SPECIAL: Why the 2025 Los Angles Rams Are DIFFERENT, Big Surprise Players, Matthew Stafford MVP!

SPECIAL: Why the 2025 Los Angles Rams Are DIFFERENT, Big Surprise Players, Matthew Stafford MVP!

These Rams are for real. There’s something very special brewing for the 2025 locked on in these. And these Rams are for real. There’s something very special brewing for the 2025 Los Angeles Rams. That’s coming up next. A locked on Rams. You are Locked on Rams. Your daily Los Angeles Rams podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What is up, Ramly, and welcome to another episode of Locked On Rams, your daily podcast covering your Los Angeles Rams. Free and available revenue podcast. Locked on Rams, part of Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. We’re also available over on YouTube. So, if you haven’t yet, do us a huge favor. Hit the subscribe button, hit the notification bell, and if you want to support every episode, hit the like button and drop a comment. Less than 200 subscribers away from 20K, so get us there. And podcast listeners, write us a review and read on the show. My name is Doug McCain. You can follow me on X and Instagram at Dmac_LA. I’ve been covering LA Sports for over a decade, 247 sports, Bleach Report, SI, Dodgers Nation. And as always, I’m joined by the Rams prealf and postgame show host for the Rams flagship radio station, ESPN 710 LA. He’s in his 11th season covering your Los Angeles Rams, the people’s channel, Mr. Travis Rogers. You can follow him on X at Travis Rogers. And on today’s episode, we are continuing to break down the Rams big win over the Jaguars. And we’re going to talk about the state of the Rams in this by-week. How high are the expectations? How big is the ceiling? where they fit on these power rankings. We’re going to look around the league a little bit, but let’s get right into it. Travis, you talked about it before the show. I mean, this is probably wire towire their most impressive win of the season considering you’re going across the pond. You win in dominating fashion 35 to7. Third quarter wasn’t great. Running game was at its best. But the fact you did this without puking aua the scheming with McVey, I thought it was I’m with you. I think this was their most impressive win of the season. Yeah, I do. I I do I I think that, you know, I’ll just steal a phrase directly from Shawn McVey. It was the best example of complimentary football that we’ve seen from this team all season long that the offense functioned at a very high level. Matthew Stafford was terrific. Five touchdown passes, no interceptions. Devonte Adams, three touchdown passes, even though, you know, he only had five catches, had just barely over 40 yards. It was a weird statline, but three touchdowns is three touchdowns. So, he’s pleased. 10 different receivers involved in in in the uh in the passing game and then a defense that yet again held an opponent to under 10 points. That’s the third time in the last four weeks that they’ve held an opponent to under 10 points. They they’re giving up under 16 points a game on average for the season. Um it was a a game of complimentary football minus the special teams which they very clearly tried as hard as they could to avoid uh under all circumstances. I thought Shawn McVey called a great game. I thought they had an opportunity to to knock Jacksonville out and they took it and they did. You know, this is something that the Rams have have struggled with at times to kind of put teams away and it felt like this game was was over late third quarter that there was very little chance that Jacksonville was going to come back. So, I I I was really pleased. It’s the perfect way to go into the buy on a very very high note with a an opportunity to stack another one against the Saints coming up in a couple of Sundays. Yeah, it felt like a mature win, too. It felt like a win that that you have when you’re a real legitimate Super Bowl contender and you’re really taking care of business. And I think that these guys embraced the challenge of going out there and winning without Puka Nakua. I mean, it was truly no puka, no problem. And that’s no slight puka. We know he’s a top five receiver in this league. We also know that you have to go, you don’t want to be a Jamar Chase, right? You don’t want to be a Justin Jefferson, right? You want to be on teams where yeah, you can not have the best game and other guys can step up in big spots. And I think that is what impressed me the most was Shawn McVey. And Shawn McVey, I mean, I think there’s a little bit of we’re spoiled by him. We take him a little bit for granted just because he’s been so good for, right, he’s