter field goal drive. "For a call like that not to be made, man, it's just hard to swallow. And then to get a phone call ..." Payton said, trailing off. He added: "We spoke initially, then I called to follow up. And the first thing [head of officials Alberto Riveron] said when I got on the phone—'We messed it up.' Payton later said it was the type of foul you'd call "if we were playing pickup football in the backyard."

Two Saints season ticket holders filed a lawsuit against the league over the incident attempting to force the league to use its unfair act provisions and replay the game from the point of the missed call. The league, which has never used the provisions, opposes the action on the grounds that it could force the league to postpone the Super Bowl.

Goff completed 25-of-40 passes for 297 yards, a touchdown and an interception, while also rushing for 10 yards. Cooks caught seven passes for 107 yards, while Reynolds caught four passes for 74 yards and rushed for 16 yards. Rams linebacker Cory Littleton had 12 tackles (11 solo). Brees completed 26-of-40 passes for 249 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Kamara rushed for 15 yards, caught 11 passes for 96 yards, and had 4 kickoff returns for 119 yards.