The Rams Revival: How Les Snead, Sean McVay, while Matthew Stafford Made L.A. A Playoff Candidate
The Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints 30–22 on Thursday night. Matthew Stafford and his team have now won five in their last six games, and their chances of making the playoffs are getting better.
As of today, the Rams would receive the sixth seed in the NFC. In the Wild Card Round, they would play an third-seeded Detroit Lions, a team Stafford played for more than ten years.
PlayoffStatus.com says that the Lions are the Rams’ most likely first-round opponent, with a 24 percent chance.
The Philadelphia Eagles are in second place with an 18 percent chance. A very interesting possible matchup is becoming clearer as the Rams obtain closer to the dream land.
“No, no. “Like I said, there’s a lot of football to play between now and then,” Stafford said after the game on “Thursday Night Football.” “The main goal is just getting everyone into the dance.”
Do your best to be a good seed, then let’s figure toward where we need to go next. Still, there’s a lot about football to play before then, plus we have two tough teams coming up.
The biggest reason the Rams have forgotten about their upcoming playoff opponent is clear: they haven’t locked up a spot in the playoffs yet.
After beating the other team on Thursday, their hopes are very good, but they still need to complete the job.
But the Lions have pretty much locked up a spot in the playoffs. A lot of bad things would have to happen in order to miss it.
This is the first time these two teams have played since the deal. The Rams won 28–19 in 2021.
A “revenge game” upon both sides is what makes this possible meeting so exciting. They were traded to each other in 2021, which made their bond stronger.
For Stafford and Jared Goff, who used to play quarterback for the Rams and now plays quarterback for the Lions.
It looks like Detroit will host a playoff game to feed the first time in over 30 years if it wins its first division title.
It only makes sense that Stafford, the most successful quarterback in team history, would be there for such a big event.
The Los Angeles Rams’ locker room was already happy, but on Thursday night, Sean McVay made an announcement that changed it into a party: the players are off until Tuesday, so they can spend the whole Christmas holiday via their families.
After a disappointing start, the Rams won five of their last six games, including a big win over another NFC playoff contender. They earned their break.
With a 30–22 win across the New Orleans Saints, Matthew Stafford threw for 328 yards or two scores, and rookie Puka Nacua caught nine passes for 164 yards and a touchdown. The Rams moved ahead in the race for a playoff spot.
The Rams (8-7) are above.500 for their first time since Week 1; they were 3-6 during their bye week last month.
Kyren Williams ran for 104 yards along with a touchdown, as well as Demarcus Robinson caught passes for 82 yards and another touchdown.
From my point of view, we earned the chance to be here, Stafford said. “These guys have put their minds down, gone to work, and shown up since the bye.”
With its second prevail in five days during what the team calls a “remodeling season,” Los Angeles moved ahead of Minnesota (7-7) and into sixth place in the NFC standings.
It is now trying to secure a wild-card playoff spot and a possible first-round matchup with Stafford’s old team, the Detroit Lions.
With 12:44 left in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles was ahead 30–7 after scoring on six for its first eight plays.
However, for the second straight game, it let the other team get close after Washington beat them by eight points last weekend, ending a late 21–point lead.
John Johnson, a safety for the Rams, said, “It’s a short week, so it’s harder to finish.” “The tank may have run out before we wanted it but now it’s time to regroup, fill up, and get back to it.” Derek Carr threw touchdowns to A.T. Perry and Juwan Johnson in the fourth quarter.
With 3:53 left in the game, a two-point conversion cut the Rams’ lead to eight points. But Nacua recovered an onside kick and subsequently got a key first-down gain on a 9-yard jet sweep. The Rams then won their fourth straight home game by running out the time.
“We do keep things interesting, don’t we?” He asked McVay. “But I love how strong this group is. There they are again and again. There was a lot in really good stuff in this game, in my opinion.