been so good for so long. And I looked at everyone’s saying, “Oh, 12 personnel, right? Let’s get two tight ends.” It was great to see Terrence Ferguson, our guy from Oregon, having his first touchdown. That 31 yd fade. Beautiful throw from Matthew Stafford. Everyone said they want to see 12 personnel. We saw 13 personnel. And that was what’s really cool. I mean, you saw a a 13 personnel and 38.7% of their snaps. From 2021 to 2024, they used 13 personnel six times. So, I mean, it’s a perfect example of Shawn McVey saying, “Okay, cool. You guys think I can’t win without Puka. You think I’m not scheming? You think you can’t win the red zone anymore? I’ll show you this. So, I think it was the best Shawn McVey game we’ve seen in a while, too, as far as just schematically. Okay, I’m I’m going to throw a word out there that is probably too far, but I think it’s close. Okay, and I’m not saying that anybody doesn’t do anything other than their very best every single week. And everybody’s trying to win every single game. Every time they get ready to go, everybody’s competing at the highest level. Boredom. I think there I I I I think there’s some element of, hey, this is going to work. We’re going to go out there. We’re gonna we’re going to do this. This is what we do. This is what works. This scores points. This stops points. This is what we’re going to call in these situations. Here are the 10 plays we know that we can dial up at any given time. And we’re going to be able to move the ball. And then all of a sudden, something like puka is unavailable to play a game. And that that you know what’s a better word than boredom? Routine. Let’s use the word routine instead. And now all of a sudden the routine has to change. The routine can’t be, well, we’re going to throw the ball at at at Pukanakua 15 times. Well, that’s 15 plays that need to go somewhere else. And it gets the juices flowing. It gets the creativity flowing. It gets the the other players and and not in any sort of negative way, but just in a hey, I have an opportunity maybe that might not be here if our allpro wide receiver is is available. So, I’m dialed up. Everybody’s dialed up and you get to see I think that just adds a little energy, a little juice. I think McVey likes the challenge. I think that he relishes the opportunity to do with with what you said, which is, “Oh, yeah. You think so? Well, watch this.” Because every time it feels like there’s some adversity, and I I’m just pulling these out of out of thin air. Whether it was the fires last year when they had to go to Arizona to play a playoff game. Whether it was in the middle of the COVID pandemic where, you know, basically the entire offense gets ruled out of the game about 30 seconds before kickoff and it’s like, “Yeah, we’re good. We’ll we’ll figure it out anyway.” And and those are some of their very best performances. We’ve seen them get through things so many different ways when you think, “Okay, well, this is going to be a little different.” And that’s when they’re at their best. I think I think those those moments where you got to kind of figure it out a different way. He lives for those because in London they did a different travel plan, right? Everyone else goes over there a few days before to try to acclimate and get used to the jet lag. They basically said, “Forget it, man. We’re going to go in. We’re going to sleep. We’re going to get up. We’re going to kick your butt. We’re going to leave.” I mean, it was it was a totally He was taking heat for that, too. Like, he was People were criticizing that. And I mean, it’s a logistical decision and clearly it paid off for him. And three of those touchdowns came out of that 13 personnel, too. And it just I think for for what I’m kind of getting is look, necessity is the mother invention and that’s something that inspires and takes Shawn McVey to another level. I remember during the one of the co seasons when they were out four starters against the Cardinals and people like what are they going to do and you saw those jumbo packages you saw six offensive linemen. We saw when the Rams were without Pukanua and Cooper Cup you saw more 12 personnel. So, as much of a as a positive as this is kind of just to kind of look at this too from another angle is like like just maybe Shawn McVey should just force these things and find these things and maybe create these fake criticisms to just maybe have him scheme a little better in the red zone moving forward because I mean there were some stagnant moments this year offensively that hey like I like the inspired energized version of Shawn McVey versus the one that you said and that’s comes back to the boredom