Rams beat Bucs INSTANT REACTION: This is for everyone who was rooting against L.A.

Football fans tend to talk out of both sides of their mouth. They say they want to see greatness, but so many NFL fans have also been actively rooting against the Los Angeles Rams directly because they felt that the Rams were trying to “buy” a championship. They didn’t want to see the Rams put together an all-star roster and then actually play like all-stars, even though they claim to love all-star teams... so long as it as done “the right way”.

They didn’t want to see the Rams win the trade for Matthew Stafford and said it wouldn’t be an upgrade from Jared Goff. They thought that OBJ was a “locker room cancer” and the beginning of the end. They said that Les Snead paid too much for Von Miller. They glorified LA’s midseason three-game losing streak and used it as an opportunity to gloat.

The Rams still have to beat the San Francisco 49ers just to get to the Super Bowl, but 2021 was about one thing: you were either rooting for the Rams or you were rooting against the Rams and nobody who wasn’t rooting for the Rams wanted to see them hosting the NFC Championship game.

That’s exactly what’s happening next Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

I GUESS THEY’LL AT LEAST GET TO KEEP ROOTING AGAINST STAFFORD AND THE RAMS.

The Rams held a 27-3 lead over the defending champion Buccaneers on Sunday and even it took four fumbles for Tampa Bay to avoid being blown out at home by the team that nobody wanted to see advanced to the next round. It would have been so much easier for them to see Stafford have a bad day and to go home with one “meaningless” playoff win in his pocket, but instead it was the 13-year veteran who had proved what some of us already knew: Les Snead got a steal in the deal.

Stafford has scored six touchdowns in two playoff games and was 28-of-38 for 366 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. He had six touchdowns and no interceptions against Tampa Bay in two games this season. Stafford has more career postseason touchdowns with the Rams than Jared Goff. Cooper Kupp had 183 yards against the Bucs, a mark that simply was not even fathomable in the first four years of Kupp’s career.

Von Miller had yet another sack on Sunday and at worst it seems that LA will get a good compensatory pick if Miller leaves in free agency, offsetting some of what they paid to acquire him. Odell Beckham Jr had some more big plays and catches and is helping the Rams advance at a time when Robert Woods can’t.

Yes, there are complaints you can file and errors that need fixing. The process of being great means you never stop trying to be better. But there’s something that fans will have to admit, especially if the Rams win their next two games: the all-star team is working and it’s fun as hell to watch.

Once again I did an INSTANT REACTION PODCAST with Blane Dydasco (GO FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER) and we recorded our immediate thoughts as to what happened on Sunday and what to expect next weekend against the 49ers. Listen here or go find us and subscribe on your trusted podcast applications.