Super Bowl 2020 From six cuts to 220 yar
Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 5:37 am
On the eve of his coronation -- a 220-yard, four-touchdown performance to push the to the Super Bowl -- hit a bump in the road. In the dark, in a rush, and on his way to an event, Mostert drove over something; he still doesn't know what exactly. He also didn't know what he'd find out when the sun eventually came up and shined a light on the problem; at the time, some might've called it an omen or a harbinger. He sped along without bothering to check for damage. He went to the event. He drove home after. It wasn't until the morning that he realized he had a flat. The entire tire would need replacing, a problem almost every driver confronts at some point, but not the kind of problem one wants to deal with the day before the NFC Championship Game. "It was one of those wild moments," Mostert tells CBS Sports. "I couldn't believe it was happening." Like most profe sional athletes, Mostert maintains a game-day routine. For one, he usually drives to the stadium. The flat tire threw off the beginning of that routine. He took the team shuttle instead Sam Vigneault Men Jersey . Once he arrived at Levi's Stadium, as the kickoff to the biggest game of his career approached, he fell back into the comfort of his routine. He doesn't take the field prior to kickoff anymore, a habit he borrowed from teammate this season. Now, he stays indoors, inside the locker room, where he can stretch and review his playbook, but more importantly, collect his thoughts -- sometimes relaxing in the hot tub -- so that when he does take the field, he's ready. "When I take in the field," Mostert says, "I want to take in the full experience." But before that moment comes, Mostert does something that's been part of his routine ever since the beginning of a journey that really started when the made the decision to cut him, an undrafted rookie who , on the eve of the 2015 season. He pulls out his iPhone, opens up the Notes app, and reads the list of six teams and Matt Calvert Jersey the corresponding dates when those six teams each decided to cut him.EaglesHe goes through it "thoroughly;" it takes 10-15 minutes. Call it a ritual or motivation. He calls it "meditation." "It's more like a meditation deal for me," he says. "I just collect my thoughts and just think about the journey I've gone on and where I'm at that moment." If his list reminds you of , you're not alone in thinking that. He thinks it too. "Oh yeah. Oh yeah," Mostert says. "I could definitely relate to her. She memorized everybody. That's actually really good, because I definitely see myself like Arya Stark." Arya's list was about bringing justice to those who wronged her and her family, but also about vengeance in the form of death. Mostert's list isn't as much about vengeance as it is about appreciation. "It's their lo s. I'm not too bitter about it. I've moved on," Mostert says. "It just makes me appreciate what I went though." The document isn't just a list. It's also a reminder of why -- why he plays football. Below the list, he's written out his whys. The whys are important. Without the whys, Mostert might've left the game of football behind after one of the six teams deemed him not worthy of a roster spot. "I've been playing football since I was seven," Mostert says. "I've never really mi sed a whole year of ball unle s it was due to an injury, but I'd come back and play. I never mi sed a full complete year of football. I've always played. So for me, it was like, hey, if you love this sport you'll do anything. And I do, so I'm just going to stick with what I know and just try to elevate my game Ian Cole Kids Jersey as best as po sible." When Mostert took the field against the , underneath the lights and a sea of screaming red and gold fanatics, he had no way of knowing what was about to happen. He couldn't have known the 49ers would beat the Packers by running the ball 42 times for 285 yards and four touchdowns. He couldn't have known Kyle Shanahan would call for a run on third-and-8 and that he'd turn that carry into a 36-yard touchdown that gave the 49ers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. He couldn't have known starting running back , who signed a with the 49ers this past offseason, would leave in the second quarter with, placing an even bigger load on Mostert. He couldn't have known that he alone would account for 29 of those 42 carries, 220 of those 285 yards, and all four of those touchdowns. But those things did happen. Mostert did become to record at least 200 rushing yards and at least four rushing touchdowns in a single playoff game. Only Eric Dickerson (in 1986 Oliver Bjorkstrand Kids Jersey ) has registered Behind a wall of blockers in Shanahan's zone-blocking scheme, he was so electric that 49ers quarterback attempted only eight pa ses over the course of the game. He powered the 49ers to the Super Bowl, taking full advantage of the openings with his game-breaking speed. The NFC Championship turned into a Raheem Mostert clinic 220 rushing yards on 29 carries 4 rushing TD Single postseason game rushing record set | NFL (@NFL) Normally, an average like 7.6 yards per attempt is a sociated with a quarterback throwing the ball, not a running back running the ball. It's more than what Packers quarterback averaged as a pa ser during the 2019 season. from his historic night looks like a quarterback's pa sing chart. "Still surreal," . "I just -- I can't believe that I'm in this position right now and I did the things I did tonight."The path to get to that position was anything but direct. In that way, Mostert has more than one thing in common with Arya, a nomad who, in the span of eight seasons, wanders from Winterfell to King's Landing to Harrenhal to the Twins to the Eyrie to Braavos to the Twins again and eventually, Winterfell and King's Landing to complete a circle. After a four-year college career at Purdue that included 136 carries, 759 rushing yards, and six touchdown runs in addition to a role as a kick returner, Mostert went undrafted and then proceeded to get cut by six teams in a span of 14 months. At a certain point, Mostert stopped feeling the weight of each cut. "I would say, truthfully, I got immune to being cut," Mostert says. 49ers faithful don't have many -- if any -- good memories of the short-lived Chip Kelly era. The 49ers posted a 2-14 record in Kelly's lone season, a season that saw start five games for a franchise that once transitioned away from the Joe Montana era to the Steve Young era. But Kelly, now UCLA's coach, deserves a portion of the credit for what transpired during Sunday's NFC title game. He's the reason why Mostert is with the 49ers, and he played a role in Mostert's evolution Liam Foudy Men Jersey . Kelly was the Eagles' coach when they signed Mostert as an undrafted free agent in May 2015. "It was like the biggest moment of my life," Mostert says. "Not just the money aspect, but the fact that I was able to get into the league and have the opportunity to showcase my talents -- what I can do -- since I wasn't nece sarily used like that at Purdue." Moster