and the routine. Yeah, it’s just, you know, like I I I know that my stuff works, right? So, I know that my if I just keep playing these these hands, if I just keep calling, it’s going to work. We’re going to beat almost everybody. We’re going to make the playoffs. We’re going to contend for a division title. We’re going to go in there, this works. It’s But when all of a sudden I don’t have that as an option and I have to get creative, they look different. They look they look a little crisper, a little faster, a little more dynamic, all of these things. And clearly, you want Puka back. that has it has nothing to do with Puka being out. It’s just that little bit of buzz, that little bit of forced ingenuity that comes along with it. And and it sure looked like it showed up. And I’ll tell you what, I bet a bunch of other teams going to London now show up the day before because that Rams team that put up London games stink, right? Like those games just as a general rule are are not particularly well played. They’re almost never competitive. One team looks okay and the other team looks terrible. Well, the team that looked pretty pretty okay was the team that’d been there about 5 minutes. Yeah. And our guys at Mattie Stafford, he was the first first quarterback with five passing touchdowns in an international game. Did you see like there was a reporter there? I feel like there was like so many international reporters and like he was saying like he should get kned. Did you see that? That by the way, that’d be pretty baller. Sir Matthew Stafford as Sir Matthew Stafford would absolutely kill it, man. And that and you know what the thing is too? That is the guy that should have gotten all the commercials every time it went to break. Is it me or was every single commercial a Trevor Lawrence commercial? Like when we go to break right here, are you going to read the ads or is Trevor Lawrence going to hop on and read uh Rouge yet? Right. Is is Trevor Lawrence Rouge yet ready or or Neutrafall? Whatever. He doesn’t need Neutrifall. Okay. But uh little OD on the uh on the Trevor Lawrence ads. Yes. And and here’s the thing and and good for Trevor Lawrence and his agent and who’s ever in charge of this stuff for good. But remember when you had to be good at something to get ads? Remember that? like when you you actually had to like be good at whatever it is you were doing. Like you had to hit home runs or throw touchdown passes or win games or score baskets or goals or whatever it is. And now you just have to be teammates with somebody who is a high draft pick because they’ve never been good for 5 seconds in the entire existence he’s been in the league. And we we’re doing Adidas ads. I don’t I don’t understand. I didn’t get either. I real quick before we hit the break, how much to you because it felt like this to me. It it really felt like another inspiration for Shawn McVey was going up against Liam Cohen. It it reminded me a little bit of Rex Quando and Napoleon Dynamite. Bow to your sensei, right? Bow to your sensei. Right. I mean, it did feel a little bit like that to me, especially with the 13 personnel. No one’s seeing that. It felt like Cohen had no no idea what to do at times. It was a mismatch. It was It was It was a mismatch. And we we can talk about this moving forward, but Jacksonville is not a terrible team, right? I don’t think they’re a good team, but they’re they’re not a team that should get bulldozed like that. And they they got bulldozed, and it seemed like Shawn McVey was enjoying the bulldozing more than the average amount. It it it did feel like there was a little bit of Oh, yeah. Okay. All right. Here it comes. Get ready. I I totally felt that, too. He just had he had no answers. He had no answers. And Sean V is looking down at that sheet. He knows what’s his next move. You could just totally see the difference. I totally agree with that. But coming up next, Devonte Adams and Matthew Stafford on the same page finally. And we’ll talk more about this Rams defense, throw some game balls, winners and losers. That’s coming up next on Locked on Rams. The NFL season is back and honestly, there is nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by fans of our favorite team, cheering everything on. 