Despite being favored by 2.5 points, the Rams were considered massive underdogs heading into Sunday’s NFL Playoff Divisional Round game against the legendary Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. The defending Super Bowl champions with the untouchable playoff quarterback against Matthew Stafford — the king of the losers, the Lions and a stand-in for all forgotten talented players.
Now you can go back and replace the word “losers.”
Despite doing their very best to let Brady and company back into yet another memorable fourth quarter of this NFL Divisional Weekend, the Rams have qualified for the NFC Championship Game. It probably should have never been as close as 30-27, and it probably should have never come to the point where Stafford needed to rescue the Rams. But, in truth, is anyone going to ruminate too much over the moment if the results remain sublime?
If it means they’re in the NFC Championship Game anyway?
RAMS WIN. WHAT A GAME.#LARvsTB | #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/FyEPdaXaqd
— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2022
Pandemonium on this football weekend is proving to be grander than most.
To understand how the Rams got here, where a 30-yard Matt Gay chip shot was enough to take them to the second-to-last day of January, you have to start at the beginning.
You have to understand what it means to take a risk.
Last January, following a disappointing Divisional Round exit to the Packers, Sean McVay decided to get bold. He, and the Rams, traded multiple first-round picks for Matthew Stafford. And after such a move, expectations were always going to be sky-high. Pay that price, and you’re not only expecting persistent fireworks, you’re also thinking gold and diamond rings. Or in other words, a championship. A renowned savant of an offensive mind in many league circles, McVay took Jared Goff to a Super Bowl, where they fell to (who else) Brady. The assumption now was that if McVay could almost climb to the top of the mountain back then with, no offense to Mr. Goff, a limited quarterback, he could do anything with a far-more gifted player like Stafford.
You know what they say about people who make assumptions. It’s not very kind, and I won’t write it in print here for the risk of any innocent children reading. But this time, it was correct.
After getting out to a 7-1 start that gave a nice cushion for Stafford and McVay, they traded for former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller. As if perennial All-Pros Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey weren’t enough, they now had another world-destroyer of a running mate in the fold. To add further to an embarrassment of riches, they added the ever-talented, Pro Bowl-level receiver, Odell Beckham Jr. just about a week later (sorry Browns, the city of Cleveland, and or Baker Mayfield).
The Rams had what you could call an All-Star team. A roster full of veterans and coaches chasing a championship together while humiliating the rest of the NFL in the process. They were all-in, taking a risk that these moves could make them vulnerable in the future. If they were in Vegas, they’d be a high-roller with their own table.
Not that they’re advisable or worth the risk, but sometimes lofty, all-in bets pay off. Sometimes, confidence pays off.
But while they had all the talent in the world on paper, the Rams stumbled some. A slow finish to the regular season meant Los Angeles would not have home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs despite that aforementioned hot start. Upsets in the early postseason meant they would have to unseat NFL royalty in Brady, despite the Rams’ impressive win over the Arizona Cardinals in the Wild Card Round.
Let’s take it back to that game-winner from Gay, but check-in about half a quarter or so before it.
Play as well as they did for 50 minutes, and you would have thought it would be in the bag. But it is never so simple against football’s consummate king-warrior. After amassing what would feel like an insurmountable 27-3 lead to anyone not named the Atlanta Falcons, Brady and the Buccaneers (thanks to a few unfortunate bounces of the oblong ball) roared back to tie this battle.
But Stafford made sure that the game-tying touchdown pass by Brady did not matter. With a little over 30 seconds to go and one timeout, Stafford (and triple-crown winner, Cooper Kupp) made Brady’s infamous capacity to steal any big game, no matter the odds, irrelevant.
What do you know? Big-time players, no matter their background, do make big-time plays.
.@CooperKupp put the team on his back.
This ending was WILD. #LARvsTB pic.twitter.com/6clEXf9SQq
— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2022
From there, as noted, Gay took it home.
Those loser narratives that plagued Stafford and every other phenomenal talent unfortunately mired in NFL Purgatory? Gone.
This one was for the players like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson.
No one knows what’s going to happen next for the Stafford-McVay-Kupp Rams. Football is too fickle a sport ever to be too confident about any result. We almost saw as much on Sunday afternoon. But in a year where they decided to push their chips in, the Rams have a chance to host the Super Bowl if they can get past divisional rival San Francisco. And if they can overcome Brady’s Buccaneers, who’s to say they can’t bask in yellow and blue confetti on February 13?
You’d be hard-pressed to think the Rams will waste this opportunity. In acquiring Beckham Jr., Miller and Stafford, this was always their ceiling: A Super Bowl contender capable of beating anyone. Even Tom Brady.
And after everything he’s been through in the past, a Stafford Super Bowl win is within view.
Go figure.
