1977 Los Angeles Rams season

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1977 Los Angeles Rams season
Head coach Chuck Knox
Owner Carroll Rosenbloom
Home field Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record 10–4
Division place 1st NFC West
Playoff finish Lost Divisional

The 1977 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 40th year with the National Football League and the 32nd season in Los Angeles.

Hobbled by chronic knee woes, quarterback Joe Namath was waived by the New York Jets after the 1976 season, after they were unable to trade him. Namath signed with the L.A. Rams in May 1977. Hope of a Rams revival sprung when Los Angeles won two of their first three games, but Namath was hampered by low mobility. After a poor performance in a Monday Night loss to the Bears, Namath never saw NFL game action again.[1]

After a playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Rams head coach Chuck Knox was fired due to ownership's frustration that Knox had not been able to reach the Super Bowl.

Offseason

NFL Draft

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Main article: 1977 NFL Draft
Round Pick Player Position School/Club Team

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Notes Attendance
1 September 18, 1977 at Atlanta Falcons L 17–6 Namath threw a 27-yard TD pass to Harold Jackson early, but then it was all Falcons as their defense totally shut down the running game. Scott Hunter, starting in place of injured Steve Bartkowski, directed a ball-control attack and ran for a touchdown.
55,956
2 September 25, 1977 Philadelphia Eagles W 20–0 Namath passed for two touchdowns in this game, 14 yards to Lawrence McCutcheon and 2 yards to Terry Nelson.
46,031
3 October 2, 1977 San Francisco 49ers W 34–14 McCutcheon and John Cappelletti both ran for two touchdowns in this rout. Jim Plunkett was completely ineffective against the Rams defense.
55,466
4 October 10, 1977 at Chicago Bears L 24–23 Namath's final NFL start and game. He was 16 for 40 and once again victimized by no running game. Rams did get off to a 13–0 lead, but Bears QB Bob Avellini completed two long touchdown passes to James Scott and Walter Payton ran for 126 yards to bring the Bears back.
51,412
5 October 16, 1977 New Orleans Saints W 14–7 Pat Haden took back over as the starting quarterback and led a ball-control attack with McCutcheon gaining 152 yards and rookie Wendell Tyler scoring his first career NFL touchdown on a 16-yard run.
46,045
6 October 24, 1977 Minnesota Vikings W 35–3 In a Monday Night blowout, Haden passed for two touchdowns and ran for another. The Rams' defense sacked Fran Tarkenton four times and intercepted him twice, both by rookie Pat Thomas.
61,414
7 October 30, 1977 at New Orleans Saints L 27–26 In a wild game at the New Orleans Superdome, the Saints won on a 31-yard field goal by Rich Szaro with 16 seconds left.
59,023
8 November 6, 1977 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 31–0 Haden continued to roll with two more touchdown passes and Jim Youngblood scored on a 25-yard interception return.
45,493
9 November 13, 1977 at Green Bay Packers W 24–6 McCutcheon and Tyler each scored running TD's and Haden passed for another.
52,948
10 November 20, 1977 at San Francisco 49ers W 23–10 Rookie wide receiver Billy Waddy scored his first NFL TD on a pass from Haden and McCutcheon scored on a 42-yard run.
56,779
11 November 27, 1977 at Cleveland Browns W 9–0 Rams won slug-it-out game in the mud despite Haden throwing 3 INT's. Cappelletti scored on a 7-yard run and Rafael Septien added a field goal.
70,352
12 December 4, 1977 Oakland Raiders W 20–14 Against the defending Super Bowl champions, the Rams survived a late scoring drive and touchdown pass by Ken Stabler by answering with a 43-yard Haden-to-Harold Jackson touchdown bomb with around two minutes left. The win clinched the Rams' fifth straight division title.
67,075
13 December 11, 1977 Atlanta Falcons W 23–7 Rams avenged their season-opening loss to the Falcons as Haden ran for a TD and passed for another to Cappelletti.
52,574
14 December 17, 1977 at Washington Redskins L 17–14 In the cold and rain at RFK Stadium, Redskins quarterback Billy Kilmer threw for two early TD's. Rookie backup quarterback Vince Ferragamo nearly led the Rams back in the second half with two TD's of his own, but Septien missed a potential game-tying FG with no time left.
54,208

Game summaries

Week 3

1 2 3 4 Total
49ers 7 0 7 0 14
• Rams 3 14 0 17 34

[2]

Week 12

1 2 3 4 Total
Raiders 0 7 0 7 14
• Rams 7 0 3 10 20

[3]

Playoffs

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
Divisional December 26, 1977 Minnesota Vikings L 14–7
62,538

Standings

NFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Los Angeles Rams(2) 10 4 0 .714 4–2 8–4 302 146 L1
Atlanta Falcons 7 7 0 .500 3–3 7–5 179 129 W1
San Francisco 49ers 5 9 0 .357 3–3 5–7 220 260 L3
New Orleans Saints 3 11 0 .214 2–4 3–9 232 336 L4

Roster

Awards and records

File:Football signed by 1977 LA Rams (1982.130.1).jpg
A football signed by the 1977 Los Angeles Rams, including Tom Mack, Joe Namath, Pat Haden, and Vince Ferragamo.

Milestones

References

  1. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/icons.at.end.of.the.road/content.2.html
  2. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  3. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Jun-16.
Preceded by Los Angeles Rams seasons
1977		 Succeeded by
1978 >
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