2020 Long Island EFL Week#3 Los Angeles Rams (1-1) vs. Buffalo Bills (1-1)

[Long island EFL]

RAMS BEAT BILLS IN SHOWDOWN 16-10 IN OVERTIME ON TYLER'S 67 YARD TOUCHDOWN!  

August 25, 2020. Orchard Park, Buffalo, New York.

Great coaching has a price tag when you are playing against your own teams. This Long Island Electric Football League game between the 2018 and 2019, two-time defending LIEF Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams (1-1) and the 2017 Super Bowl Champion Buffalo Bills was a heart-break game with so much amazement.  Coach Billy "O'C" against Alternate Coach for the league, Joe "Bino" was one to remember! We know you EF hobbyists feel like us when we say, "Our players are doing things on their own". Well, this was that game and those players! It was a game coaches dream about for a Super Bowl showdown. There couldn't be a better match-up in this feature game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Buffalo Bills. "I love my Bills and I love my Rams, but someone has to lose.  Both of these teams show incredible teamwork and winning will be a matter of capitalizing on the others mistakes. There is something about the "Juice" in the game that keeps me wanting to see him play, but the Rams have Isaac Bruce who I have been fortunate enough to develop into one of the most dangerous players in the LIEFL." Coach Bino said, "These are the games I play the hobby for. I know what I have with the Rams and I am just going to play it out and bring all of who they are.  I love watching them. It's like they are alive and making plays without me." 

All the earmarks for a great game exist between the powerful Rams special-teams and
their running game versus the Bills star running back OJ Simpson, who is not new to any big games. MVP in LIEFL 2017, Super Bowl XIII, Simpson is one of the most explosive reiable backs in the LIEFL.  How good he really is is a battle of Buffalo's will. Today is a little different, he's going to have to be on fire to beat this Rams team and the Bills will have to play at Super Bowl level, even at home. The sign of a great team in this league is one who can win on the road. The Rams own the road.  They are 17-4 since 2018, and last season in their second straight Super Bowl run, Billy O'C's Rams knocked out everyone as a Wild Card team! 

 

THE GAME: 

On the kick return OJ Simpson dropped the ball but recovered for a 29-yard kick-return for the for Bills to set up their first run of the game. Simpson ran for 17, 9, and another 9-yards on his first four plays. Los Angeles finally started to kick in their Fab-Five defense with All-Pro Jackie Slater in the lead, stopping Simpson on the next two plays, bringing it to third down with 11 yards to go for the first, with 6:43 to go in the half as Buffalo chewed up the clock. After stopping Simpson on third down quarterback Jim Kelly threw a rocket from the pocket hitting Andre Reed for the 33 yard touchdown pass to give Buffalo a 7-0 lead with 1:18 left to go in the half!

 

On the Rams first return, we rise to our feet to watch "The Reverend" Isaac Bruce return the ball. Bruce sped down to the 39-yard-line where he was tackled by OJ Simpson with a little over a minute to go and a half! On an amazing running play Los Angeles running back Wendell Tyler, squeaked around the right side through a lot of traffic for huge 24-yard gain to the Buffalo Bills 35-yard line!  The Buffalo defense gave the Rams a hard time running the ball and on third down Isaac Bruce made a great catch for 40 yards down the right sideline as he blazed in for the touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 10:24 remaining in the game!

 

Buffalo decided to give rookie Ray Brown a try a kick-return as he took it back 45 yards giving the Bills outstanding field position. What an intense battle between two great team's and coaches. The Rams front-line of the fabulous, furious five came to play some electric football in Buffalo as they force the third-down after a huge 35-yard run from OJ Simpson, pushing the ball back with 4:08 to go in the game as the Bills are forced to pass.

 

And on third down the Bills came up short on an incomplete pass attempted for OJ Simpson at the 9-yard line as Buffalo is kicks a field-goal from 35 yards away to make the score 10-7 with a minute left to go in this amazing match-up! 

 

The Bills did their best to keep the ball out of Isaac Bruce's hand, but Bruce wasn't having it.  He navigating an amazing heart-stopping run for Los Angeles, returning the kick for 82-yards, hit by his own man forcing Bruce out of bounds at the 18-yard line of Buffalo as the Rams run almost run out of time. The Rams kick the field-goal to tie the game 10-10, as we go into overtime in a phenomenal game! And as luck would have it the defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams win the coin toss in overtime! Bills coach Billy O'C falls to his knees disbelief! 

 

Watching two of your own teams play on the field and having to make these types of choices is very difficult as the Rams continue their curse on their own coach. What we mean by that is O'C's Dolphins lost to these Rams in the Super Bowl last year, and here he is with a team that he loves in the Buffalo Bills on the verge of an upset against the defending champs. If they lose Buffalo will have their backs against the wall for the rest of the season. One game can be a tremendous setback in this league.

 

Bruce took the overtime kickoff back 41 yards to set Tyler up for the run. Buffalo will not give in as they push the Rams back to the 28 yard line for a huge 14-yard loss, making it third-down enforcing the Rams to go up in the air. At 6:02 in overtime Jarod Goff made a sensational pass to Rams running back Wendell Tyler as the Bills watch Tyler scorch 67-yards down the sideline and into the end-zone as the Los Angeles Rams (2-1) explode on Buffalo to win an incredible game, 16-10! One game can turn a season around in this league.  

 

The game left Billy O'C speechless. Joe Bino said, "I love it!  I love beating O'C and I love ruing other teams chances for the playoffs.  In a way, as alternate coach, it's my job to put on the best performance.  I want that $1500 payday and I have nothing to lose. Let these guys get caught up in all the emotional stuff, I just play hard!" 

 

The Buffalo Bills (1-2), have put themselves in a bind. They play Las Vegas, LA Chargers, and Denver on the road.  Coach O'C said, "Nothing is impossible with these Bills. We are going to rise to the occasion.  We have a score to settle with the Chargers and that was a screaming match in the AFC Divisional Championship 49-48, but I will be ready. I cannot allow this game to knock my Bills out of the playoff picture."  The Los Angeles Rams (2-1) play the Giants at home and then they travel to San Francisco to play division rival San Francisco!

[Capanther]

I was a big ram fan while growing up...the first time i saw gabriel standing back in the pocket refusing to be tackled and watching deacon jones and merlin olsen chase down opposing qbs....i knew who my team was....i lived through the prothro years and then got excited again when chuck knox took over...seems like every year they went 12-2 and then lost to minnesota or Dallas in the playoffs. Then they finally made it to the super bowl in 79 even though they lost i was proud of my team. When they moved to st Louis i kind of chilled a bit. But anyway...the old yellow and blue uniforms made me reflect back...lol

[Long island EFL]

8 hours ago, Capanther said:

I was a big ram fan while growing up...the first time i saw gabriel standing back in the pocket refusing to be tackled and watching deacon jones and merlin olsen chase down opposing qbs....i knew who my team was....i lived through the prothro years and then got excited again when chuck knox took over...seems like every year they went 12-2 and then lost to minnesota or Dallas in the playoffs. Then they finally made it to the super bowl in 79 even though they lost i was proud of my team. When they moved to st Louis i kind of chilled a bit. But anyway...the old yellow and blue uniforms made me reflect back...lol

That is well written and I remember those Rams of the late 70s and the Steeler players we're great as well and your knowledge of all these players like Gabriel and some of the guys you have on your team is incredible. I'm waiting for your championship game