Sean McVay lo había visto antes. De hecho, había tenido lugar solo dos semanas antes al final del Juego de Campeonato de la NFC. Con su equipo protegiendo una ventaja de 20-17, McVay observó cómo el tackle defensivo Aaron Donald se abría camino en el backfield de los 49ers. La presión de Donald sobre Jimmy Garoppolo condujo a un lanzamiento errado que fue interceptado mientras aseguraba la victoria de los Rams y su lugar en el Super Bowl LVI.
El domingo por la noche, con los Rams protegiendo una ventaja de 23-20, McVay tenía la sensación de que Donald iba a hacer una jugada similar en cuarta y 1 con 49 segundos por jugar.
«Por el campeonato mundial aquí mismo», dijo McVay. «Aaron Donald va a hacer una obra de teatro».
McVay tenía razón. Donald, quien ya había registrado dos capturas del mariscal de campo de los Bengals, Joe Burrow, pudo alcanzarlo nuevamente en cuarta oportunidad. Burrow pudo desviar el pase, pero el pase cayó inofensivamente al césped, asegurando el primer campeonato de los Rams desde 1999.
«¡Lo sabía!» McVay le gritó a Donald epílogos. «¡Sabía que harías esa jugada!»
Donald y McVay han sido dos de los principales impulsores del éxito de los Rams desde que la franquicia se mudó de regreso a Los Ángeles. Desde la llegada de McVay en 2017, los Rams nunca han tenido una temporada perdedora mientras avanzaban a los playoffs cuatro veces. Los Ángeles llegó al Super Bowl 2018, solo para caer ante los Patriots de Tom Brady en el Super Bowl con la puntuación más baja de la historia.
Tomó tres años, pero Donald, McVay y los Rams regresaron al gran juego esta temporada. Y mientras los Bengals los hicieron trabajar para lograrlo, los Rams estaban en el lado ganador del marcador final del domingo.
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