Random Ramsdom: Can LA survive without Matthew Stafford?

Last year the Rams won some games with Baker Mayfield, and so I found the take below interesting, not necessarily wrong, but interesting. The article below (I only used the Los Angeles Rams part of the article) expresses that the Rams will be out of luck if Matthew Stafford is not healthy. Losing Stafford would be devasting, but what if the the majority of the other pieces stay healthy? I feel like it’s possible (not at all ideal) for the Rams to still have a competitive season without Stafford.

Please read today’s news and links, check out our community question at the bottom (you may be able to guess it based on the preamble I wrote above) and enjoy your Saturday!

Offensive X-factors for all 32 NFL teams, from Giants’ new weapon to Browns’ Deshaun Watson returning to form (cbssports.com)

“Los Angeles Rams: QB Matthew Stafford’s elbow

Is Stafford fully healthy? If he’s not, not much else matters for this offense. We saw last year how badly the team broke down amid various injuries — to Stafford, to Cooper Kupp, to seemingly every offensive lineman — but there is really only one player it cannot operate without. And as special a receiving threat as Kupp is, that player is Stafford.”

One offensive X-factor for every NFL team in 2023, plus looking at most underappreciated players in NFC (cbssports)

“Once again, it’s time for another episode of our “All 32” series, and for today’s show, we’re focusing on the Los Angeles Rams. For those of you who don’t know what the “All 32” series is, it’s where we pick one team for an episode of the podcast and break down everything about their offseason while also predicting how their 2023 season will play out.

To talk about how things are going in Los Angeles, we brought on Jourdan Rodrigue, who might know more about the Rams than anyone. Not only does she cover them for The Athletic, but she also hosts a podcast called “11 Personnel.”

Here are a few topics host Katie Mox and Will Brinson covered with Jourdan:

• What do the Rams need to do to turn things around this year? After an ugly 2022 season where several key players missed time due to injury — including Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald — Jourdan thinks a big key to the 2023 season will simply be keeping everyone healthy, especially Stafford. “He’s coming in saying he’s feeling better than he has in forever,” Jourdan said. “He certainly looked the part in spring. He had a full workload, which he didn’t have at all last summer and last spring. Keeping him as functional as possible [is key].” Stafford missed eight games last season due to multiple injuries.
• How many games can the Rams win? The Rams had an ugly year in 2022, going 5-12. Their over/under for 2023 is set at 6.5. So how does Jourdan think the season will play out? “I do think that they think that they’ll be better than some of the external noise,” Rodrigue said. “I give them seven wins this year, but I think that’s me being more optimistic.” A seven-win season would definitely be a disappointment for Sean McVay, who only has one losing season in his six years as head coach.

Jourdan spent nearly 30 minutes talking about the Rams, and if you want to hear everything she had to say, you can listen to today’s show here. You can also watch today’s show on YouTube by clicking here.”

Rams roster: Fast 40+ LA Rams roster roundup QB Dresser Winn (#20) (ramblinfan)

“Former Tennessee-Martin quarterback Dresser Winn is the ‘other guy,’ in the LA Rams barbershop quartet-back room. He is not the starter. He is not the heir-apparent successor. He isn’t even a veteran who is on the roster just in case. He is a 6-foot-2 rookie quarterback who was signed to the LA Rams after the NFL Draft

What I don’t like about this signing

When it comes to undrafted rookies, particularly at a high-profile and highly competitive role as NFL quarterback, you need to have some aspect of your game that jumps off the page and screams “Nobody can do it as well as I can.” And yet, on the surface, very little jumps off the page at first glance at Dresser Winn.”

As Trade Rumors Swirls Around Aaron Donald, Browns in Position to Pounce (fannation/brownsdigest)

“Jason McIntyre of Fox Sports made five bold predictions regarding the NFL this year. Arguably his prediction for the Rams is his safest pick. Meanwhile, his other four predictions are extraordinary. He has the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship and the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl for example.

“I can see them being one of the worst teams in the league, and thus they decide to pull the trigger and trade Aaron Donald, basically their only good defender. Look at the PFF stats for this defense — it is abysmal. I know that they won the Super Bowl going with the big Stafford, Kupp, Donald. But then everything fell apart. They lost Jalen Ramsey, their best cornerback, who basically shut down one side of the field. [They lose] their middle linebacker, Bobby Wagner, one of the best defenders on the team. They lose two of their top three defenders. I think you are in a window where this team … decides to just reboot and move on from Aaron Donald.” - Jason McIntyre

This looks more like an inevitability than a bold prediction for exactly the reasons McIntyre lays out. Aaron Donald has an argument to be the best defender in NFL history, but he can’t cover the other ten guys. It will take dramatic improvement from the rest of that group to be decent and even though the NFC is clearly the weaker conference, their best hope is a wildcard berth.”

Can you guess how many Rams are enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame? (ramblinfan)

“When talking about the history of the NFL, you will eventually be forced to discuss the Rams football franchise. And that is an ideal segue to the question that has inspired this article: Exactly how many Rams players have been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame? The number may surprise you. After all the Rams are the only team in the history of the NFL to have won championships for three different cities. We will share the answer with you later in this article.

The Rams won for Cleveland, Ohio in 1945. The Rams won for Los Angeles, California in 1951 and in 2021. And the Rams won for Saint Louis, Missouri in 1999. Of course, with the Super Bowl era of the NFL not taking place since 1960, the Rams only have two Lombardi Trophies in their possession. The LA Rams have been a member of the prestigious NFL since 1936.

The NFL has long captured the hearts of US sports fans, and has become the favorite American sport. But it was not always the case, as it played second fiddle to America’s pastime, Major League Baseball, for many years. But while baseball was the sport that many of our fathers and grandfathers followed while huddled around the lone family black and white television, or the family radio, football was the color commentary version of professional sports.

Football, not baseball, was made for television

The NFL gained in popularity because, unlike baseball, it was more quickly able to adapt to the television format. And the sport was masterful at it too. Baseball’s format was ideally suited for radio broadcasts, as it was easily narrated, was a long-duration event, and allowed for timely commercial spots between every half inning. But when it came to the visual feast of television, the action was too drawn out and the programming was too long for many local stations.”

You’ve made it to the end! Well done. Question for the day is do you think the Rams can compete if they lose Stafford for a majority of the year? Will the Rams season end when/if Stafford is lost? I am not trying to jinx anything just asking the question! Please comment on anything else you’d like, thanks for reading, and maybe I’ll see you in the comments section below!