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So, download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code lo NFL locked on NFL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. And we are off and running here on Locked on Rams. Thank you for being locked on Rams your first listen every single weekday. Free and available Rev Gear podcast. Locked on Rams part of locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Okay Travis. So, here in our second segment, I want to shift back to the defense before we get into Stafford and Dvonte Adams talk here. I look, the defense was fantastic. You pitch a shut out again in the first half, third time they’ve done that this season. You get those big stops on fourth down. Two of them come in the red zone. They were two for six on fourth down. I mean, this defense, they make the routine look standard. I think that is a mark of a great defense. But obviously you got to focus on the weak spots first and how they fared. And I was very impressed with the quarterback play with Williams and Emanuel Forbes. And typically, you know, Travis, I’m the guy that I’ll try to, you know, run off their PFF grade. I’m going to tell you, Travis, I might be done with PFF grades forever. I might be done. I might never read them again ever on this show for the rest of Locked on Rams. Can I tell you why? Please. PFF gave Gino Smith, who went tw, no touchdowns, and no interceptions, a higher PFF grade this past week than they gave Patrick Mahomes, who went 26 for 35 at 286 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. I might be I I paid that company hundreds, maybe thousands subscriptions for years. I might need a refund. Okay, what are we talking about? I I I have no idea. I do know that the Chiefs had more first downs than the Raiders had plays. I do know that. That’s something that actually happened. Insane. Yeah, it it it’s bonkers that look that stuff can inform to a degree, but you know, this is one of those classic don’t believe your lion eyes, right? I know what I saw. You can you can put whatever math equation you want. However you want to spin it analytically, be my guest. But I know what I’m looking at. I know good play when I see it. I know bad play when I see it. And I know which category Gino Smith falls into. Yeah, absolutely. And uh you know, there’s a quick tangent there, but I mean, look, they like I said, as long as they help build your narrative, then work for you. But uh the truth is though, this defense, they they continue to impress. And I think what what really makes this defense a great defense is they make plays when they need to. And that is what they’ve done all season long. You saw that again. Byron Young, fantastic. Jared Verse, I think you’re seeing an improved secondary, but is it to the point where I mean I think that now Daryus Williams understands, hey, that was a revenge game for me going up against my other team. This is two straight weeks where you’ve seen really solid play from Darius Williams. Emanuel Forbes, you see that one play where he upended the dude, flipped him over the physicality. I mean, do you think that this is a situation where they’re just getting the message? They’re understanding that, hey, we’re going to be without a Kella Witherspoon. And also, hey, they’re probably saying to themselves, if we don’t play well, they’re gonna trade for someone. I thought that’s what it is. I was waiting for you to get there. Yeah. You know, you know starts working hard guys that might lose their jobs, right? That that is a really good motivator to get you your you know what, in gear. One of those, hey, listen, man. You know, I don’t I don’t care what it is you do. Let’s let’s say you’re a sales rep. If the boss calls you in and says, listen, man, you’ve missed your numbers 10 quarters in a row like this. this is the last time we can do this. If if this doesn’t change, we’re going to have to make a move. So, you know, let’s see what you got. I I I think that gets everybody involved. The the Rams defense has been not good, not very good. It’s been terrific so far this season. The back half, I I think still needs some work. Quinton Lake is getting a lot better. His his his graph is is certainly trending in the right direction. And and like you mentioned, whether it’s Darius Williams, whether it’s Emanuel Forbes, their graphs are going in the right direction, too. But those guys at the front, Doug, like like you said, they’re getting off the field when they have to get off the field. They’re making big plays. They’re turning the ball over. They’re creating pressure. It’s not just one guy, you know, it’s it’s Byron Young, it’s Jared Verse. You you we saw u uh Josiah Stewart with another sack. Nate Landman had a sack and a half again. like every and Braden Fisk hasn’t even had a sack yet this season and yet he’s about this far away from getting one seemingly on every snap that he’s out there on the field. So I I know we spend a ton of time on Puka and Stafford and Devonte and Kairen Williams and all these great offensive players that