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1970 Los Angeles Rams season

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1970 Los Angeles Rams season
Head coachGeorge Allen
Home fieldLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record9–4–1
Division place2nd NFC West
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1970 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 33rd year with the National Football League and the 25th season in Los Angeles. The team looked to improve on its 11-3 record from 1969. However, the Rams missed their mark by two games, and finished with a respectable 9-4-1 record. Despite the winning record, the team missed the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 seasons.

Draft

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Main article: 1970 NFL Draft
1970 Los Angeles Rams draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 22 Jack Reynolds *  LB Tennessee
2 35 Donnie Williams  WR Prairie View A&M
7 162 Ted Provost  DB Ohio St
7 168 Bill Nelson  DT Oregon St
8 204 Rich Saul *  C Michigan St
9 230 Dave Graham  OT New Mexico Highlands
10 256 Vince Opalsky  RB Miami (FL)
11 282 David Bookert  RB New Mexico
12 308 Larry Arnold  QB Hawaii
13 334 Melvin Jones  WR Florida A&M
14 360 Bob Geddes  LB UCLA
15 386 Dag Azam  OG West Texas A&M
16 412 Roland Reichardt  K West Texas A&M
17 437 Don Crenshaw  DB USC
      Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

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Roster

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1970 Los Angeles Rams roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Practice squad

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

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With the completion of the AFL–NFL merger, the league was realigned into 2 conferences with 3 divisions each. The Rams were placed in the NFC Western Division with the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and San Francisco 49ers, none of whom had a winning record for any of the prior two seasons. The Rams, 49ers and Falcons were members of the Coastal Division of the Western Conference from 1967–69, while the Saints came from the Eastern Conference, where they were in the Capitol Division in 1967 and '69 and the Century Division in 1968. Gone from the Rams' division were the Baltimore Colts, with whom the Rams battled for a division title for the past 3 seasons, shifted to the AFC East. Consequently, the Rams were heavy favorites to win what was considered the weakest of the new divisions.

As it turned out, the prognosticators did not anticipate that 49er quarterback John Brodie would have an MVP season, that the 49ers had acquired some skilled young players, and the Rams veteran roster began to show signs of aging and suffered a number of injuries. Thus, instead of battling the Colts, the Rams would stage a season long battle for the NFC West with their California archrivals.

The Rams started the season as expected, with easy wins vs. the St. Louis Cardinals 34-13, at the Buffalo Bills 19-0, and against the San Diego Chargers 37-10. The 49ers came to L.A. in week 4 with a 2-1 record, having lost at Atlanta the week before, 21-20. The Rams were prohibitive favorites, but the 49ers forced 4 turnovers and had 3 sacks to win 20-6 and gain a share of the division lead. The Rams regained the division lead the very next week with a 31-21 win in Green Bay, while the 49ers tied the Saints at San Francisco. The 49ers then won 4 games in a row, while the Rams struggled to find consistency. They lost in the mud and rain on a Monday night in Minnesota to the powerful Vikings 13-3, beat the Saints in New Orleans 30-17, needed a last second touchdown to tie the Falcons in L.A. 10-10, had 4 turnovers in an upset loss at home to the New York Jets (playing without an injured Joe Namath), then beat the Falcons in Atlanta 17-7, gaining ground after that win when the 49ers lost to the Lions in Detroit.

Week 11 was a showdown in San Francisco between the 7-2-1 49ers and the 6-3-1 Rams. The Rams played perhaps their best game of the season in winning 30-13, and were now tied with the 49ers for 1st place with three games to play. More importantly, the Rams held the tiebreaker over San Francisco due to having a better division record (4-1-1 to 3-2-1). After beating the Saints 34-16 in week 10, the 8-3-1 Rams faced the 8-4 Detroit Lions on a Monday night game in Los Angeles. The Lions won what would prove to be a pivotal game by the score of 28-23, dropping the Rams 1 game behind the 49ers and 1/2 game behind the Lions for the wild card spot. The Rams crushed the New York Giants 31-3 in New York (costing the Giants both the NFC East title and the wild card spot), then awaited the result of the 49ers and Lions games. The Lions won easily at home vs. Green Bay 20-0, and the 49ers crushed the Oakland Raiders, 38-7 (the homestanding Raiders, having already won their division and guaranteed to host their first playoff game, rested most of their regulars).

Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 18 St. Louis Cardinals W 34–13 1–0 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 63,130
2 September 27 at Buffalo Bills W 19–0 2–0 War Memorial Stadium 46,206
3 October 4 San Diego Chargers W 37–10 3–0 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 69,564
4 October 11 San Francisco 49ers L 6–20 3–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 77,272
5 October 18 at Green Bay Packers W 31–21 4–1 Lambeau Field 56,263
6 October 26 at Minnesota Vikings L 3–13 4–2 Metropolitan Stadium 47,900
7 November 1 at New Orleans Saints W 30–17 5–2 Tulane Stadium 77,861
8 November 8 Atlanta Falcons T 10–10 5–2–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 67,232
9 November 15 New York Jets L 20–31 5–3–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 76,378
10 November 22 at Atlanta Falcons W 17–7 6–3–1 Atlanta Stadium 58,850
11 November 29 at San Francisco 49ers W 30–13 7–3–1 Kezar Stadium 59,602
12 December 6 New Orleans Saints W 34–16 8–3–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 66,410
13 December 14 Detroit Lions L 23–28 8–4–1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 79,441
14 December 20 at New York Giants W 31–3 9–4–1 Yankee Stadium 62,870
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

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Week 1: vs. St. Louis Cardinals

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1 234Total
Cardinals 3 037 13
• Rams 3 14710 34
Scoring summary
1RamsDavid Ray 27-yard field goalRams 3–0
1CardinalsJim Bakken 9-yard field goalTie 3–3
2RamsWillie Ellison 3-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (David Ray kick)Rams 10–3
2RamsBilly Truax 3-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (David Ray kick)Rams 17–3
3RamsAlvin Haymond 98-yard kickoff return (David Ray kick)Rams 24–3
3CardinalsJim Bakken 17-yard field goalRams 24–6
4CardinalsJackie Smith 59-yard pass from Jim Hart (Jim Bakken kick)Rams 24–13
4RamsDavid Ray 11-yard field goalRams 27–13
4RamsJack Snow 15-yard pass from Roman Gabriel (David Ray kick)Rams 34–13

Week 2: at Buffalo Bills

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1 234Total
• Rams 3 1303 19
Bills 0 000 0
Scoring summary
1RamsDavid Ray 21-yard field goalRams 3–0
2RamsDavid Ray 19-yard field goalRams 6–0
2RamsWillie Ellison 4-yard run (David Ray kick)Rams 13–0
2RamsDavid Ray 46-yard field goalRams 16–0
4RamsDavid Ray 21-yard field goalRams 19–0

Week 14

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1 234Total
• Rams 7 1770 31
Giants 3 000 3

Standings

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NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
San Francisco 49ers 10 3 1 .769 3–2–1 6–3–1 352 267 W3
Los Angeles Rams 9 4 1 .692 4–1–1 7–3–1 325 202 W1
Atlanta Falcons 4 8 2 .333 3–2–1 3–6–2 206 261 L1
New Orleans Saints 2 11 1 .154 0–5–1 2–8–1 172 347 L6

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

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  1. ^ The Football Database. Retrieved 2018-Dec-14.
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