SEATTLE \u2014 If Matthew Stafford is truly the NFL\u2019s Most Valuable Player \u2013 as many observers anticipate and the Professional Football Writers Association already announced this past week \u2013 this is the time he needs to demonstrate why.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the process already has begun. The Rams are in the NFC Championship game, one step from the Super Bowl, precisely because Stafford kept his cool when others might have lost theirs. He directed a game-winning drive in the wild-card round<\/a> against Carolina two weeks ago, and guided his team to the winning field goal in overtime<\/a> in last week\u2019s divisional round in snowy Chicago.<\/p>\n But now comes the most important test. The Rams, knocked down to the No. 5 seed in the NFC because of two losses in their final three regular season games, face the No. 1 seed Seahawks here at 3:30 p.m. Sunday. In fact, you can make the case that this game is in Lumen Field instead of SoFi Stadium because of the Seahawks\u2019 comeback Dec. 18 \u2013 and a loose ball in the end zone that Seattle\u2019s Zach Charbonnet had the foresight to pick up, turning what seemed to be an incompletion of a forward pass into the recovery of a lateral and a two-point conversion \u2013 en route to a 38-37 Seattle overtime victory<\/a> here.<\/p>\n Stafford did his part that night, passing for a season-high 457 yards, 225 of them to Puka Nacua on 12 receptions. But he\u2019ll have to do more. He knows it, coach Sean McVay knows it, and while everyone else in the Rams\u2019 team room acknowledges they too will have to do more, the burden is on the quarterback of the league\u2019s No. 1 offense (30.5 points scored per game) to overcome the league\u2019s No. 1 defense (17.2 points allowed per game).<\/p>\n This is a potentially ominous precedent, by the way: According to the NFL\u2019s pregame notes, twice previously have the No. 1 offense and the No. 1 defense squared off in the NFC championship game: 1980 when Dallas played Philadelphia and 2014 when Green Bay faced Seattle. Both times, the team with the No. 1 defense reached the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n (Then again, the Eagles and Seahawks both lost those Super Bowls. And if you\u2019re talking to a Seattle fan, you might not want to bring up 2014 and Malcolm Butler, and why didn\u2019t Pete Carroll give Marshawn Lynch the ball at the goal line instead? Such memories are very hard to shake.)<\/p>\n So look at it this way: The NFL is in the memory-making business, and Stafford and his team have a chance to create some more memories Sunday \u2013 pleasant ones for Rams fans, grisly ones for the 12s, as the Seahawks\u2019 faithful are known up here. It all goes with Stafford\u2019s vow, as he expressed in the huddle late in the Carolina game, to steal the opponent\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n Interestingly enough, Stafford\u2019s passing yardage totals have gone down in the past few weeks \u2013 from that 457-yard game against Seattle to 269 in a loss in Atlanta<\/a>, followed by 259 in a comeback victory over the woeful Arizona Cardinals<\/a> in the final regular-season game. He lit up Carolina for 304 yards and three scores in the wild-card round but passed for only 258 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions, in the snow last week in Chicago.<\/p>\n McVay was asked at midweek if this had anything to do with changes in the game plan over the last two games.<\/p>\n \u201cI think each game is its own separate entity,\u201d he said. \u201cI think you have to be totally present. You have to play your best in those three-and-a-half-hour windows. There are a lot of reasons for either\/or. \u2026 Matthew did a great job, really I thought in both games. You give them credit. It was unique where we just didn\u2019t have a lot of snaps (in) that first game.<\/p>\n \u201cWe so feel so fortunate to have him lead the way,\u201d he added. \u201cI think overall just that command, that confidence, that poise and that ability to love those pressure-filled moments, I think that gives a calm in the midst of some of those chaotic moments. I think that resonates with his teammates and it creates a belief that\u2019s not exclusive to the offense. That\u2019s our whole football team and coaching staff included.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s this as well: All quarterbacks who reach this level can lead, and part of that leadership involves accountability when things go haywire. McVay called Stafford\u2019s ownership and accountability \u201cextreme.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard it said before, I think excuses are tools of the incompetent,\u201d the coach said. \u201cMatthew is the furthest thing from that. He\u2019s got great ownership. I think that\u2019s why people want to follow him, because of the way that he stays humble in the great moments, which he sure has had a handful of those. Then in the moments that we can be better, he owns it. Now we can move on.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a freaking stud.\u201d<\/p>\n This coach\/quarterback collaboration has brought their team a level of success not seen with this franchise in either of its L.A. tenures, and one probably rivaled by the \u201cGreatest Show On Turf\u201d days in St. Louis with Kurt Warner and Dick Vermeil, the combination that accounted for the other championship banner in SoFi Stadium. Since Stafford was acquired before the 2021 season, in the trade that sent Jared Goff to Detroit, the Rams are 49-36 in those regular seasons, have reached the postseason every year but one and are in the NFC Championship game for the second time in five seasons.<\/p>\n And, said Stafford, coach and quarterback hold each other accountable.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the coolest thing is just the honesty we have with each other,\u201d Stafford told reporters at midweek. \u201cWhether things go the way we want it to or not, it\u2019s, \u2018How can we fix them? How can we be better? How can we communicate better as an offense and then ultimately play better?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had that since I\u2019ve been here. I appreciate the hell out of it. It\u2019s not always the case in this league \u2026 It\u2019s a fun thing, and it\u2019s a fun partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s more fun, of course, when you win. And maybe that accountability from those late-season losses, on both sides, has helped shape the triumphs of the last two weeks \u2013 and put Stafford and McVay, and their team, in position for more.<\/p>\n Bottom line: For the Rams to get back to the Super Bowl, Stafford needs to be that MVP. It says here that he will: L.A. 37, Seattle 30.<\/p>\n jalexander@scng.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 If Matthew Stafford is truly the NFL\u2019s Most Valuable Player \u2013 as many observers anticipate and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,24414,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-702512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jim-alexander","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115952490326064272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}