they have, but Doug, I’m not so sure that this isn’t a defensive first football team. When you’re holding the opponent to 16 points a game, you’re going to win in the NFL just about every single time. that that is that is an incredibly efficient defense and if they can get better in the back end and and I would still like to see them go and and pursue a corner. We’ll see as we get a little closer. They they got one more game. They play the Saints and I think it’s the Tuesday after that is the NFL trade deadline. I’d like to see him be active, but I mean they they other than the place kicking, they have the components in place to make a very very deep run. You’re absolutely right in my estimation as well. And I have no issue with that. I think some people they don’t want to accept the fact that this is a team that’s identity is they’re going to hang their hat on elite defense, but the truth is this is a top five defense and they’re only going to get better. I think there’s only two times this year where you’ve kind of had some concerns with the defense. The first half against the 49ers, third quarter, second half, there were some spots against the Eagles where you were concerned where the secondary was getting torched. when AJ Brown got going, they were kind of making these these quarterbacks look small and attacking them in those spaces. But I mean, you go back and look at this game like the Jags didn’t get a first down until the end of the first quarter. Yeah. They get six sacks. I mean, there’s pressure all over the field and and you mentioned Josiah Stewart, right? I mean, they’re kind of getting they’re finding other dudes that are behind the dudes and those guys are coming in and they’re making plays. And Nate Lamman’s been a complete re revelation, like an absolute revelation. And and I don’t think I think that he’s been better than even the Rams could have hoped that he would be, right? I mean, stopping the run game could afford the addition. I mean, this is a really complete Quinn Lake, let’s be honest. I mean, lots of lots of big dudes, lots of studs on this defense. And it all comes together with Chris Scheler, who we’ve said on this show before, we’ll say it again. Let’s enjoy him while he’s here for no doubt about it. I I want to go back to to Land Man for a second. You mentioned Puna Ford as well. Coleman Shelton is another guy that they brought in during the offseason. brought brought him back and put him back at center. The guy that of all the free agent acquisitions that they went out and got, the guy that we’re still like, “Yeah, I don’t know is Devonte Adams who leads the team in touchdowns.” So that that’s how good Land Man’s been. That’s how good Puna Ford has been. That’s how good Coleman Shelton like that that Adams is the one that we’re focusing on and he’s leading the team in touchdown should tell you how good those other guys have been. And just real quick, I I’ll just throw this in there as far as that defense goes. This is a Jacksonville team that beat the 49ers. The 49ers are good. Okay, this is a Jacksonville team that beat the Kansas City Chiefs. I think we all know what the Kansas City Chiefs are. And the Rams pulled their pants down, man. It It wasn’t close. Like, they just absolutely ran them over. And And look, I don’t think Jacksonville is a playoff team. I don’t think that they’re going to compete contend for that division title. I think Indianapolis has all but wrapped that thing up at this point. But that’s not a team that stinks, right? That’s not a team that’s going to win three or four games. That’s going to be an eight or a nine- win team, a seven, eight, nine win team somewhere in the middle of the pack. And to make them look that bad, I think spoke really highly of that Rams defense. Yeah, that that that Jags team, they led the league in turnovers heading into this one. No turnovers for the Rams. Before we go to the next segment, Devonte Adams, I think you got to feel great about that. I mean, like you mentioned, didn’t have the receiving yards, 35 yards, but still three touchdowns. What I thought was so interesting about the Devonte Adams situation and how they attacked that was you’d assume with Puka out, they were just going to spam him with targets all game. It was double digit targets and okay, go to Adams. Go to Adams. Instead, they used it as an opportunity to spread things around. 