A 46-9 season-opening victory should excite any NFL fan base. For the Los Angeles Rams' sake, let's hope so.
The Rams obliterated the hapless Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Second-year quarterback and former No. 1 pick Jared Goff looked good, completing 21 of 29 passes for 306 yards and 1 touchdown. The defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns and held the Colts to three field goals.
Plenty of empty seats were witnesses.
The Rams were not a hot ticket, and classifying interest as lukewarm probably is too generous.
The 93,000-plus stadium had a paid attendance of 60,128 (that's tickets sold), yet it looked less than half-full, Pro Football Talk reported. In contrast, Southern California drew 77,614 at the Coliseum on Saturday for its game against Stanford.
Cost shouldn't have been an obstacle to attending the game. According to cbssports.com, at 8 a.m. LA time -- or five hours before kickoff -- there were 73 seats available on the secondary-ticket website Stubhub for under $10. The cheapest ticket was $6.
In contrast, the Philadelphia Eagles at the Washington Redskins was the only other NFL game with a ticket for under $20 at the same time -- and the cheapest one for that game was $18.
And just think, the Rams now have company in town with the Chargers playing their first season in sunny LA.
The city is known for its late-arriving sports crowds, particularly to Dodgers and Lakers games. The Rams would welcome that scenario right now.
So sorry
Quarterback Baker Mayfield has apologized for planting Oklahoma's flag at midfield of Ohio State's stadium after the Sooners' victory over the Buckeyes.
After Saturday night's 31-16 victory, Mayfield ran around the field at Ohio Stadium with a crimson OU flag, took it to the "O" at midfield and stuck it in the ground as his teammates celebrated around him.
"It was an emotional game, and so after the game, I did not mean for it to be disrespectful toward any Ohio State people at all, especially not the team or the players," Mayfield said Monday. "They're a great team, a great program, so I didn't mean for it to be disrespectful at all."
Mayfield said the Sooners do the same thing with the flag when they play Texas, but that game is played at a neutral site in Dallas each year. Mayfield said he should have saved his celebration for the locker room.
"Obviously, if they did that here [in Norman], I'd be p*, too," he said. "Not surprised looking back on it. I understand why they're very upset about it, but I didn't mean it to be disrespectful in any way."
Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley said he believes Mayfield's apology was genuine.
"I know him well enough to know what he meant by it," Riley said. "Not anything disrespectful towards Ohio State. It was an emotional game, and it was him celebrating with his teammates. I know that's why it happened."
Riley said the incident shouldn't overshadow the game. Mayfield, a Heisman finalist last season, threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns as Oklahoma rallied to knock off the Buckeyes. The Sooners have moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll.
"It was a great atmosphere in Columbus," Riley said. "They did a great job, and it was a fun game. I think you see by how many people watched it that the rest of the country agreed as well. So that, to me, should be the focus of what happened."
SPORTS TRIVIA
Where did Baker Mayfield finish in Heisman Trophy voting last season?
ANSWER
Third, behind winner Lamar Jackson and runner-up Deshaun Watson.
Sports on 09/12/2017