After a huge underdog win vs. San Francisco, Matthew Stafford deserves his flowers

The Los Angeles Rams have had a tough start to the season which has been hampered by injuries across the board. After a 41-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals last week, many began to question if LA should fold it up and trade away veteran QB Matthew Stafford for more draft capital. It was a crazy rumor to begin with, but after the team’s come from behind victory over the San Francisco 49ers Stafford proved why head coach Sean McVay and the Rams aren’t going to be trading #9 anywhere this season.

Stafford wasn’t alone in the win, and many others like Kyren Williams, Xavier Smith and Joshua Karty deserve praise as well, but after a week filled with hypothetic trade scenarios involving the Rams QB, he again showed exactly why he’s not expendable in McVay’s locker room.

The whole day wasn’t an offensive passing clinic, Stafford threw a solid 221 yards and one touchdown, but it was more about that ‘something extra’ that he can bring to an offense. Once there was even a spark that the Rams might be able to pull off the comeback, it just felt like naturally Stafford would pull off his magic again.

Down 24-14 with roughly 11:00 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Stafford marched LA down for a field goal to make it 24-17. After a big defensive stop and a missed kick, the Rams got the ball back with a little under three minutes left. Then Stafford made his move, hitting Tutu Atwell for a 50-yard strike to set up Kyren Williams for a touchdown two plays later, tying up the game. Down his top two targets, Stafford made the throw that needed to be made, when it needed to be made.

Stafford has been clutch over and over during his tenure in Los Angeles. He hit Kupp deep to set up the game-winning field goal vs. the Bucs in the NFC Championship. He lead the Rams to a Super Bowl victory, marching the team 79 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in their final possession of the game. Even just last season, Stafford threw the game winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat the Colts Week 4.

Stafford’s teammates have complete confidence in him as well, with defensive captain Kobie Turner noting the quarterback’s poise during the big moments:

“Everybody’s hurrahing and everybody’s super excited and Matt is just still,” aid Turner “He’s just calm and he’s going on the field, it looks like it’s a normal day and so when you kind of see that presence, never being too high, never being too low, and you see the fire that he plays with, you know and you have complete confidence in the fact that he’s going to put us in the best situations.”

After the game, McVay was also captured hugging Stafford and yelling “You’re such a f—ing stud!”. If you ask me, that does not sound like a coach or team that’s ready to fold up for the season and move on from the leader of their team.

The Rams head to Chicago to face the Bears, and while they have one of the leagues top defenses, they have struggled badly on offense with rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. If Los Angeles can take another win this week, they would be 2-2 and right back in the driver’s seat at .500.

Things could continue to turn around for the better in LA as WR Puka Nacua and CB Darious Williams should also both be eligible to return from IR after the team’s bye Week 6. 1-2 is a whole different world than 0-3, and it feels like the Rams may have kept their high hopes for the season alive with this big win.