10 Rams receivers caught passes. The first time you’ve had that since Eagles legend, Arizona legend Nick Fos back in 2015 did that for this franchise. So he was spreading the ball around, but Devonte ABS was getting his when it mattered most. And when he was getting open, when he was shaking, guys, it shows why he’s such a valuable red zone threat. And we got one of my favorite plays in football, the no-looker, Matthew Stafford, too. Down to the back of the end zone. That’s That’s pretty. No, that’s just fun. That’s just That’s like unique to Maybe Mahomes can do a few things like that as well. So, it’s like Stafford and Mahomes are the only guys that are operating on that level of I’m not even going to look at you and I’m going to hit you right between the numbers. Um, I kind of look at the the Adams thing and and the Puka thing. I I’ve been trying to find a way to explo you you got two different cars in your household, right? You you’ve got the SUV that you need to do to go get the groceries, to get the kids to school, to go to soccer practice that’s going to do all of your grinded out stuff. That’s Puka, right? Like Puka is just going to be the guy, hey, we’re going to get in that car over and over and over again. We’re going to drive it till the wheels fall off. You’re going to go over potholes at 100 miles an hour and you don’t give a damn. You just you just full full speed ahead. Devonte Adams is the convertible Porsche you take out on the weekends that you need to go score touchdowns with that you can go throw onehanded no look catch it over the back of your head stuff that got that right. You can’t do that in a Ford Explorer. You can only do that in a in a Ferrari. And and that’s what Devonte Adams is. And you know they needed to use the Ferrari this weekend. They only drove it three times or five times or whatever it is, but they’re just totally different tools to do what you need to do. It’s great if you have both and that’s what they have. They have a guy that can move them down the field, but when they need somebody that can just win in tight areas, that’s Devonte Adams. Dvonte Adams, those three touchdowns, Puka doesn’t do any of that. And and that’s not a slight on Puka. That’s a compliment to Devonte Adams for what he can do in in in really small tight situations. Let’s use Puka to get down there and use Devonte to score the touchdowns and everybody goes home happy. I like that. I don’t know about you, I don’t have two car. I still get around a Razor scooter. Um, but yeah, I I’m I’m thinking of MTV Cribs episode with with Travis Rogers. You open up the garage, got the Porsche, got the Range, you got the G Wagon. I mean, no, I love that. Absolutely. I I to me I think I to me I think Puka is like a like a Porsche SUV, right? It’s like it can go fast, but he can be physical, too, right? something kind of like that. Something like I I I’m thinking more like Suburban. It’s a little It’s not quite as racy as a as as a Cayenne that’s going to be able to kind of, you know, corner real fast. It’s like It’s Suburbans are nice, by the way. Suburbans are great. I I’ll take a Suburban. I’ll give you my I’ll give you my hard. Okay. You know, it has nothing to do with sports right here. I’ll give you my car hot take. Okay. And people hate me for this car hot take. Go. I actually think the PT Cruiser is a classic. Like it’s a banger. Like I I like the PT Cruiser. It kind of gives you a toaster vibe, but I like it kind of gives you that like that old school like gangster car thing back in the day. Like I look So that’s my hot That’s my hot take. I think the PT Cruiser is a banger. It looks like the worst designed Hot Wheel of all time. So you don’t agree with me? No. No. It looks like if you let a six-year-old with a Hot Wheel like uh you know computer AED design program, he’d come up with that. Like what if we made something that was kind of like a station wagon but not as good, kind of like an SUV but not as good and made it look like it was from the 30s and there were Robin Banks in it. That’s what it looks like. Hey, no. Hey, no PT Cruiser slander on this show. But I will say it’s not a Mazda because Mazda is moved or being moved. Can I ask another question about the PT Cruiser? Why were they all purple or maroon? Yeah, they’re all purple or maroon and then if like if or like some weird silver color, you know, there was no like, you know, white PT Cruiser or blue. It was like they were all these weird metallic colors. It’s like Darkwing Duck Purple. Yes. Yeah. No, it was it was pretty nasty for sure. But coming up next, we’re going to talk some Matthew Stafford game balls for the Rams week seven win over the Jaguars. has coming up on Locked on Rams. The NFL season is underway. By the way, baseball playoffs, NBA season is here, NHL. So, FanDuel, what they have is an offer that you are not going to want to miss because right now, if you’re a new customer at FanDuel, all you have to do