Sean Payton hopes the fans in attendance for Sunday’s NFC Championship will give the New Orleans Saints an extra advantage when facing the Los Angeles Rams.
In less than 48 hours, the Los Angeles Rams will officially take on the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship, with the winner of the contest punching their ticket to Atlanta to represent the conference in this year’s Super Bowl.
Earlier during the regular season, it was the Saints who came through on the winning end over the Rams 45-35, as this was actually the first loss recorded by Sean McVay‘s squad in 2018. But when looking at how there’s a trip to the Super Bowl line this time around along with players like Aqib Talib being healthy, the circumstances are much different this time for Los Angeles.
Defeating a team like the Saints on the road in front of their own fans in this kind of game certainly won’t be easy, but also the Rams are in this position for a reason.
Even if Sean Payton hopes to receive help from New Orleans fans by making things complicated for Los Angeles with their noise level, McVay and company shouldn’t be intimidated at all by the atmosphere since they’ve been in this position plenty of times.
.@SeanPayton message to #Saints fans for Sunday:
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 17, 2019
bring the noise earlier 🕑
and LOUDER than normal! 🗣️🗣️🗣️#HomeInTheDome pic.twitter.com/Wyn6dWdRvi
Yes, Saints fans have made the Mercedes-Benz Superdome one of the most difficult places for opponents to play in at times over the years, but also the Rams know from the regular season what it’s like to play there, even if the intensity will be on a whole new level Sunday.
Not to mention, Los Angeles is already familiar with playing in front of hostile crowds from all of those trips on the road once a year when facing the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.
After seeing the level of confidence the Rams play with on the road against their division rivals, there’s every reason in the world to believe they can do the same on Sunday when taking on the Saints.
New Orleans fans aren’t going to make it easy, and may feel a little extra fired up after Payton’s latest request, but knowing McVay, the head coach will make sure Los Angeles is ready for the challenge to make sure his team continues their journey of trying to reach the Super Bowl.