LA Rams Unveil New #MobSquad Emoji

The LA Rams have been on a mission to re-brand ever since their departure from St. Louis, and why wouldn’t they? As the 2016 season approaches, it’s time for the Rams to make sure they hit the LA market hard and with gusto.

From their promotions, to their marketing efforts, to Hard Knocks, to JTG being a shy pitchman, it’s been a 24/7 effort to make sure that the vestiges of St. Louis have been whitewashed clean, and leave no doubt that the Rams are now 100% SoCal.

Keeping this in mind, the Rams unveiled their new Twitter hashtag/emoji today, and it is a mixture of the new and old:

At first glance, it appears that the “LA” lettering in the emoji has some Michael Jordan hoop earrings in (shout out to Drake, future LA Rams fan), or maybe it is a spin on #FatArmFriday (we’ll miss you, Eric Kush).

But upon closer inspection, the curly Ram horns of a strapping male are realized, embracing and protecting the “LA” from danger. Hmmm. How does this relate to #MobSquad?

It kind of relates to the Monster Squad, the idea of horns and other objects growing out of places that don’t make too much conceptual sense:

In previous years, while in St. Louis, the Rams had used #MobSquad to describe their (sometimes) elite pass-rushing ability, having been among the league leaders in sacks:

So, it’s a bit puzzling why they didn’t incorporate this essence into their new emoji. Maybe it was difficult to capture the concept of a squad of defensive linemen mobbing a quarterback in a tiny image? I suppose so.

Let’s dig into some of the best hashtags employed by the Rams in years past with my top four:

#4 - #FilltheDome

This one doesn’t need much of an explanation. When the Rams went 15-65 over a 5 year stretch, there wasn’t going to be much filling of anything. It was just bad football.

#3 - #DefendOurTurf

This one was another campaign launched in 2014, and again the Rams’ defense decided to not live up fully to the slogan:

The 2014 Rams finished outside the top 10 in sacks, and were right around the average for points scored against as well as most other defensive stats.

Where the Rams did do well was passing touchdowns allowed, where they were top 3.

#2 - #SackCity

This one predated #MobSquad, but had the same idea. The Rams were pretty good at sacking QB’s in 2013 (3rd in the league with 53), and the marketing team decided that this needed to be articulated:

The Rams were 15th in sacks in 2014, after having one sack after the first 5 games. So, this one unfortunately did not hit the target.

1 - #TheKid

This was originally assigned to former Rams QB Austin Davis, who came on the field in 2014’s season opener for an injured Shaun Hill:

What was funny at the time is that he was not exactly young:

Furthermore, The Kid finished 30th in the NFL in yards per game.

Maybe not every QB in the league needs a hashtag...

#MobSquad Taeks

How about some reactions across the NFL media landscape to #MobSquad?

-The Big Lead was perplexed as to the selection of the hashtag itself:

32. #MobSquad

Why? There are no Google results which means this is completely made up. Being in Los Angeles should afford many opportunities. How about #StraightOuttaStLouis?

-Our own SB Nation weighed in as well on the hashtag, agreeing on the concept but not last year’s production:

23. #MobSquad (Los Angeles Rams): This one goes all the way back to the team’s St. Louis days, when the defensive line was the only thing good about the team. That’s still the case, but somehow a unit headlined by Aaron Donald still can’t crack the top 10 in sacks. When you stop and think about it, this is a very worthy hashtag for the Jeff Fisher-led Rams.

To be fair, top pass-rusher Robert Quinn was sidelined much of last year, hurting their sack totals.

-USA Today’s For The Win, for the record, enjoys the hashtag itself because of the above narratives:

5. Rams — #MobSquad

The nickname of the Ram’s defense makes a good hashtag.

-The hometown of Aaron Donald particularly enjoys the hashtag, as it was Donald himself who dreamed up the phrase. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

4. #MobSquad — Former Pitt star Aaron Donald dubbed the Los Angeles Rams defensive line the Mob Squad. Pretty sweet.

What do you think of the hashtag? Should the Rams have picked a new one to go with the new emoji?