is bet $5 and you’re gonna get 300 in bonus bets if you win. You heard me right. You just pick a bet, any bet, put down five bucks, and if you hit on that $5 bet, you’re going to unlock $300 in bonus bets across the app to use them however you would like. And there are so many ways to play at FanDuel. You can build parlays, which are super fun. You can try player props, which are a lot of fun as well. And if you’re one of those guys that likes to wait for the game to start to play, maybe you like to take a little bit of a long shot as the game unfolds, you feel like there’s a comeback happening, live lines during games. It makes watching football, everything really, even more exciting when you got a little something riding on that action. So, let me ask you the most important question. What are you waiting for? Visit fanuel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. And welcome back to Locked On Rams. Thank you for making locked on Rams your first listen every single weekday free and available reving your podcast. Locked on Rams part of locked on podcast network your team every day. All right, Travis here in our final segment. Got to get the game ball out. I think it’s pretty easy for this one. It’s going to be for Matthew Stafford. the week that he had the touchdowns, no interceptions, and I think it just kind of ties to B on just kind of the first part of the season for him where you looked at the start of the year, there was all the concerns about the back. We probably did like 15 episodes on the back, how concerned we were with the back. And if you just gave me like B version of Matthew Stafford, if you could promise me the B version of Matthew Stafford when we’re dealing with all the back concerns, I probably would have signed up for that. But somehow someway, not only is he healthy, he’s in the MVP conversation now. And I don’t think anyone would have bet that at the beginning of the season to start the year. He was uh behind a lot of lot of dudes, but he’s now creeping up. You got Bisper FanDuel, by the way, great sponsor. FanDuel, you got Momes, Allen, Drake May, Baker Mayfield, and then Matthew Stafford. So he’s ahead of guys like Jared Goff and and and Dak Prescott. I mean, he’s a a top four, top five MVP candidate, and we’re seven weeks into the season. I don’t think you could have asked for more if you’re a Rams fan. Okay, you ready? I I think he’s got a real shot at it. I I I think he’s got a real good shot at it because here here’s what’s coming up. A, the Rams are good, which you have to be, right? You’re going to have to win a bunch of games. Your team success is is is almost the most important thing when it comes to getting MVP consideration. He’s a quarterback. So, the quarterback of the team with the best record or one of the best records is always going to be a consideration. Statistically, he is at the top of a lot of these lists when it comes to yardage. He had that five touchdown game. So, he’s put himself in the conversation. What’s coming up in the second half of this season is not only are you going to start to play a lot of division games are going to be very important, but they’re going to get a prime timer against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s going to be a big game. He’s going to go head-to-head with Jared Goth. That’s going to be a game that everybody is looking at that there are big moments. There’s three prime times. They got a Sunday night, they got a Monday night, and they got a Thursday night that are still where everybody’s paying attention. And if Matthew Stafford goes out there and delivers the goods in those, he’s going to go right near the top. I I again, I looked this up the other day. There has there’s precedent here. Like there’s been 37y old guys that have won the MVP award, but there’s only one guy that have won a an MVP for the first time at 37 years old. and it was Rich Ganon with the Raiders a million years ago. So, it does happen. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does. And and I think that if the Rams are one of the best teams in the NFC, if the Rams are performing on prime time games Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night, and Matthew Stafford is got a statistical case to be made. Doesn’t have to be a top at all of them, but a case to be made. the narrative for a guy that’s going to the Hall of Fame, finally getting his first MVP at 37 years old, putting his team maybe near the top of the standings in the conference, near the top of the standings in the division. That is a powerful MVP case. And I think he if he stays healthy, he’s going to be right in the middle of it. See, I think