PHILADELPHIA — Jared Verse was the talk of the town before Sunday’s NFC divisional-round game between the Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.
After the Rams rookie edge rusher told The Times last week that he hated Eagles fans and found them annoying, he became the target of heated fan discussion on local sports radio. A billboard even featured his quote.
Verse, however, embraced the role of the villain and had two of the Rams’ seven sacks in a 28-22 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m going to shy away or get nervous’ or anything like that,” Verse said. “Nah, that turns me up. That hypes me up.”
About 90 minutes before kickoff on a cold day that would later feature snow, Verse slowly toured the entire perimeter of the field in a sleeveless black shirt, gray sweat pants and a blue beanie.
As he left the field with teammate Byron Young, he put his hand to his ear, inviting fans to increase the volume of their comments. When the Rams emerged from their locker room in uniform for pregame warmups, Verse was the last player out of the tunnel.
After the Eagles’ first possession, which ended with a long touchdown run by quarterback Jalen Hurts, the stadium video board featured a shot of Verse, who was loudly booed.
When Verse sacked Hurts in the second quarter, he lifted his arms, skipped off the field and jawed with fans behind the Rams bench.
Verse, a front-runner for NFL defensive rookie of the year, said he thought he played well but could have done more for a Rams defense that allowed Saquon Barkley to rush for 205 yards and two long touchdowns.
“I could have been better,” Verse said. “There’s more I could have done.”
As with coach Sean McVay and teammates, Verse lamented the way the season ended.
“It sucks how much adversity we had to overcome,” he said, “and in these final moments we weren’t able to overcome any more.”
Verse, the No. 19 pick in the draft, said he learned a lot during his rookie season.
“There’s like some dawgs out there,” he said, “You’re going to play every team that somebody is going to really test you.”
Verse said he would use what happened Sunday as motivation going into the offseason.
“Never want to feel like this again,” he said. “I don’t want my teammates to feel like this again.
“I don’t want to look in their eyes and see anything but pure bliss and pure happiness. And I’m going to do everything in my power to makes sure that doesn’t happen again.”