this is interesting because it’s one thing to say that, oh, he’s in the MVP conversation. It’s another thing to take it a step further and kind of give it a path to how he can actually win. And I think that’s what stands out to me is it’s early enough in the season where you can build that narrative. A lot of times in baseball, even in the NBA, that MVP is won in the first part of the season. It doesn’t matter what happens later in the season. It’s tough to overcome what happened the first part of the season. The NFL is a little different, right? But I think for Stafford, you have a case early enough to you get the team wins, you’re sitting at seven and two, you’re right in the mix in the NFC. And I think too there’s this feel there there’s a little bit of of voter fatigue for guys like the Lamar Jacksons and the Josh Allens and the Patrick Mahomes. Let’s get a fresh face. Let’s get a new guy that happens to be a new guy at 37 that is having a Hall of Fame career. We all think he’s going to have that gold jacket one day. But for God’s had such a great career. He’s only received MVP votes once. That was when he finished eighth in 2023. So that was not even when he was with the Lions at the peak of his kind of physical power. So I totally agree like it’s something to fun to look at because I mean the truth is if he wins it or not it doesn’t really matter that much but it does matter in the sense that if he’s in the conversation it tells you that he’s been healthy, he’s performing well and look I mean look give me Super Bowl MVP which I still think he should have won in 2021. And I do think they should bring that back that tradition. We saw in 2015 when Malcolm Butler got the truck. I mean, Brady gave it to him. Bring back the tradition and give him a PT Cruiser. That’s all I’m saying. I think I looked it up on Auto Trade. Get you a burgundy one for 4500. Come on. VMO me. I’ll buy it for you. They’ll give you $4,500 if you drive away from their yard. Is that what it is? I got to give them. But yeah, I get I get You’re hating. It’s You’re being a hater. I don’t like it. Matthew Stafford has got a shot at this because here’s the other thing. McVey want him to get it. He’ll want to get it, right? Like like you can kind of like you can kind of smell it, right? You can kind of Hey, we’re close. Let’s let’s tack on a few of these things and make this get these numbers up there. I I think if fast forward, what are we? We’re in week eight right now, right? Fast forward to like week 12 or 13. If he’s still right smack in the middle of that race where I expect him to be, I think you could see him mash the gas and really go for it. I And I and I hope they do because it would be super fun to watch. And real quick, too, like call me crazy. Like Matthew Stafford is a guy that some people debate his Hall of Fame case, right? Some people debate it, right? And that’s fun. It’s fun to debate. It feels like Matthew Stafford in the back of his mind, and trust me, I know players say one thing to the media, but they think the other thing. I I’ve talked to Mookie Bets since this like he Mookie Bets wants to be in the Hall of Fame. Like like guys like that Freddy Finn wants to be in the Hall of Fame. I I I feel like that Matthew Stafford he an MVP he wants to be in the Hall of Fame. He wants to win the Super Bowl to get him to the Hall of Fame. Don’t you think there’s a part of that that’s as far as White’s continuous career? It’s got to be a motivating factor, man. I mean, it’s it’s the ultimate legacy pool 100%. Look, there there are two things that take Matthew Stafford from a very very likely Hall of Famer, which I think is where he is right now. I think he’s he’s like seventh or eighth all time in passing yardage to a deadlock cinch mookie bets Freddy Freeman level Hall of Famer and that is win an MVP or win another Super Bowl. Those are those are the two things that just take it from a you know an 85 90% likelihood to a 99.9999999 chance. And you know he’s got a chance to do both this year or or one or the other. Both of those things punch his ticket. Yeah, let’s get greedy and let’s win both. But that’s going to do it for this episode of Locked on Rams. My name is Doug McCain. You can follow me on X and Instagram at DMac_LA. You follow the people’s channel, Mr. Travis Rogers at Travis Rogers. Until next time, whose house is locked on Ram’s

D-mac and Travis tell you why the 2025 Rams have the potential to be a special team in 2025 after a 5-2 start. Plus, what Sean McVay did to transform the Rams offense without Puka Nacua, and Matthew Stafford’s case for NFL MVP, and more!

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